One thought: Bridges

On the one hand, a ship losing power and a collapsed bridge in another country is a horrible situation, but a tragedy that you can only watch from afar in dismay. The unsettling, but familiar feeling of being able to do nothing about an awful situation. On the other hand, do you have a plan for what you would do in your own crisis scenario? No doubt, many companies are thinking about their own crisis plans today.

I thought Halifax Harbour Bridges did a good job of reassuring its customers that its two toll bridges were safe. It put out a statement yesterday, offering first information, then condolences, then no fewer than 11 proof points outlining why the Baltimore scenario is unlikely to happen there. They proactively answered the question that every news outlet was asking yesterday - could this happen here? More than that, it signaled to their customers and partners that they’ve thought this through, they regularly re-evaluate the worst-case scenarios and you should feel reassured by their expertise.

We recently spent the day with a team from a mining company in the GTA doing a crisis communications planning and media training session. As you can imagine they have extensive, redundant crisis plans - but they realized that the communications side of that plan could use a little work. Together we worked through how to respond when something happens. When do we speak publicly, who says it, what do we say to our staff - our customers - our stakeholders, how do we communicate with them, where do we say it, what’s our approval process, what are the potential pitfalls when we’re speaking to the media in an urgent, sometimes chaotic situation?

Every scenario is somewhat unique but the processes in your organization for a crisis will be pretty consistent. And walking out the door with some custom holding messages and a nuts and bolts plan for who does what and when is something that will make you feel SO much better. This is one of those worries that lurks in the back of your mind but is usually overtaken by the urgent day-to-day work.
Let this bridge be the catalyst that gets you thinking about your own plan. Said another way - don’t let a good crisis go to waste.