What do you think of first when you think of a crisis? Floods, earthquakes, and fires?
For colleges, a crisis may not be due to environmental causes. While many colleges are prepared for a crisis of the natural kind, they are woefully ill-equipped for man-made disruptions.
Colleges often operate like little cities. They serve a wide variety of ages, from toddlers in campus schools to senior citizens. They have their own police force, housing, dining, employees, and infrastructure.
Thankfully, people like Scott Summerfield of SAE Communications can help. Since the 90s, he’s been helping city governments and other public and private communities handle communication during crises.
“Even with the increased prevalence of wildfires, they’re typically not an everyday thing,” says Scott. “A crisis of confidence, those people-caused things, are far more frequent, yet have the same ability to turn a college campus or a district upside-down immediately.”
Here are Scott’s best practices for crisis preparation and management and why cyberattacks should be on your radar.
What’s in a Crisis?
Man-made crises are the ones that tend to be the most damaging. Scott’s most difficult career moment came from managing an officer-involved shooting. He’s also experienced cyberattacks, whistleblower cases, and a mayor accused of harassment by multiple employees. In my career, I’ve dealt with embezzlement, sexual harassment, faculty votes of no confidence for the college President, and inappropriate touching at the school’s early childhood center.
During the preschool incident, I was the person in charge of communications. Unfortunately, I wasn’t informed of the incident until the police chief suggested that it should be disclosed to the other parents at the center. Thankfully, I had a good relationship with the police chief and he knew to call me. Before I was involved, the plan was to not disclose to parents — which would have led to the state shutting down the preschool!
Because of situations like this, Scott points out how important it is to have the communications team involved in higher decision-making from the start.
“You need a communication strategist with access to the President’s Cabinet, to senior leadership,” Scott explains. “Developing that relationship with the administration and leadership is essential.”
How to Handle a Crisis
Scott has seen it all in his 30 years of crisis management. Here’s what he recommends to help you rise to the occasion and build trust in your campus community. Like many things, it all starts with a good plan.
1. Assemble the team
Scott recommends that you come up with a chain of command. Who’s the first person responsible for communications? Who fills in if they’re unavailable? It never hurts to have a backup for your backup.
“Crises do not discriminate based on time. They always seem to happen when your lead communicator is either unavailable, about to be unavailable, or just not there,” says Scott. “Having a plan and a backup team in place can help things move along, even if you’re not there to manage them.”
Do you really need more than one person to handle it? According to Scott, yes. Media requests can be an onerous burden in a hectic period. It can be too much for one person to handle alone.
2. Make your own plan
No matter which kind of crisis you’re anticipating, make sure the plan is your own. It can be tempting to copy another college’s plan, but ultimately, that will leave you stranded at a critical moment.
“The reality is when you need it most, it’s going to be a useless document, because it doesn’t reflect your structure, the communications tools you have in place, or your staffing resources.” Scott says.
3. Maintain relationships with key players
In the preschool example, I was able to get clued into what was happening and thus help the college by having good relationships with others in the school community.
This is why a solid team is crucial for crisis management. The more communication there is between leadership and communicators before a crisis happens, the stronger the team will be in responding to it.
4. Legal is your friend
Many communicators shudder at the mention of calling in the attorneys. Despite often butting heads with a good PR strategy, they are your allies.
In general, I favor transparency in difficult situations, but there are many times where for legal reasons, you have to keep things quiet. Trust your legal team, and see how they can meet you in the middle.
Sometimes, things can get tied up in legal. It’s important to (respectfully) ask your lawyers to move with purpose. The longer things are ambiguous, the more rumors will circulate.
5. Prepare responses
A blanket statement isn’t going to be applicable for every situation, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.
Think through various crises and what kind of response might be needed as part of your crisis plan. Draft statements to send to legal for review.
It’s better to have something on hand to tweak in an urgent situation than nothing at all.
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A Word on Cyberattacks
Cyberattacks are becoming more common, but aren’t on many school’s radar for crisis management.
“All it takes is one faculty or staff member clicking on something that they shouldn’t, and all of a sudden, you’re in a world of hurt,” warns Scott.
Scott went through a cyberattack simulation at IBM, which demonstrated just how crippling an attack can be. ID badges might not work, classes can be interrupted, and even elevators can stop running.
As a college, it’s important to consider your vulnerabilities and work collaboratively with your IT department to figure out how to best protect against them.
Transparency and Timing
Through all communications during difficult times, it’s best to be as honest as you legally and tactfully can. Otherwise, the old adage of if you don’t control the message, the message will control you can come true.
This is especially true in the world of social media. If we hadn’t informed the other preschool parents about the incident, I have no doubt that some gossip about it would have ended up on Facebook or Nextdoor. And once it’s on the internet, it may as well be etched in stone.
“Today everything we say and do is recorded,” says Scott. “There is a camera or a mic on us 24/7. And our words live forever.”
Additionally, move as quickly as you sensibly can. Word spreads fast in today’s digital society. The sooner you can inform people, the quicker any rumors can be snuffed out.
This article is based on an episode of Higher Education Coffee & Conversation, a podcast featuring higher education experts to discuss trends in marketing, communications, advancement and student success. Subscribe via Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts so that you don’t miss future episodes!
