1.1.

Assess Possible Risks and Potential Impact

Conduct an issues audit

(an inventory of your entity's vulnerabilities and the critical
issues you are likely to be confronted with)
Create an Issue Manual for your members
Develop a framework where the critical issues are
identified and prioritized in order of magnitude and
likelihood of occurrence.

1.2. Always be Prepared!

Develop an HR Plan
Establish clear responsible persons for each area of
decision making along with the ranking of authority. The
top decision makers put together form the crisis team. You
can must also have one key person in charge of
communications (ex. VP PR, VP Comm) and an ultimate
decision maker (usually the PAI, MCP or LCP ).
Secure Financial Back-up
Crisis response often requires action and follow-up that
requires unplanned expenditure. Ensure you have
financial reserves in case of these emergencies.
Prepare a detailed crisis Communications plan that
includes:
Names and contact information of the crisis team/ spokespeople.

Crisis levels- Establish criteria to decide when a minor incident has

the potential to become a national or international crisis.
Alert/ notification procedures- Who needs to get information, and in

THE

1- BEFORE A CRISIS

AIESEC

CRISIS

COMMS
MANUAL

No matter how careful and

safety-conscious an organisation is, some
crisis or another will occur sometime in
the life of this organisation.
Most crises are newsworthy events,
reporters from the region, state, nation,
and, perhaps, world, will expect
statements and explanations about the
cause and effects of the crisis from the very
earliest moments of the event
An AIESEC entity, no matter the scale of
operations, should always be prepared to
deal with such a situation.

2 -WHEN A CRISIS STRIKES

Assess the Situation:

You first have to determine if you are in a crisis or not

and to what scale the situation currently is and can
grow to become.

First response- What information has top priority? How will you
initially respond to media?

A crisis can take on many forms, including natural

or man-made disasters, work disruptions or
criminal acts concerning individual connected to
AIESEC, a compromise of EP or member safety, to
name a few.

Situation room- Assess the physical space that will be the nerve
centre for managing the crisis, including the required hardware and
software, staffing, location and layout.

If you were able to develop an Issues Manual, use

this as a guide to assess the situation. You may
also use the criteria below:

what order of priority? By phone, e-mail or social media channels?

Establish Key Channels for Communications- How do you plan

to communicate with members, EP's, the AIESEC network,
partners, alumni, government and the media?
What channels of communication can you use?
Which channels are private channels or open to the
public?
Contact lists- Include the inputs (which media outlets and Internet
message boards should be monitored) and outputs (which media
outlets need to hear your story)?
Template responses- Standardized format, language and
protocol for all communications

Insure Insurable Risks (ex. EP indemnity forms, conference

delegate indemnity forms, EP travel insurance)

www.aiesec.org

3 - THE FIRST 48 HOURS

The first rule of crisis management is to communicate. The first
48 hours are critical and they set the tone for the duration of the
crisis. If you are not ahead of the crisis by that timeframe, its
likely it will run you over.

3.1. Activate Key Players

Closely involve the team responsible for
communications.
Share/ Re-share communication plan with task force
and gain agreement on the plan.
Choose a spokeperson relevant to the issue. Provide
additional training if needed
Check and confirm all the facts. Document all the
information you collect from your sources.
Based on the facts youve confirmed, Provide key
messages and talking points to necessary
spokesperson.
Contact AIESEC International and other LC's and MC's
for Support
Proactively reach out to AIESEC International to alert them; and
relevant MCs or LCs who may experience a similar issue or be
contacted by stakeholders. Remember that you are part of the
largest youth organisation in the world and you are not alone. Most
of our operations deal with and can affect the international network.

3.2. Activate Resources and Supporters

With your Crisis Team, try to address issue as quickly
and swiftly as possible; allocate budget and resources.

Show compassion and understanding to those

affected. Assign someone to be the key contact person to
connect with them.

Crisis Assessment Criteria:

Contact legal counsel.

Is this a crisis, or is it simply a continuing

business problem coming to the surface?

Get outside help.

Is it confined to a local area, or does it have

the potential to become a situation of
national or international importance?
Has someone verified the incident or crisis?
What are the legal implications?
What level of resources will be required to
manage it?

