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A corporate crisis is like an atom. At the nucleus are the emergency (driven by hazard) and litigation (driven by liability). Executives tend to focus on the nucleus. What they often miss is the controversy (driven by outrage among stakeholders) that flitters around the nucleus. Executives in crisis usually know the controversy is out there somewhere, but they often suffer from the delusion that -- if they manage the emergency and they manage the litigation -- the controversy will just go away.
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The controversy model
Executives should look at the hazard and ask three questions: Is it an emergency, could it spark litigation, and could it start a controversy with stakeholders? They should also be aware that stakeholders are looking at the hazard and asking a completely different set of questions. So are the news media, activists and tort attoneys.
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The media-driven response model
Most corporations make the mistake of communicating to stakeholders through the filters of the news media.
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The stakeholder-driving response model
Instead, they should communicate directly to stakeholders and let the news media report from the sidelines.
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What 'The Table' should look like
As soon as a crisis emerges, the CEO should pull together four groups to plan a strategic response: the senior executive management team, the emergency managers (the team assigned to mitigate the effects of the actual hazard), the litigation managers (the legal team assigned to mitigate liability) and the controversy managers (the public relations tean assigned to mitigate the stakeholder outrage). It is the job of the senior managers (particularly the CEO) to listen to the other three teams, weigh their recommendations, and decide upon a strategic response.
