Crafting a Crisis Communication Plan

In the wake of the tragic Virginia Tech shootings, it is time to ask a few serious and potentially life-saving questions about crisis communication and the plans that either exist, or don't exist, where we work.

Braud, Gerard. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Risk Communication>Crisis Communication

Creating a Culture of Accountability

Most of those who write about corporate social responsibility focus first and foremost on external stakeholders—responsibility-focused investors, workers in the supply chain, local communities, the press, governments or NGOs—and understandably so. These groups can undermine corporate reputations by publicizing perceived instances of social irresponsibility. Reputations may be intangible, but damage to them can cost real dollars.

Mike, Barry and Jeff Grimshaw. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Workplace

Creating Corporate Histories

Every company has a story to tell, a story about people and passion, about vision and hard work. A corporate history tells these stories—but it is also a sophisticated marketing tool that presents your message and history in a professional, concise format. These historical "portfolios" are designed to attract and impress prospective customers and stockholders, and to create loyalty and a feeling of camaraderie among past and present employees.

Tyline King, Heidi. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>History

Creating Leaders: On the Front Lines and Beyond

Companies such as GE, Procter & Gamble, General Mills, McKinsey, IBM, FedEx and others began building their leadership engines by doing what any great team does: putting the right people in the right leadership positions in the first place. They then strengthen the leaders’ skills and knowledge and rigorously hold them accountable for hitting their operating and financial targets. Let’s peek under the hood at these leadership engines to see how these great companies not only create but sustain leadership engines that continuously produce strong leaders.

Shaffer, Jim. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Education>Management>Workplace

Creative Commons: A New Way to Think About Copyright

PR people have been in the business of giving away content to reporters for so long that the matter of who owns the content—or who may use it under what circumstances— hasn't much concerned us. But our thinking about content and copyright is beginning to change as we put a rapidly expanding range of content on the web.

Forbush, Dan. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright

Crisis Management—Don’t Forget the People

In the past, business continuity and crisis management focused on tangible assets, especially post-crisis recovery of systems and data and reestablishment of facilities and services. This all changed in the aftermath of 9/11, when it became obvious that the human factor was as critical as the technology and the buildings. Watching the suffering of the people affected by the Madrid bombings has reinforced the need to ensure your contingency plans address the people involved.

Perl, David. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Risk Communication>Crisis Communication

Cultural Barriers to Internal Communication

Twenty years ago, I sat in the London offices of an American oil services company taking the conference brief for a CEO’s script. He was an oilman of the old school—no nonsense and pretty brutal in his management style. When his personal assistant came in with the coffee, she all but threw it over the guy and left the room with her nose in the air. “The natives are revolting,” he explained. “I made some redundancies this morning: everyone who arrived more than five minutes late.” It was my first experience of culture shock. For the Texan it was the most natural behavior; for the Brits, he represented a form of barbarism not seen since the Dark Ages. So how does a multinational firm communicate to audiences who have fundamentally different cultural values?

Wright, Marc. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Cultural Theory

Demystifying Ways Employees Deliver on Brand Promises

At the heart of a successful brand strategy is a clear understanding of the customers you serve and what’s important to them. Employees need direction on what the customer expects and the actions they must take to deliver on those expectations. To gain this understanding, employees must identify the interactions from the customer’s point of view to determine whether or not the company is living up to its customer “promise.” While companies can easily measure marketing dollars spent on brand-building initiatives, understanding how the brand drives customers’ purchasing decisions has often proven to be more elusive.

MacDonald, Maril. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

The Digital Debate: Should CEOs Blog?

A debate continues to rage about how important and influential media such as blogs, podcasts and social networking sites really are. At the heart of this debate is the question, Is the blogosphere really an appropriate place for executives and others in positions of power who have everything to lose?

Cody, Steve. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Management>Business Communication>Blogging

Do You Have a Reputation for Excellence?

Your reputation depends on your ability to be a public-spirited, plain-talking professional who serves the interests of your audience rather than your organization.

Olds, George. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Careers>Collaboration>Community Building

Do You Sound Like a CEO Behind a Microphone?

"You have two options when you walk into a room," says public speaking expert Richard Levick about the art of giving speeches. Most entrepreneurs find speech making to be either terrifying or a waste of time. Too many CEOs see dealing with the media or making presentations as an interruption, but it's as essential to doing business as customers. If you can't deliver energetic and commanding speeches, or polished and articulate interviews, then you're short-circuiting your company's future. It's time to do something about it.

Krotz, Joanna L. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Presentations>Management>Rhetoric

Does Your CEO Have Spokesperson Deficit Disorder (SDD)?

It's an all-too-common ailment, a not-so-silent killer of corporate reputation—often going undiagnosed even when the symptoms are evident. Early symptoms include negative or weak media coverage, "misquotes" and interviews that go off track. Although it can strike at any level within an organization, Spokesperson Deficit Disorder, or SDD, is perhaps most damaging if left untreated at the CEO level. So what can you do if your CEO suffers from this dreadful condition?

