Emotional crisis

Crisis management can be hard enough to deal with when it arises. You have to focus on your game-plan, ensuring you remain cool, calm and collected.

But what happens when the crisis that personally effects you emotionally.

When I worked and the PTA there were four major crises. Two bus fires and two deaths on the network. Even though I had no role to play in these crises, I got to see how the communications team act with the highest level of professionalism and respect.

But at the same time, the weight of the incidents effected me emotionally. I had to go home and take some time to reflect and process my emotions. I can't imagine how the people who had to act managed their emotions.

The importance of team unity in these situations is paramount. The most important thing you can ask during or after a crisis is "Are you okay?"

A form of crisis management

As the end of the university semester approaches so to does the end of my work placement at Scitech. Next week will be my last week with the Communications team so I am now in the process of wrapping up my final tasks.

After spending a couple of days each week here for almost 3 months it has come to be a part of my week I so look forward to and thoroughly enjoy, and its safe to say I will miss the girls that make up the Communications team a lot!

Over the past few weeks Scitech has appeared in the media many a time regarding the Liberal governments promise to move the centre to Burswood. This move has now been confirmed and if all goes to be planned the new centre will open in 2018. This is a huge announcement that has obviously caused some positive and some negative reactions amongst the public.

This has allowed me the experience of seeing Scitech almost go into a type of crisis management mode. Although not as severe as this there has still been a lot of discussion about how this information will be communicated to the public and what can be done to reassure people unhappy with the news.

I have been involved in preparing Facebook and Twitter posts as well as adding a comments section to the main Scitech webpage in order for people to share their thoughts on the move on the relevant article. I have also assisted with a mail out to all Scitrekkers (Scitech membership holders) asking for their thoughts and opinions on the matter directly.

I am glad this has happened before I’ve left Scitech as it has allowed me to witness firsthand how a company responds to a huge announcement that garners a lot of negative feedback. A number of people have posted on the Scitech Facebook page expressing that they are unhappy with the move of venue.

The way Scitech has responded has supported my learning about this area; you must be open and honest maintaining transparency with your stakeholders at all times. Announcements were made by Scitech to the public as soon as definite decisions had been made. You must make your stakeholders know that their thoughts and opinions are of importance to you and give them a channel to communicate this through.

As I write this blog Scitech are continuing to monitor the web as planning for the move to Burswood begins. The comments section on their web page is proving  to be a more effective outlet than Facebook, people are posting valuable and thoughtful insights as to how Scitech could improve by making changes to the set up and layout in the new building.

When Things Don't Always Go Your Way

Crisis management. 

Two words I had heard a million times throughout my degree. These words came to mind; definition, meaning, use, reality, past cases. It's all-great in theory right? Wrong. As it turns out, once faced with the daunting thought and realisation of a legitimate crisis in PR it becomes a lot harder to judge what is right or wrong, how you should carry out a task and what is the first thing that needs to be done once a crisis has occurred. 

Muse Bureau experienced a mini crisis recently which affected everyone in the team. It was not so much the exact crisis that impacted us but the events to follow. I now have an understanding of what I learned in public relations principles that it is the steps and recovery, post event that are the most important. 

We were no prepared for what happened and as a consequence, were unsure of what to do next and how to delegate the tasks. Confidentiality in this example was vital. Everything had to be kept within the agency and no information was to be released into the media or spoken about to anyone. I began to form an understanding of how imperitive it is to have trust between the client and consultancy. Without that a time of crisis would be very tough and taxing for both parties involved. 

The book "Public Relations: contemporary issues and techniques" delves into the importance and theory behind crisis management with in-depth examples of it within the PR industry. Crisis management isn't just something we were taught at University, it is happening every day in all kinds of workplaces and situations. I just didn't think I would be involved in one so soon. In saying that, I have gained so many skills and extensive knowledge about what to do in this particular kind of crisis and even what is expected of you as an employee.

The crisis was resolved and handled by my bosses but I couldn't help thinking, will we be as prepared next time?

