JCH Enterprises - Community/Media Relations

When Your Career and Your Organization’s Reputation are on the Line…
Some lessons apparently need to be learned over and over again. Crisis management counselors almost always preach the necessity of speedy disclosure of pertinent information when something extraordinary has happened. If you don’t get in front of the curve, you will be left in the dust, on the defensive and chasing the crisis as it drags on for longer than it ought.

Just ask Vice President Dick Cheney. Looking back on the episode of his quail hunting accident, he has to wish that the whole thing had been handled very differently. Accidents happen. When they happen to people in the public eye, the public is going to be interested. If it appears that factual information is not easily forthcoming, suspicions are raised and speculation can run rampant. Reporters sense that there is a deeper story, and they begin to search around. One of my crisis management consulting colleagues phrased it this way: “The media is like a junk yard dog. If you don’t feed it, it will root around in your garbage until it finds something.”

Of course there are dangers of releasing information too early, before all the facts can be verified. Just ask the owners of the Sago Mine whose tragedy was compounded dramatically when false hope of survival was given to the families of twelve trapped miners.

(NOTE: You can read more details about both of these incidents in the February e-zine archived on this site under the “Judy's Ezines” link.)

So timing is critical. It is a balancing act. Crisis management is not for amateurs. Capable managers of organizations of all kinds need to pay some attention to preparing for that day when bad news hits. Both personal careers and corporate reputations are on the line. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to make people pay attention. The devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina is certainly a grim reminder to everyone that crisis prevention and crisis planning efforts need to be undertaken BEFORE the storm hits. Companies and private/public organizations, as well as local, state and federal governments, are always strapped for cash and it seems everyone is too busy with other pressing priorities to think about planning for what they hope will never occur. You can get away with that for a little while. But eventually it will rise up and bite you.

Crises follow a familiar pattern

An incident occurs:
• an explosion at a manufacturing facility
• an oil spill at sea
• a medical mistake in a hospital
• the unauthorized disclosure of private financial information at a credit card company
• an outbreak of food poisoning after a picnic
• or any other type of misfortune you can think of.
The organization reacts – either competently or badly -- depending largely on how much preparation they have done for that day, including the development of a crisis plan, a communications plan, and the practicing of some crisis scenarios, including some emphasis on how they will talk to the media.
There will be an “investigation” launched by someone -- whether a governmental body, a group of concerned citizens, or the media -- to find out why things didn’t go better. Questions are asked about how well prepared the organization was, how well they implemented their plans, who knew what when, and how well they communicated during the incident.
When the decision is made that not enough work was done ahead of time to prevent the problem or minimize the damage from it, the organization in question will find its reputation damaged and its leadership questioned.
In retrospect, those leaders regret that they did not take the time and effort and money required to do a better job of crisis prevention and planning. The time and funds required to work on it ahead of time pales in comparison to what will be required to try to recover from the damage done.

JCH Enterprises is the firm to call when you want to be prepared to handle a crisis.

A JCH Enterprises crisis communications expert can put your organization’s senior management team through an intensive workshop, complete with realistic role-plays where the focus is on the issues and concerns that could face them.

Being caught in a crisis isn’t fun, but learning how to handle it can be. Many of our clients comment that, although they initially were hesitant to put themselves on the “hot seat” during the training, they found our methods to be non-threatening and even enjoyable. Even more important, clients feel much more confident that they could handle themselves better in the glare of the media spotlight during an actual crisis when so much is riding on their ability to convey the right messages in a positive way.

With JCH Enterprises on your side, you have:

Judy Hoffman’s “in-the-trenches” experience—a veteran who spent 17 years as corporate spokesperson for a chemical manufacturer;
an accepting and supportive environment where managers learn from each other;
the instructor’s complete familiarity with the issues and concerns of companies which handle hazardous materials (particularly chemical companies);
a course that is custom designed to your company, regardless of industry; and
a fee that won’t be a crisis to manage.

Click here for a listing of past clients and what they have to say about this training.

Closely linked to the subject of crisis management is the topic of how to deal with angry people. If you don’t handle one angry person, upset with you or your organization for some reason, it can escalate to negative coverage in the media. And if your organization has experienced something negative, the media coverage can result in a lot of angry people.

On the topics of dealing with the media and handling angry people, JCH Enterprises not only conducts workshops, but also provides keynote speeches. The company offers consulting on community relations issues (see Case Studies) and one-on-one coaching of executives. Judy Hoffman, founder of JCH Enterprises has produced two major products which have been highly acclaimed. (Click on the images for more information.)

To contact Judy click here

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