People who need people
Why is it difficult for organizations to properly weigh the costs and benefits of public communication in a crisis? A common observation from attending exercises; organizations can spend more money on food at one exercise than they spend on crisis communication preparedness for an entire year. Countless sums of money are invested in response tools, […]
Where’s the beef?
Does your organization have a vision for effective crisis communication? How would you rate your organization’s readiness for effective crisis communication? Like the old Wendy’s advertisement, do you see any beef, or is it all hot air? Let’s take some quick measurements: Do you have the staff resources you need to do communicate in a […]
What DO crisis communicators do?
What Crisis Communicators do When you’re in a social setting and someone asks you what you do for a living, how do you answer? How do they react to your answer? It’s ironic that communicators often have difficulty explaining what we do. Our words always seem to end up interpreted as ‘You’re a flack’, or […]
Canaries in coal mines?
What does a canary in a coal mine have to do with communications? It highlights a pernicious problem communication pros deal with: Communication and communicators often aren’t given the respect and position they deserve. In December of 1986, a decades-old tradition ceased. Since the early 1900s, canaries had joined men in their descent into the […]
Welcome to Communicators’ Corner
For almost 20 years, I’ve observed well intentioned and highly trained professional communicators consistently face challenges in providing effective crisis communication. I’m convinced that the issue isn’t our knowledge or training in the craft; it is understanding the dynamics we work under and how we can be more prepared by understanding the arena in which […]