The human side of crises: two HR practitioners outline the key steps to building a realistic disaster communication plan--with people at the forefront.Leading People Through Disasters is indeed, as the subtitle states, an action guide" for all communicators, but it's especially useful for human resource professionals and those who are relatively inexperienced in crisis communication. Authors Kathryn McKee and Liz Guthridge, both HR practitioners, draw on a tremendous amount of personal experience as well as case studies from a variety of crisis situations to guide the reader through crisis planning and implementation, with a repeated pitch to allow the people side of crises to take center stage. "Our goals with this book," the authors write, "are to ... sensitize sen·si·tize v. To make hypersensitive or reactive to an antigen, such as pollen, especially by repeated exposure. you regarding the people issues and prepare you to anticipate employees' special emotional and psychological needs so you can deal with them quickly and begin to heal employees' hearts and minds." While leading with this "softer" side of crisis communication may not always be feasible, the book reminds readers that crisis planning must go beyond developing basic operational contingencies and initial employee safety plans. It should also include effective and realistic strategies for taking care of employees and their families during and after a crisis. One of the book's key lessons--and one that is useful for anyone thrown into a crisis situation but especially for HR professionals who may not be used to being part of a core crisis team--is the need to demonstrate leadership: "You need to recognize and remember you are in the best position to deal with the complex, unfolding human side of these events, both short- and long-term." This is a lesson that McKee and Guthridge admit they learned the hard way after being thrust into a crisis, having made some preparations but not having considered what all the pieces of a crisis meant in terms of business and personal needs for employees. For example, the authors at one time worked for First Interstate Bancorp First Interstate Bancorp was a bank based in the United States that was taken over in 1996 by Wells Fargo. It was headquartered in Los Angeles. The name has continued to be used in the banking world by used after the merger by First Interstate Bank who had been using the in its 62-story headquarters in downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . In 1987, a moderate earthquake rolled through Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . They admit that they did not have a well-thought-out crisis plan in place, and as a result had to do a lot of improvising. "What HR didn't do was think through how employees might react," they write. "We did not link the trauma of what we had just been through with the essential elements that should form the foundations of the plan. We did not lead the effort--we just reacted." The book does an admirable job of covering the basics of crisis planning, including the development of business continuity and crisis communication plans and giving practical, useful steps for readers to be able to successfully create both. Given the authors' background in human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. , there is a tendency to lead a discussion of crisis planning with an HR bent. Leading People Through Disasters provides practical counsel and excellent tips that will help any company or organization, large or small, prepare itself for the inevitability of a crisis. about the reviewer Alan Elias is senior vice president of corporate communications Corporate communications is the process of facilitating information and knowledge exchanges with internal and key external groups and individuals that have a direct relationship with an enterprise. at Washington Mutual “WaMu” redirects here. For the Washington, DC radio station, see WAMU. Washington Mutual (or WaMu; NYSE: WM) is the United States' largest savings and loan association. Card Services The software support for PC Cards. PC Card applications talk to Card Services. See PC Card. in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden . |
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