Crisis Management Plan Outline
Following is an outline of a crisis management plan that NTA members can use to develop their own plan.
Plan Outline:
Opening Session
Begin the plan with a call-to-action in the event of a declaration of war, terrorism activity or military conflict. This opening section should designate your Command Center (or gathering place) so crisis team leaders know where to immediately gather.
At this opening session, all team leaders will share information they have, the situation is assessed and a statement is reviewed and finalized for distribution, if necessary. During this assessment, you should determine if you "own" the crisis. In other words, is the crisis directly affecting your company and your business.
Also, the team will review the plan's lists of Immediate Actions, Possible Situations and Related Actions, and Related Needs/Actions to make adjustments and assignments as the situation warrants.
Organizational Structure
The plan should designate your official spokespeople. It's imperative to have official spokespeople designated so your messages are kept clear, consistent and relevant.
Outline the specific teams and the leaders and members of each. For example:
- Crisis Coordination Team (oversight of the crisis)
- Media/External Communications
- Internal Communications (staff/members/general inquiries)
- Government Relations (due to the nature of this crisis, NTA felt it was important to have government relations expertise within its crisis team)
General Tips
Next in the plan, outline general tips for responding in crisis situations. These could include:
- Remain calm. As leaders it is our primary responsibility to set an example of strength and fortitude despite what is happening around us.
- Responses to any audience should be honest, timely and direct.
- Understand the impact of time. With the immediacy of electronic media, people will quickly know of a crisis. Therefore, we have little time to make a statement.
- Understand that people react differently in a crisis. Be prepared to react differently yourself or to observe others reacting with difficulty to the situation. Be understanding of yourself and others in their response.
- It's important to be working on "tomorrow's issues" at the same time that you're working in the moment of the crisis. Remember that as you are dealing with the crisis, you must also keep you business running as usual.
Immediate Actions
Next in the plan, give a list of actions that must be immediately considered for possible initiation. These could include:
- If you have team members, tour directors, staff, or related parties in other locations, contact these people to assess the situation from their point of view.
- Evaluate/develop holding statement (A holding statement is developed using information immediately known. If possible, it is helpful to have a statement drafted prior to the crisis occurrence and this draft can be evaluated.)
- Contact related partners to learn their plan of action and assess working together
Possible Situations and Related Actions/needs
Next in the plan, give a list of possible scenarios related to this crisis situation and the subsequent actions or needs. This list of possible situations includes:
- War declared
- Terrorist strike overseas, Canada or Mexico
- Terrorist strike in America or fear that one will occur
- Biological warfare
- All commercial air traffic or public transportation stopped
- Immediate jump in oil/gas prices
- Media backlash with negative reaction
- Clients immediately canceling tours
- Damage to property; closure of property, destination, etc.
Dependent on the situation, the crisis team then assesses the related actions or needs list. For example:
- Access to information/news (Appoint staff members not on crisis teams to monitor TV, radio and Internet coverage of war)
- Assess damage; begin contacting affected parties, as necessary
- Provide communications vehicles for clients to deal with the crisis
- Make contact with transportation providers and other partners to assess possibility of any cooperation from them and information gathering
- Open communication with clients to gauge their reaction
- Review all regular communications for necessary changes
- Review of insurance plans
Finally, your plan should provide complete contact information for all team members.