See online:
The Case for Joint Crisis Management Between Athletics and Campus Communications, by Chris Syme via
cksyme.com
Syme, a communications/socal media strategist and former sports information director, is a frequent contributor and CoSIDA convention/continuing education presenter. In conjunction with the CoSIDA staff and Kristi Dosh, Esq., Syme authored and analyzed the last two CoSIDA social media/social media education surveys that the membership participated in.
Follow Syme via her blog and Twitter.
When a crisis strikes a college athletic department, campus communications people often feel the need to jump in and take over. After all, athletic departments are the most recognizable face of many universities. Their troubles can become a quick black mark on the university if not handled properly.
But when two entities with two (oftentimes) differing stakeholder groups face a common problem, the best solution is to let the strengths of each department come to the forefront in a common plan.
In my years of experience with campus crises, I have noticed three differing approaches to handling crises in the athletic department:
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The campus communications office commandeers the issue and cuts the athletic department out of the loop. This is often driven by the fear that athletic communicators will not keep the interests of the university in mind.
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The athletic department becomes proprietary and uncooperative resenting the university’s interference.
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The two work together from a joint task force to manage the incident and make best use of resources and people on both sides of campus.
As you probably guessed, number three is the ideal scenario. I’ve seen numbers one and two backfire multiple times. Here are a few tips for setting up a system of prevention and management to help campus communications and athletic communicators work together when a crisis is on the horizon.
• Put together a joint task force focusing on an issues management plan.
The supervision of this task force should be shared by administrators in campus comms and athletics. Each communications department needs to choose a representative for the task force that is most familiar with public relations and crisis management. The team should also consist of website and social media managers for both interests.
• Devise an issues management plan that includes triage response and issues identification for purposes of identifying escalation.
This should include guidelines for what kinds of issues need a response and which will just be monitored. Decide who will respond to what. I believe it is best to let the athletic department be the face of the message where a response is deemed necessary. The plan should also include sample response templates for first level messages, in addition to a message tree that filters second level responses (and higher) through the leadership. Don’t make this cumbersome. Time is often key in response. Be quick, but don’t hurry. Finally, the plan should include a definition of when an issue is deemed a crisis. A tiered response plan for severity of issues will help.
• Make sure you include all main social media channels in the plan.
How will they be used? Who will monitor?
Here is a simple outline for including social media in your crisis plans.
• Who will handle the media? Call a press conference? Who will speak on behalf of the university?
The answers to these questions are a matter of campus culture, but they need to be decided ahead of time.
• Make sure both sides of campus are monitoring social media for sentiment and issues. This is of primary importance for crisis prevention. It is a smart idea to have the social media managers on the campus and athletics side develop a good working relationship in general. Campus and athletics can gain a lot more traction with their fans by becoming advocates.
• Share common reputation management initiatives.
One of the best deterrents to a crisis is a good reputation. Both departments should develop common messages that include student achievement, community involvement, and public relations.
• Don’t be afraid to get outside help that can work with both departments.
Oftentimes, bringing in outside experts experience in both athletics and campus issues can help identify ways to help is necessary. Find agencies that are experienced in social media monitoring and crisis response to help staffers that are inexperienced or time stressed.
The bottom line? Two heads are better than one. Campus comms people need to trust their counterparts in athletics and vice versa. Developing a joint plan to address crisis prevention and issues management can bring peace of mind to both sides of campus.