Crisis Management and Crisis Communications

Human resources professionals often find themselves in the middle of a crisis that needs managing.  Some of you have a crisis management plan in place.  Some of you have practiced it.  Some of you have had to implement it.  Most of you, I’m guessing, have done none of the above.  Regardless of what you’ve experienced, one thing that’s clear is that you can’t manage a crisis without communicating about it.

When crisis is mentioned in the human resources arena, a subject that often comes to mind is workplace violence.  That’s a crisis alright.  But it might be a big lawsuit that seems to come out of the blue.  A government investigation.  Several subpoenas served on top executives.  A disgruntled employee who goes to the media.  Something that gets traction and won’t go away.

In order to deal with these crises, it takes more than HR, who partners with legal and security and public relations and trusted advisers of all kinds.  Shel Holtz has a blog called “a shel of my former self,” which deals with a variety of communications issues, among other things.  A brand new post delves into crisis management and crisis communications in one of the most helpful ways I’ve seen.  It’s worth the read and may make you change the plan you have in place or inspire you to finally put one in place.