Is it "crisis management" — or the new normal?

A problem hits.  Leaders huddle.  What do we do about the problem?  And what do we tell people about the problem and what we're doing about it?

In today's social media environment, delay is seen as lying—or, at best, figuring out how to spin.  A group of leaders basically has a few minutes to figure out what to do.  Which really means they need to have figured out options well in advance so they can use those few minutes to pick one to use.

This used to be the sole domain of crisis management, and the end goal was preparing a crisis management plan.  But now, in everyday matters as well, standards for speed of response and transparency are higher than ever.  If you have a well-oiled communications engine, you'll be ready for both crises and quick relationship opportunities.  This article from Listed nails it: "The more places and ways in which people can find you, the more ways you can influence or ensure you're a part of the conversation."

If you don't know if you're ready, you're probably not.   So where are your lists of:

• The types of things you can say immediately and the types of things you can't
• Who can go out—live, right now—and start responding
• The internal and external channels you always want to use
• Places where you'll be able to do real-time measurement of impact
• Who's on your quick-response team as you proceed (Legal, PR, HR, Marketing)

Or you could just wait a while and see what happens...

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