SearsKilledMyDog.com: A crisis communication case study – SCN Encourager

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Why does this 6 year-old incident keep popping up as a classic?

Is it because there’s a tragic loss of a family pet?

Is it because there’s confrontation?

Is it because there are bad decisions followed by good decisions?

I can’t say I know for sure.

But this case study has an interesting storyline and there are several crisis response gems within it if you can take the time for a look-see.

One gem that caught my eye was… “being human works almost 100% of the time.”

Hmmm.

Somehow when you’re in the midst of working through a crisis with your team members, the advice to “remain human” never seems quite whiz-bang enough.

It’s way too simple.

But it makes a lot of sense.

You should be able to still “be human” while you gather the facts, clarify the context, and compose your common message point.

And better yet, you should be able to let your humanity GUIDE your fact gathering, context clarifying, and message point composing.

In my case, though, I’ve already filed this away in my ol’ “easier said than done” drawer.

The other suggestion to aggressively court the support from “3rd parties” at crisis time also made sense.

But I really need to go slow on this one.

Anything to do with me and parties also belongs in “easier said than done” drawer.

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