WEBVTT 00:01.140 --> 00:03.960 direct from Fort Meade Maryland . This 00:03.970 --> 00:06.950 is Din foes live . Welcome back to 00:06.950 --> 00:09.220 another episode of Din foes live . I'm 00:09.220 --> 00:11.442 Lieutenant Jack George is an instructor 00:11.442 --> 00:13.553 at the Defense Information School and 00:13.553 --> 00:15.776 I'll be your host for today's show . Oh 00:15.776 --> 00:17.942 it looks like we have some bad weather 00:17.942 --> 00:20.109 rolling into the studio . I think we'd 00:20.109 --> 00:22.220 better get started before it gets any 00:22.220 --> 00:22.050 worse . 00:26.240 --> 00:28.184 Good . It's over and you know what 00:28.184 --> 00:30.296 we're ready for it and it's important 00:30.296 --> 00:32.407 for public affairs and communications 00:32.407 --> 00:34.296 strategy professional to be ready 00:34.296 --> 00:34.140 because being prepared for is 00:34.150 --> 00:36.150 everything . When the unexpected 00:36.150 --> 00:37.928 happens , we need to be able to 00:37.928 --> 00:39.983 communicate quickly . You may face a 00:39.983 --> 00:41.872 weather emergency or you may find 00:41.872 --> 00:43.983 yourself confronted with another type 00:43.983 --> 00:46.150 of crisis . Maybe there's been a plane 00:46.150 --> 00:45.900 crash , a data breach , a personnel 00:45.900 --> 00:48.450 scandal or even financial misuse . No 00:48.450 --> 00:50.394 matter what the crisis . Maybe our 00:50.394 --> 00:52.283 organizations need to be ready to 00:52.283 --> 00:54.394 communicate before , during and after 00:54.394 --> 00:56.340 the crisis . I have two incredible 00:56.340 --> 00:58.451 guests joining me today to help us be 00:58.451 --> 01:00.784 better communicators in times of crisis . 01:00.784 --> 01:02.840 Commander Matthew Krol , Coast Guard 01:02.840 --> 01:05.118 Chief of Media Relations sir . Welcome . 01:05.118 --> 01:07.118 Thanks for having me and Miss Karen 01:07.118 --> 01:09.173 Namen , an instructor at the Defense 01:09.173 --> 01:11.229 Information School ma'am . Welcome . 01:12.840 --> 01:14.896 Thank you for joining us today . I'm 01:14.896 --> 01:16.618 really looking forward to this 01:16.618 --> 01:18.673 conversation . Um and learning about 01:18.673 --> 01:20.618 your public affairs experience and 01:20.618 --> 01:22.729 crisis comms . But before we get into 01:22.729 --> 01:24.840 that I'd like to introduce our social 01:24.840 --> 01:26.784 media monitor for today . Sergeant 01:26.784 --> 01:28.784 Benjamin Whitten , How's it going ? 01:28.784 --> 01:28.250 It's going ? Good sir . We're talking 01:28.250 --> 01:30.361 about crisis responses today . We are 01:30.361 --> 01:32.583 talking about some crisis communication 01:32.583 --> 01:34.639 and I know that you've been a social 01:34.639 --> 01:36.750 media monitor for the show before . I 01:36.750 --> 01:38.806 have been in a number of times and I 01:38.806 --> 01:38.470 actually had a crisis I had to deal 01:38.470 --> 01:40.470 with this morning . So I was making 01:40.470 --> 01:42.414 breakfast right , I get my pancake 01:42.414 --> 01:44.526 batter all mixed up and then I get to 01:44.526 --> 01:46.692 the part where I need milk and there's 01:46.692 --> 01:48.914 no milk . That is definitely a crisis . 01:48.914 --> 01:51.081 I agree completely . Well , thanks for 01:51.081 --> 01:53.248 supporting the show today . I can tell 01:53.248 --> 01:55.359 that we're gonna do just fine . We're 01:55.359 --> 01:55.340 going to be amazing . And throughout 01:55.340 --> 01:57.451 the show , staff Sergeant or Sergeant 01:57.451 --> 01:59.673 Whitman will be monitoring social media 01:59.673 --> 02:01.840 for us . So if you have a question for 02:01.840 --> 02:04.062 our guest , type them into the chat and 02:04.062 --> 02:03.360 we might just read it on the air . 02:03.640 --> 02:06.180 Alright , so let's do this now to get 02:06.180 --> 02:08.069 started . Why don't you introduce 02:08.069 --> 02:10.291 yourself to our listeners and viewers ? 02:10.340 --> 02:12.560 Great , well thanks . I'm Commander 02:12.560 --> 02:14.727 Mackerel . As you said the last couple 02:14.727 --> 02:16.782 of years , I was the regional Public 02:16.782 --> 02:18.949 Affairs Officer for the Coast Guard on 02:18.949 --> 02:21.116 the West Coast . Uh and part of that I 02:21.116 --> 02:23.171 was a crisis communication team lead 02:23.171 --> 02:25.282 that took me all over the country for 02:25.282 --> 02:25.020 different incidents and emergencies . 02:25.020 --> 02:28.080 So , um lots of experience with the 02:28.080 --> 02:29.969 emergency communications , crisis 02:29.969 --> 02:31.913 communications and hopefully I can 02:31.913 --> 02:33.969 share something with that today . Um 02:33.969 --> 02:35.858 I'm also doing postgraduate three 02:35.858 --> 02:37.802 classes so far at Den foes and and 02:37.802 --> 02:39.802 hopefully adding to that here , you 02:39.802 --> 02:41.802 know , as I continue to to grow and 02:41.802 --> 02:43.969 right now the Chief of media relations 02:43.969 --> 02:46.080 for the Coast Guard headquarters down 02:46.080 --> 02:48.080 in Washington , D . C . Fantastic . 02:48.080 --> 02:50.191 Yeah . Well , um , my name is Karen . 02:50.191 --> 02:52.280 Often I have nearly 30 years of 02:52.280 --> 02:54.180 experience in public affairs and 02:54.180 --> 02:56.402 communications . A lot of that involved 02:56.402 --> 02:58.569 crisis communications . Currently I am 02:58.569 --> 03:00.736 an instructor here at Den photos and I 03:00.736 --> 03:02.847 have the privilege of teaching in the 03:02.847 --> 03:05.069 Joint Contingency course as well as the 03:05.069 --> 03:07.013 joint intermediate course where we 03:07.013 --> 03:09.069 teach crisis communications . That's 03:09.069 --> 03:11.013 right . And what we teach together 03:11.013 --> 03:13.180 sometimes . And it's great to have the 03:13.180 --> 03:15.236 schoolhouse here and also experience 03:15.236 --> 03:14.980 from the field . I'm really looking 03:14.980 --> 03:16.924 forward to it . We've got a ton of 03:16.924 --> 03:19.036 knowledge here and I think it's gonna 03:19.036 --> 03:21.258 be wonderful for our audience out there 03:21.258 --> 03:23.540 listening in . So to start off , let's 03:23.540 --> 03:25.762 just talk a little about the difference 03:25.762 --> 03:28.060 between issues emergencies , disasters 03:28.140 --> 03:30.251 in crisis because they aren't all the 03:30.251 --> 03:32.418 same . Right ? That's a great question 03:32.418 --> 03:34.584 because they're often conflated . Um , 03:34.584 --> 03:37.290 the way I would describe that as an 03:37.300 --> 03:38.970 issue as an emerging trend or 03:38.970 --> 03:41.660 development real or perceived that's 03:41.660 --> 03:45.510 partially in the public sphere . And if 03:45.510 --> 03:47.440 you don't manage that welfare 03:47.440 --> 03:49.162 organization , it could have a 03:49.162 --> 03:51.830 significant impact Emergency Response 03:51.840 --> 03:53.784 Commander Kroll's gonna talk a lot 03:53.784 --> 03:56.250 about that . Think of an act of God or 03:56.250 --> 03:58.139 something that needs an immediate 03:58.139 --> 04:01.490 attention and it has a generally a low 04:01.500 --> 04:03.780 risk impact to your organization . 04:03.790 --> 04:05.957 However , if you botch that response , 04:05.957 --> 04:08.068 it could become a crisis and a crisis 04:08.068 --> 04:10.560 as you may imagine is unwanted 04:10.560 --> 04:13.270 attention on your organization and it 04:13.270 --> 04:15.159 will have a serious impact on the 04:15.159 --> 04:16.826 reputation relationships your 04:16.826 --> 04:19.103 organization has with key stakeholders . 04:19.640 --> 04:21.970 Yeah , that's that's exactly right to 04:21.980 --> 04:24.202 two things I'd like to add just to help 04:24.202 --> 04:26.424 people kind of wrap their head around . 