On my web site, there has been a section entitled "Contest: Rate Yourself as a Crisis Manager." The deadline was today, June 30th. I was pleased to see a good number of people enter the contest, willing to test their knowledge and skills in the crisis management arena.

First, let me say thank you to all those who entered. Everyone who took a stab at it did very well, with eight people getting all of the multiple choice questions correct, thereby putting themselves in the running for the prize package of books and CD's. From among those eight, I had to make judgments on whose answers to the hypothetical crisis situations I posed were the most on target (at least to my way of thinking). I couldn't make up my mind between two of these folks, so decided to send them both a prize package. Congratulations to Rick Manugian, a Public Information Officer for the Department of Ecology for Washington State and John Shepherd, one of the managers from PVS Chemicals who took my workshop earlier this year!

As I looked over the entries, I noticed that, of those who got one or two answers wrong, almost all of them missed the same question. See how you would have answered this:

"When the local TV camera crew shows up in the lobby or at your front gate when a crisis has broken, you - the designated spokesperson -- should:

a. Let them try to figure out how to get in touch with you so you can have more time to figure out your answers;

b. In order to demonstrate your responsiveness and wish to cooperate, go out and greet them personally and start answering their questions as best you can;

c. Send a representative out to meet them and escort them to the Media Center, get them coffee, and assure them someone will be there to speak to them as quickly as possible."

Many people chose "b." Perhaps it is my fault. I have emphasized so often in my writings and workshops that it is important to be cooperative with the media that many of the contest entrants (and maybe you!) went overboard with it. The fact of the matter is that it will probably work against you in the long run if you go out to meet them before you have had a chance to find out what has really happened and organized your thoughts to make an intelligent initial statement. You would find yourself bouncing around like a ping-pong ball as more and more members of the media arrived. You'd probably forget whom you told what. As the story developed (which tends to happen quickly, especially in the beginning), you might find that you'd told one reporter something early on that later turned out not to be the whole truth. When reporters compared notes, your messages would likely sound inconsistent. That could be the start of big trouble -- an indication that perhaps you were not being truthful. Once you've lost your credibility, you've dug yourself a big hole.

"C" is the best choice. This presumes that you have, in your pre-crisis planning, established where a Media Center would be. It need not be anything fancy - a room big enough for the reporters to congregate in that is convenient so that the spokesperson can shuttle back and forth between it and where the Crisis Management Team is meeting to discuss what they have discovered about the incident. You should be polite hosts, offering the assembled media coffee/tea/soda, access to rest rooms, something of interest for them to read while they wait (company brochure, bios of spokespeople/head officials), etc. Your designee who leads them to the room and checks on them periodically should be a nice person who can assure them that someone who can brief them will be there within a reasonable amount of time - no more than a half hour. Then someone who can provide them with the basic information that can be verified so far should BE there within that time period to provide a briefing. If the situation is still developing, you can say, "That's all I know right now. I will find out more information for you and I'll be back as soon as I can."

So you SHOULD be cooperative with the media. But remember that you must know what your messages are before you start talking to them. Taking a few minutes to put your head together with a few other Crisis Management Team members to figure out the best ways to report what is going on will be time well spent!

Don't let the press stampede you into talking too early. But neither should you make them wait too long. It is sometimes a difficult balancing act, but it's important that you get it right!

Until next month...KEEP COOL!

Copyright (C) 2004 JCH Enterprises

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