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No one wants to require crisis communication services, but a crisis communication management plan can be invaluable when the proverbial "stuff" hits the fan.

Developing your crisis communication plan involves various factors that work together to build a strong defense against whatever an emerging crisis can throw at your organization.

It's been said time and again, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. To avoid failing at navigating a crisis, your planning needs to be intentional and your management needs to be solid.

Keeping the following five fundamental crisis communication building blocks in mind will help you successfully navigate any situation, large or small, that arises.

1. Start with team-building

Not every person on your team is cut out to manage a crisis. By building the strongest, most capable team, you can secure a formidable defense against emerging crises.

Pay close attention to whom you invite to your crisis management team, and carefully evaluate the strengths of each team member. If you have someone on your team adept at handling the media, recognizing that strength by putting that person on your crisis communication team shows good leadership and delegation ability.

Any response to a crisis should be discussed within the team before being settled on. There should be no risk of a team member's "going rogue" and responding to the crisis independently instead of following the plan. The members of your crisis communication team should be levelheaded and known for their ability to clearly evaluate a situation, and they should be great team players.

2. Plan to fail

Crises, whether large or small, can happen to anyone. If you believe your organization is immune, you're fooling yourself. Ignoring the potential for crisis ensures that one will blindside you, and without a team in place, your organization will be completely unprepared to navigate the crisis successfully.

Although planning to fail—i.e., planning for a crisis—may seem a "glass half empty" approach, it really isn't. Planning for a crisis is confronting the reality of living and working in the real world—especially one connected to social media and everything that entails.

Information travels around the world in the blink of an eye, and it can be challenging to rein in damaging information once it hits the Internet.

3. Create lists and fact sheets

Successful planning for a crisis takes research, list-making and fact-sheet-building. Using situations other organizations may have encountered as a blueprint, an effective crisis management team should create lists of questions that may be asked amid a crisis situation..

When a crisis occurs, response time is critically important. Having lists and fact sheets already created will allow an organization to respond to situations quickly, without fumbling.

4. Establish clear guidelines

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Five Tips for Managing Crisis Communications

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Josh Wilson

Josh Wilson is a publicist at OtterPR, a PR strategy and tactics company. He has 10+ years of public relations and crisis communication experience.

LinkedIn: Josh Wilson