Most associations will, at some point, face a moment of public scrutiny — a complaint that escalates, a controversy, a journalist's call, a social media flare-up. Reputation that took years to build can be dented in a single badly-handled hour. And the time to work out how you'll respond is emphatically not when it's happening.
A board doesn't need to manage the day-to-day of communications, but it does need to know that a plan exists: who speaks for the organisation, who's notified, how decisions get made quickly under pressure, and the principles that guide the response (honesty, speed, care for those affected). Organisations that handle a crisis well almost always prepared for one calmly, in advance. Those that handle it badly are usually improvising in panic.
The instinct in a crisis is to go quiet, get defensive, or react emotionally. A prepared organisation does the opposite: it responds promptly, honestly, and with composure — because it decided how it would behave before the pressure hit.
You hope never to use it. That's exactly why it's worth having ready.
How a board prepares for crisis and reputation management is part of What Every Board Director Needs to Know.
Explore the Board Director course
Free first step: the Crisis Communications Checklist.
Annie
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