Georgia 

First taste of CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Howdy doody everyone,

My name is Elliott Telfer and I'm back for my third blog and I dare say my most interesting and entertaining. For those who don't know me or are unaware of what I'm doing for my Internship, I am an events intern for RugbyWA/Emirates Western Force.

My main duties revolve around game days, I come in 5-6 hours before kick off, set up, prepare, and rehears for the 92 minutes of stress. Before the game I do everything from setting up the player bench to making the final checks of the team line ups before passing it on to Fox Sports. During the game I sit in the control room and act on EWF's behalf, if the venue has a problem, I relay it back to RugbyWA, sort out a resolution and consult the venue.

On the Saturday just gone (13-4-13) in our match v The Crusaders, the venue experienced its worst issue to date. Pitch invaders. not just one, or two, but five. Thankfully only one of which was prancing around in his birthday suit, the remaining four choosing comical costumes. Due to security being overwhelmed by the number of invaders, two of the remaining four invaders were taken down by a player and a member of staff from the crusaders (possibly their best work of the night). This is where it gets interesting, for obvious reasons, I am limited as to what I can and cannot say, but what I can say however as what a headache this has been for the club. The first of the five invasions happened soon after half time, however the remaining four happened in the final five minutes, when the result of the game was very much in the balance, EWF holding on to a narrow two point lead. Play was held up for several minutes as the intruders were dealt with, as a result all momentum from the game had vanished. on Full Time, the EWF defence proved too good and held on for the win (THANK GOD). 

The Crusaders, disgruntled with the fact that there was five pitch invaders, compounded by their team loss, lodged a formal complaint to SANZAR (the governing body of Rugby Union) about the management and state of nib Stadium. As a result, not only does nib Stadium come under the microscope, but so does RugbyWA. Now I can't give details of this enquiry, but I can say how eye opening it is to be involved in PR crisis management, the whole organisation is adapting PR crisis management principles, I'm just glad I know how to handle this situation!

I wish I could reveal more to you guys, I may be able to in the coming weeks, but until then take a look at this statement from RugbyWA on the matter, it may open your eyes a little bit more on why I am being so tight lipped. http://www.westernforce.com.au/NewsEvents/NewsArticles/tabid/905/ArticleID/8860/Default.aspx
I had great hopes for this blog, being able to share my experience with you, but I have to say its hard finding something to say when you aren't allowed to speak about anything!

Thanks for reading guys, best of luck!

Elliott Telfer

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First Week of Being a 'Socialite'

From the moment, I stepped into the office, the sound of me opening the door echoed the whole office; which made everyone turned around and looked at me. Walking into a new environment for an organisation is always daunting. However, any fears I’ve had and thought about of what Anthony Robbins has said about fears, I felt completely at ease as soon as I met Julian Amistad, the campaign manager. Julian had me set up with a desk sitting along with him and other campaign managers. Also, I had to set up new work e-mail along with my second Facebook account in order for me to look after the Socialite Media’s clients. 

The first task Julian has asked me to do was to know and understand the different clients that are partnering with Socialite Media. He mentioned to me that each clients experience services from Socialite Media under one of the following areas; social media advice, brand campaign management, training and education or short tern campaign management, and crisis management.

One of the client’s I had to learn was from a mining industry to Photography agency to Car Sales Company to restaurants, accommodations, and job consulting; which I felt exhausted, overwhelmed and challenging. Not only did I had to learn each of the client’s backgrounds, but I also had to know who are their stakeholders, who are their competitors, and opportunities that Socialite Media can provide for their business strategy plan for each of the clients.

However, I didn’t feel discourage and I told myself that it’s only the first week and it does get better. Someone once told me that if you feel under pressure and overwhelmed on the first week that you are on the verge of insomnia is a good sign, because it means you are actually learning from the organisation and learning what is like to be an employer’s shoes.

Lastly, I had to find various content for different clients and as well for the Socialite Media Facebook Page. One of the challenges I faced was tailoring content specifically to the page’s target market, as well as finding content that “likers” of the page responded well to and engaged with. Doing for one client at a time it’s easy, but doing for three to four clients in two hours max felt overwhelming in the beginning, but Julian has taught me that in by few weeks or few months depend how quickly I will learn will get much easier.