04:26.424 --> 04:28.313 It is a , with an issue , there's 04:28.313 --> 04:30.536 normally a disagreement or a difference 04:30.536 --> 04:32.647 of opinion on how to handle something 04:32.647 --> 04:34.758 and that that that disagreement could 04:34.758 --> 04:36.869 be that there even is a problem where 04:36.869 --> 04:38.980 there isn't . So that disagreement is 04:38.980 --> 04:41.202 kind of where that issue lives . How do 04:41.202 --> 04:41.040 you move forward from there ? Um , 04:41.050 --> 04:43.272 things are kind of becoming a crisis at 04:43.272 --> 04:45.272 some point when you start to lose a 04:45.272 --> 04:47.050 little more control as internal 04:47.050 --> 04:49.217 organization and just like this norman 04:49.217 --> 04:51.272 said , your response to an emergency 04:51.272 --> 04:53.494 isn't necessarily a crisis , but as you 04:53.494 --> 04:55.550 start to lose control of of how that 04:55.550 --> 04:57.550 response is being perceived or even 04:57.550 --> 04:59.883 your authorities to continue to respond , 04:59.883 --> 05:02.050 then you're losing that control . It's 05:02.050 --> 05:01.910 going somewhere else outside the 05:01.910 --> 05:04.077 organization and now you find yourself 05:04.077 --> 05:06.270 in a crisis situation . Yeah . And I 05:06.270 --> 05:08.437 mean , obviously we don't want to lose 05:08.437 --> 05:10.492 control and you know , to the extent 05:10.492 --> 05:12.603 that we can and we don't want to just 05:12.603 --> 05:14.548 sit around waiting for a crisis to 05:14.548 --> 05:14.400 happen and then decide to do something . 05:14.400 --> 05:16.400 So how can a public affairs 05:16.400 --> 05:18.456 communications strategy professional 05:18.456 --> 05:20.678 begin to prepare ? Well , I know you're 05:20.678 --> 05:23.280 a sports fan , I am . Have you heard 05:23.280 --> 05:26.190 the best offense is a good defense and 05:26.190 --> 05:28.190 so a lot of what you're going to do 05:28.190 --> 05:31.210 before crisis happens is prevention and 05:31.210 --> 05:34.390 preparation to the most extent you can 05:34.390 --> 05:36.668 prevent the crisis from even happening . 05:36.668 --> 05:38.890 Please do that . And then there's a lot 05:38.890 --> 05:40.946 of preparation you can do in advance 05:40.946 --> 05:43.001 and Commander Karol can elaborate on 05:43.001 --> 05:44.946 that . Yeah , sure . So we we also 05:44.946 --> 05:47.001 follow the R Pi process just like we 05:47.001 --> 05:49.168 would for any other communications and 05:49.168 --> 05:51.390 that first step of research is critical 05:51.390 --> 05:53.446 because you need to figure out where 05:53.446 --> 05:55.112 those risks are , where those 05:55.112 --> 05:57.279 vulnerabilities are and start steering 05:57.279 --> 05:59.334 the company or the organization away 05:59.334 --> 06:01.334 from making a bad decision that may 06:01.334 --> 06:03.223 lead to a crisis or setting those 06:03.223 --> 06:05.334 expectations of what would happen and 06:05.334 --> 06:07.501 what the public would expect from your 06:07.501 --> 06:09.446 organization . So finding out what 06:09.446 --> 06:09.170 those are , determining what the 06:09.170 --> 06:11.226 likelihood they're gonna , that they 06:11.226 --> 06:13.114 could actually occur and then the 06:13.114 --> 06:14.781 impact that could have on the 06:14.781 --> 06:16.837 organization , that's like the first 06:16.837 --> 06:16.220 step , you gotta figure out what those 06:16.220 --> 06:18.540 are , so you know where to focus your 06:18.540 --> 06:21.130 energy . Um and also there's a whole 06:21.130 --> 06:23.590 field of study of crisis communications . 06:23.600 --> 06:25.750 Um start reading something about , 06:25.760 --> 06:27.927 about some of those , start looking at 06:27.927 --> 06:30.149 what what's been , how things have been 06:30.149 --> 06:32.316 handled in the past . There's academic 06:32.316 --> 06:34.371 theories , there's different tactics 06:34.371 --> 06:36.593 you can use all of these are already in 06:36.593 --> 06:38.760 place , you don't need to reinvent the 06:38.760 --> 06:38.130 wheel , but you need to know where to 06:38.130 --> 06:40.400 look to find those resources absolutely 06:40.400 --> 06:42.540 in a good place where people can look 06:42.540 --> 06:44.420 for some reading articles , best 06:44.420 --> 06:47.130 practices for that is Pavilion . So out 06:47.130 --> 06:49.297 there please go ahead and feel free to 06:49.297 --> 06:51.297 to check out Pavilion a lot of good 06:51.297 --> 06:53.463 content on there . Um , now research , 06:53.463 --> 06:55.574 you know , talked about understanding 06:55.574 --> 06:57.408 what issues are out there , your 06:57.408 --> 06:59.630 stakeholders , um , planning the second 06:59.630 --> 07:02.000 letter in our pie , what kind of plans 07:02.000 --> 07:04.056 can we put in place ? What does that 07:04.056 --> 07:06.056 look like to you when you do that ? 07:06.056 --> 07:08.111 Well , they have a lot of checklists 07:08.111 --> 07:09.889 and templates on Pavilion as we 07:09.889 --> 07:11.889 mentioned . But a crisis management 07:11.889 --> 07:13.889 plan for your organization would be 07:13.889 --> 07:16.111 depending on your organization and type 07:16.111 --> 07:18.278 of crisis is you're going to uh , deal 07:18.278 --> 07:20.333 with one thing I would suggest is to 07:20.333 --> 07:22.278 the extent possible that you could 07:22.278 --> 07:24.444 prepare products ahead of time . Maybe 07:24.444 --> 07:26.556 templates of digital press kits , web 07:26.556 --> 07:28.722 pages that aren't live , that you will 07:28.722 --> 07:30.722 just update and then immediately so 07:30.722 --> 07:32.889 that you're not updating in the moment 07:32.889 --> 07:35.000 of the crisis . Yeah , you you really 07:35.000 --> 07:37.150 think a lot more clearly without the 07:37.150 --> 07:39.400 crisis going on . So just simply 07:39.400 --> 07:41.567 walking your steps through of what you 07:41.567 --> 07:43.733 would do if if this were to happen and 07:43.733 --> 07:45.900 writing those down . So if a checklist 07:45.900 --> 07:45.820 doesn't really match up with you , you 07:45.820 --> 07:48.042 can always adapt one and say , okay , I 07:48.042 --> 07:50.264 wouldn't really need to make that one , 07:50.264 --> 07:52.431 but I would want to make this call and 07:52.431 --> 07:54.542 make sure this person is notified . I 07:54.542 --> 07:53.570 would want to make sure I have this 07:53.570 --> 07:55.514 template working through that when 07:55.514 --> 07:57.570 you're nice and calm in a controlled 07:57.570 --> 07:59.570 environment and you might have 2345 07:59.570 --> 08:01.626 days to think about it is gonna save 08:01.626 --> 08:03.792 you so much more headache because when 08:03.792 --> 08:05.903 a crisis actually occurs , you're not 08:05.903 --> 08:05.360 gonna be able to remember all of that . 08:05.360 --> 08:07.360 You're just gonna be running around 08:07.360 --> 08:09.416 responding and , and that's not what 08:09.416 --> 08:11.304 you want to be . You want to have 08:11.304 --> 08:11.250 something in place that's gonna help 08:11.250 --> 08:13.330 you focus that energy because every 08:13.330 --> 08:15.274 minute's gonna count when a crisis 08:15.274 --> 08:17.560 actually occurs . And did you know that 08:17.570 --> 08:20.040 in when your brain is under a lot of 08:20.050 --> 08:22.860 trauma and distress that the ability to 08:22.860 --> 08:25.027 process and make good decisions can be 08:25.027 --> 08:27.700 reduced almost to 80% . That makes 08:27.700 --> 08:29.756 perfect sense to me and anyone who's 08:29.756 --> 08:31.700 had to deal with the crisis , like 08:31.700 --> 08:33.589 getting that first phone call and 08:33.589 --> 08:35.700 having to , to kind of start the ball 08:35.700 --> 08:37.700 rolling . You'd probably be in that 08:37.700 --> 08:39.922 same fog . It's a , it's a lot , it's a 08:39.922 --> 08:39.630 lot to deal with . So that preparation 08:39.630 --> 08:41.352 really is key . There's mental 08:41.352 --> 08:43.519 preparation . Like we're talking about 08:43.519 --> 08:43.490 what , what you're actually gonna do 08:43.490 --> 08:45.379 and have that plan in place . But 08:45.379 --> 08:47.434 there's that physical preparation of 08:47.434 --> 08:47.410 having those templates out , having 08:47.410 --> 08:49.743 those checklists in place , having your , 08:49.743 --> 08:51.632 your contacts already updated and 08:51.632 --> 08:53.799 knowing that their numbers are correct 08:53.799 --> 08:55.966 because those calls are gonna save you 08:55.966 --> 08:58.021 lots of time and lots of headache if 08:58.021 --> 08:59.799 they're correct and you can get 08:59.799 --> 09:01.910 everybody kind of working in the same 09:01.910 --> 09:01.500 direction as soon as you can . Yeah , 09:01.510 --> 09:03.677 we definitely want to do everything we 09:03.677 --> 09:05.899 can to give us a leg up when the crisis 09:05.899 --> 09:07.843 strikes and um you know , I'm just 09:07.843 --> 09:09.566 thinking about when we have to 09:09.566 --> 09:11.621 communicate in a time of crisis , we 09:11.621 --> 09:13.843 might have valuable information that we 09:13.843 --> 09:15.843 need people to hear . And to me , I 09:15.843 --> 09:17.510 hear I hear that , I say , oh 09:17.510 --> 09:19.732 credibility , that's important . So how 09:19.732 --> 09:21.954 do we build credibility before a crisis 09:21.954 --> 09:24.232 becomes , you know , at our front door , 09:24.232 --> 09:26.343 all the way I think about it is think 09:26.343 --> 09:26.280 about it as your rainy day savings 09:26.280 --> 09:28.520 account , that's your relationship with 09:28.530 --> 09:30.590 stakeholders . You want to be before 09:30.590 --> 09:32.720 crisis happens putting into that 09:32.720 --> 09:34.887 savings account so that if you have to 09:34.887 --> 09:37.109 make a withdrawal during a crisis , you 09:37.109 --> 09:39.164 have some funds there and then after 09:39.164 --> 09:41.164 the crisis , you need to build that 09:41.164 --> 09:43.331 back up . Yeah , I'd say a big part of 09:43.331 --> 09:46.480 that credibility is familiarity and uh 09:46.490 --> 09:48.520 staying in your analogy of a bank 09:48.520 --> 09:50.576 account . If if I were to hand you a 09:50.576 --> 09:52.742 check and you recognize the bank , the 09:52.742 --> 09:54.798 bank number or the bank name on it , 09:54.798 --> 09:54.450 you'd probably say , okay , this is a 09:54.450 --> 09:56.172 credible check . If I hand you 09:56.172 --> 09:58.172 something that says , you know matt 09:58.172 --> 10:00.172 crawls , you know federal fund , uh 10:00.172 --> 10:02.339 you'd probably , I wouldn't trust that 10:02.339 --> 10:04.394 so much . So you've got to make sure 10:04.394 --> 10:03.980 that whoever is gonna be representing 10:03.980 --> 10:06.036 your company or your organization or 10:06.036 --> 10:08.202 just your organization as a whole is a 10:08.202 --> 10:10.350 familiar entity with the public . So 10:10.350 --> 10:12.406 getting them out there getting those 10:12.406 --> 10:14.750 those press releases out for um just 10:14.750 --> 10:17.720 routine operations for um really any 10:17.730 --> 10:19.897 any sort of communication that you put 10:19.897 --> 10:21.950 out proactively can build to that . 10:22.140 --> 10:24.307 That's saving funds that we're talking 10:24.307 --> 10:26.307 about . If you're able to tie it to 10:26.307 --> 10:28.440 like a bridging statement and say you 10:28.440 --> 10:30.551 know we have a vulnerability for like 10:30.551 --> 10:32.551 this may happen . This is why we're 10:32.551 --> 10:34.662 training something similar happened . 10:34.662 --> 10:36.829 It was a success because our crews are 10:36.829 --> 10:39.051 trained in number one and uh and so you 10:39.051 --> 10:41.273 can count on us to to do the same thing 10:41.273 --> 10:41.060 if another crisis were to happen . 10:41.240 --> 10:43.462 That's right credibility and trust hand 10:43.462 --> 10:45.573 in hand got to build that over time . 10:45.573 --> 10:47.740 Uh Sergeant . When do we have anything 10:47.740 --> 10:49.907 coming to us from social media ? We do 10:49.907 --> 10:52.240 have a couple of things on social media . 10:52.240 --> 10:54.407 We have . Question one . We have . How 10:54.407 --> 10:56.462 can we as D . O . D . Personnel do a 10:56.462 --> 10:58.296 better job at working with inter 10:58.296 --> 11:00.760 agencies . That's a great question 11:00.760 --> 11:02.980 because we tend to focus on what we're 11:02.980 --> 11:05.520 doing our planning training to focus on 11:05.520 --> 11:08.480 training within our organization . And 11:08.480 --> 11:10.480 it's really important that you also 11:10.480 --> 11:13.010 train with the other organizations that 11:13.010 --> 11:14.954 are going to be responding to that 11:14.954 --> 11:17.950 likely crisis with you . Yeah I'd say 11:17.960 --> 11:20.880 to add on to that . There are there are 11:20.880 --> 11:22.991 methods in place already that we call 11:22.991 --> 11:25.440 the incident command system . Um That 11:25.450 --> 11:27.506 is what the Coast guard uses because 11:27.506 --> 11:29.800 that's what most of the the local fire 11:29.800 --> 11:33.560 P . D . Um state , local federal . 11:33.570 --> 11:35.626 We all kind of use the same incident 11:35.626 --> 11:37.870 command system and it gives us the same 11:37.880 --> 11:40.080 terminology , the same structure , the 11:40.080 --> 11:42.420 same forms which sounds kind of silly 11:42.420 --> 11:44.642 but when you're running in a crisis and 11:44.642 --> 11:46.809 you need every need to make everything 11:46.809 --> 11:49.031 kind of work very quickly . Having that 11:49.031 --> 11:51.198 that set in place really helps . So if 11:51.198 --> 11:53.309 you're not familiar with I . CS um it 11:53.309 --> 11:55.253 is it's an already established way 11:55.253 --> 11:57.364 that'd be a very easy way for someone 11:57.364 --> 11:59.642 in the D . O . D . Just to study up on . 11:59.642 --> 11:59.270 There's plenty of courses online fema 11:59.280 --> 12:01.502 offers a bunch of courses . There's the 12:01.502 --> 12:03.502 Emergency Management Institute that 12:03.502 --> 12:05.613 offers a bunch of courses um and they 12:05.613 --> 12:07.780 can be online or in person but it just 12:07.780 --> 12:09.891 gives you that exposure to it so that 12:09.891 --> 12:12.113 if you do show up and you're doing sort 12:12.113 --> 12:14.113 of a let's say a hurricane response 12:14.113 --> 12:16.336 you're gonna at least know what's going 12:16.336 --> 12:18.447 on and be able to catch up to speed a 12:18.447 --> 12:18.280 lot faster . Yeah that's a really good 12:18.280 --> 12:20.502 idea . Anything we can do to expand our 12:20.502 --> 12:22.724 skill set and D . O . D . Communicators 12:22.724 --> 12:24.836 often don't have the same interagency 12:24.836 --> 12:27.002 experience as some of our brethren who 12:27.002 --> 12:28.836 are working in with the civilian 12:28.836 --> 12:32.630 authorities now crises there , not all 12:32.630 --> 12:35.800 our fault but maybe people perceive it 12:35.800 --> 12:37.967 to be our fault and maybe sometimes it 12:37.967 --> 12:40.630 is . So how do you think about 12:40.640 --> 12:42.584 communicating and really into your 12:42.584 --> 12:44.807 stakeholders when they think it is your 12:44.807 --> 12:46.862 fault or it is your fault ? That's a 12:46.862 --> 12:48.696 good question . You brought up , 12:48.696 --> 12:50.918 There's a lot in academia that's called 12:50.918 --> 12:53.029 attribution theory , but I won't bore 12:53.029 --> 12:55.196 you with that . What I will explain to 12:55.196 --> 12:57.307 you what any parent of a teenager can 12:57.307 --> 12:59.362 understand if you're a teenager skip 12:59.362 --> 13:01.418 school because there's a hurricane , 13:01.418 --> 13:03.473 you don't blame them for that . They 13:03.473 --> 13:05.640 didn't intend to skip school if you're 13:05.640 --> 13:07.807 a teenager misses school because their 13:07.807 --> 13:09.862 car won't start . Of course it's the 13:09.862 --> 13:12.084 car that they won't maintain properly . 13:12.084 --> 13:14.290 They're partially to blame . If you're 13:14.290 --> 13:16.290 a teenager skip school because it's 13:16.290 --> 13:18.280 senior skip day , you are going to 13:18.280 --> 13:20.391 blame them and hold them culpable for 13:20.391 --> 13:22.502 that decision and you are their major 13:22.502 --> 13:24.950 stakeholder . Yeah . The the decision 13:24.950 --> 13:27.006 point is , that's , that's key right 13:27.006 --> 13:29.061 there . So if , if it appears to the 13:29.061 --> 13:31.172 public that a choice or decision that 13:31.172 --> 13:33.172 either you or the organization made 13:33.172 --> 13:35.283 didn't work or made something worse , 13:35.283 --> 13:37.450 they're gonna hold you accountable for 13:37.450 --> 13:39.561 it . So hurricane happens . Really no 13:39.561 --> 13:41.728 decision on that teenager of what they 13:41.728 --> 13:41.530 could do . So if you're not really 13:41.530 --> 13:43.750 gonna hold them accountable , but 13:43.760 --> 13:45.982 senior ditch day , you made a choice to 13:45.982 --> 13:47.982 not go to school . So now it's your 13:47.982 --> 13:50.204 fault , whether it's true or not , that 13:50.204 --> 13:52.482 perception is gonna become the reality . 13:52.482 --> 13:54.482 So you just need to be aware of how 13:54.482 --> 13:56.704 much we need , when something happens ? 13:56.704 --> 13:58.927 You think , okay , well what was in our 13:58.927 --> 14:01.093 control ? Did we do everything right ? 14:01.093 --> 14:03.316 Or do we make some choices ? Let's make 14:03.316 --> 14:02.890 sure the public knows what choices we 14:02.890 --> 14:05.230 had and what choices we made and what 14:05.230 --> 14:07.174 was beyond our control and kind of 14:07.174 --> 14:09.230 setting that those expectations very 14:09.230 --> 14:11.230 early will help hopefully alleviate 14:11.230 --> 14:13.563 some of that blame . That's unnecessary . 