Crisis Communications: Experts Focus on Putting Out PR Fires

By Sue Masaracchia-Roberts

In the life of every PR professional, a crisis is bound to occur. An illustrious panel of experts provided examples of how they put out these "fires" during a recent Publicity Club of Chicago luncheon moderated by Hope Daniels.

April luncheon speakers, from left: Janet Froetscher, Michael Vaughn, Shawn Platt and Hope Daniels, moderator (photo by Ted Lacey).

MODERATOR

Hope Daniels
Professor, Radio Department
School of Media Arts
Columbia College, Chicago

PANELISTS

Shawn M. Platt
Director of Public Relations
LaSalle Bank

Janet Froetscher
President and CEO
United Way of Metropolitan Chicago

Michael Vaughn
Deputy Press Secretary
Chicago Public Schools

PROGRAM SUMMARY

A former award-winning radio and broadcaster, Hope Daniels is a tenured faculty member in the School of Media Arts at Columbia College in Chicago and a consultant on media access and crisis communications for non-profits and corporations. She also served in government relations, working as deputy press secretary for former US Senator Carol Mosely Braun.

Panelists included Janet Froetscher, president and chief executive officer for United Way of Metropolitan Chicago; Shawn Platt, first vice president and director of public relations for the LaSalle Bank Corporation; and Michael Vaughn, deputy press secretary for the Chicago Public Schools.

Janet Froetscher

President and chief executive officer of United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, Janet Froetscher, led the merger of 54 United Way organizations into one system. She vastly improved the organization’s impact on health and human services in Chicagoland by focusing on where the need is the greatest. United Way funds more than 400 area health and human services agencies.

When Froetscher took the reigns of United Way, she faced a great deal of pressure to do something different. Agency frustration was rising and there was growing distrust brewing between agencies. This was exacerbated by a recession and decline in revenue, coupled with an increase demand for services both in Chicago and nationally. She leaned heavily on a strategic communication plan to convince the various agencies that there was a better way to exist. The result was that the agencies came to an agreement and agreed to merge from 54 local agencies into one unit.

Employing a lot if interaction to create trust, she worked with other organizations to craft a new system that retained the local character of the chapters. Along the way, United Way had to cut the staff by 25 percent and cut the budget. While this could have diminished morale and caused the newly formed organization to unravel, Froetscher and her staff held a series interactive meetings. Some included the CEOS of 400 agencies that helped fund the group. The primary message conveyed was that the team needed to keep a picture of the future in front of them.

By putting more emphasis on a strong communications staff, Froetscher has leveraged this strength to improve United Way’s bottom line and organizational cohesiveness. The greatest lesson Froetscher learned, while operating under a great deal of stress, has been: "Craft a simple message and stay on point. Until you know what you are talking about, don’t talk. Tell what you know only when you know it to be fact. If you only know about part of the elephant, don’t talk about the elephant."

Shawn Platt

In charge of corporate communications for Chicago-based LaSalle Bank’s $105 billion financial services corporation, Shawn Platt also serves as U.S. spokesperson for LaSalle’s parent company, ABN AMRO. He is marketing director for the bank’s 15 regional commercial banking offices in the Midwest and oversees the crisis communications team.

While crisis communications is often described as "putting out fires," during December 2004, Platt had to deal with a real fire when one of the corporate offices caught fire. Retrieving his Blackberry and cell phone from his car to regain communications with his office, he fought his way through police and fire officials to assess the situation. This was the first major high-rise fire since a deadly fire at Chicago’s County Building claimed several lives, so fire safety was very much a topic of discussion among City officials.

The fire, as in every crisis, reinforced the realization that each crisis is unique and, though it is necessary to have an action plan in place, actions during a fire become more intuitive and emotional. "One cannot over plan or over predict," he said, "but you need to adjust to the situation as it presents itself."

He gained several "take away" lessons from this fire. Among these, he noted first that a spokesperson needs to research the issue prior to being in front of the cameras. It is helpful to have done research on the crisis genre in advance of this necessity.

Secondly, Platt emphasized the need to cooperate with the media without seeing the crisis as a way to be opportunistic, advising PR people to "respond and be an active participant in the story." He further suggested stepping back in order to control the response and the messages. Hold organized press briefings, providing all the media with the same responses and information.

Part of the business continuity in the event of this fire was maintained, according to Platt, due to the corporation having other space located offsite from the fire location, where top decision makers were in close proximity. This "command center" included the CEO and executive committee.

Platt also emphasized the need for balancing the needs of the media with what is appropriate. "Since we had a business contingency plan in place and got great cooperation from the police and fire departments, the OAHC and the city, we didn’t live our plan but came through it."

In terms of spokesperson training, Platt said the need could not be overemphasized. This is especially critical for executives, many of whom don’t think they need training. Yet, it is imperative they understand the need to stay on message. He recommended they be put through a fire skill set, saying, "It is nothing you can fully be prepared for until you are in the experience!"

He cited the model provided by Dominick’s/Safeway as being an excellent one, publishing a book with the names of all the people to contact in the event of an emergency.

"We have a lot of external partners and resources who can add value when necessary in the time of an extended crisis," said Platt. "However, with the need to bring everyone up to speed, we try to stay with our internal partners for PR, especially since confidentiality is also an issue."

Michael Vaughn

As deputy press secretary for the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Michael Vaughn is responsible for handling the breaking news stories of CPS. These include building safety and security issues, responding to media calls, writing press releases and speeches and coordinating press conferences. He began at CPS in 1996, shortly after the current Mayor Daley took control of the school system, serving as assistant editor of the now defunct Chicago Educator, a newspaper created to keep staff and parents informed of new initiatives and success stories in the schools.

According to Vaughn, the CPS is facing an ongoing funding crisis along with potential crises on a smaller scale daily at the city’s 600 schools. These include gang fights, teacher arrests, missing children, shootings and the like. The advice he lives by is to be responsive and forthright. In the event of a crisis, Vaughn has found "the media will wait outside to talk to kids and parents. I try to talk to reporters first - before they can alarm the students. I need to find the principal, security department, human resources, law department, police or whomever I need to get what I need to get to the reporter quickly. I have great people to work with and who allow me to quickly get the information to reporters that help me to contain the story," he said. He attributes his ability to do this to a strong reciprocal relationship he has built with the school principals and the reporters.

Vaughn indicated there is really no time for media training. He can personally advise a principal whether or not to talk to a reporter and provide guidance. However, he added that the superintendent and his staff is experienced interacting with media. Personally, he takes home all the contact information for all the administrators daily to ensure emergency access.

Contact Info:

Froetscher can be reached at 312-906-2200 or jfroetscher@uw-mc.org, or on the Web at: www.uw-mc.org.

Vaughan can be contacted at 773-553-1624 or mvaughn@cps.k12.il.us or on the Web at: www.cps.k12.il.us <http://www.cps.k12.il.us>.

Daniels can be reached at 312-344-8157 or hdaniles@colum.edu

Platt can be contacted at 312-904-7240 or shawn.platt@abnamro.com

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