Nereida (Neddy) Perez

D&I Creative Solutions

Neddyperez@dicreativesolutions.com

Phone: 832-216-8836

Neddy’s Background

Gender/Race/Brand Crisis

Blizzards, Supplier

Diversity & Cultural

Integration

Hurricanes & Work

Stoppages

Company Shut Down &

FL Department of Labor

Gender and Cultural Integration

University of Florida

Native American Protests

About You

Haw many of have dealt with a corporate crisis?

How many of you know your company’s crisis management plan?

How many of you serve on a Crisis Management Team?

Haw many of you are part of ethics and compliance teams?

Our Objectives:

Understand what constitutes a crisisplan

Learn the components of building a plan

Not just tell but work on real scenarios

Become part of Crisis Planning Team or build one

Walk away with a Crisis Plan Checklist

Co-create Action Plans

What this session is not about:

How to engage and deal with employees who have lived through a crisis

EAP

Mary Frances

Mark Fowler

Howard Ross

Why prepare for a Crisis

If you haven’t

experienced a crisis yet

you will.

The question is will you be

ready to maneuver

through it?

Is your company ready?

What is a Crisis?

Any situation that puts employees in

harms way

Any financial situation that causes a

negative spike in the stock

Any situation that results in an

investigation of the company (i.e. safety

violations, immigration audit, fine of

business operations by a federal

organization.

Types of Crisis

•Loss of Life

• Injury/Accident

•Damage to equipment

Safety Compromises

•Loss of life

•Loss of property

• Impact to business operations

Natural DisasterGovernment Decision &

ImpactExtreme Human Action

•Loss of Credibility

•Financial Impact

Corporate Decision Goes Array

• Federal,

International

Legislation may

impact your

ability to

operate

• Can include:

tampering,

shoot out,

endangerment

of life

• Class action

lawsuits from

clients or

employees

How Leaders May React to a Crisis

Key Components of Traditional

New Approach is on

Risk Reduction & Prevention

Crisis situations have increased

by more than 300 percent

over the last 5 years.

More and more crisis have a

diversity component:

• Religious persecution

• Gender Orientation

• Race Focuses

• Gender Focused (India)

• Safety from a Diversity

Lens (Fox Industries)

Typical Crisis Management Committee

• CEO/COO or CFO (Executive

Sponsor)

• General Council

• Public Relations/

Communications Leader

• Marketing

• Safety/Security

• Human Resources

• Information Technology

• Investor Relations

• Diversity & Inclusion

Components of a Crisis Plan

Identification of Scenarios

• This should include evacuations; active shooter; natural disaster; etc.

Assessment Checklist

• Checklist of all key points that should be covered

Spokes-person ID

•Communications Leader

•Subject Matter Expert (Plant, Operations, D&I)

•Executive (CEO/COO/CFO/ General Council)

Communications Plan

•Speaking points

•Relevant Fact Sheets

•Controlled photo release if possible

•Press Release

•Social Media Plan

Know & Prep Your Leader

It is important to know your

leaders’ styles under stress

Understand their comfort with

media

Understand the degree of

prepping needed

Identify spokes people in your

organization based on specialty

and the issues to be address as

well as the severity of the situation

Crisis Scenario Planning

• An out growth of wanting to be

prepared.

• Practice sessions designed to test

your systems and resources for

readiness

• Critical to come up with

scenarios that are relevant to you

company

• Practice doesn’t makes perfect

There is NO Perfect Scenario.

Just gets you comfortable

with being uncomfortable.

Role of D&I Leader

• Review scenarios from a diversity

angle (i.e. how evacuate people

with disability)

• Come up with potential scenarios

• Areas to influence:

• Who is the spokesperson to

what community

• Is messaging multi-lingual

• Is the media training

culturally sensitive

External Relations is not a Fix All

Some organizations may try to increase positive media impressions by leveraging community relations.

Short term fix - if you don’t address key challenges

Need to align with broader strategy of the organization and values

Engage employees as advocates locally, national, globally

Leverage modern social media to come up with creative solutions (i.e. #Hashtag, hackathons, crow source ideas to find a solution (Quirky))

Real World Cases - Action Studies

Review case study

Designate a recorder

Designate a speaker

Use Check List to come up with action steps and recommendations

D&I Crisis Plan TemplateAction Item Process

Owner

Key Message Communications

Vehicle

Resources

Needed

Sign-off/

Approvals

Key Messages

Who is

communicating

What are the

diversity angles to

be considered

How are we going

to engage a

conversation

internally

How do we create

a space for

people to cope

emotionally and

intellectually with

the disaster.

What the post actions we are taking

What are we doing for families

How are we incorporating cultural sensitivity into messaging

Questions