14:13.563 --> 14:15.508 Yeah , I think we're talking about 14:15.508 --> 14:17.730 setting expectations , making sure that 14:17.730 --> 14:19.786 you're communicating goes a long way 14:19.786 --> 14:21.841 and to either acknowledging blame or 14:21.841 --> 14:24.008 being able to , you know , correct the 14:24.008 --> 14:26.119 record to the extent that you can and 14:26.119 --> 14:27.897 you know , we talked about some 14:27.897 --> 14:27.700 practices we can put in place to 14:27.700 --> 14:30.050 establish crisis and management plan . 14:30.060 --> 14:32.510 And so you've done all that . How 14:32.510 --> 14:34.950 frequently how often who's involved 14:34.950 --> 14:37.172 when you're training for something like 14:37.172 --> 14:40.070 this ? Well , I'd say as often as you 14:40.070 --> 14:42.070 need to and I know that's kind of a 14:42.070 --> 14:44.400 cheap answer , but it's it's true . So 14:44.410 --> 14:47.230 um if you look at a plan and you just 14:47.230 --> 14:49.341 read it over and you're like , okay , 14:49.341 --> 14:51.119 nothing's really changed , It's 14:51.119 --> 14:53.286 probably still good . Then it might it 14:53.286 --> 14:52.620 might still be safe . You don't need to 14:52.620 --> 14:55.850 do that very often . Um Other plans , 14:55.860 --> 14:57.916 they might not be updated a lot more 14:57.916 --> 14:59.860 regularly , depending on what your 14:59.860 --> 15:01.971 what's changing in your environment . 15:01.971 --> 15:03.860 If a policy has changed ? If your 15:03.860 --> 15:03.810 equipment has changed ? If your 15:03.810 --> 15:05.921 information environment has changed ? 15:05.921 --> 15:08.143 If you think about how would we respond 15:08.143 --> 15:10.254 to something pre pandemic versus post 15:10.254 --> 15:12.421 pandemic completely different in terms 15:12.421 --> 15:13.977 of what resources where the 15:13.977 --> 15:15.866 communication would be all that's 15:15.866 --> 15:17.921 completely changed . So almost every 15:17.921 --> 15:20.032 comms plan that we had at least in my 15:20.032 --> 15:22.143 experience once the pandemic hit , we 15:22.143 --> 15:24.310 had to kind of take all those down and 15:24.310 --> 15:26.477 look at from square one , what's still 15:26.477 --> 15:28.699 relevant ? What's not hurricane plans ? 15:28.699 --> 15:30.921 Hurricane season is coming up in just a 15:30.921 --> 15:33.032 few days here . Um The last couple of 15:33.032 --> 15:32.660 months , Coast Guard units across the 15:32.660 --> 15:35.990 country , most specifically in the gulf 15:35.990 --> 15:37.990 and the atlantic coast . There have 15:37.990 --> 15:40.046 been dusting off their plans running 15:40.046 --> 15:42.157 through them , tabletops , full scale 15:42.157 --> 15:44.260 exercises . Um Different scenarios , 15:44.260 --> 15:46.260 just making sure that they're still 15:46.260 --> 15:48.260 relevant and that they're ready for 15:48.260 --> 15:50.482 what should be another hurricane season 15:50.482 --> 15:52.704 coming up here very shortly . No 100% . 15:52.704 --> 15:56.440 But always consider yourself in a mode 15:56.450 --> 15:59.480 of watching out for issues , issues 15:59.480 --> 16:01.920 management and trying to prevent crisis 16:01.920 --> 16:05.020 is . Yes . I think that's always be 16:05.020 --> 16:07.190 scanning and identifying what's out 16:07.190 --> 16:09.357 there . What could be a trouble spot . 16:09.357 --> 16:11.412 Now we talked about preparing a plan 16:11.412 --> 16:13.634 right ? We talked about practicing that 16:13.634 --> 16:15.968 plan . Well now the crisis hits . Right ? 16:15.968 --> 16:18.190 And so those first few minutes hours or 16:18.190 --> 16:20.630 even days as the crisis onset . What's 16:20.630 --> 16:22.900 your thought process ? Well , I look at 16:22.900 --> 16:25.870 it as an echelon of communications . Um 16:25.870 --> 16:27.981 and you definitely have the first few 16:27.981 --> 16:30.203 minutes . It's no longer there a golden 16:30.203 --> 16:32.990 hour per se . Um The information that 16:32.990 --> 16:35.101 you need to get out really quickly is 16:35.101 --> 16:37.157 any information that involves saving 16:37.157 --> 16:39.268 people's lives or making sure they're 16:39.268 --> 16:41.046 safe . Then you can worry about 16:41.046 --> 16:42.657 information that's adjusting 16:42.657 --> 16:45.260 information about attribution or 16:45.270 --> 16:47.840 setting the record straight . Um Then 16:47.850 --> 16:49.980 finally as you're the crisis is 16:49.980 --> 16:52.620 wrapping up you can worry about 16:52.630 --> 16:54.852 information that's about restoring that 16:54.852 --> 16:56.408 that relationship with your 16:56.408 --> 16:58.463 stakeholders . Yeah . You definitely 16:58.463 --> 17:00.463 need to establish that that line of 17:00.463 --> 17:02.630 communication early and and get out in 17:02.630 --> 17:04.741 front of everything . Um Usually what 17:04.741 --> 17:06.797 we do is we put out what's called an 17:06.797 --> 17:09.019 incident statement which is really just 17:09.019 --> 17:08.320 an acknowledgement that something has 17:08.320 --> 17:10.950 happened . Very simple . Not even 17:10.960 --> 17:12.960 really that many details in it . It 17:12.960 --> 17:14.960 could be something as simple as the 17:14.960 --> 17:17.182 coast guard is responding to a blank or 17:17.182 --> 17:19.293 report of blank in this area . Follow 17:19.293 --> 17:21.349 this thread or this this channel for 17:21.349 --> 17:23.516 more updates and we'll get them out as 17:23.516 --> 17:25.516 quickly as we can . Um That's gonna 17:25.516 --> 17:27.627 tell people okay if if if I need more 17:27.627 --> 17:29.571 information I know where to go and 17:29.571 --> 17:29.230 that's where you can put that 17:29.230 --> 17:31.286 information of safety information is 17:31.286 --> 17:33.508 coming from here . We know what's going 17:33.508 --> 17:35.730 on . Now . We have safety information , 17:35.730 --> 17:35.630 here's where it is . As opposed to 17:35.630 --> 17:37.797 putting it out and hoping that someone 17:37.797 --> 17:39.908 finds it . You have to establish that 17:39.908 --> 17:42.019 that presence as quickly as you can . 17:42.019 --> 17:44.130 And at that same time as we mentioned 17:44.130 --> 17:46.352 earlier is in a few minutes of a crisis 17:46.352 --> 17:48.352 you're gonna be just scattering for 17:48.352 --> 17:50.074 information and the news is no 17:50.074 --> 17:52.186 different . They're gonna be Googling 17:52.186 --> 17:54.408 every phone number they can so limiting 17:54.408 --> 17:56.574 your stray voltage if you will of what 17:56.574 --> 17:58.686 other people in your organization are 17:58.686 --> 17:58.570 saying and getting them to point 17:58.570 --> 18:01.810 everybody to that single point of of 18:01.820 --> 18:04.042 information sharing that you've already 18:04.042 --> 18:06.042 established . That's gonna save you 18:06.042 --> 18:08.042 lots of time . And also potentially 18:08.042 --> 18:10.209 save lives if you are putting out that 18:10.209 --> 18:12.320 safety of life information . That's a 18:12.320 --> 18:11.790 great bit of advice sir . Thank you 18:11.790 --> 18:14.012 very much . And I just want to check in 18:14.012 --> 18:16.068 with Sergeant Whitton , see if we've 18:16.068 --> 18:18.179 got anything else from social media . 