And they should know what to do before something out of the ordinary happens on their property, says Olson.
“It’s very difficult [to manage a crisis] if you haven’t thought it through in advance,” agrees Bernstein. “Most people don’t even know what constitutes protecting a crime scene.”
In fact, he says, 90 percent of American businesses do not have a crisis plan. “It tends to be best guess, left up to each individual to come up with an approach to each crisis,” he says.
Gartner says employees should be familiar with the plan. “When you have a resident coming to the office screaming that somebody committed suicide, you don’t have the presence of mind to say, ‘Excuse me, I’m going to grab this three-ring binder to see what to do,’” she says. “You need to have it in place and look at it beforehand, because when it’s happening, you’re just reacting to it.”
Managing the Media That’s particularly important when it comes to dealing with the media. Property-level staff and others must know how to respond to news reporters who show up on the scene, says Wayne Kaplan, director of community relations for the Arizona Multihousing Association in Phoenix. He advises management to denote a single, knowledgeable spokesperson.
At Archstone-Smith communities, managers rely on templates created by headquarters staff when they need to send letters to tenants, direct news media to a corporate spokesperson or answer questions from local reporters.
“Dealing with the media is not part of their daily job,” notes Dana Hamilton, the company’s executive vice president of national operations, “so we’ll help them out with talking points and written statements, and we’ll practice with them. I’ve heard from our associates that they really appreciate that because these are stressful times for them.”
Be careful when talking to reporters. “Don’t give the impression you’re liable,” Bernstein advises. “Give them the impression you’re being responsible and responsive. Otherwise, people will think it’s your fault. They’re less likely to think it’s your fault if your communication is prompt, honest, informative and interactive.”
The same is true of tenants, notes John Ridgway, regional vice president of Lincoln Property Co. in Dallas. “A single incident won’t give a property a bad reputation,” he says. “We attempt to maintain our good reputation by being responsible managers on a daily basis.”
