BE PREPARED WHEN CRISIS HITS: PROTECTING YOUR REPUTATION IN A HYPER-CONNECTED WORLD

MODERN HEALTHCARE STRATEGIC MARKETING CONFERENCE:AHEAD OF THE CURVEOCTOBER 29, 2015

Protecting Reputation is Paramount

It takes 20 years to build a

reputation and five minutes to

ruin it. If you think about that,

you’ll do things differently.

Warren Buffett

A lie can travel halfway

around the world while

the truth is still putting

on its shoes.

Mark Twain

Thousands of employees

know me only by

reputation, so in a real

sense, my reputation is

everything.

David Pottruck

Former CEO, Charles Schwab

Our Hyper-Connected World Has Changed the Crisis Communications Landscape• A crisis can start anywhere and can quickly spread everywhere

• An issue can rapidly spread through interconnected channels unlike anything we have witnessed or experienced in the past

• Potential risk factors: negative media coverage, breach of private patient information, patient complaints, etc.

• All of these issues will live forever online in search engines

• We only have one reputation – it is not segmented by city, state, country or business unit

• The likelihood that an organization will face a game-changing crisis has risen by more than 400% in the last decade

Trust Can Help Protect Reputation

VS.

Building TrustThe Best Way to Prepare for a Crisis

Timeless Principles of Crisis Management

• View every issue as an opportunity

• Be proactive – prepare as if a challenge or crisis is inevitable

• Respect the new 24-hour news/140-character Twitter cycle

• Be transparent, and be true to your core principles

• Control the information flow – circumvent the media filter and communicate directly to key stakeholders

• Expand the echo chamber by engaging credible third parties

• Take responsibility for actions; be willing to make changes until you have addressed the problem

7

Timeless Principles of Crisis Management

• How you respond to a crisis is often more important than the precipitating event – everything is magnified during a crisis

• Don’t try to minimize the situation or manipulate the facts

• Establish yourself as a reliable source of credible information – communicate what you are doing to fix the problem, but balance speed with accuracy

• Start with heart: empathize with communities/individuals impacted and be sensitive to public sentiment; show you care, show you “get it”

• Put the right face on the company and your response

Stress test the core crisis team’s capacity to respond to a specific scenario with multiple escalations in severity; assess response and identify areas of improvement

Conduct an extensive training with the core crisis communications team identified during earlier phases of preparation to ingrain familiarity with the protocols

Map out triggers that push the organization from a reactive to a proactive communication posture to minimize hectic decision-making during an actual crisis

Develop scenario-specific plans to manage high risk and high impact situations identified in the preparedness audit; plans include both sample materials and adapted protocols

Conduct a comprehensive assessment of current reputational risks and the organization’s capacity to respond to a crisis situation

Develop a single protocols document that clearly explains the process for crisis management, members of the crisis response team, and how to escalate involvement to senior management

SCENARIOPLANNING

ENGAGEMENTTRIGGERS

PROTOCOLSTRAINING

SIMULATIONPREPAREDNESSAUDIT

PROTOCOLSDEVELOPMENT

Preparing for a CrisisA crisis is not the time for original thinking

ORGANIZATION + GOVERNANCE – Organize to proactively manage crisis and issues• Ensure leadership support for proactive crisis and issues management• Define a clear owner for crisis and issues management within the organization• Identify team members and their roles and responsibilities• Establish governance structures for who should write, review and approve key

messages before they are externally communicated

• Develop a crisis and issues management plan, shared physically and electronically for ease of access. This plan should include a regularly updated set of talking points, holding statements, Q&As, backgrounders and other key documents that will help facilitate fast response times in a crisis situation

• Establish a global 24-hour centralized monitoring and tracking system to identify crisis and issues early in their evolution. Monitoring must include media, social media and key regulatory platforms. Ideally, monitoring would also incorporate intelligence from operations, finance and customer relations

• Identify a list of outside influencers who can be called on for support in media

PROCESS + TOOLS – Implement an end-to-end crisis and issues management process

Managing a CrisisIssues and crisis management is not a function but a mindset

• Provide table-top crisis and issues training to all members of the crisis team• Conduct post-mortem issue and crisis response sessions to identify and implement

lessons learned• Engage the whole organization in understanding the value of crisis and issues

management

TALENT + CULTURE – Position crisis and issues management as a core strategic function and build capability across the organization

Managing a CrisisIssues and crisis management is not a function but a mindset

ESTABLISHSTRATEGY

DEVELOPMATERIALS

COMMUNICATE REFINE

Conduct regular monitoring of media and other stakeholders

Update strategy based on updates from team, stakeholders, etc.

Activate response according to protocol

Immediately correct inaccuracies in media

Develop content: messaging, Q&As, statements, backgrounders

Gain approval on materials

Coordinate logistics to activate response

Determine response strategy and messages for each stakeholder group

ACTIVATE TEAM

Notify appropriate internal teams and management

Begin monitoring media

ASSESSISSUE

Gather all relevant information and internal and external experts

Evaluate and escalate according to risk and potential impact

Operating in a CrisisThe First 12 Hours

Key Considerations to Remember

Final Thoughts• Crisis/issues management isn’t an exact science.

• Even if you do your best, it can always get worse—for reasons that may be beyond your control.

• That being said, good crisis/issues management boils down to a combination of good instincts and proper preparedness.

Preparing for the WorstCrisis: Botulism

Modern Healthcare Strategic Marketing Conference

Oct. 29, 2015

Who is Fairfield Medical Center?

Botulism: Quick Overview

Quick Overview

An Inside Perspective

Photo Source: Fairfield County Emergency Management Agency

An Inside Perspective

The Story of Botulism• Leadership, Board,

Staff• Media, Facebook,

Twitter• Picked up

internationally• 71 tracked stories • Nearly 80,000

views

Preparing – Before the Crisis Hits• Crisis Communication Plan• Emergency Preparedness Training• Media Training for Senior Leadership• High-Level Organization Messaging– Build trust and be transparent.

Key Things – Before the Crisis Hits• Longevity, longevity, longevity.• Take a step back to get it right – and

approved.• Focus on your role.

Key Things – Amidst a Crisis• Communicate with your

communicators and senior leadership team.

The Devil is in the Details• Out-of-office for every team member• Halt scheduled communications• Real-time comprehensive log of all

communications

The Devil is in the Details• What will you need to do your job?

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to

fail.

~Benjamin Franklin

Angela Morrisonangela@a-zcreative.com

Strategy // Content // Design