18:18.179 --> 18:20.290 We do got another question for social 18:20.290 --> 18:22.346 media . This one's coming from James 18:22.346 --> 18:24.401 and he's wondering how can brick and 18:24.401 --> 18:26.568 mortar media like like a radio station 18:26.568 --> 18:28.790 or something ? How can that play a role 18:28.790 --> 18:30.957 in crisis communication efforts ? More 18:30.957 --> 18:32.846 traditional media . That's a good 18:32.846 --> 18:35.360 question . I'd say a lot of your 18:35.740 --> 18:37.890 population in the United States still 18:37.890 --> 18:40.390 uses that traditional media . Radio is 18:40.390 --> 18:42.334 a very big one . If you're talking 18:42.334 --> 18:44.168 about like , let's say hurricane 18:44.168 --> 18:46.279 evacuation where people for hurricane 18:46.279 --> 18:48.279 evacuation a lot of times you're in 18:48.279 --> 18:50.279 traffic in your car . Um , we don't 18:50.279 --> 18:52.557 want people on their phones , you know , 18:52.557 --> 18:52.530 while they're driving . So a lot of 18:52.530 --> 18:54.697 people have that AM station on or that 18:54.697 --> 18:56.697 that FM news channel on , they're a 18:56.697 --> 18:58.752 really good resource to get out that 18:58.752 --> 19:00.697 information of , here's the latest 19:00.697 --> 19:02.863 updates for safety information or just 19:02.863 --> 19:04.863 evacuation routes . Or even if it's 19:04.863 --> 19:06.974 just listen to your local authorities 19:06.974 --> 19:09.030 coming from the Coast Guard . That's 19:09.030 --> 19:11.363 that's a very easy way because they are , 19:11.363 --> 19:11.090 they're already established . And so 19:11.090 --> 19:13.146 you don't need to reinvent the wheel 19:13.146 --> 19:15.423 every single time you got to find that , 19:15.423 --> 19:17.646 that right channel that's gonna hit the 19:17.646 --> 19:17.170 target audience that you're looking for 19:17.440 --> 19:19.551 and for people in the cars that brick 19:19.551 --> 19:21.607 and mortar radio station is a really 19:21.607 --> 19:23.829 good option in traditional media . Um , 19:23.829 --> 19:26.051 if you will , they're also doing a good 19:26.051 --> 19:28.162 job of making sure that it's accurate 19:28.162 --> 19:30.107 and it's not disinformation to the 19:30.107 --> 19:32.329 extent possible that they can make sure 19:32.329 --> 19:34.440 that that's the case . So it's really 19:34.440 --> 19:36.496 good to , to work with them and have 19:36.496 --> 19:38.384 those information going to them . 19:38.384 --> 19:40.384 Absolutely . I mean , I don't think 19:40.384 --> 19:42.551 it's a question of either or obviously 19:42.551 --> 19:42.360 the digital spaces is really important , 19:42.370 --> 19:44.592 but like you mentioned , sir , there is 19:44.592 --> 19:46.648 good cause for us to use traditional 19:46.648 --> 19:48.759 outlets as well . And we should think 19:48.759 --> 19:50.814 of it together now . Um , you talked 19:50.814 --> 19:53.037 about scrambling for information trying 19:53.037 --> 19:55.259 to figure it out . You gotta figure out 19:55.259 --> 19:55.090 a way to actually get this information 19:55.090 --> 19:57.312 out there . And so I'm thinking about a 19:57.312 --> 19:59.390 joint information center . Uh , you 19:59.390 --> 20:01.612 know , what is it , what goes into it ? 20:01.640 --> 20:03.751 Why do we use it ? Well , I've set up 20:03.751 --> 20:05.696 many of those and I know Commander 20:05.696 --> 20:08.280 Kroll has a respectable decent answer , 20:08.280 --> 20:10.710 but I'm going to tell you what's often 20:10.720 --> 20:14.560 overlooked healthy snacks to eat . 20:15.140 --> 20:17.570 Um , you would be surprised there's 20:17.570 --> 20:19.459 only junk food or there's no food 20:19.459 --> 20:21.514 available and you can't leave . Um , 20:21.514 --> 20:23.514 but a little more seriously is make 20:23.514 --> 20:25.710 sure there's a place um that's away 20:25.710 --> 20:27.821 from the noise and away from the main 20:27.821 --> 20:30.043 attention of the center where there's a 20:30.043 --> 20:32.210 professional backdrop for online or in 20:32.210 --> 20:34.432 person interviews and where they're not 20:34.432 --> 20:36.099 may be picking up operational 20:36.099 --> 20:38.099 information that doesn't need to be 20:38.099 --> 20:40.099 broadcast um for you to go , that's 20:40.099 --> 20:42.154 near the actual operational center . 20:42.740 --> 20:44.907 Yeah . If you if you zoom out a little 20:44.907 --> 20:46.962 bit and you think , what what is the 20:46.962 --> 20:46.710 purpose of a joint information center ? 20:46.710 --> 20:48.766 Why would you set one up versus just 20:48.766 --> 20:50.988 running it out of your office ? And and 20:50.988 --> 20:52.932 the point is that you're trying to 20:52.932 --> 20:55.099 bring different agencies and different 20:55.099 --> 20:57.154 entities together to have one common 20:57.154 --> 20:59.377 voice . What you don't want is The Navy 20:59.377 --> 20:58.710 saying one thing , the Coast Guard's 20:58.710 --> 21:00.710 saying another thing and people are 21:00.710 --> 21:02.710 like who do I listen to ? But if we 21:02.710 --> 21:04.821 came out together and said here it is 21:04.821 --> 21:07.043 no matter who you trust more who you're 21:07.043 --> 21:06.480 more familiar with , you're gonna say , 21:06.480 --> 21:08.620 okay , I have confidence that between 21:08.620 --> 21:10.842 these two , they know what's going on . 21:10.842 --> 21:12.842 I'm gonna listen and I'm gonna heed 21:12.842 --> 21:15.009 whatever warnings there giving us . So 21:15.009 --> 21:17.231 it has to be functional overall . So if 21:17.231 --> 21:16.930 it's just you and your organization in 21:16.930 --> 21:19.810 magic focus on that j aspect at that 21:19.810 --> 21:21.977 joint in there and start inviting your 21:21.977 --> 21:24.088 other agencies in . That's where that 21:24.088 --> 21:25.977 phone list comes in , that you've 21:25.977 --> 21:28.032 already prepped and you know who who 21:28.032 --> 21:30.254 you're gonna call , get them down there 21:30.254 --> 21:30.130 and say , hey we're setting up a joint 21:30.130 --> 21:32.241 information center . So far , I don't 21:32.241 --> 21:34.352 have anyone from your agency . If you 21:34.352 --> 21:36.408 have anyone that can at least be our 21:36.408 --> 21:38.686 resource to even reach out to remotely , 21:38.686 --> 21:40.797 We'll take it because we want to make 21:40.797 --> 21:40.190 sure that we can include all these 21:40.190 --> 21:42.023 agencies together as we get this 21:42.023 --> 21:44.301 critical information out . Light hands , 21:44.301 --> 21:46.301 many hands make light work . And of 21:46.301 --> 21:48.523 course having that 360 knowledge of the 21:48.523 --> 21:50.840 situation is incredibly important when 21:50.840 --> 21:53.062 we communicate , we're not just putting 21:53.062 --> 21:55.284 information out there . It's not just a 21:55.284 --> 21:57.507 fact sheet and sometimes , but uh we're 21:57.507 --> 21:59.673 often including some type of messaging 21:59.673 --> 22:01.784 in that . And so when you think of it 22:01.784 --> 22:03.784 in terms of a crisis , do you see a 22:03.784 --> 22:05.951 lifecycle for messaging ? And you know 22:05.951 --> 22:07.896 what is kind of the most important 22:07.896 --> 22:10.007 message that we're sending ? Well , I 22:10.007 --> 22:11.896 think we hit on it . Um safety um 22:11.896 --> 22:14.350 people's lives is always the priority . 22:14.840 --> 22:17.062 Yeah . And you you need to remember and 22:17.062 --> 22:19.229 we get desensitized a lot and just our 22:19.229 --> 22:21.340 jobs of dealing with with high stress 22:21.340 --> 22:23.562 situations and emergencies on a regular 22:23.562 --> 22:25.396 basis . But in any crisis or any 22:25.396 --> 22:27.562 emergency , I guarantee you someone is 22:27.562 --> 22:29.784 having the worst day of their life . So 22:29.784 --> 22:31.840 you have to keep that in mind as you 22:31.840 --> 22:33.673 come up with your messaging . Um 22:33.673 --> 22:35.673 empathy statements are really big . 22:35.673 --> 22:34.830 It's one of the first things that 22:34.830 --> 22:36.774 should come out of your commanders 22:36.774 --> 22:38.608 mouth when they go up to a press 22:38.608 --> 22:40.719 conference is just expressing that we 22:40.719 --> 22:42.941 we understand that there are people who 22:42.941 --> 22:42.670 are scared who are angry who are 22:42.670 --> 22:45.330 frustrated and and move forward with 22:45.330 --> 22:47.870 that because until they realize they're 22:47.870 --> 22:49.759 actually acknowledged , until you 22:49.759 --> 22:51.870 acknowledge that their fears of their 22:51.870 --> 22:53.926 emotions , they probably will have a 22:53.926 --> 22:55.703 difficult time just reading and 22:55.703 --> 22:54.970 understanding what you're trying to 22:54.970 --> 22:57.210 tell or even accepting it . So you have 22:57.210 --> 22:59.154 to make that connection first . In 22:59.154 --> 23:01.210 almost every crisis there's gonna be 23:01.210 --> 23:03.740 some sort of victim or some sort of you 23:03.740 --> 23:06.190 know , I guess bad , bad aspect of it . 23:06.350 --> 23:08.840 Just don't forget that . Yeah . I mean 23:08.850 --> 23:11.017 you have to acknowledge that . I think 23:11.017 --> 23:13.294 the human element of agreed completely . 