Recently, we were privileged to conduct presentation skills training for one of the largest and most highly respected non-profit organizations in the country.
The goal was to assist the organization’s thought leaders with organizing and sharing their board meeting reports more concisely and clearly.
During this collaborative exercise, several of those we worked with offered up an additional challenge they were facing: In today’s environment, how do we transparently and effectively communicate with our grant recipients when donations and funding aren’t as widely available as they were in previous years?
It became clear this was an opportunity for us to provide additional support once the initial training was complete.
With these conversations still fresh in my mind, I had lunch the next day with the business development director at a leading influencer agency facing a similar challenge with its clients, most of which are deeply focused on women’s health and women’s equality issues.
On the surface, the link between the two organizations might be hard to recognize. Upon closer examination, they were united by the sudden uncertainty a change in presidential administrations can create for their key stakeholders.
Regardless of political affiliation, it’s no secret that both major parties quickly look to enact their major policy initiatives in the first 90 days when the favorability winds are at their backs.
With partisanship continuing to rise, non-profit organizations and their circles of influence must be prepared not just every four years, but – depending on control of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate – every two years for major shifts in how easily they can address the needs of the partners, communities, beneficiaries, and constituents they serve.
With the hits now coming fast and furious, managing these issues can rapidly rise to crisis proportions. Therefore, it’s critical for non-profits to establish a proactive plan to handle the most likely scenarios they will encounter.
Traditionally, issues management has been viewed as proactive, while crisis management has been reactive.
In our several decades of crisis communications experience, we view them as joined at the hip.
The annual PwC global crisis study reveals that 60% to 80% of all crises are predictable, depending on the industry. Statistics from the Small Business Administration indicate 40% of small businesses will not survive a disaster because they aren’t sufficiently prepared.
Therefore, if you wait to plan until after an issue becomes a crisis, it could be too late.
Like many, we at WordWrite refer to this type of prep work as “sunny day” planning. It’s simply common sense: You don’t wait for it to start raining before you prepare for the worst. Otherwise, you better have saved up a ton of money for that rainy day. Managing an issue or a crisis is like insurance – you don’t need it until you do.
Here are the three keys to managing issues and any subsequent crisis that might result:
- Plan – Make sure you have developed a plan in advance that identifies and addresses preliminary responses to the five most likely scenarios your organization might face, highlighted by creating the right messaging for your audiences.
- Process – Establish who is on the issues management and crisis management team, the chain of communication, who does what, and when they do it.
- People – Ensure you have the right team (internally and externally) in place, with the clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
In today’s world, it’s not going to be a matter of if or when your organization encounters a crisis. You will.
Successfully navigating an issue or crisis depends on how you specifically respond. Are you ready?
For more information, please visit our crisis page, where you can watch videos and download helpful resources like our crisis communications guide.
You can also watch a webinar on how to share your story during a crisis, hosted by WordWrite Founder and CEO Paul Furiga.