We’ll kick off our retreat by grounding the next two days in the fundamental belief that guides our work—that the perceived effectiveness of crisis response can have more influence on an institution’s reputation than the underlying event or issue. And that’s great news.  It means that while you may have little to no control over the event that precipitated your crisis, you do have control over how you respond.

So, we’ll dive right in and lay the groundwork for the rest of our time together with an exercise that will challenge teams to consider the impacts and consequences of the crisis presented in a scenario. Because here’s the thing—in the heat of a major issue or crisis, even something as fundamental as an understanding of the situation and the risk it poses may be different from one member of a crisis team to the next. This illustrates why the path forward can be so difficult. If your team does not even agree on what is at stake, how can next steps be determined?

Institutions of Higher Education are uniquely ill-positioned to respond to crises in a timely and effective manner. In this session we’ll discuss these challenges along with the culture, mindset, and structural components necessary to overcome them.

ISSUE/EVENT REPORTING & EVALUATION

When crises arise, one of the first questions many leaders ask is, “Why didn’t we find out about this earlier?” In this section, we’ll focus on discovering and managing issues before they become a crisis.

In this session, we’ll work on:

• Developing a culture of “fault-free” reporting
• Establishing a strategic incident screening process
• Determining parameters for activating response teams

RESPONSE STRUCTURE & TEAM ROLES

Much of the stress created by crises stems not so much from the underlying event or issue but from the ad hoc approach most institutions use to respond. In this session, we begin to lay the foundation for a predictable, coordinated, and strategically aligned response process.

In this session, we’ll explore:

• The differences between Emergency Management, Crisis Communications and Crisis Management
• Right-sizing your Crisis Leadership team
• The role of the president/chancellor (and the board!) in crisis
• Expectations around information flow and coordination among responding teams

DEFINED MANAGEMENT PROCESS

We need a war room! Maybe, but probably not. A defined management process, however, can keep your team on track and well-coordinated as they respond to issues and crises—a value that cannot be overstated.

In this session, we’ll focus on:

• Moving beyond a “war room” to a more formalized and consistent process
• Managing team dynamics and diverse personalities
• Efficient time management and accountability
• Avoiding “group think” and “bunker mentality”
• Cultural and hierarchical obstacles that inhibit problem-solving

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

Communications is arguably the most visible—and therefore most impactful—component of crisis response. It shapes perceptions around decision-making and effectiveness and can have a profound and outsized influence on the credibility of an institution and its leadership team. Likewise, missteps in communications can have an outsized influence and significantly damage the credibility of the institution.

In this session, we’ll discuss:

• A stakeholder-centric, as opposed to media-driven, approach to communications
• Defining roles for the team as they interact with institutional leadership
• Approaches to help expedite communications approval
• The role of social media in issues/crises
• Tools to effectively manage meetings, action items, accountability and proactive preparedness for new developments

UNDERSTANDING THE TIMELY WARNING & MASS NOTIFICATION IN THE JEANNE CLERY ACT

This session is designed to review and familiarize participants with the Jeanne Clery Act, its mandatory Timely Warning and Emergency Notification requirements including the following elements:

• Clery Act: Purpose and Overview
• Timely Warning Vs Emergency Notification and Key Differences Including:
  • Triggering Event and Reporting Requirements
  • Scope Of the Threat
  • Target Audience
  • Location
  • Timing
  • Exceptions
• Messaging Content and Distribution Criteria/Considerations
• Decision Tree Chart
• Compliance And Records Retention
• Snapshot Scenarios

Every major issue or crisis an institution faces not only poses a significant reputational risk but also consumes time and resources that would be better spent on other activities. Given that, we strongly believe that a disciplined and rigorous approach to issues management should be at the heart of any program designed to understand, build, and protect an institution’s reputation.

Whereas crisis management is about managing high-impact events to protect the ongoing viability and reputation of the institution when you have very few choices and tools, issues management is about pushing back the timeline—creating options, buying time, and ultimately (and ideally) preventing the avoidable, self-inflicted crises from occurring in the first place.

The essential challenge—and, ultimately, the promise—of an Issues Management Program is to nip the smaller and more manageable issues in the bud before they can blossom into a full-blown crisis.

Essentially it is about breaking a vicious cycle—installing smoke detectors so you can stop fighting fires.

In this breakout, we’ll explore the following questions:

• What is the difference between an issue and a crisis?
• Does it matter?
• How do you stop fighting fires and finally get ahead of your issues?

And provide concrete tools to help your institution begin to develop a program, using our:

• Issue Identification & Prioritization Tool which helps provide the much-needed rigor and discipline to the process of understanding both strategic opportunities as well as slower-moving risks the institution faces.
• “CASE” Options Analysis Framework to help the team assess the risk or opportunity each issue presents and to match that to tangible strategic action.
• Issue Brief—designed to help to expedite information sharing and response during a quickly developing situation, an issue brief serves as a baseline of agreed communications as well as the source of the most up-to-date information on a particular topic.
• Issue Response Plan that helps the leadership team:
  • Define goals/objectives
  • Identify any “low-hanging fruit” that could quickly make a significant impact/difference.
  • Determine appropriate metrics to measure progress.
  • Incorporate reporting / escalation criteria into any existing processes to ensure early warning of related and concerning developments.
  • Document approval process, costs, and timelines for implementation, as necessary.
  • Create a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy