Selecting a Company Spokesperson and What Information to Divulge
06/23/08
Selection of a company spokesperson is an art and not a science. Highly informed individuals have great degrees of disagreement as to whom and what role should be served by a company spokesperson. The art is constantly changing, as society’s expectations for instant and accurate information evolves. The choice of a company spokesperson is dictated in part by the level of regulation involved. The higher the level of regulation, the greater degree of expertise and sophistication required for a company spokesperson.
In most instances a company wants to avoid the use of two types of individuals as the company spokesperson as it relates to a construction site accident. First, it should avoid the use of “attorneys.” That does not mean an attorney cannot serve in such capacity, it just means that if an attorney serves in such capacity, the attorney should not be acting in the capacity of or the role of attorney. In other words the spokesperson should not sound like an attorney and should not be part of any meetings or discussions involving attorney-client or work product privileged protected communication occurs. Second, a company should avoid the use of anyone as spokesperson who has the legal authority to make legally binding admissions on behalf of the company. In today’s environment, a company never knows if and when the company will be the subject of local, regional or national news, nor when the statement made 18 months ago will show up on the internet or elsewhere.
A company should follow the SAFE acronym when selecting, preparing and engaging a spokesperson. The spokesperson should be Savvy and Stick to the message. They should speak with Authority and Accuracy. A spokesperson should always be Firm, Focused and Facilitate the communication of the company’s position on all issues. Lastly, the spokesperson should at all times be Experienced, Excluded from attorney-client and/or work-product communications and should maintain a position of Excusable failures.
Savvy and Stick to the message. Today’s press is increasingly trained to secure information by either implying possession of information which they do not have or by making sound bite statements and then asking the person to affirm or deny the statement. A company spokesperson should be well versed and experienced with such tactics. The person should know how to remain on message and how to respond to such press tactics without appearing evasive, rude or dishonest. In today’s world of mobile recording, any and all statements may ultimately be played in front of the ultimate fact finders. Therefore, encounters with the press, affected family members and others are extremely important, as those encounters are often the first opportunity for the company to make sure that its compassionate perspective of the known facts are communicated from the beginning.
Authority and Accuracy. Absent authority and accuracy, a company spokesperson has no authority to speak. The authority to speak on behalf of a company must be earned. Therefore, it is important that the spokesperson have actual access to information necessary to make accurate disclosures of facts and information. At the same time, the spokesperson must have the authority to be able to openly admit that certain information is unknown at the present, but will be investigated and disclosed when known. Many people may have access to information, but some people have talents to communicate the same information with authority. It is very important that such a person be selected as the spokesperson. Some individuals, no matter how hard the try, simply do not have the skills sets necessary to speak authoritatively to the press, affected parties or others. Use of such individuals should be avoided.
Firm, Focused and Facilitate. A spokesperson must be firm at all times. They must stay on task and focused. A spokesperson’s job is to communicate to the injured party, the injured party’s family, to the community and to press facts known to the company. A spokesperson should not encourage, and in fact should discourage, “factual” speculation. They should never allow their focus to be diverted, even unintentionally or in a compassionate aside. A spokesperson should be experienced enough to know that no statements are ever truly “off the record.” However, the spokesperson should be experienced enough to know that at times, what cannot be said “on the record” can be said “off the record” in order to communicate the facts or information to the desired parties. The press, families and community often will jump to speculation if not given some guidance by the company as to the truth. It is very important that the company facilitate the discussion toward the direction of truth, while at the same time making sure that only minimal and factual information is provided to facilitate that discussion.
Experienced, Excluded and Excusable. As to information provided, it should be compassionate, not contain expressed admissions of guilt either by admission or omission, and well within the law. Therefore, a company spokesperson must know what is or is not permissible for disclosure via HIPPA or other privacy laws. In general, the information provided should extend to the obviously known facts. A company should acknowledge that they understand the affected injured party’s pain and sorrow, that an internal investigation is being undertaken and that a thorough review of all policies and procedures and the incident itself is being undertaken. The company should end with assuring those being communicated with that attempts will be made to answer all questions presented at the appropriate time. The company spokesperson should then fulfill that promise at the appropriate time, not on the artificial time line presented by those asking questions.
As stated earlier, in order to avoid compromising the company’s legal position, the spokesperson should be excluded from all attorney-client and/or work product communications and should avoid being placed in any position where the spokesperson is actually a decision maker or part of the decision making process. The spokesperson job is to communicate information, not to make decisions. Decisions should be made by others. Inherent in such a structure is excusable failure. If the spokesperson ultimately makes a misstep, the spokesperson should always be in a position to correct that misstep on the basis of an excusable failure of internal communication from the decision maker to the spokesperson to the public.
See Are You Prepared For Accidents?; Developing Protocol For Accident Documentation; Differences Between Employee and Third-Party Accidents; Preserving The Accident Site and Other Evidence; Improving Workplace Safety Procedures During Litigation: Will It Hurt Your Case?
For more general information, visit Construction Law.
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