Emergency Exercises Scotland: the five steps of a crisis

If you’ve searched for “emergency exercises Scotland”, I’m assuming you’re sitting comfortably at your desk.

Rather than dealing with an actual life-or-death emergency.

But how would you cope if the fire did start raging, or a colleague was missing following an accident?

We all like to think we’d be the calm head.

But to be calm, functional, rational and operational, we need experience.

And the best way to do that is with emergency exercise training.

So you can deal with the five steps of any crisis in a logical way.

Communicating clearly and constructively throughout.

Let’s discuss the five stages, and how to make the right choice each time.

The emergency hits

There’s a fire in the warehouse.

A contaminated product.

A very public data leak.

And while you’re attempting to deal with it, the phone rings.

It’s someone looking for urgent information.

A family member, a colleague, a concerned MP.

What do you say when you’ve zero information yourself?

How do you reassure without sounding trite?

You have a choice: engage or ignore.

By engaging, you establish a clear communication channel for those who are best to keep close.

Otherwise, they’ll begin to speculate unhelpfully and publicly.

The media turns up

Journalists often turn up at what feels like the wrong time.

Sniffing a story that could make their career.

They’ll arrive, asking fundamental questions like:

“What happened exactly?”

“Who’s missing?”

“How could this have happened?”

Again, you a choice: invite them in or shut them out.

Remember that the journalist, if engaged properly and honestly, can be your mouthpiece.

One that helps you tell the story and reduce speculation.

The investigations begins

You now have a working theory as to what happened.

Some are injured, missing, or worse.

And you’re in charge of leading the internal investigation.

So you’re wearing two hats: operational and communicational.

But while you’re figuring out what happened, how do you control the information flow to those affected?

To reassure them that you’re doing everything you can in the meantime?

You need to make a third choice.

Write a clear communication plan, or wait and see what happens.

Having a plan in place before the crisis hits means you establish control.

Control of the operation and control of the information flow.

The dust settles

You now know what happened, who was affected and can begin to quantify the damage.

As the dust settles, the anger can deepen without the right approach.

The questions keep coming, but now they’re from multiple sources.

Bereaved families. Worried employees. Nervous shareholders.

So what do you do: do you shut the outside world out?

Make a brief statement and update your website regularly?

Hope that the fanfare dies down itself?

Or confront it head-on with a series of media interviews and audience engagements?

Proactively engaging the media gives you the best chance of being at the centre of the story.

So you can apologise proactively, explain what happened and how you’re going to fix it.

Preserving your reputation along the way.

The right choice in a crisis

At Pink Elephant, we advocate the following response in an emergency:

When the emergency hits, answer the calls that come in.

Once the media turns up, turn the kettle on and invite them in.

When the investigations begins, have a clear comms plan in place.

And the dust only ever settles if you take every opportunity to explain what happened and how you’re going to fix it.

Back to the original question.

How many of us have ever led an emergency response?

That’s where emergency exercise training comes in.

From our Glasgow studios, we’ll simulate the fire, the contamination or the data leak.

We’ll play the role of the families, the MPs and the media.

We’ll show you how to write and execute a clear communications plan.

And you’ll learn how to perfect the media interview, so each member of your audience gets the answers they deserve.

Now what?

Email us to find out more about our emergency exercises Scotland training.

We’ll arrange an online catch-up to hear what your goals are for the session.

Next, we’ll draw up an agenda that suits your needs.

We’ll find a date that works for everyone.

And on the day, we’ll put you through your paces.

Emergency Exercises Scotland blog written by Andrew McFarlan.
Emergency Exercises Scotland blog edited by Colin Stone.
All photos in Emergency Exercises Scotland blog by Pink Elephant Communications.

Emergency Exercises Scotland blog