Crisis management communications is part art, part science. Some crisis management communications is simply having in place corporate spokespersons with an instinct for saying the right thing in the right way to the right people at the right time.
But instincts must be honed. In fact, it’s the really brilliant communicators who should be the first persons trained when a crisis occurs. Smart crisis management communications never takes anything for granted, not even in the presence of genius.
The science of crisis management communications takes the art of crisis management communications to a next level. Crisis management communications institutionalizes best practices. It readies best practices for implementation and refines each one to fit the circumstance.
For example, the corporate apology may be a best practice in crisis management communications – but in what circumstances? After what other alternatives have been exhausted? How should the apology be delivered? What are the dangers of saying too little? What are the dangers of saying too much?