filter by author: Mike Lawrence

When a student fired shots from an AK-47 rifle as he walked across the University of Texas at Austin campus on Tuesday, it highlighted the new reality that employers – both for-profit and nonprofit – can learn plenty from universities when it comes to crisis preparedness.

How many employers would be able to send text alerts to employees’ personal cell phones within seven minutes and start Facebook and Twitter information feeds minutes later? And how many would be communicating with a workforce that had already been taught how to act (“shelter in place”) during an emergency? Thanks to UT Austin, students quickly accessed information, could debunk rumors and connect with parents who had their own sources of updated information via the university’s website.

Universities have seen too much violence and death over the past several years. But, the “ivory tower world” has learned its communications lessons and ACTED. Technology is in place and crisis planning, training and drills are built-in. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same of employers in the “real world.”

On average, more than one employee per day is murdered in an American workplace and another 2 million Americans a year are victims of some kind of workplace violence. If that wasn’t motivation enough for employers to take preparedness seriously, you’d think the now constant threat of terrorist attacks would do it. However in 2005, with the 9/11 attacks burned into our memory, more than 70 percent of American workplaces still had no workplace violence plan in place, and more than a third of companies had no crisis plan at all.

That’s just shocking. Aside from the legal obligation any employer has to provide a safe work environment, on a moral level there is no excuse to continue to back-burner crisis planning when it comes time for budgeting any organization’s priorities. A good crisis plan will identify and prioritize risks, confirm a process and responsibilities for emergency decision-making, put rapid communication tools in place, train key personnel and create ties to vendors that can provide critically needed support when a crisis strikes.

Traditional crisis plans have often focused on external communications to news media. But an organization’s own employees have always been a key audience. That’s truer today more than ever. Your employees will be sending out photos and videos of the crisis unfolding in real-time and tweeting what they think is happening. Their perceptions will define the story and how your organization’s reputation is affected. Without crisis preparedness, you won’t keep up.

So take a moment now, and ask yourself a question. Does your organization have a plan in place that fits this need? If the answer is no, or if you’re not sure, forward this internally or raise the question yourself. Be proactive while you still have the chance.

Mike Lawrence is Executive Vice President and Chief Reputation Officer of Cone LLC, which works with companies and nonprofits on strategy and communication programs including crisis preparedness.