Communicate Catastrophes . . . . . . . C-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y

An active shooter . . . a bomb threat . . . an accident, injury or outbreak of a deadly virus in your workplace can be devastating. How you react could affect your brand . . . your reputation . . . even your bottom line. How will your company communicate catastrophes with the public?

It pays to be prepared. Even though a crisis can take place anywhere, any time, you can get ahead of most catastrophes by creating a Crisis Communication Plan before they happen.

Start by identifying key people from every phase of your business. Set aside about six meeting dates to develop a Crisis Communications Plan. Anyone's input or insight could save the day when disaster strikes. It's critical to include people at all levels of your organization, but keep the group manageable in size - no more than a total of eight participants on this team.

An efficient formula for arriving at your company's Crisis Communications Plan includes these seven steps:

Identify all possible potential disasters (active shooter, fire, earthquake, etc.).
Make a list of safe practices for staff to follow in the event of each potential issue.
Put safe practices in writing to keep in notebooks that all employees can access.
Provide copies of safe practices for team leaders/department heads to review with staff.
Settle on a system to inform and update staff during the crisis (text messages, for example).
Designate the best spokesperson to take charge of all communications to staff, the media, the public.
Assure everyone that safe practices have been identified for emergencies and followed by employees.