At some point, nearly every organization will experience a crisis. For many, unfortunately, their crisis planning strategy is denial: “That will never happen to our company.” Except that it just might. When all hell breaks loose, and management is freaking out, remind yourself of these “truths” of a crisis.

1. There will be short-term pain, there can be long-term gain. Try to stay calm and objective. There is no reason that short-term pain has to turn into long-term damage to the...

Every project, every position and organization in which I have served as a professional business communicator has yielded new ideas on ways to improve communications with employees. Here’s a few simple, low-or-no-cost ideas you can implement right away to improve your skills.

1. Have coffee with a co-worker. One of the fastest ways to learn what’s going on—your company’s challenges, goals, and strategies—is to spend a few minutes with a leader/manager from another department. Come prepared...

TNT’s newest drama, The Last Ship, has drawn me in over the past few weeks, and as the story unfolds, it has become a weekly lesson in crisis management and communications. Based on the novel by William Brinkley, The Last Ship is a compelling chronicle of the USS Nathan James, a U.S. navy warship sent on a top-secret, radio-silent mission in the arctic with a team of epidemiologists. When the mission ends, and the ship is ready to head home, the captain and crew learn that in their absence, a...

It’s not the kind of number you want to see increase. Unfortunately, 2014 saw a nearly 30 percent jump in data breach reports in the U.S. alone. Some companies have communicated effectively with their stakeholders, while others have failed miserably. Moreover, those failures have a significant cost in revenue, profitability, and reputation, in addition to the hard IT costs to beef up security.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (www.idt911.com), in the United States in 2014...

Are you prepared? Take this short quiz and find out.

1. Is senior management committed to communicating consistently openly and effectively during good times and bad?
2. Have you identified the most likely crises that may occur in your organization?
3. Do you have a crisis management/ response team?
4. If you answered yes to #3, do team members know their roles and responsibilities in a crisis?
5. Do you have a formal crisis communication plan?
6. If you answered yes to #5, has the plan been...