Despite your board’s best efforts and intentions, the reality of bad press is something you should take seriously. While it may never happen to your community, your board needs to be proactive and develop a crisis communication plan. While we really encourage your board to work with an association management company and qualified legal counsel during a time of negative press, here are some tactics to help your community prepare for the worst case scenario before it even occurs.

  1. Identify a community spokesperson and train them so they are confident in front of a camera and with a reporter. No matter what your message might be, a bad spokesperson can do more damage than good.
  2. Develop three key messages that are strong, reflect the sense of community your board is trying to promote, and that can be easily modified for specific issues. Remember to keep them simple and easy to memorize – it will help your spokesperson deliver quotable information to reporters.
  3. Don’t let the reporter run the show. Always circle back to your key messages by using phrases like “In our community we…” or “What is important here…” or “Our hope is to…” If someone in the community has been offended, you may also try bringing the reporter back to your key messages.
  4. Never be on the defense or attack with aggressive, accusatory, or angry language. No matter what your personal feelings on the issues are, the board members must remain calm and professional.
  5. Talk about people. It can be easy to only talk about the issues, but for the press and for everyone paying attention to the news, they identify with the homeowners. Your board needs to come across as caring about people, not just policy. When done properly, it shows compassion for those upset and it shows true professionalism.

While these situations are stressful, the more prepared you are, the better you’ll feel about the situation as a whole. Since most people don’t interact with the media on a regular basis, we encourage your board to work with an association management company. Because of their expertise, they are the perfect resources to help build your crisis communication plan, and they can even help you execute it if your community ever finds itself in a tricky situation.

For additional questions about managing your HOA community, contact Spectrum Association Management. We specialize in larger communities with 200+ homes, and are dedicated to providing refreshingly different services, including our same day response policy.