To sum it up, the first week was a challenging week; which made me grow and learn as a person and learn the areas of what I can do to improve myself for Socialite Media and what I can do for their clients. 

Blog References:  

• Diago Franco, E. (Photographer). (2013, January 29). My work Desk [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://instagram.com/p/VJQq2NJmpD/

Diffusing the Crisis

“In today’s world, it is not a question of if or whether an organisation will experience a crisis; it is only a matter of what type of crisis will occur, what form it will take, and how and when it will happen.”

Ian I. Mitroff

As Race Day comes closer and closer, things are starting to get more hectic around the office, making sure that the year of planning has not left anything out or not completed perfectly. Race Week mainly consisted of last minute planning and organisation with tasks such as booking a helicopter for event day for the production team, promoting Race Week events and spectator zones on Facebook, final newsletters to Team Captains and participants and final preparation for the press conference. 

One of my tasks during Race Week was to create media statements for crises that may happen on Race Day. This included a notification of fatality, an incident if a participant ran the wrong way and protestors against Chevron, as Chevron thought they may arrive at the City Beach Oval and protest at the presentations. The media manager and marketing coordinator explained that at last year’s event there was the unfortunate case of a participant collapsing at the finish line and passing away and a media statement needed to be released to inform the media what had happened and keep information controlled. She then continued to tell me that although it may seem morbid in writing these statements, it was an important detail in the planning of the event as they need to be prepared for everything and anything that could happen on the day and ensure that the organisers were not caught off guard. 

Crisis Management has been spoken about right from the start in PR Principles to to PR Corporate and Consultancy. Doing the PR 393 Professional Placement unit can allow you to put all this theory into practice, just like I had to.

A crisis can be defined as an extraordinary event or series of events that adversely affects the integrity of the product; the reputation or financial stability of the organisation; or the health or well-being of employees, the community or the public at large. (Wilcox et al 1995, p. 222) 

Potential effects of a crisis can include a loss of reputation, decrease of sales, other financial loss in the terms of compensation and costs of products, management being distracted from regular business operations, loss of employee motivation and new political regulation imposing constraints for business.

However, the way a crisis is dealt with by the organisation can heavily impact the consequences that they are further dealt with. For example, comparing the Queensland floods with the Japanese tsunami is a great way to show good and bad crisis management. Although no one is accountable for a natural disaster, if your risk management is not well prepared for dealing with the potential impact of a natural disaster, then you will be accountable for its consequences. 

The Queensland floods was a terrible natural disaster but the way Premier Anna Bligh and her team dealt with it deserves recognition. Anna Bligh always spoke to the public and media, leaving nothing hidden with regular updates and information in regards to how the government and SES were dealing with the situation. She showed concern, consistency, confidence and competence and was not aggressive during and after the floods.

Looking at how the Japanese government dealt with the aftermath of the tsunami and the nuclear plants, it is evident that it was not dealt with as effective as it could have been. Not having a solid speaker until the Secretary took charge, did not allow information to be released as smoothly and the Japanese public felt as if they were alone in the middle of the crisis. There was no confidence, competency or consistency shown.

Although no crisis occurred on Race Day that needed a media statement to be released, there was that ease of having a statement ready and knowing that even organisers would not be caught off guard and would be able to have control over an unfortunate event. 

What crisis do you think was handled well or terrible? Have you had to do any crisis planning at your internship?

Thanks,

Steph Sbrocco

Crisis management

Hi all,

This is my first post for the semester as I went overseas during the break and only just recently started my internship.

I'm doing my placement at Metro City, the biggest club venue in Perth. Although I'm not working with a "public relations department", I am taking on roles which would be expected of a PR graduate.

I had my first real collision with crisis management the other day when the "Wild West Comedy Festival" had to cancel their event with Metro City. They had failed to sell enough tickets to cover the cost of staffing the event and though the contract stated that they were to forfeit the deposit should such a thing occur, they came over to talk to our Venue Manager.

