The rescue of the 33 miners from the Chilean mine has captivated the world. Everyone I’ve talked to, every Twitter post I’ve read, and every news update I’ve heard has the same reaction.
“This is amazing. Incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s a miracle.”
I echo all these sentiments, and what’s even more exciting to me is how Chile was able to turn this possible disaster into a resounding success story using excellent crisis management.
Here are some lessons that your business can learn from the handling of the Chilean Mine Saga.
1. PLAN AHEAD
Obviously, a small business in Denver will never have to deal with trapped workers. Or will it? No one can foresee every possible bad scenario that might affect their business, but you can prepare for the most likely. Obviously, one issue that a mine might have to deal with is a cave-in that might trap workers. They don’t want it to happen, but better to be prepared. With that in mind, the San Jose Mine was equipped with emergency shelters that were reinforced and stocked with emergency provisions. The miners were in one of these areas when the collapse happened and were able to keep themselves alive with the emergency provisions until they could be found and other provisions could be sent to them.
You should take a look around and see what issues might affect your business. Are you in a high rise? Do you have employees that stay late? Are children regularly in your business? Recognizing where you business might be susceptible to a crisis and taking steps to prepare will help you deal, not only with the crisis for which you planned, but also for the one you may not have.
2. TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES
One of the amazing aspects of the Chilean Mine Saga is how the miners were able to keep calm and collected while going through this ordeal. Because the miners knew that there were plans in place in the event of a collapse, they were much more likely to stay calm and work to stay alive.
Your employees should be aware of what you are doing to address crisis issues. Knowing that you have a plan for a crisis reassures your employees that you have thought about crisis issues and gives them confidence to act when a crisis occurs.
3. ASK FOR HELP
One thing, perhaps above all others, helped to save the lives of the Chilean miners and that was that the Chilean government asked for help. Companies from all over the world were asked for help and they were able to come up with a rescue plan that saved the miners months sooner than originally thought.
Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. If you run a restaurant, we expect you to know food not hazardous material clean up. Thinking that if you keep things in house will only make things worse. You might be able to keep on top of things in the short term, but chances are you’ll make a mistake. Reaching out to others who have experience with the crisis you’re facing lets people know you’re interested in the public good, not just your public image.
4. KEEP COMMUNICATIONS OPEN
When a crisis happens, people are going to want to know what’s going on. In Chile, the families, the press, the Chilean President all needed to be updated on what was happening. All parties were kept abreast of the efforts to find the miners right after the collapse. When they were found alive, a camera was among the supplies sent down so that everyone could see the miners and be reassured that they were o.k. This feed was also given to the media so they would have information as well. Finally, the miners were kept up to date to ensure they knew they weren’t forgotten.
If you don’t let people know what’s happening, then people are forced to go to other sources to get information, and that’s never good. You want to speaking for you. When you don’t, people want to know what your covering up, and in most scandals the cover up is always worse (see Watergate). If you don’t have an answer, say you don’t but when you get it you will let people know. Then follow through. People want information and honesty. Give it to them.
5. DON’T TAKE THE CREDIT, TAKE THE BLAME
The greatest part of the Chilean Miner rescue is that Chile understood that they couldn’t have done it alone and praised everyone else instead of themselves. They praised the miners, the other countries that helped, and the citizens of Chile and around the world for their support. By deflecting the praise, they spread the goodwill of the world to others and it was, in turn, given back to them.
A crisis comes with hard lessons and the main one is that there is always, always something you could have done to prevent the problem. Fair or unfair you need to understand this. You must take a hard look at yourself. What could you have done differently? What things need to be changed? If you pat your own back, others will think “if your so great, why did the issue happen in the first place?”
6. FIX THE PROBLEM
One of the issues that has been buried in the wake of the Chilean miner rescues is that the San Jose mine didn’t have a great safety record. There had been other accidents and even deaths. What the government of Chile did was to step in and work to fix the problems. First they jailed the owners of the mine and ordered an inquisition into the mine’s safety procedures. Additionally, the government said that the mine would be closed indefinitely until the safety issues are completely solved.
This bears repeating…there is always something you could have done to prevent a crisis. If a client has a fatal heart attack in your business you will be asked why you didn’t take CPR. Figure out anything you could have done better and fix the problem. Give your staff CPR classes. Put a portable external defibrillator in your office. You don’t want to have the same crisis happen again because you didn’t take steps to remedy the situation. Also, fixing the issue makes you better prepared for any type of crisis.
7. BECOME THE EXPERT
The silver lining for the Chileans is that they are now the world experts on saving miners. When another country has a mine collapse and miners need to be rescued, the miners, the rescuers, and anyone else associated with this rescue will be contacted for their “expertise.”
Face it, by having to deal with a certain crisis you are now an expert on it. You have an obligation to pass on your knowledge to others so that when a similar issue arises they can handle it better than you. One way to help your business is to embrace the expert title. You can bet that when 9 miners were rescued from the Quecreek mine in Pennsylvania eight years ago none of them, or their rescuers thought they would be thought of as experts. Yet here they are in 2010 on every news station being asked to comment on the rescue in Chile.
It is a rare opportunity that we can learn lessons from good news stories, but the rescue of the Chilean miners lets us do just that. Without great crisis management, this story could have been told very differently.
PR by DeVol 