Murphy’s Law Brainstorming for Crisis Communications
Most brainstorming sessions are aimed at unearthing new ideas and figuring out ways to make improvements.
Yet if part of your job includes overseeing crisis communications, it’s worth considering a different kind of brainstorm – one in which your focus is on imagining the full range of emergencies, errors, catastrophes, and calamities that might befall your organization.
Sound like fun? Maybe not, but this exercise can be an essential part of making sure you’re ready when an inevitable crisis does emerge. Preparation is the foundation of any successful crisis communication plan.
The prompt for your brainstorming session is a variation on Murphy’s Law: "Anything that can go wrong might go wrong."
There is truth to this law. There’s a harrowing range of issues that can arise and swiftly shift your organization into crisis mode. While not every scenario can be anticipated, the mere act of exhausting possibilities puts you in a better position to handle anything, while also helping identify any gaps in your approach.
Take a three-step approach to this brainstorm:
Ask the what ifs? Pull a trusted team together and brainstorm the full range of issues that could shift you into crisis mode -- a sudden unexpected leadership change, employee misconduct, a bad social media snafu, a petition that targets your organization, an unflattering media story…you get the point.
Create action plans: Once you have considered everything that could go wrong, map out the right way to address those issues. Group similar crises into buckets and create a high-level plan for each. This list should include key elements such as choosing the likely spokesperson, developing responses to anticipated media questions, and what factors would prompt you into proactive or reactive mode when it comes to the press.
Refine your process: The time to establish a crisis protocol is not amid a crisis. As part of your brainstorm, develop the logistics around executing your plan. That could include establishing a list of who should be immediately contacted if a crisis arises; who is responsible for specific tasks; what your communications review process will be; and the likely cascade of information to be shared with key stakeholders.
There’s no doubt that thinking about all the things that could go wrong can be unnerving. But it’s nothing compared to getting blindsided by a crisis without preparation or a plan.