By Steve Wilson
"In the chemical industry, it's a major myth to think that nothing catastrophic will ever happen at my plant," says Daniel Hicks, public affairs manager for Rohm & Haas in Louisville, Kentucky. In reality, he says there are two types of chemical plants: "One type has had a serious emergency. The other is going to have a serious emergency."
The same goes for almost any industry today. No one is immune. Crises are non-discriminatory. They don't care who gets in the way. It's not a matter of "if," in most cases, but simply "when." Putting blinders on and pretending crises only happen to other organizations won't make them go away.
A few years ago, a chemical engineer from Illinois was participating in a group crisis management workshop involving a scenario in which a plant worker is killed in a freak accident. He was convinced the scenario was impossible and could never happen. But that same day, during a break in the training, he found out an accident had taken place at his plant and a worker was killed.
It was a freak accident. The worker was using a long pole to unload a carload of chemicals when suddenly the pole came in contact with an overhead power line. It was one of those accidents that should never have happened. The reality, however, was that it did.
The reality is that regular training and realistic drills are essential components in managing a real crisis. The chemical industry may have been one of the first to look at crisis management as a critical tool for running a business. Chemical company executives generally take such training very seriously. They know all too well what can happen if they don't.
Unfortunately, it is myth to think an organization is totally prepared to handle whatever a crisis can throw at them. No degree of training and no crisis plan by itself is a guarantee for survival in a major crisis.
"Even the best of crisis plans are no assurance you can handle a crisis," says Peter Loscocco, manager of Public Affairs for Columbus-based Hexion Specialty Chemical, Inc. "Many of those bulky crisis plans detailing every step of how to handle a crisis are virtually useless."
Losocco adds, "Crises rarely go by the book and in a real crisis, there's not enough time to read the book anyway."
That's not to say that crisis plans aren't an important planning tool. They are. The process of drafting a comprehensive crisis plan helps identify potential disasters and possible organizational weaknesses before a crisis ever takes place.
But even the best crisis plan should be thought of as just part of a crisis management strategy, not a substitute for one. It's not a replacement for regular training and drilling.
In the case of Rohm & Haas in Louisville, says Hicks, "We have solid plans in place, we hold regular drills, and we practice using table top drills. Our managers have been trained in how to respond to reporters. And we have a full time person to deal with communications." But, he asks, "Does all this make us well prepared? No one can be prepared for any situation at any time of the day."
That's why crisis management training not only needs to be realistic, but also challenging. It should include the twists and turns that will ultimately be part of a real crisis. It needs to include the totally unexpected. About the only thing you can count on in a real crisis is that nothing will happen the way you expect it to.
And while most plans look at emergencies such as fires, explosions, recalls or labor strikes, crisis managers today need to look beyond what you might define as "the ordinary." Crisis managers today have to rely on their training, skills and instincts to do and say the right thing, no matter what kind of emergency they face.
Asks Hicks: "How would we handle a disgruntled employee who begins shooting coworkers indiscriminately? What if a car bomber tries to crash the gate on Kentucky Derby Day? How would we handle a wide spread chemical release that made people feel ill, creating a panicked dash for hospitals instead of sheltering in place? What if our crisis was the arrest of our plant manager? We can never be prepared for every possibility and every wrinkle. What we can be prepared for is to make good decisions on the fly."
"I think that it is virtually impossible to think of every scenario and/or worst case," observes Stephen M. Shivinsky, vice president for Corporate Communications and Public Relations for Michigan-based Trinity Health and an expert on crisis management strategies. "At some point, you have to conclude that you've done your best - and then still be prepared for a surprise. I think planning for that unanticipated event or consequence of an action is the trickiest part of the crisis planning."
One of the biggest myths today is that you can put a good spin even on the worst of stories. It may sound good in a textbook or classroom, but in real life, it doesn't work that way. No amount of public relations can make a bad situation look good, at least not for long. Reporters can see through that type of propaganda and so can the public.
You're much better off to face the music from the very beginning. Tell it fast, but tell it straight. You can let people know of your concerns and what you're doing. But stick to the facts. Don't speculate, don't exaggerate and don't minimize the situation.
One of the harsh realities in dealing with crisis communications is that you don't have the luxury of time to get out your message. You may well have to face the news media long before you think you're ready.
You may want to know every fact and detail before talking to the news media. But in a crisis, that might not be possible. Sometimes you have to move forward with very little information. And even though it might be uncomfortable to admit you don't know all the facts, it's better to deal with the media sooner than later.
Reporters are an impatient breed. If you aren't willing or ready to talk to them, the story moves on without you. It doesn't stop. That void you left by not talking to them will simply be filled by someone else. It may be one of your employees, a former employee or an upset neighbor, but they'll find someone to take your place. The first thing people hear on the news about your crisis is coming from someone else; someone who probably doesn't share your message.
And that happens every day. It happens because it's a reality that many chemical plants today have just one authorized spokesperson to deal with the news media in a crisis. Unfortunately, it is probably a myth to think that that "authorized" spokesperson will be ready, willing and able to talk with the news media when a crisis takes place. If there is one thing you can count on in a crisis it is that you can't count on anything. If you have just one authorized spokesperson, it's almost certain that that individual will either not be available that day, or will be so preoccupied with the crisis itself that he or she can't devote the time to talk to reporters in a timely fashion.
One of the strange phenomena in recent years is that companies are sending more and more of their people through media training, yet those people are still being told they aren't supposed to talk to the news media.
The point needs to be made perhaps more clearly that in today's world, you don't know who will be required to assume the role of company spokesperson. And, as a result, more and more people must be prepared to handle that role and handle it well.
That's why the rule of only one spokesperson, if not a myth completely, may at least be bad management.
In survey after survey over the past decade, students in our media training workshops have told us that their biggest fear of confronting the public or talking to the news media in a crisis is that they'll say the wrong thing, say something stupid and look bad...or worse, make their company look bad. Of course, in the back of your mind, there's always the possibility that you're going to say the wrong thing from a legal perspective.
Fitting somewhere between myth and reality are the legal repercussions managers face when dealing with the public and the news media during a crisis.
"If I talk to the media, anything I say even if it's an apology with no admission, will land me or the company in a court room. If I grant an interview, it will be broadcast 1,000 times in court and I will have opened the company's checkbook for endless claims," says Chuck Rice, former public affairs manager for Marathon Petroleum, Findlay, Ohio.
So how far do you go to avoid those legal actions down the road? Hexion's Loscocco says while legal plays an important role, it must be secondary to quick action to fix the problem and demonstrate to the community and the public that the organization is focused on the things that are important. When legal leads, organizational response tends to be overly cautious and maddeningly slow.
The bottom line, says Loscocco, is that you'll probably get sued anyway. How quickly and how well you respond, he says, may well dictate the size and scope of subsequent legal actions.
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