23:13.294 --> 23:16.490 Um Now any crisis is it's bad enough 23:16.500 --> 23:18.722 that you're you're facing this , you're 23:18.722 --> 23:20.889 already feeling overwhelmed . But what 23:20.889 --> 23:23.000 if you stack another crisis on top of 23:23.000 --> 23:25.056 it um what do you do then how do you 23:25.056 --> 23:27.056 approach that ? How do you plan for 23:27.056 --> 23:29.111 that ? I don't I don't think it's if 23:29.111 --> 23:31.333 you have to stack another crisis on top 23:31.333 --> 23:31.180 of it , you should anticipate there's 23:31.180 --> 23:33.347 gonna be another second or third order 23:33.347 --> 23:35.569 crisis . Think in terms of you're gonna 23:35.569 --> 23:37.736 have disinformation and misinformation 23:37.736 --> 23:39.736 you have to deal with while the the 23:39.736 --> 23:42.750 original crisis is occurring . Yeah 23:42.760 --> 23:45.330 you're gonna run into , I mean if 23:45.330 --> 23:47.330 you're you're a oh are your area of 23:47.330 --> 23:49.710 responsibility is anything like you 23:49.710 --> 23:51.599 know , outside of one city you're 23:51.599 --> 23:53.710 probably gonna be dealing with two or 23:53.710 --> 23:55.654 three crisis up and down your area 23:55.654 --> 23:57.760 almost on a weekly basis . So divide 23:57.760 --> 23:59.760 and conquer if you need to separate 23:59.760 --> 24:01.816 your teams and say , okay , you guys 24:01.816 --> 24:03.816 focus on this , you focus on that . 24:03.816 --> 24:05.871 I'll be the overarching to make sure 24:05.871 --> 24:08.038 that everybody's working together . So 24:08.038 --> 24:10.204 at least we're matching . But you have 24:10.204 --> 24:12.149 to , you have to identify each one 24:12.149 --> 24:14.260 because if you give messages for this 24:14.260 --> 24:16.482 crisis to this audience , they're going 24:16.482 --> 24:15.670 to dismiss you . And when you actually 24:15.670 --> 24:17.837 have something to tell this audience , 24:17.837 --> 24:19.670 they're not gonna listen because 24:19.670 --> 24:19.580 they've already they've already moved 24:19.580 --> 24:21.469 on . They found another source of 24:21.469 --> 24:23.413 information , which which could be 24:23.413 --> 24:25.469 dangerous . So you want to make sure 24:25.469 --> 24:24.840 that you're , you're specifically 24:24.840 --> 24:26.896 targeting each crisis individually . 24:26.896 --> 24:29.410 Absolutely great point sir Sergeant , 24:29.410 --> 24:31.466 when I hear that we've got some more 24:31.466 --> 24:33.577 folks uh in social media land wanting 24:33.580 --> 24:35.691 to ask a question , We do get another 24:35.691 --> 24:37.858 question as a slightly long one . So I 24:37.858 --> 24:40.080 will paraphrase a little bit . This one 24:40.080 --> 24:42.940 is coming from jean uh so phrases like 24:42.950 --> 24:45.090 thoughts and prayers get used as kind 24:45.090 --> 24:47.090 of like buzzwords that , you know , 24:47.090 --> 24:49.201 everyone's heard it for one crisis or 24:49.201 --> 24:51.368 another . Is there a way that we could 24:51.368 --> 24:53.423 get commanders more comfortable with 24:53.423 --> 24:55.646 sharing ? You know , more genuine takes 24:55.646 --> 24:57.812 on things ? Yeah , I I'm really big on 24:57.812 --> 24:59.830 this one because with emergency 24:59.830 --> 25:01.886 response for the Coast Guard , we we 25:01.886 --> 25:04.900 often deal with with with people not 25:04.900 --> 25:06.789 surviving search and rescue cases 25:06.789 --> 25:08.844 drowning . I mean you name it , it's 25:08.844 --> 25:10.956 it's very , very difficult at times . 25:10.956 --> 25:13.011 Um , and you don't want your empathy 25:13.011 --> 25:15.233 statement to fall flat . So , um , what 25:15.233 --> 25:17.233 I like to tell people is is actions 25:17.233 --> 25:19.456 speak louder than words . So use action 25:19.456 --> 25:21.360 verbs . So thoughts and prayers , 25:21.640 --> 25:23.920 although they have a a place in empathy 25:23.920 --> 25:26.087 statements . Um give me something that 25:26.087 --> 25:28.198 you've done right . So if you look at 25:28.198 --> 25:30.364 um what I always tell a commander , as 25:30.364 --> 25:32.531 I said , you've been out , you've been 25:32.531 --> 25:34.476 out and you've been looking at the 25:34.476 --> 25:36.698 damage of this hurricane . What did you 25:36.698 --> 25:36.610 see ? And they say , well I saw houses 25:36.610 --> 25:38.832 ripped , they're off their foundation . 25:38.832 --> 25:40.777 It's like , okay , great . Who was 25:40.777 --> 25:40.510 living in those houses ? That's a 25:40.510 --> 25:42.788 family , someone lost their whole home . 25:42.788 --> 25:44.954 How does that make you feel ? And then 25:44.954 --> 25:47.121 they get that . Oh yeah , I've seen it 25:47.121 --> 25:49.343 firsthand , get that emotion across and 25:49.343 --> 25:51.510 they can say that they can say I I was 25:51.510 --> 25:53.677 out this morning looking at damage and 25:53.677 --> 25:55.621 I understand that people have lost 25:55.621 --> 25:55.560 their homes . This is this is a tragic 25:55.560 --> 25:58.090 event . What I'm gonna do about that is 25:58.100 --> 25:59.933 X , y and Z . Working with local 25:59.933 --> 26:02.044 partners and then showing what you're 26:02.044 --> 26:04.267 gonna do about it . And that will hit a 26:04.267 --> 26:06.489 lot more than just saying , yeah , it's 26:06.489 --> 26:06.240 a rough day out there for some folks . 26:06.250 --> 26:08.306 Uh , you know , we're gonna send out 26:08.306 --> 26:10.472 some crews and clean up like we always 26:10.472 --> 26:12.639 do because it's a hurricane . And this 26:12.639 --> 26:12.540 happens every year . So it's not that 26:12.540 --> 26:14.762 big of a deal . It is a big deal to the 26:14.762 --> 26:16.651 people who are the victims of any 26:16.651 --> 26:18.820 emergency or disaster is a huge deal 26:19.240 --> 26:21.770 and , and realize that realizing that 26:21.770 --> 26:23.992 and having them communicate that having 26:23.992 --> 26:26.214 them just think about that for a second 26:26.214 --> 26:28.326 really helps that empty statement and 26:28.326 --> 26:27.600 you'll find it's a lot more natural at 26:27.600 --> 26:29.878 that point instead of just saying , oh , 26:29.878 --> 26:31.933 our thoughts and prayers , tell them 26:31.933 --> 26:34.044 what you did this morning , Tell them 26:34.044 --> 26:36.100 what , how you interacted with . And 26:36.100 --> 26:38.100 I've even had um , for a really bad 26:38.100 --> 26:40.267 search and rescue case , they wouldn't 26:40.267 --> 26:39.470 talk to the family members of the 26:39.470 --> 26:41.600 people who were missing . And she and 26:41.600 --> 26:43.711 she said that , she said , she said I 26:43.711 --> 26:45.711 was speaking to family members this 26:45.711 --> 26:45.670 morning . This is a , this is a really 26:45.670 --> 26:47.837 tough case . There's a lot of families 26:47.837 --> 26:49.948 that are in a lot of pain right now . 26:49.948 --> 26:52.003 Um looking for missing people out at 26:52.003 --> 26:54.226 sea . Um that that hurts me as , as you 26:54.226 --> 26:56.503 know , as a mother or whatever , right ? 26:56.503 --> 26:58.670 Like make that personal connection and 26:58.670 --> 26:58.540 all of a sudden you've made , you've 26:58.540 --> 27:00.873 made that draw in with the audience now , 27:00.873 --> 27:03.096 tell them the information that you want 27:03.096 --> 27:05.207 to get across and they'll accept it . 27:05.207 --> 27:05.010 That's great advice to give your 27:05.010 --> 27:07.270 spokesperson . Um , just and I would 27:07.270 --> 27:10.420 just keep in mind human nature is after 27:10.420 --> 27:12.587 you've given those health , you know , 27:12.587 --> 27:14.753 life saving messages . Your next thing 27:14.753 --> 27:16.698 is people are going to try to make 27:16.698 --> 27:18.920 sense of what happened and why did this 27:18.920 --> 27:21.610 happen to me . So that's where that can 27:21.610 --> 27:24.090 come in with that empathy . Absolutely . 