"Practice, practice, practice!": Your best defense in a crisis

Our latest Comms In Question panelists agreed: when it comes to Crisis Communications the best advice is to be prepared and stay prepared.

In our most recent episode, Canada’s Crises of 2023 and their Lessons for the Year Ahead, Anne Marie Aikins asked panelists to talk about the government issues, personnel scandals and emergency response missteps that had communicators scrambling this year.

Our guests gave their expert crisis-management insights on everything from the Greenbelt scandal to ransomware attacks and municipal preparedness during last summer’s unprecedented forest fires. If you didn’t catch it live, you can watch the recording here:

Here are the three things professional communicators need to do ahead of a crisis:

1. “Lay the Track Before You Drive the Train”

Global News’ Colin D’Mello brought up this excellent point. He said some crises are avoidable if communicators spend time pre-positioning big news.

In discussing the Ford Government’s Greenbelt scandal, D’Mello said the plan itself could have been defensible because it promised community benefits beyond housing that would come at no cost to taxpayers. However, the public has never heard about these benefits because the communications around this project were rushed, inconsistent, and failed to “lay the track” with the public.

At Curious Public, we know all about the need for pre-positioning – especially with development and major capital projects. Because these projects disrupt neighbourhoods, block roads, and can raise environmental concerns, they take a bit of extra prep work.

As Colin pointed out, “The Ford government didn’t do any of that pre-positioning work [on the Greenbelt changes] and found itself moving way too quickly, [which] raised a lot of suspicion and questions and has now landed [them] in an RCMP investigation.”
Without laying the track first, the government was always playing defence.

2. Plan for Proactivity and Practice It

Charles Finlay has said it before, and he said it again in our discussion: A cybersecurity crisis is not a matter of if but when.

This year, several organizations have fallen victim to cyber incidents – Indigo Music&Books, Canadian hospitals, and most recently, the Toronto Public Library, which won’t be fully recovered until the new year. Today’s communications professionals need a proactive crisis plan that includes responses to cyber threats and breaches.

You don’t want to be in a position where you’re working on this in the middle of the night after you hear from your Chief Technology Officer that this is happening to your organization.”

Finlay, the Executive Director of Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, gives this advice regularly to the many organizations and communications teams that rely on the Catalyst to equip them with cyber preparedness.

“Communications is a critical part of your breach response plan,” said Charles. “You have to know what you are going to tell to which stakeholders in which order. And that needs to be done now – not later. You don’t want to be in a position where you’re working on this in the middle of the night after you hear from your Chief Technology Officer that this is happening to your organization.”

Communicators need their key messages drafted, contact information updated, and the crisis comms rollout framework set before a cyber emergency hits. Finlay also emphasizes that a cyber crisis communications plan – like any crisis comms plan – needs to be continually practiced.

3. Bring in Help

Logan Ross, Senior Vice President of Communications and Campaigns with government relations agency Counsel Public Affairs, advised building capacity during moments of crisis.

Ross has worked with organizations of all sizes throughout her career in crisis communications. She’s learned that everybody needs outside support when going through a crisis or emergency response. Her advice to communications professionals: bring in help.

“Even if you are a communications professional,” says Ross, “if you are the centre, or a crisis is happening that impacts your workplace, your colleagues, your livelihood, your reputation, it’s really hard to be calm, cool and collected. So if you need to hire outside people to bring in that calm and perspective to help you and your organization get through it, don’t hesitate to do that.”

“If you are the centre, or a crisis is happening that impacts your workplace, your colleagues, your livelihood, your reputation, it’s really hard to be calm, cool and collected. So if you need to hire outside people to bring in that calm and perspective to help you and your organization get through it, don’t hesitate to do that.”

Seconds matter when an emergency hits. So, if your department is smaller in size, unpracticed, or unprepared for an emergency, we urge you to make crisis communications a focal point of your new year. And if you’re feeling ready to respond but want an outside eye or help set up your next teamwide emergency response drill, we’re here to help.

Check out our full conversation to learn more.

Thank you again to our panelists, Colin D’Mello, Charles Finlay and Logan Ross.