Penn State, where was your communication strategy?

Ad Age (http://adage.com/article/news/penn-state-pr-majors-a-crash-crisis/231110/) recently posted an article about the Penn State scandal and how poorly the school handled communication. Surprisingly, Penn State is well known for their PR school and now the students in the program are wondering why there was no proper communication strategy. According to the article, "Despite months of advance notice, Penn State's board didn't enact a communications plan, and waited until after the arrest of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was all over the news before it hired Omnicom Group agency Ketchum to help guide it through the days ahead and manage the school's reputation."

Organizations need to have multiple communication plans, but those that deal with children need some that pertain to crises that we hope will never occur. At the end of the day those organizations are responsible for not only themselves but for the victims as well. What they say to the press and stakeholders reflects on more than just the organization. A communication plan should include appointing who does what according to their position within an organization. A communication strategy for the Penn State tragedy should have included these appointed roles:

1) Who speaks to the press
2) Who writes a letter/press release to the public
3) Who talks with the victims
4) Who deals with setting up a fund for victims
5) Who deals with the future and moving past the crisis
6) Who talks to the stakeholders
7) Who performs an analysis on how much the crisis will impact the organization
8) Who monitors social media for information about how the public is reacting to the crisis
9) Who responds to the public on social media

Sometimes organizations may never bounce back from a crisis like this, but you lessen your odds of recovering when you do not have a proper communication plan. As a Master's student in Communication, I can't stress enough how important the first few moments after a crisis are. Without a good strategy in place chaos can easily ensue. It goes without saying that chaos is not good. The public can detect when an organization is a strategic mess and in a crisis, the best way for an organization to save face is to come off composed, sympathetic to those involved, and rational.

I read somewhere that if Penn State had reported the crime when it happened, they would have looked like a hero and not a villain. Not only is Paterno a horrible person, but by not going to the police, Penn State enabled this horrible person. So yes, they are villains. Could a communication strategy have helped alleviate Penn State's appearance as a villian? Yes, but the minute they decided football was more important than child abuse, the damage was done.