Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Crisis Management
A Leadership Challenge
Reproduction of materials is permitted for training purposes provided credit is given to the author.
About the presenter
School Public/Community Relations
- 18 years of experience with school districts in three states, and state
department of education
Trainer/Lecturer/Author
- Midwest Summit on Violence in the Workplace/Schools
- Wisconsin Bioterrorism Summit
- National Transportation Public Affairs Seminar
- Council of Future Leaders
- School PR: Building Confidence in Education
- Complete Crisis Communication Management Manual
Our work together includes:
fire or explosion
school bus accident
bomb threat
natural disaster (flood, tornado, etc.)
VIP visit
power outage
more? (Hint: dozens more!)
Is it an incident
or a CRISIS?
Are you ready?
Communication
Foundation of any crisis planning, implementation,
Training
Preparation and knowing what to do is crucial
Maintains preparedness
Plans must include responses to:
School-based scenarios
threat, accidental death, lockdown, etc.
District-wide scenarios
natural disaster, business interruption, etc.
New or emerging scenarios
pandemics, terrorist attack, etc.
Emergency planning should…
Preparedness
- process of planning a rapid, coordinated and effective response
Response
- action steps to take during a crisis
Recovery
- restoring the teaching and learning environment after a crisis;
must include mental health recovery
Emergency plan must address …
The Golden Hour
- take the lead; delay equals denial
Waves of Response
- police/medical
- media
- parents
- “looky-loo’s” & gawkers; super-heroes; cottage industry types
First 24 hours
Duration of crisis
Rebuilding/Recovery
The Key Questions
Other questions?
Crisis Management Infrastructure
Incident Command
Communication or Crisis Command Center
Roles and Responsibilities
- who’s organizing who (parents, media, etc.)?
- who is/are spokesperson(s)?
- volunteers (you can’t do it alone)?
Equipment and Food
Media Area
Incident Command System
Student Safety
First Aid Coordinator Operations Officer
Coordinator
Other Support
Teachers w/ Teachers w/o Personnel
student supervisory student supervisory
duties duties
Crisis Recovery
Coordinator
Communication …
Media Manager
External Communications Internal Communications
Coordinator Officer
Research & Media
Monitoring
Crisis/Special Events
Media Support Staff
Coordinator
A Leadership Test
Response defines the organization; be credible
A Communication Test
How strong is your communication program?
A Professional Test
How will you emerge as a key advisor?
A Perspective on Lessons Learned
In preparation …
If you start off behind, you will stay behind
Being proactive only keeps you even
Identify chain of command for decision-making,
what to do if it breaks down
Site, district plans must have contingencies
Crisis plans must be specific, automatic, tested
A Perspective on Lessons Learned
In preparation …
Establish inter-agency protocols in advance
Provide parents advance notice of crisis plan,
their role in the process
A Perspective on Lessons Learned
During the crisis …
Mobilize response team that shields the site,
students and staff from outside forces
Make call for assistance before it’s too late
Understand it’s not “business as usual”
Act in the short-term, think in the long-term
You need soldiers, generals on front lines
Know key messages and stick to them!
A Perspective on Lessons Learned
During the crisis …
Don’t let media dominate your time, attention
Stay focused on target audiences
Internal communications is more important
View crisis from “outside in” to gauge public
Watch for external political, personal agendas
Watch for ripple effect and copycats
A Perspective on Lessons Learned
During the crisis …
Maintain active rumor control
Balance privacy rights of individuals (FERPA)
with public’s right to know
Be firm on media access to facilities, people
A Perspective on Lessons Learned
In the aftermath …
Crisis has long-term life; remember healing
processes and triggering events
Brace for blame
Continuously update crisis plan; learn from
other situations
Train new staff immediately
Retrain all staff annually; don’t forget students
A Perspective on Lessons Learned
In the aftermath …
Crisis not only creates character, but reveals it
Seek opportunities to return to normal
Seek closure and commemorate
Take care of yourself and your team
Bring in reinforcements
Remember your team on anniversary dates
Additional Resources
The following slides are additional resources for
schools/universities to use in training with
students and staff:
Crisis Planning
10-Step Approach to Proactive Crisis Planning
School/District/University Crisis Team Responsibilities
Literature Resources
Photocopying of the following materials is permissible for training purposes only, and source attribution to: Rick J. Kaufman, APR
Common Mistakes of
Crisis Management
Putting news media ahead of employees
Employees want, deserve news FIRST
No crisis plan
Believing a crisis can’t happen is ignorant, arrogant. No plan can
result in crippling damage to an organization