Gibson, Barbara. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Management

Doin' That Old Two-Step: A System for Getting Your Writing Right

Here's an awful question: "What is good writing?" When we run writing workshops for businesspeople, we often begin by asking for the characteristics of good writing versus bad writing. The first list typically contains words like simple, clear, accessible, concise, lively and conversational. The second list is on the flip side of the coin, with participants describing bad writing as complex, wordy, confusing, illogical, full of jargon and having no clear purpose.

Canavor, Natalie and Claire Meirowitz. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Writing

Don't Forget A Strategy for Microcontent—Headlines, Decks, Buttons and Links—When You Redesign Your Site

Little things mean a lot. Especially online. Microcontent—or the headlines, decks, subheads and other 'small' pieces of web copy—actually do most of the communicating on your web site. Handled poorly, microcontent can confuse and frustrate web visitors. Here's how to write microcontent to communicate to—instead of discombobulate—your readers.

Wylie, Ann. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Metadata

Dos and Don'ts of Branding

Corporate brands are built by countless interactions between people - customers and clients, suppliers and distributors, shareholders and communities, and one another. If your brand does not reflect your people in a way that makes them proud and passionate, they will not deliver the brand experience in the marketplace. Some do's and don'ts for corporate branding.

Riese, Tracey G. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

E-Communication Resource Links

E-Communication is quickly becoming the primary avenue for many individuals and businesses to distribute and access information. Understanding the legal and practical applications of e-communication is essential for maximizing the use of this emergent trend. Below are links related to various aspects of e-communication, including legal issues, e-marketing and spam.

Grundland, Tamara. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Resources>Business Communication>Online

Easy Public Relations with Online Tools

Shoestring-budget heroes, rejoice. The Internet offers many inexpensive opportunities to deliver better public relations results in our broadband-driven universe. No doubt, emerging concepts such as corporate blogging, podcasting or immersive web content (like "advergames") can produce their fair share of angst. But let's not forget to explore simple web-based tools available to large and small organizations alike.

Heule, Nandy. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Online

Edelman's Perfect (Blog) Storm

In early March, The New York Times ran a story with the headline "Wal-Mart enlists bloggers in PR campaign." While the story itself is of interest as an example of how some PR agencies increasingly see blogs as legitimate communication channels, it is of greater interest to look at what the Edelman PR agency did in this specific case acting on behalf of their client—what went right and, more important, what didn't.

Hobson, Neville. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Blogging>Case Studies

Editing Your Own Work

One of the most difficult things a writer can do is to edit his or her own work. It's great to have someone else, preferably a trained editor, review what you've written. But you may not always have that luxury, and even if you do, you should never be satisfied with a first draft.

Canavor, Natalie and Claire Meirowitz. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Editing

Editing Your Own Work, Part II

Someone once asked Lillian Hellman what was hardest about writing. "Killing your little darlings," she said. For a playwright, "the little darling" can be a favorite character or a hard-fought scene or a bit of sparkling dialogue—anything that, while dear to one's heart, doesn't contribute to the dominant theme. A similar challenge faces every writer, whether we work in the realm of reportage, marketing or employee communication.

Canavor, Natalie and Claire Meirowitz. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Editing

Effective Internal Communication in Global Organizations

Today’s global marketplace teaches us that effective practices for internal communication in international corporations must be tuned to the cultural profiles of employees in their own countries. Internal communication departments are given the task of adapting company messages that effectively reach the organization’s global employee base. In order to ensure the effectiveness of these communications, organizations must first develop awareness, knowledge and intercultural skills within their internal communication teams.

Apud, Salvador and Talis Apud-Martinez. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>International

Effective Risk Communication Starts with Solid Research

The terms risk communication, crisis communication and risk management are often used interchangeably. Crisis communication we understand to mean communicating once the crisis has hit. Risk management entails ensuring as far as possible that risks do not become a reality. Risk communication is part of risk management—informing responsibly on the extent of risk.

Macleod, Sandra. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Risk Communication>Research>Crisis Communication

Eight Steps for Successful Events

In today's competitive environment the event remains one of the most powerful tools available to communicators. Events are powerful because they provide a physical connection between you and the people you need to reach. You can use an event to raise awareness of your services or products, generate support for a cause or introduce employees to work practices.

Crawshaw, Bob. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Planning

Eight Things You Can't Neglect

Almost every independent consultant knows the drill. You're asked what you do professionally and you reply that you own your own business. Perhaps you give the 30-second elevator speech, or just the 10-second party version. Either way, what happens next is all too predictable—the person greets the news with a mixture of envy and admiration and starts peppering you with questions about the solo life.

Steigman, Daria. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Careers>Consulting

Employee Conferences That Matter

A troupe of disco dancers in gold bodysuits was about to hit the stage. Several of our corporate leaders—dressed as famous pop stars from the 1970s—milled around nervously in the wings. And I remember thinking, “What the heck have we got ourselves into?” I was part of the employee communication team for a government-owned financial institution: Farm Credit Canada (FCC). We were about to open our 2005 corporate office conference before a crowd of 500 people, many of them accountants. A campy musical opening could be seen as a risky choice. But here's what brought me peace of mind: I knew that behind the glitz, we had built our conference on a solid foundation of business thinking.

Mayne, Peter. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Interviewing