A lovely not-for-profit aged care organisation, what could go wrong?
Well in all honesty. A lot.
But it’s not what happened, it’s how you handle it. And that’s where PR comes in.
Without mentioning names or specific details (yes, it is a bit of a tease but I’m all for client confidentiality and being professional) Shine Communications, where I am currently undertaking my placement, has been called in to help with PR after a little bit of an incident at an aged care facility. The good news is, the aged care organisation seemed to handle the crisis quite well on their own. Thanks to a little bit of media training beforehand the CEO went on talkback radio and did surprisingly well. As usual everything we have been taught at Curtin about how to handle a crisis from a PR perspective was right. The CEO was open, accountable, honest and apologised profusely. Tick. The CEO had dealt with all complaints voiced by the public concerned BEFORE the matter was brought up on commercial radio. Tick. And most importantly the CEO was genuinely sorry and addressed every possible avenue to make the wrong, a right. Tick.
After the incident in question the CEO then realised how important ongoing PR and message management for the company’s publics would be for his organisation, so enlisted the help of Shine Communications. After a lengthy meeting with the CEO where we listened to a recording of the talkback radio session (and consequently decided he did a very good job), we took a tour of the facilities and my boss Ruth explained her extensive work with other aged care organisations, including the peak body in WA, ACSWA and how Shine Communications could benefit the business.
We then went away and drafted a PR plan, which included a streamlined branding, a professionally designed and written newsletter to replace the old one, a media relations plan, production of the annual report and brochures with professional photography. So a crisis was averted, and as a result the organisation is now in a better place in terms of PR. More pro-active instead of re-active if you like. A happy ending for all as now all the proper requirements are in place so that incidents are a lot less likely to occur again, and if they do we will be ready for them!
1 comment:
Wow Samantha. What great exposure you have had at your internship. Crisis management is something we learn about so much at uni, however it seems very few interns and graduates get to experience this first hand. This experience will surely give you an upper hand compared to the rest of us! I guess you (and Shine Communications) were lucky to have taken on a crisis, with such a professional CEO. It would be difficult to deal with a crisis if the CEO/spokesperson required extensive training and did not 'tick' all the boxes to fix up the problem. The fact that you were involved in every aspect of this crisis, including the PR Plan, is so fantastic for your future career. We spend so much time talking about crisis management and preparing PR plans at uni, and now you have experienced first hand, how it works in the real world. Congratulations on the success of your placement.
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