Tips on How to correctly handle a political crisis
Back in the 16th century a political crisis would have ended with a swift and not so subtle “OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!” luckily ( or not so lucky ) we don't practice these antiquated acts, no matter how much we may or may not believe they are warranted. Nowadays a Political crisis could mean the difference between the potential to do great things or to drown in the bottomless vat of regret.
Let's take the recent Jeffrey Guice crisis as an example of how not to create and handle a crisis from a politician's point of view. Mr. Guice replied to an email from a mother who was seeking the advice of her appointed representatives to help her cut through the metaphoric bureaucratic red tape. Unfortunately for Mr.Guice, he disregarded the fundamental basis in which his office was built, and that caused him to become his own crisis.
Fortunately for us, his unfortunate mishandling of this crisis has inspired us to educate the e-public with a few tips on How to CORRECTLY handle a Political Crisis while maintaining as much of a positive outcome as possible.
In the following data you will see we have been able to identify the actions and reactions that stem from this particular crisis and that has allowed us to pinpoint a few key elements that are worthy of mentioning as follows….
Think - Now we understand this sounds a bit redundant, but for most of the world the need to hear this one little word from time to time in order to remember that one phrase that their parents used to scold them with “ Think before you act “ goes a long way when it comes to not only politics but the outside world in total, this statement goes hand in hand with the popular “ if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all”.
Keep calm - There is nothing the media loves more than to see a politician sweat while throwing their arms up acting like an infantile child who just hit their terrible twos, simply because they could not maintain their bearing. Think of the media like Vampires, the basic necessity for a vampire is to suck the blood out of a host, in this case to feed on whatever story you gave them until eventually the host keels over, tired and cold. So how do you stop the vampish media? Deprive them of the very thing they need TOPICS and eventually they will die off and adjust the focus to something more interesting. After all what reporter in their right mind will continue to feed on a dead topic? The equivalent of beating a dead horse.
Consult - Ok, let's say you have failed to comply with tip 1 and tip 2, and went off guns blazing like Dirty Harry, you still have a chance to save your ship before scuttling her to the deep blue, but how??? By hiring a Public Relations firm?...well you could go that route and then you might be able to float off in to the sunset in a dingy made of regrets and remorse, but The Correct answer would be hire a Crisis Management team, because you didn't Think or Remain calm, instead you blew up thrashing around like a Friday night version of the drunken escapades on ice. A Crisis management firm would know exactly what steps to take in order to have you bounce back with as much of your reputable swuave as possible.
Now that you have the very basic tips time for a bonus tip and one of the most important at that…
Listen - Now this may or may not apply to you, but in a perfect world, with perfect people, you would or should have hired a team to council you by telling you how and when to man your post in the event that wolves come howling at the gates, So I cannot stress this enough LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE HIRED, I know that comes off strong, but like Liam Neeson says best the people you have hired have a very particular set of skills, skills that can save your 6 o’clock when it comes down to the wire. So please grant some professional courtesy and listen to us, we know what to do and how to approach the crisis situation and instruct you on how to deal with the situation you have unwillingly crawled into.
