One of the most important components of crisis communication is the area of crisis prevention. However, most organizations neglect to invest the necessary time to reflect upon and examine their vulnerabilities before they undergo their first serious crisis. This is the purpose of a vulnerability audit. A vulnerability audit involves a self inspection that is thorough and designed to pick out which potential crises exist within an organization before they actually occur, and allow the design of a plan for crisis communication. Such a plan allows organizations to minimize or avoid negative impacts resulting from such crises.
Reputatioobserver’s basic steps of a vulnerability audit are described below.
A. The first step is to collect data from individuals who reside in key information flow sites. These do not need to be senior executives; often, personnel at various levels of the organization are interviewed, as needed.
B. When these interviews occur, they are conducted with a high degree of confidentiality. Interviewees are assured that information obtained from the interview process will assist in the discovery of significant inconsistencies, potentially damaging trends or facts, and organizational consensus regarding the likelihood of particular types of crises.
C. Search for weaknesses in operations or communications that may contribute to or cause crises. Loose cannon employees may be identified here, but additional concerns are often revealed via conduction of a vulnerability process, including the lack of necessary infrastructure within a working environment in an organization.
D. Anticipate realistic scenarios involving crises. Each organization is particularly susceptible to certain forms of crises, and vulnerability audits are well suited to discover these unique weaknesses and make them known to the organization.
E. Report the results of an audit. The results from a vulnerability audit, after collection, will be analyzed and presented to the organization in a manner that includes recommendations for revisions in functioning to optimize responses to crises and prevention tactics, as well as discussions of which types of crises are most likely to afflict the organization. From there, brainstorming can begin on methods of preventing the most dangerous crises.
Once the vulnerability audit has been conducted, information that has been collected during the process will form the structural background for a manual to guide the communication aspects of a complete organization, in terms of how the organization responds to crisis situations. There will also be a clear system and assignment of individual responsibilities within the organization, and prepared responses reflective of the values of the organization should a crisis occur.
Reputationobserver’s vulnerability audit provides an organization with a plan to prevent crises before they occur, a reduced response time necessary for actual crises, corrections of operational weaknesses, and reductions in the costs of crises, should they occur. Despite these numerous and salient benefits, few companies engage in vulnerability audits and crisis management plans. As each organization is different, it is worth the time to have a tailored vulnerability audit to help your organization become better prepared to handle a crisis, should one occur.