27:24.090 --> 27:26.034 You gotta , we all have to work on 27:26.034 --> 27:28.257 building our emotional intelligence and 27:28.257 --> 27:30.480 putting it to use and really being able 27:30.480 --> 27:32.702 to express ourselves in a crisis that's 27:32.702 --> 27:34.710 terribly important . Um , it sounds 27:34.710 --> 27:36.599 like we have a lot of activity on 27:36.599 --> 27:38.766 social media . Sergeant Witton . Do we 27:38.766 --> 27:40.988 have another question ? Uh , let me see 27:40.988 --> 27:40.870 what I can dig up . We've got a number 27:40.870 --> 27:43.460 of questions in here . Uh , we got this 27:43.460 --> 27:45.550 question is asking , is there , are 27:45.550 --> 27:47.550 there any examples you can think of 27:47.550 --> 27:49.772 when a military unit handled the crisis 27:49.772 --> 27:53.440 very well ? You 27:53.440 --> 27:55.496 handle crisis very well . Well I say 27:55.496 --> 27:57.980 the Coast Guard , No . Um , that's , 27:57.990 --> 27:59.990 it's tough because you're your best 27:59.990 --> 28:02.212 crisis that you've handled . Well never 28:02.212 --> 28:04.268 becomes a crisis like we were saying 28:04.268 --> 28:06.268 that the best defense . So the best 28:06.268 --> 28:08.490 crisis communications I've seen are the 28:08.490 --> 28:10.546 ones that don't even make the papers 28:10.546 --> 28:12.823 and don't even make the news . So , um , 28:12.823 --> 28:14.990 those are the tough ones and those are 28:14.990 --> 28:14.390 the very tricky ones that are like 28:14.390 --> 28:16.446 maybe a personnel issue of something 28:16.446 --> 28:18.900 that if it if it got out of hand , it 28:18.900 --> 28:21.067 would be a , hey , did you know that a 28:21.067 --> 28:23.233 military member was arrested for doing 28:23.233 --> 28:25.456 X , Y or Z . I thought military members 28:25.456 --> 28:27.456 had a higher standard of , of , you 28:27.456 --> 28:29.567 know character . Um , maybe the whole 28:29.567 --> 28:31.733 organization , you know , is this is , 28:31.733 --> 28:34.390 this is a little sneak peek into that . 28:34.400 --> 28:36.800 Um but because you've managed those , 28:36.810 --> 28:39.032 those expectations and you manage those 28:39.032 --> 28:41.199 relationships , You can kind of squash 28:41.199 --> 28:43.254 those a lot lower . Um I know it's a 28:43.254 --> 28:45.199 lot easier when we do crisis comes 28:45.199 --> 28:46.866 training to show like a press 28:46.866 --> 28:49.088 conference that's gone , gone bad or to 28:49.088 --> 28:48.620 show an interview where someone kind of , 28:48.630 --> 28:50.963 you know , went off script a little bit . 28:50.963 --> 28:53.074 Um those are easy to point the finger 28:53.074 --> 28:55.352 and say , oh , see what they did wrong , 28:55.352 --> 28:57.297 but a lot of the good work is done 28:57.297 --> 28:59.352 really behind the scenes . Um and so 28:59.352 --> 29:01.463 it's not so obvious , and if you have 29:01.463 --> 29:03.408 an issue that you detect , you can 29:03.408 --> 29:05.519 almost look at it as an opportunity . 29:05.519 --> 29:07.130 It's an opportunity for your 29:07.130 --> 29:09.130 organization to take the lead or to 29:09.130 --> 29:11.352 work with other stakeholders to resolve 29:11.352 --> 29:13.297 that issue . So it can actually be 29:13.297 --> 29:15.186 turned into a positive . Yeah , I 29:15.186 --> 29:17.297 couldn't , I couldn't agree more . Um 29:17.297 --> 29:19.297 and you know , I think there's even 29:19.297 --> 29:19.010 times where something could happen to 29:19.010 --> 29:21.050 your organization where it performs 29:21.050 --> 29:24.030 well . Um but maybe he was communicated 29:24.030 --> 29:26.141 poorly or tried to sweep it under the 29:26.141 --> 29:27.974 rug . And , and you've turned it 29:27.974 --> 29:30.030 created into a crisis when it didn't 29:30.030 --> 29:32.950 need to be . Um so just getting back to 29:32.950 --> 29:35.172 the kind of the flow of the crisis that 29:35.172 --> 29:37.283 we were talking about earlier , we've 29:37.283 --> 29:39.450 communicated , um we're thinking about 29:39.450 --> 29:41.228 um you know , how to manage our 29:41.228 --> 29:43.510 expectations and uh get the information 29:43.510 --> 29:45.677 that appropriate pertinent information 29:45.677 --> 29:47.732 at the time out there . What do we , 29:47.740 --> 29:49.740 how do we approach our stakeholders 29:49.740 --> 29:51.962 after a crisis and what is your focus ? 29:51.962 --> 29:54.129 I'm glad you think about after because 29:54.129 --> 29:56.407 usually when the crisis ends were like , 29:56.407 --> 29:58.629 I need to sleep and I never wanna think 29:58.629 --> 30:00.790 about this again . But really that's 30:00.790 --> 30:02.930 when you're gathering data , you're 30:02.930 --> 30:04.986 getting information from all of your 30:04.986 --> 30:06.763 team on the performance of your 30:06.763 --> 30:08.486 organization for institutional 30:08.486 --> 30:10.541 knowledge . But as well as reporting 30:10.541 --> 30:12.750 out with your stakeholders in a 30:12.750 --> 30:15.930 transparent way , what you can do 30:15.930 --> 30:19.760 better next time . Yeah . And and at 30:19.760 --> 30:22.080 the same time , you're always in that 30:22.090 --> 30:24.257 pre crisis stage , whether you realize 30:24.257 --> 30:26.368 it or not . I mean , there could be a 30:26.368 --> 30:28.368 crisis in the next few minutes . Uh 30:28.368 --> 30:30.423 that would pull me out of the studio 30:30.423 --> 30:32.534 because the Coast Guard would need to 30:32.534 --> 30:34.646 speak to media relations . Um and I'm 30:34.646 --> 30:36.479 gonna have to deal with whatever 30:36.479 --> 30:38.534 whatever happened . Um whether I was 30:38.534 --> 30:40.701 ready for it or not . So you're always 30:40.701 --> 30:42.923 thinking about the next crisis , You're 30:42.923 --> 30:42.010 always thinking about , are we ready 30:42.010 --> 30:43.954 for the next , you know , the next 30:43.954 --> 30:46.177 alarm , so to speak , to go off and are 30:46.177 --> 30:48.820 we ready for it ? So , learning lessons 30:48.820 --> 30:50.709 learned adapting your practices , 30:50.709 --> 30:52.820 updating your training , whatever the 30:52.820 --> 30:54.876 case may be , whatever you can do to 30:54.876 --> 30:56.876 improve and get ready for that next 30:56.876 --> 30:56.560 crisis , that's what you should be 30:56.560 --> 30:59.450 doing after the last one . Absolutely 30:59.460 --> 31:01.404 if we don't take an opportunity to 31:01.404 --> 31:03.404 learn from the present , then , you 31:03.404 --> 31:03.320 know , we're just doomed to repeat it 31:03.320 --> 31:05.390 in the future and and we want to get 31:05.390 --> 31:07.557 better . I think we would all agree on 31:07.557 --> 31:09.668 that and and learning from what we've 31:09.668 --> 31:09.510 been through is is a good way to do 31:09.510 --> 31:11.890 that . So before we wrap up , I would 31:11.890 --> 31:14.112 like to turn it over to you to say , is 31:14.112 --> 31:16.057 there anything you'd like to add ? 31:16.057 --> 31:18.279 Anything we missed ? Well , I would say 31:18.279 --> 31:20.501 I would like if you remember anything , 31:20.501 --> 31:22.612 is that you're always in a pre crisis 31:22.612 --> 31:24.779 phase . If you're not dealing with the 31:24.779 --> 31:26.946 crisis or repairing and moving forward 31:26.946 --> 31:28.890 and proving post crisis . And then 31:28.890 --> 31:30.890 finally , my last plug is if you've 31:30.890 --> 31:33.420 graduated from pax , q please come back 31:33.430 --> 31:36.570 and take our joint intermediate course 31:36.570 --> 31:38.570 where we dive very deep into crisis 31:38.570 --> 31:41.430 communications . Yeah , I just like to 31:41.430 --> 31:43.170 say I kind of got into crisis 31:43.170 --> 31:45.550 communications because when I first 31:45.550 --> 31:47.661 kind of was in that role where I knew 31:47.661 --> 31:49.828 that if something bad were to happen , 31:49.828 --> 31:51.883 my commander would call me first and 31:51.883 --> 31:54.050 say , okay , matt , what do we do ? Um 31:54.050 --> 31:56.161 it's it's scared , scared me straight 31:56.161 --> 31:58.328 at that point . I was like , I need to 31:58.328 --> 31:58.160 learn this quickly and I need to be 31:58.160 --> 32:00.382 ready so that if that phone does ring . 