Blindsided is the authoritative guide to crisis management. This "how to" handbook gives essential advice that every manager needs to know when a crisis hits. Written by CMI Founder/CEO Bruce Blythe, it's a fascinating, easy-to-read guide that draws on Blythe's 20+ years of experience as a pioneer in crisis management.

  CMI Newsletter
      Winter 2003


Crisis Leadership Forum 2002: Protecting Your Core Assets
By Grace Burley, Editor

Crisis Management International held its inaugural Crisis Leadership Forum at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia on November 4th. The Forum was co-sponsored by Littler Mendelson, the country's largest employment and labor law firm. The theme of the forum focused on Protecting Core Assets Before and Following a Crisis.

The forum gave the opportunity for crisis leaders from different companies to get together to discuss best practices and share critical knowledge.

The day started with a presentation by Craig Martin, Executive VP and Managing Director of Ruder Finn's Washington, DC office. Ruder Finn is a leading full-service global communications agency with a specialty in crisis communications. In Martin's presentation, he discussed Reputation Management: Principals and Methods for Managing Communication.

Reputation

After the first presentation, the participants broke into discussion groups. Some of the "best practices" collected at the roundtable are listed below:

• It is important to build a positive reputation over time, so that when a crisis hits, reputation can't be as badly damaged.
• Preparedness and Practice: Addressing reputation issues during simulations were mentioned as important ingredients for protecting reputation.
• Safety is very visible. Mishaps can affect your reputation internally and externally. Do not forget that your safety program is closely tied to your reputation.

Legal Concerns

Managing Shareholder of Littler Mendelson, Teresa Butler Stivarius then spoke on the Legal Aspects of Violent Threats and Crises. Some of the helpful attendee input is outlined below:

• Take threats of violence seriously. Threats are high stakes issues that must be managed responsibly and defensibly.
• Coordinate interests between law enforcement, site managers and attorneys before an incident happens. Their needs can be conflicting and may create higher liability exposures.
• Do not let employees go home or talk collectively before law enforcement has a chance to question witnesses.

Financial Impact

Charles McDonald, Vice President of Public Relations for Fletcher Martin & Ewing gave a lunch presentation on the Financial Rewards of Crisis Planning. McDonald covered issues including: overview of the financial impact of past crises, cost components of crises and how crisis management can reduce costs.

People Issues

Bruce Blythe, CEO of Crisis Management International, Inc. finished the day with a discussion of Emerging Best Practices of the Human Side of Crisis.

Some of the information collected during the roundtable discussion following Blythe's presentation included:

• The decision to do the right thing for people has to be in the culture before the crisis hits. Develop a Crisis Code of Conduct that serves as guiding principles during crisis response.
• One company conducts a regular employee crisis response survey. The survey lists various incidents and asks employees how they would respond. If a majority of employees don't know what to do, they follow-up with needed directives and guidelines.
• Balanced Approach: It is important to tie in all of the topics together when dealing with a crisisreputation, legal, financial and people. They all influence each other and are directly related.

CMI's first Crisis Leadership Forum was a tremendous success. Some of the feedback read"

"Most valuable session I have attended in a long time."

"All presentations were insightful and informative."

"I appreciated the opportunity to meet and discuss topics with other attendees."

If you would like to be invited to next year's Crisis Leadership Forum, please send an e-mail to gburley@cmiatl.com

How Prepared Are We - Really?
By Angie Tennyson, Assistant Editor

For months following the September attacks, it was hard to pick up a business magazine without reading about how companies were going to great lengths to create or improve their crisis management plans. It seemed as if companies across the country were hiring contingency or crisis planners, assigning task forces and sparing no expense to be prepared. But, here we are more than a year after the attacks, and how prepared are we?

The American Management Association (AMA) based in New York, released the results of an August 2002 survey of 428 executives. They found that less than half (49%) of U.S. companies have written crisis management plans.

They also found that just over half (54%) have designated crisis management teams. In addition they found that only 29% have trained their key personnel in crisis management skills to support every major area of their company.

The survey showed that companies that have crisis management plans in place, the main focus is on technology systems failure or loss of data (83%). Following IT failure, were natural disasters (71%), industrial accidents (66%) and workplace violence or unethical behavior by employees (57%). Only 39% addressed crime, 33% addressed terrorism and 31% addressed major fraud.

CMI Wins Catalyst of the Year Award

Catalyst Magazine recently awarded Crisis Management International with the "Catalyst of the Year" award. This annual award honors companies and individuals who have shown leadership in industry innovations, effective management and excellence in business.

Bruce Blythe accepted the award for CMI at a banquet held on October 8th at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia.

Your Feedback is Important
By Pat Pillow, Corporate Quality Manager

The feedback that CMI receives from clients continues to provide valuable information that allows us to assess client perceptions and outcomes of the services we provide. It is also data that assists with CMI's Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) client process.

Our goal is to always meet and exceed client expectations for a quality product and excellent customer services. Your participation in our quality initiatives is what helps us meet these goals.

CMI thanks you for your participation in these and other quality initiatives.

We always look forward to hearing from you.

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