Marianne Williamson wrote: “[y]our playing small doesn’t serve the world.”  This quote should be the yardstick colleges and universities use to measure their responses to hits on their short-term and long-term wellbeing.  It is rare to find an institution that would sit back and allow a lawsuit to go unchallenged in the court of law, but increasingly it is commonplace to find institutions that will allow challenges to their reputation to play out in the court of public opinion without their participation.

What meets the threshold of a crisis?  And are there times you need to play small?  The definition I use for a crisis is any negative event that can jeopardize your institution’s image, reputation or financial stability.  Anything that doesn’t meet this threshold is a problem, not a crisis.  Treating a problem as if it were a crisis increases the likelihood that it will rise to the threshold of a crisis situation, so tread lightly.

Problems are best fixed after examining the policies, procedures and players involved in the situation.  Addressing problems is often best done behind the scenes and out of the public eye, but communicate the policy and procedure adjustments and fixes widely.  Not making your campus constituents aware of changes leaves room for repeated problems.

The best responses to crises are often from institutions that have written and tested crisis plans.  There are two reasons for the successful responses: 1) the campus community is aware of the preferred procedures during a crisis and individuals’ roles in the response; and 2) the crisis communications leader has built credibility as a resource and strategist in advance of the situation.  It is a lonely crisis leader who doesn’t have a team behind them when they need a team the most.  Multiple and counterproductive responses to crises occur when an institution’s decision-makers feels there isn’t leadership in place and attempt to fill the perceived void.  Often these rogue responses are performed with the best of intentions, but good intentions do little to win points in the court of public opinion or the court of law.  Don’t allow yourself to teeter alone on that dangerous and narrow ledge; build your crisis plan and credibility in advance.

During the crisis-filled years I spent at an institution, my mentor reminded me constantly that “hope is not a strategy.”  I’ve embraced this notion and taken it a step further.  When asking crisis clients for updates I stop them each time they begin a sentence by saying, “I think that…”  You are getting paid to develop strategies, use available data and develop actionable communications plans.  Start your descriptions by saying, “I know that…”  Using language that includes even a hint of apprehension allows your senior leadership, president or board to second-guess the strategies before them.  If you know your course of action is the right course, don’t play small.  You and your institution deserve your best when the stakes are the highest.

Tags: Business, Cause of action, College, Communication, Court, crisis, crisis communications, Higher education, Lawsuit, Strategy, university

Posted by Teresa Valerio Parrot on 10/27/09. Categories: Blog, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.