Organizations in crisis need to communicate immediately because communicating immediately usually makes the crisis shorter-lasting and less severe. If an organization does not respond to a crisis quickly, the crisis will response itself changes the crisis. An organization's initial response to a crisis may change the crisis itself. A proper crisis response will always lead to better result, whereas an inadequate response can always guarantees worse result. For example, Toyota's safety issues were focused on the cars themselves at beginning. However, Toyota does not respond to this safety crisis quickly that cause the coverage quickly shifted to Toyota's poor handling of the crisis and management problems. Toyota's mistake was thinking about the safety issue only as an engineering problem rather than a management problem. This mistake cause Toyota faced the loss from its sales and harm its brand image. The failure of crisis communication cause Toyota needs to spend several years to rebuild its brand image. If Toyota can respond this safety crisis rapidly and properly, it can minimize the damage from this crisis. Furthermore, effective communication during the crisis can help an organization to mitigate the crisis successfully.
According to our textbook, the following eight steps must to be taken while communicating during a crisis. The first step, you have to get control the situation as soon as possible. As a manager, you need to define the problems and set measurable communication objectives for handling possible problems. Secondly, gather as much information as possible is very important while facing a crisis. Managing information effectively can make a company to deal with the crisis quickly. Third, managers should set up a centralized crisis management center while communicating during the crisis. Organizations should offer a comfortable location for media to use during the crisis and all communications about the crisis should come from this platform. Next, managers need to avoid silence and delayed responses. Organizations should communicate with all constituencies as soon as possible in order to deal with the crisis because the rapid responses to the problems can minimize the damage from the crisis. Fifthly, understanding the role of the media and media’s mission in a crisis can help an organization to deal with the crisis successfully. Managers must understand that using the media effectively can help an organization beat the crisis. Sixthly, companies should consider which constituencies are top priorities and communicate directly with them. Communicating directly with affected constituencies can increase the efficiency of communication during the crisis. Seventhly, the business must go on despite the crisis. Managers should remember that business must continue when they face the crisis. Finally, managers need to make plans to avoid another crisis immediately. After the crisis, the corporate executives need to work with managers to ensure that an organization will be better prepared for the next crisis. Effective preparation is the key to handling crises successfully in future.
