Monthly Archives: July 2009

Employees Abroad

Published on 31st July 2009 by . Leave a Comment

The corporation has significant duty-of-care responsibilities to ensure all their international travelers are prepared and have adequate support if they have an incident while abroad. Issues multiply when an international health incident occurs — from coordinating an evacuation of a critically-injured engineer from a work site in Angola to helping an employee decide if he or she wants to remain on assignment after a robbery in Prague.

While directed at HR professionals, this article from HREOnline.com could just as easily apply to crisis management and prevention in any field. With the very real possibility of tumultuous international relations and worldwide issues, such as swine flu, interfering with the increasingly global nature of business, there are many considerations to be taken when sending employees abroad.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Super Speed

Published on 29th July 2009 by . Leave a Comment

The advent of blazing-fast social media communication has forced crisis management to speed up tremendously just to keep pace. In a recent blog post, Nick Vehr, founder of Vehr Communications, makes this when commenting on an article about US Airway’s crisis response to Flight 1549 landing in the Hudson River that suggested the 11 minutes it took them too respond was too slow.

Despite the near incomprehensibility if someone suggesting that 11 minutes for an initial response was “behind the curve,” it is clear that social media requires that we amp-up all of our planning.

Any organization faces the very real possibility of a crisis, and commonly they are judged on the speed and quality of their response. With time being of the essence, the effectiveness of tools such as dark sites and scheduled tweet programs can not be underestimated. That being said, I disagree with any contention that 11 minutes is ‘behind the curve.’ Unlike those who are merely reporting what is then hearsay, US Airways at least needed to do some quick fact-checking before making a comment.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Horizon Management Group Hoisted on Own Petard

Published on 28th July 2009 by . 1 Comment. Click to add yours.

Twitter has been a fantastic crisis management tool for businesses, allowing them to provide one-on-one communication and service to more customers than ever before. For some reason, when Chicago-based Horizon Group Management LLC aka Horizon Realty Group came across the following complaint in a tweet (casually made in response to a friend’s comments) by Amanda Bonnen, they chose to forgo this route, and instead decided to sue her for $50,000!

“Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.”

Considering the fact that Bonnen had less than 30 followers, posting this message could hardly be deemed damaging to Horizon. I can’t say the same, however, for their own lawsuit, which has unleashed a storm of negative online coverage nationwide. If you’d like to read more about this jaw-droppingly bad PR case, check out the Checkmate Public Affairs Blog, written by my friend and associate Jeff Chatterton.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Summer Storms

Published on 26th July 2009 by . 1 Comment. Click to add yours.

Summer is thunderstorm season, and thunderstorms bring lightning, heavy rainfall, hail, and tornadoes. Resulting fatalities, property damage, and losses from business interruption are significant. Natural hazards can’t be prevented, but emergency management can protect life, mitigation can reduce property damage, and business continuity planning can speed recovery and reduce operational impacts.

Although those of us lucky enough to live in Southern California don’t often think of summer as bringing harsh weather, the reality is that for much of the country it can spell trouble. Luckily, the people at Preparedness, LLC have just published their latest eNewsletter, and it covers all of these nasty conditions. As you can see, the main recommendation of these professionals is straight out of Crisis Management 101; plan ahead, take preventative steps and you greatly reduce the impact of any crisis.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Twitter 101 for Business & Crisis Management

Published on 25th July 2009 by . Leave a Comment

Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter.

This quote, taken from the official guide “Twitter 101 for Business”, summarizes exactly why it is so important to have a presence on Twitter. The social media darling’s capabilities, which allow organizations to keep a finger on the pulse of, and rapidly respond to statements from, the general public, are an invaluable resource for crisis management. If you haven’t yet joined the Twitterverse, hop on the bandwagon and take advantage, before it passes you by!

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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