Kim Westwood (Venue Manager), Jacquie Kelly (Events Manager) and I entered into a meeting with the organizers to find another arrangement. They came to the conclusion that the deposit would be returned to the company and that the Wild West organisers would be responsible for finding a replacement venue. From there I was asked to create a release, detailing the event cancellation and to give details of the new venue once they were passed on. This was then to be posted on the Metro City website and to be distributed through all our social media platforms.

It made me think about how crisis management can differ between types of organizations and though it may not have seemed like a big crisis for the club it was pertinent to practice good public relations should they choose to hold an event in the future. It was interesting to have noted and reinforced in a real world situation that for businesses, making a profit and good PR don't always go hand in hand.

In the same sense, it made me appreciate that a "crisis" is relative, it really depends on what your business does and what kind of social responsibility it has. For example, this "crisis" cannot be compared to something like the Exxon Valdez spill, but it could in fact influence their reputation and possible business for the future.

Hope you are all enjoying your placements!

Nicole

Social Media Crisis Management

I can’t believe I’m already a week into my internship!  Its true when people say time fly’s when you’re having fun! I never thought I would have fun at work but I am really enjoying the working life. I am staying in Windsor (45minutes out of central London), even though I have been to London before but I have never experienced the working life in London. It is so hectic, with the amount of people around and the busy tube lines! But it’s so exciting at the same time to be amongst all the buzz and see the true WORKING London lifestyle!  I never thought I would be driving past Windsor castle every day to get to work, or working a few tube stops away from Buckingham palace, Hyde Park and Harrods but I absolutely love it!

This week was another interesting, hectic and exciting week. Throughout university we are constantly taught about ethics and what to do in crisis situations and how to prepare for them. On Monday morning, I started off my second week of work experience by attending a crisis insider club breakfast with two other colleagues at a private members club called The Hospital Club, in Covent Garden (central London). This was a very interesting experience as there were people from all different companies, who came together to listen to the founder and CEO from Seat wave- Joe’s experience in a crisis situation and also heard from a journalists point of view. Here is the link to seat wave website: http://www.seatwave.com/.

The way in which Joe handled the crisis, related back to what is learnt at uni, including having a crisis management team on hand 24/7, acting quickly but calmly and approaching the situation in an honest manner to keep consumers informed. In this situation, Joe used social media (Facebook and Twitter) to help communicate the situation to their audience.  By listening to Joe’s experience and the way in which he effectively used social media, such as Twitter and Facebook made me realise the true effect of social media and its  ability to communicate with thousands and millions of people at once and in such an efficient way. Joe was able to tweet and reply to Facebook posts whilst the crisis was unfolding- responding promptly and honestly. I was very glad to be asked to attend this meeting, as it showed me great insight into handling crisis situations and also allowed me to recognise the importance of preparing for all types of crisis situations, as we are regularly taught during university. At Chivas Brothers, there is a crisis management procedure and they also have constant emails from media databases which prompt the communications and public relations team when any important information on the business or industry is found. This is to keep up dated and well informed of what is happening within the alcohol industry.

This week I also attended many meetings including:

• Meeting with agencies that were pitching their ideas for the brand 'Royal Salute'. I had to take notes and identify in a table format which agencies met the brief best and which agencies had creative strategies which are best suited to the Royal Salute product.
• Meeting with the head of internal communications to get an idea of how internal comms works in the Chivas Brothers office. I was also allocated to write an article on the Cannes Film Festival which Chivas Regal sponsors and this article will be published in their internal magazine.
• Attended key messages meetings, were they were identifying this year’s key messages for Chivas Regal, Beefeater gin and Ballantine’s whisky for marketing and PR purposes.
• Sat in on a conference call with John Doe, discussing ideas for this year’s Ballantine’s golf event.

I found most of these meetings interesting as I know all these brands and is intriguing to see how the marketing and PR works behind the scenes. Sometimes I felt the meetings weren't that relevant for me to listen to as I couldn't contribute much, however it was still useful to see how the meetings and conference calls take place and to hear some very creative and exciting ideas.

Next week I'll be working on my Cannes Film Festival article and evaluation on how the event went in comparison to previous years, which I am looking forward to. Until then! 

Gemma O'Hart