EY!!! OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE! "HOW TO DEAL WITH A CRISIS: THE PR STYLE"

Christmas was around the corner! I was getting my hair braided outside the yard when i heard a loud cry from one of the rooms. It sounded like Iketu, my mother's little son. I got up briskly from under mama Ibadans' thighs and made my way into the house. Behold there was a fire burning closer to the blanket that covered Iketu's Cot. I immediately grabbed him and headed for the door. Just before the fire reached the living room, I remembered that dad had bought a fire extinguisher, I dashed out through the living room onto the balcony where the extinguisher was hanging. No o! we did not envisage a fire, it was only a preventive measure. I pulled up the cap and sprayed close to the fire. I stood afar and watched for a few minutes. Luckily, i managed to put out the firebut I lost my new dress to it.

Managing crisis in its initial stage poses a difficult task when we have not put serious thought into it and no preventive measures put in place. A variety of scholars have defined crisis with various terms and concepts but for the reason and benefit of simplicity,  crisis here is defined as a significant threat to the operations or reputations of an individual or an organization which could lead to negative consequences if not adequately tackled. The expected initial point of thinking in a crisis situation is usually the effect it has on the public. It is important to note that failure to address the public during the crisis could lead to an increase damage. Effective crisis management handles threats posed on a phase by phase basis. Ultimately, crisis management is designed to protect an organization and its stakeholders from threats and/or reduce the impact felt by threats.

Every organization transacting business is prone to having a crisis situation, but only a good organization makes provision for any issues that may occur while runing the business. Amongst the many damages that may occur in the event of a crisis are the following; Loss of reputation, Financial loss and Public safety. These are 3 key areas that an organization would need to consider when making provisions for a near crisis situation. Other times, crisis could lead to loss of finances, customer disloyalty, injuries and even Loss of lives.

Someone once asked what a crisis situation wass in the Fashion world and how they could be tackled. i looked back at her and exclaimed: "the threading on the sole of the new "Creepers" are so tacky! my cousin literally tripped and broke his nose on his first wear". I couldnt have imagined that on sending an email to the maker it was confirmed that the Company had just had a change in coblers. Was that any of my business? No! i took to social media and posted pictures and as we speak my cousin has a lifetime of sneakers shipped every time a new model is released.

In managing crisis, there are 3 main stages; pre-crisis, crisis response, and  post-crisis.

The pre-crisis phase is concerned with the prevention of and preparation for crisis. It is always very important to consider the following when addressing a crisis at its pre evolved stage- have a crisis management plan that is updated at least annually, this is because with innovation building organizations must not leave anything to chance but should be on their toes at all times, also it is important to have a crisis management team- uually suggested is and outsourced team, they are saddled with the PR activities in dealing with the problem, another thing to do is to test the plans on an annual or bi-annual basis to see if it actually works and finally make drafts of some crisis mesages should incase a crisis occurs abruptly.

The response stage is usually communicated by a "spokesperson". An important component of crisis management is training. it is important for companies and organizations to specially get adequate training for the company's spokesperson.When dealing with crisis response, it is very essential to be quick, always provide a response in the first hour after the crisis occurs. When a crisis occurs, people want to know what happened. According to Coombs (2015), the advent of social media has only increased the pressure for a quick response.this is very obvious in todays crisis situations.

Accuracy plays an important role in dealing with public safety. Once a crisis occurs the public expects a response and the earlier the company provides an up-to-date and accurate response the easier it it for them to  know what they must do to protect themselves. Quick actions can also save money by preventing further damage and protecting reputations by showing that the organization is in control. However, understanding that no matter how fast you are with your response, if its meaningless information passed, the essence of managing such crisis would have been jeorpadised, and inaccurate information can cause more damage to the public.

In the post-crisis phase, the company is expected to go back to doing business as usual. The crisis has been taken off as the focal point, although still in need of management check. The repairs on the reputation damages done would have to be initiated during this phase.  Management of organizations involved in crisis would require an ample amount of time to follow up with the public on whatever information is due to them. 

I cannot by chance fit everything baout crisis and managing crisis into one concise write up, this is difficult. It is quite apparent that crises begin as a negative/threat, but effective crisis management can minimize the damage and in some cases allow an organization emerge stronger than before the crisis. However, crises are not a way of improving an organization.

Ebahi Ajayi is a graduate of Mass Communication (Bsc.) from The Redeemers' University Ogun State Nigeria and a graduate of Advertisig and Public Relations Management (Msc.) from the De Montfort University, Leicester. For further information and enquiries, please contact me directly on ebahi.ajayi@gmail.com