DISASTER DISASTER RECOVERY COMMUNICATION PLAN COMPANY NAME Street Address City, State and Zip webaddress.com Version 0.0.0 00/00/0000 RECOVERY

COMMUNICATION PLAN

TEMPLATE

VERSION HISTORY
VERSION	APPROVED BY	REVISION DATE	DESCRIPTION OF CHANGE	AUTHOR

PREPARED BY	TITLE	DATE
APPROVED BY	TITLE	DATE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.	IDENTIFY PEOPLE	3

A.	CRISIS COMMUNICATION TEAM	3

B.	CRISIS SPOKESPERSONS	4

C.	STAKEHOLDERS	5

2.	IDENTIFY POTENTIAL CRISES AND A PLAN	5

A.	BRAINSTORM POTENTIAL CRISES IN ADVANCE	5

B.	CRISIS COMMUNICATION RESPONSE PLAN	5

3.	IDENTIFY SYSTEMS	5

A.	ESTABLISH NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS	5

B.	ESTABLISH MONITORING SYSTEMS	5

C.	ESTABLISH CRISIS VERIFICATION SYSTEM	5

4.	IDENTIFY MESSAGING	5

A.	DEVELOP AND USE “HOLDING STATEMENTS”	5

B.	KEY MESSAGES	5

5.	IDENTIFY KEY LEARNINGS	5

A.	POST-CRISIS REVIEW	5

Crisis is inevitable for just about any type of organization, so identifying the necessary people, systems, messaging, and other standards in advance makes good business sense. Here are steps you can take in advance of crises in order to take control:

IDENTIFY PEOPLE

CRISIS COMMUNICATION TEAM

Ideally, the organization’s CEO will head up the team, with the top public relations executive (or outside agency or consultant) and legal counsel serving as chief advisers. You should identify senior executives, usually the heads of major divisions, to serve as your organization’s crisis communication team.

CRISIS COMMUNICATION TEAM
NAME & TITLE	ROLE	PHONE	EMAIL

CRISIS SPOKESPERSONS

You should identify and train in advance the pool of potential spokespersons/subject matter experts, even though you will make the ultimate decision about who will speak only when the crisis actually breaks. Consider all the different channels of communication, both internal and external, that you may need to cover.

CRISIS SPOKESPERSONS
NAME & TITLE	EXPERTISE	PHONE	EMAIL

STAKEHOLDERS

Identify and know your stakeholders. Create a complete database of internal and external stakeholders to guarantee that they receive precisely the messages you want them to. In this way, they will be equipped to repeat these messages to other individuals or media outlets. Use the Smartsheet Stakeholder Communication Plan Template and update it frequently.

STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATION PLAN
STAKEHOLDER	POWER / INTEREST	CONTACT METHOD	FREQUENCY	CONTACT INFO	COMMENTS

identify potential crises and a plan

BRAINSTORM POTENTIAL CRISES IN ADVANCE

The crisis communication team should identify every potential threat based on your known vulnerabilities. It may become clear that you can prevent some crisis situations by shifting existing conditions or operational methods. You should consider possible responses and best and worst-case scenarios. Organizations are often aware of an upcoming event, like layoffs, a merger, or a move, so you can begin to plan well in advance of an actual crisis event.

ADVANCE CRISIS PLANNING
POTENTIAL SCENARIOS Security Breach, Product/Technology Failure, Natural Disaster, Financial Crisis, Workplace Violence, Environmental Crisis
SCENARIO 1
SCENARIO 2
SCENARIO 3
UPCOMING EVENTS Mergers, Acquisitions, Moves, Layoffs
SCENARIO 1
SCENARIO 2
SCENARIO 3

CRISIS COMMUNICATION RESPONSE PLAN

Your brainstorming and assessment process should lead to the creation of a crisis response plan that is tailored to your organization.

CRISIS COMMUNICATION RESPONSE PLAN TEMPLATE
EVENT NAME
COMMUNICATION GOAL
TARGET AUDIENCES
ISSUE ANALYSIS AND VERIFICATION
WHAT HAPPENED?
WHICH CREDIBLE INFORMATION SOURCES CONFIRMED?
WHAT ADDITIONAL FACTS ARE NEEDED TO PUT THE EVENT INTO PERSPECTIVE?
WHEN DID IT HAPPEN?
WHO IS INVOLVED?
HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
WHAT IS CURRENTLY BEING DONE?

IDENTIFY SYSTEMS

ESTABLISH NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS

Set up notification systems to rapidly reach your stakeholders. Employing more than one type of communication platform (email and text, for example) greatly increases the chances that a message will go through. Using your stakeholder database, you can purchase or rent an emergency notification system to automatically contact a pre-established database.

NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS DESCRIPTION

ESTABLISH MONITORING SYSTEMS

Monitoring what’s being said about you on traditional and social media can alert you to negative messages that could instigate a crisis. Monitoring all stakeholder feedback during a crisis supports logical changes to strategy and tactics. Free services include Google Alerts and Hootsuite, but you can also use paid monitoring services to report results in various formats. Train personnel, such as customer service reps, who have front-line contact with stakeholders, to immediately report to the crisis communication team.

MONITORING SYSTEMS DESCRIPTION

ESTABLISH CRISIS VERIFICATION SYSTEM

What, When, Who, How, and Why:

The first step is to determine what has happened. You do this so that you can immediately identify and document as many facts as possible. Base these facts on essential questions: What happened and has the situation been confirmed by credible information sources? What additional facts do you need to put the event into perspective? When did it happen? Who is involved? How did it happen? What is currently being done?

CRISIS VERIFICATION SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

IDENTIFY MESSAGING

DEVELOP AND USE “HOLDING STATEMENTS”

You’ll need to develop full messages based on the facts, and that may take some time. Using pre-determined “holding statements” immediately after a crisis gives you breathing room and communicates that you’re aware and working on the matter. Here are some examples of holding statements: “Expect a statement from our CEO within two hours” or “Check Twitter or our website for updates.” You should review holding statements regularly.

HOLDING STATEMENT PLANNER Acknowledge the crisis | Give yourself some time | Show commitment
STATEMENT SAMPLES	DELIVERY MODALITY/MODALITIES

KEY MESSAGES

The crisis communication team should aim to develop three crisis-specific messages for all stakeholders. They should base these messages on verified information. If necessary, the team should also create targeted messaging for specific stakeholder groups, based on identified scenarios. You can modify these scenarios according to the nature of the actual crisis. You will also need to adapt messaging to different forms of media. For example, Twitter may require links because of its character limit.

KEY MESSAGE PLANNER
AUDIENCE	TOP THREE KEY MESSAGES	DELIVERY CHANNELS & SPOKESPERSON
ALL STAKEHOLERS	1. 2. 3.
AUDIENCE 1	1. 2. 3.
AUDIENCE 2	1. 2. 3.
AUDIENCE 3	1. 2. 3.

IDENTIFY KEY LEARNINGS

POST-CRISIS REVIEW

Once the crisis has passed, a best practice is for all crisis communication team members to meet in order to conduct a formal analysis. Review what worked, what failed, and what could be improved upon. Use the results to update the crisis communication response plan.

CRISIS REVIEW FORM
STRATEGY / TACTIC	DESCRIPTION	RESULT	IMPROVEMENT POSSIBILITIES
SUCCESSFUL
SUCCESSFUL
PROBLEMATIC
PROBLEMATIC

DISCLAIMER Any articles, templates, or information provided by Smartsheet on the website are for reference only. While we strive to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the website or the information, articles, templates, or related graphics contained on the website. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.