Anecdotes and war stories account for much of our learning in public relations. Nothing wrong with that. Yet, a wealth of research-based knowledge exists to validate (or not) tales of “how I won the war” (or didn’t).
Take crisis management and communications. Dr. Tim Coombs of Eastern Illinois University has produced a major baseline paper that synthesizes this knowledge, richly linked to the original sources. He reviews best practices from pre-crisis to post-crisis.
“While crises begin as a negative/threat, effective crisis management can minimize the damage and in some case allow an organization to emerge stronger than before the crisis,” writes Coombs.
The paper, “Crisis Management and Communications,” is available free on the Institute website. Your feedback?
I cannot think of a single time when Dix & Eaton assisted a client facing a crisis or another organization that had sought our help because of a crisis when research did not play a significant role. When a crisis arises, there are several departments that we immediately alert within Dix & Eaton, and research is always first. We’ve helped a number of organizations in high-stakes situations – Sago Mine explosion, Northwest Airlines mechanics strike, Roadway when the Oscars were stolen and many others. Research was critical to knowing how to respond, but perhaps more so, how every other audience would respond. One of the most important points made in this paper is one that we can never forget – it is imperative to respond quickly and these days almost immediately, or you may lose control of the situation and if that occurs, you may never get it back. I will be sure to share this paper with our research, crisis and media relations departments at Dix & Eaton.