Genesis Communications

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Developing and managing relationships with your key publics are key to the long-term health of any organization.

Who are your publics?

Your publics are anyone or any group with which you relate. This can be customers, vendors, the media, government agencies, the general public, environmental groups, your employees or just about anyone.

The key to building and maintaining public support -- whether that means sales, getting a permit you may need or even getting a line of credit to buy needed equipment -- depends on your organization or company's public image.

Many companies and organizations believe -- very mistakenly -- that marketing and public relations are the same. They are not. Public relations is a art. It is not simply building sales. It requires a different skill set.  We can provide your company or organization professional public relations support. 

Developing the Crisis Inventory and Threat Matrix

By T.L. HEADLEY, MBA, MA, BA, AAMS
Principal, Genesis Communications

ONA, W.Va. – Two of the primary components of a good crisis communications plan are the development of a crisis inventory and its direct offshoot, the threat matrix.
What is a crisis inventory? What is a threat matrix? Why are they important?
A crisis inventory is the product of good research. It is essentially a list of every possible crisis your company or organizations could face. For example, a mining company could potentially face any or all of the following crises: fire or explosion trapping employees, death or injury of employees due to an accident or disaster, environmental problems, strikes, damage to the property of neighbors, layoffs or shutdowns of operations or perhaps shutdowns due to safety violations. Any one of these issues would pose major problems for the company and could be faced at any time, so it would be prudent for a company to develop a list of these issues as well as a plan to respond to each.
A threat matrix builds on the development of a crisis inventory. It is essentially analyzing each of the potential threats to determine whether the likelihood of its occurrence is high or low and whether the worst case threat to the company is high or low. Each threat is then assigned to one of four cells in a table: high likelihood and high threat, high likelihood and low threat, low likelihood and high threat or low likelihood and low threat. This allows you to prioritize your company planning so that as you move through your planning you identify and deal with the highest threat issues first.
Each step is essential in developing a good crisis communications plan. The first step, however, is the development of a good crisis inventory. How is this accomplished?
The answer to that is R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H.

You have to know your organization from the ground up. To gain this knowledge, the public relations specialist will study the organization, seek the information from employees, management, customers, suppliers, the general public and others.
A good public relations professional will conduct regular informational interviews with people from all areas and all levels of their organization, seek information from competitors, customers, suppliers and the public through direct research and through the various forms of media.
As for the internal components – employees and management – the public relations professional will use direct interviews, panel discussions and other tools. It is imperative that the people being interviewed or taking part in the panels understand that their input is only as good as their openness. You don’t want sugarcoating. You want them to tell you about any issues or problems they may see on or just over the horizon. The point is to identify potential crisis BEFORE they occur. Is there a part that is frequently breaking down? Does a miner have a concern about the way gases are building up inside the mine? Is an accountant worried about the way a budget is being developed or maintained at a subsidiary? Is field staff confronting angry residents in areas near the site?
People who are taking part in the interviews must be given anonymity. Information should be collected and used, not abused. Upper management should be aware that ethics and good business practices prohibit violations of the interviewee’s anonymity. Clearly, if this trust is broken, it will be difficult if not impossible to rebuild and the tool will be rendered useless.
These interviews should be conducted regularly – no less frequently than annually – as situations change. Also, interviewees should be selected to represent a cross-section of the organization – recent and veteran employees, high level executives and line workers, etc. In fact, it is advisable to establish a regular sampling technique if you are part of a large organization.
Also, keep in mind that you are developing a list. No concern is trivial at this stage. Keep track of everything. There is time later to vet the concerns identified at this point.
Once you have developed your list, it is time to develop the threat matrix.
Utilizing the example of the mining company and the primary potential threats it may face; we can easily develop a matrix.
• Fire or explosion trapping employees: Fires and explosions are relatively common in coal mines. It may be less likely that these incidents may trap employees. Therefore, this issue should be separated into those in which employees are trapped and those in which they are not. Those that do not trap employees could be put into the threat matrix as highly likely and a mid-level threat. Those that trap employees should be placed as somewhat less likely but a higher level threat.
• Death or injury of employees due to an accident or disaster: Death and injury are unfortunately somewhat common in mines. They will occur if they mine is in production long enough. It is just a question of when they will occur. Therefore, this should be placed in the matrix as of high likelihood and high threat.
• Environmental problems: Like death and injury, environmental issues are common. In fact, they are even more common than injuries. Whether it is the spill of black mine drainage into area streams or a mudslide caused by heavy rains on a bare mountainside, the result is environmental violations. These can potentially close a company down and cost millions of dollars in fines and remediation costs. As a result, these should be listed as high likelihood and high threat.
• Strikes: Again, strikes occur. While they now occur less frequently and are somewhat more limited in scope, they continue to pose a threat to mining companies. These situations should be listed as mid-likelihood and mid/high potential threat.
• Damage to the property of neighbors: Like environmental issues, damage will occur to neighboring property. Whether it is cracks in foundations or walls from subsidence, violent shaking due to explosions, damage from mudslides or flooding, dried up wells or even damage or injury from rocks and debris from mining operations, these events occur and occur in various frequencies. Each of these types of potential occurrences should be considered separately and assigned to the matrix.
• Layoffs or shutdowns of operations or perhaps shutdowns due to safety violations: Complete shutdowns or layoffs of employees occur far less frequently than shutdown due to safety or environmental violations. Complete shutdowns or layoffs could be listed as low likelihood and high potential threat. Temporary layoffs and shutdowns due to environmental or safety violations occur must more frequently and can cost millions in lost production, therefore they should be high likelihood and high potential threat.
Any company or organization faces its own list of potential threats. Of course, if you take a look at issues faced by your current and former competitors, organizations in similar industries, you can quickly begin developing a broad inventory. But it is important to realize that each company or organization is unique and faces unique issues. Mining companies operating in southern West Virginia face different issues than those operating in the Powder River Basin. DuPont faces different issues than Dow.
Once the crisis inventory is complete and the components assigned to a threat matrix, the next step in developing a crisis communications plan is P.R.E.P.A.R.A.T.I.O.N. Components of preparation include identification and development of a crisis communications team, training, development of possible responses, strategies and tools.