32:00.382 --> 32:02.493 So if if there's anyone out there who 32:02.493 --> 32:04.549 is in that same situation where like 32:04.549 --> 32:06.660 your phone is the one that's going to 32:06.660 --> 32:08.827 ring from the base commander or senior 32:08.827 --> 32:10.993 leadership and you're not ready for it 32:10.993 --> 32:13.104 at the time to get going is now , you 32:13.104 --> 32:15.382 know , there's classes , there's books , 32:15.382 --> 32:15.190 there's articles , there's exercises , 32:15.190 --> 32:17.301 you can go just get your foot in that 32:17.301 --> 32:19.412 door , start working in that field of 32:19.412 --> 32:21.579 crisis communications and and the next 32:21.579 --> 32:23.634 thing you know , you won't have that 32:23.634 --> 32:25.690 that anxiety anymore . You'll be the 32:25.690 --> 32:27.746 one that says commander . I know you 32:27.746 --> 32:29.801 think you're right . But trust me on 32:29.801 --> 32:31.746 this one , I've seen this before , 32:31.746 --> 32:33.968 here's what we need to do and why . And 32:33.968 --> 32:36.023 you'd be amazed . That's a very easy 32:36.023 --> 32:35.860 way and a very big way that public 32:35.860 --> 32:38.320 affairs as a whole can show its value 32:38.320 --> 32:40.640 to senior leadership is being there 32:40.640 --> 32:42.862 during the times of crisis because that 32:42.862 --> 32:44.973 same fog that we were talking about , 32:44.973 --> 32:47.029 your commanders are gonna be in that 32:47.029 --> 32:49.029 exact same fog and they're thinking 32:49.029 --> 32:48.960 operationally they're thinking safety 32:48.960 --> 32:50.793 of people . They're not thinking 32:50.793 --> 32:52.960 communication . You come in there with 32:52.960 --> 32:55.016 a simple plan and they go , it looks 32:55.016 --> 32:57.182 great . Go do great things , Put it to 32:57.182 --> 32:59.404 work and you're off and running and the 32:59.404 --> 33:01.349 next time you know , you have that 33:01.349 --> 33:01.290 trusted value . You're already in their 33:01.290 --> 33:03.940 inner circle . So um get started and 33:03.940 --> 33:06.051 pavilion is a great place to get that 33:06.051 --> 33:08.273 first step . It is a great place to get 33:08.273 --> 33:10.440 that first step in . You don't have to 33:10.440 --> 33:10.370 get ready if you are ready . Right ? So 33:10.380 --> 33:12.547 making those plans and practicing with 33:12.547 --> 33:14.769 the plans that we have . Now . I know I 33:14.769 --> 33:16.991 asked you for your final thoughts . But 33:16.991 --> 33:19.102 uh you have been such engaging guests 33:19.102 --> 33:19.080 that I think we have a lot of activity 33:19.080 --> 33:21.247 on social media . So Sergeant Wilton , 33:21.247 --> 33:22.969 can you hit us with a few more 33:22.969 --> 33:25.302 questions ? All right . We got this one . 33:25.302 --> 33:27.358 It is . How can you effectively deal 33:27.358 --> 33:29.470 with misinformation that gets spread 33:29.470 --> 33:32.230 during a crisis ? That's a whole 33:32.230 --> 33:34.880 another class that we teach ingi pack 33:34.890 --> 33:37.170 and I will take another hour to answer 33:37.170 --> 33:40.760 that . But similar though there are 33:40.770 --> 33:42.603 you're going to be scanning your 33:42.603 --> 33:44.750 environment . Um You're going to be 33:44.750 --> 33:46.639 anticipating , you know , certain 33:46.639 --> 33:48.806 counter narratives out there and there 33:48.806 --> 33:50.917 are ways maneuvers , so to speak that 33:50.917 --> 33:52.917 you can do online to deal with that 33:52.917 --> 33:55.083 effectively . Yeah . You you just need 33:55.083 --> 33:57.139 to set the record straight of you're 33:57.139 --> 33:59.361 the authority source . One of the first 33:59.361 --> 34:01.417 things out of your mouth should be . 34:01.417 --> 34:03.472 Here's what we know , here's what we 34:03.472 --> 34:03.110 don't know , here's what we're doing to 34:03.110 --> 34:04.999 find out what we don't know . And 34:04.999 --> 34:07.370 here's when we when we plan to tell you 34:07.380 --> 34:09.950 when we find out our next update that 34:09.950 --> 34:12.117 should set the record straight so that 34:12.117 --> 34:14.283 if there are rumors out there . Um and 34:14.283 --> 34:16.506 this happens quite a bit . If there's a 34:16.506 --> 34:18.617 fire on a military base , people will 34:18.617 --> 34:20.450 think is it an explosion is it a 34:20.450 --> 34:22.561 terrorist attack ? It could just be a 34:22.561 --> 34:24.561 fire , get out there and say it's a 34:24.561 --> 34:26.617 fire . We don't know the cause yet . 34:26.617 --> 34:26.530 What we don't , what we do know is that 34:26.530 --> 34:28.474 it wasn't a terrorist attack or we 34:28.474 --> 34:30.363 don't know if it's like make sure 34:30.363 --> 34:32.363 that's clear up front . And then as 34:32.363 --> 34:34.530 soon as you figure that out , had that 34:34.530 --> 34:34.270 channel ready to go get that 34:34.270 --> 34:36.270 information out and set that record 34:36.270 --> 34:38.326 straight and try to stay in front of 34:38.326 --> 34:40.381 those , those rumors as much much as 34:40.381 --> 34:42.890 you can . Absolutely . I think it's not 34:42.890 --> 34:45.230 a it's not a one or the other thing . 34:45.230 --> 34:47.286 There's no real distinction . I mean 34:47.286 --> 34:49.610 like you said , MS nam and there is so 34:49.610 --> 34:51.721 much to know about this information , 34:51.721 --> 34:53.666 but you already were talking about 34:53.666 --> 34:55.777 earlier that you've got to be quick , 34:55.777 --> 34:57.888 you gotta be first , you've got to be 34:57.888 --> 34:59.999 that wreck that source of record . Um 34:59.999 --> 35:01.999 and that's a great first way to get 35:01.999 --> 35:04.332 after the this this information problem . 35:04.332 --> 35:06.610 Uh Sergeant win . What else do we have ? 35:06.610 --> 35:08.721 Is there any time that a crisis or an 35:08.721 --> 35:11.170 emergency could be seen as a positive 35:11.170 --> 35:13.900 or a good thing ? I think we talked 35:13.900 --> 35:16.720 about that if you catch an issue in 35:16.720 --> 35:18.831 advance before it's a crisis and that 35:18.831 --> 35:21.300 you use that to resolve something 35:21.300 --> 35:23.350 before it becomes a crisis . Yeah . 35:23.360 --> 35:25.471 Every every form of communication can 35:25.471 --> 35:27.360 be seen as a deposit in that that 35:27.360 --> 35:29.582 analogy of that savings account of that 35:29.582 --> 35:31.749 trust bank . So whether it's a mission 35:31.749 --> 35:33.971 you did successfully or whether it's um 35:33.971 --> 35:36.210 someone you like , let's say the your 35:36.210 --> 35:38.540 organization internally found someone 35:38.550 --> 35:40.717 breaking like a finance ruler misusing 35:40.717 --> 35:43.360 funds . We found him , we held this 35:43.360 --> 35:45.720 person accountable and here's a safety 35:45.720 --> 35:47.887 check that we're gonna implant so that 35:47.887 --> 35:49.942 this doesn't happen again because we 35:49.942 --> 35:52.030 are a responsible organization . And 35:52.040 --> 35:54.262 what you've done is you've said that if 35:54.262 --> 35:56.262 there is a problem organization can 35:56.262 --> 35:58.484 handle it internally . And so then that 35:58.484 --> 36:00.651 worry of what else is going on in that 36:00.651 --> 36:02.596 organization , Isn't there so much 36:02.596 --> 36:04.651 because that trust and confidence is 36:04.651 --> 36:06.707 there ? Yes . And before the show we 36:06.707 --> 36:08.818 were talking a little bit and in some 36:08.818 --> 36:11.040 cases it may be the the opportunity for 36:11.040 --> 36:12.929 your organization to shine really 36:12.929 --> 36:15.040 execute the thing that it does well . 36:15.040 --> 36:17.262 Um even if it is a situation that known 36:17.262 --> 36:19.262 everyone would rather avoid . Maybe 36:19.262 --> 36:21.429 we're able to show how you perform and 36:21.429 --> 36:23.760 really operate the highest level . Um I 36:23.760 --> 36:26.530 do think that's it for us today . So I 36:26.530 --> 36:28.530 want to say thank you very much for 36:28.530 --> 36:30.474 taking the time talking with me uh 36:30.474 --> 36:32.586 talking to our viewers or listeners . 36:32.586 --> 36:34.752 Uh we had really good interaction so I 36:34.752 --> 36:36.697 know it was valuable and again , I 36:36.697 --> 36:39.130 truly appreciate your time and thank 36:39.130 --> 36:41.186 you all for joining us today for Din 36:41.186 --> 36:43.297 foes live . If you have any questions 36:43.297 --> 36:45.241 we didn't answer during the show , 36:45.241 --> 36:47.297 leave them in the comments and we'll 36:47.297 --> 36:49.519 answer them the next few days . You can 36:49.519 --> 36:48.850 find links to everything we talked 36:48.850 --> 36:50.850 about in today's show notes . Don't 36:50.850 --> 36:53.072 forget . You can also download the show 36:53.072 --> 36:55.017 as a podcast on your podcast er of 36:55.017 --> 36:57.294 choice . Just search for Din foes live , 36:57.294 --> 36:59.406 Join us next month on June 29 , where 36:59.406 --> 37:01.572 we'll be going to joint base anacostia 37:01.572 --> 37:03.794 Bolling to talk to their public affairs 37:03.794 --> 37:05.961 team and our first ever done foes live 37:05.961 --> 37:07.794 on the road . Have a great day , 37:07.794 --> 37:09.739 everyone . Thanks for joining us . 37:11.930 --> 37:14.930 Thank you . Yes . 37:26.730 --> 37:29.740 Mm hmm mm hmm 37:39.530 --> 37:42.250 mm hmm mm hmm 37:43.430 --> 37:44.430 mm hmm . 37:52.630 --> 37:53.770 Mhm mm hmm 37:57.430 --> 37:57.850 mm hmm .