We are not experts in Crisis Communications. Get the

support of an alumni/ PR professional that can provide
support throughout the crisis.This individuals role is not to call
all the shots. His or her role is to provide counsel to a team
leader and offer an external perspective that few inside the
organisation can offer.

Inform key AIESECers/ members who also need

information and can help communicate to others.
Remember that the AIESECers of your entity are your front-line
ambassadors in a crisis. Be sure they are aware of what the
organisation is doing to deal with the situation. Also define which
questions they have the authority to respond to, and which
questions/ topics they have to refer to more official spokespersons.

THROUGHOUT THE
REPUTATIONAL CRISIS

www.aiesec.org

4 - MANAGING INFORMATION

Gather facts and figures from relevant teams and

people. Check, double-check and recheck. Ensure that
appropriate levels of management are updated with
information from a wide variety of sources (media coverage,
analyst comments, competitive intelligence, managers
first-hand reports, etc.).

4.2. Date or Version key message documents

Document each finding, happening, and actions taken
related to the crisis. Label them appropriately
(e.g. title-messages-V1.doc, V2.doc, documentation-V1etc.)

4.3. Prepare reactive Q&As to properly prepare

Plan for the worst; hope for the best.

5 - DISTRIBUTION METHODS
Decide whether to engage/respond to
traditional media and/or social media.
Evaluate engagement of traditional and
social media by considering:
- Source of criticism
- Complexity and depth of issue
- Legal concerns
- Potential for escalation

Consider whether issuing a simple

statement versus a press release is
preferred

Constantly update your information. Communicate

what the organisation is doing and provide
background information. This can come in the form of an

Call trusted and well-known media

contacts, if appropriate to inform them

Examples of frequently asked questions by Media:

Update website and other key channels

with latest information if/when necessary

FAQ sheet that you can give to your specific spokespersons for
reference.

What happened?
Where?
When did you know of the problem?
What are you doing about it?
Whos to blame?
Were there warning signs?
Create statements for your three key messages:
There are three suggested messages that are the most important to
clarify before going to the public.
(1) We have a plan to deal with You really need to have a plan
that is why creating a crisis plan in Step 1 is so important.
(2) Our hearts and prayers go out to those You need to show
compassion for those that have been affected, hurt or simply
inconvenienced.
(3) We immediately began our own investigation to make sure that
we You need to commit to finding out what went wrong and
taking the necessary steps to ensure that it doesnt happen again
For these messages to work, it is critical that you back them up
with actions. Saying you care about an issue doesnt work if you
dont demonstrate it.

Monitor all incoming communication channels for

updates (e.g. Calls to all offices, Emails through website inboxes,
Mail to all offices, Questions through branches and members)

7 -PREPARING FOR

POTENTIAL ESCALATION

" In the absence of real information, an

organisation cannot respond meaningfully. "

4.1. Centralize Information.

AIESEC International 2013

Promptly follow-up on media or

information requests. Identify negative
comments or communications and address
them quickly

6 - ENGAGING EXTERNALS

Assume the worst-case scenario. Develop contingencies

for the hours and days ahead, forecast possible
consequences and determine plans of action.
Use research to determine responses.
Polling, market research and focus groups provide
essential insight into the magnitude of a crisis and public
attitudes about where hidden issues may lie. Monitor the
Internet, chat rooms and blogs.

AFTER THE
REPUTATIONAL CRISIS
8- CRISIS RECOVERY
Gather all the media coverage and online / social
media comments and prepare a report.
Conduct an after-the-fact review to diagnose
underlying causes and suggest solutions to reduce
future risk of similar problems

External Support:
Contact key alumni, government contacts,
donors, and partners with clear facts and
keep them regularly updated as required

Keep focus of review on problem-solving rather

than fault-finding

Third Parties:
Consider, if appropriate, to have third party
endorsements. Use third parties to speak
on your behalf. Third parties act as
character witnesses and often carry more
credibility than the organization at the
centre of a crisis.

Return to 1 to prepare and refine plan for the next

crisis

Share your experience with other entities. This will

help them to avoid repeating the same situation.

The Chinese expression for crisis, wei ji, is a combination of

two words: danger and opportunity. A well-managed crisis
response, coupled with an effective recovery program, will
leave stakeholders with a favourable impression and
renewed confidence in the affected company.