2185 - Mastering Crisis Comms with Confidence and Calm with Tieja MacLaughlin

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1:05With us right now, Taya McLaughlin. Taya, you are a crisis communications consultant. You are the founder of Taya Inc. Communications. You're found on the web at teainc.com. To our friend that's listening to us right now, just click around in your podcast app. Find where it's got the show information or the show notes. Keep clicking on stuff. You'll find a direct link so that you can follow along. But Taya, it's great to have you. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. All right. So I'm so excited to talk crisis communications because I haven't, it's fun when I get PR people, as I shared with you before we started recording.

1:39It's my background, you know, kind of started right out of high school in the United States Navy. But I am so excited to learn about the world of crisis communications and like the work that you've done. But before we do that, Taya, when you're not working, when you're just having fun or chilling out or vegging out or whatever, like what are you into lately? so lately my latest sports hobby has actually been jiu-jitsu which i think most people when they look at me don't expect that yeah so until they get a karate chop to the throat they don't expect that so i started a couple years ago just i i think it's a good you know self-defense um as a woman i thought it was something good to invest in and it's been uh you know something I've been geeking out on the last couple of years.

2:29Well, it's so functional, right? Because not only are you getting, you know, great, great workout, you know, developing self-confidence, it's practical. And then have you found like, so now that you, and how long did you say you've been practicing? Two or three years. Wow. Okay. So what I'm curious about is how does that knowledge affect you in the regular world? Like you're not in a fighting situation at all. But do you find that it has affected how you think or work or behave in the world? Oh, absolutely. Really? And I actually didn't realize how many, you know, how connected it was to my work in some ways.

3:12You know, jujitsu is about, you know, it's using your brain more than just sheer grit, right? The purpose is that somebody, you know, maybe a little bit weaker can still defeat a stronger opponent by, you know, strategically putting them in positions that is going to, you know, inflict some degree of harm. So I, you know, having to think through strategically how you want to approach the partner that you're rolling with, maybe what are their strengths and weaknesses. I love being able to flex that strategic muscle and then, you know, seeing your plan kind of come into fruition. If you land a hold, for example, it leads to like ultimately confidence.

3:53You walk around just knowing that you can take care of yourself you know you're aware you're much more i'm much more aware of my surroundings and just yeah having the confidence to know that you know if something were to happen you can at least carry yourself yeah through it um if someone wanted to get into this um and you said jujitsu jujitsu jujitsu right yeah do you recommend just like finding a local dojo. Yeah, absolutely. They usually offer, you know, first class or, you know, free period trial so that you can see if it's for you, but it's a great workout. It's, you know, it's really engaging.

4:36I would absolutely check out your local jujitsu gym. There's even some online. I mean, you need a partner obviously. So going in person is, is much more beneficial. I would absolutely recommend it. To our friend that's listening. I wanted to find what crisis communications is? Do you mind just giving us like a textbook definition and then we'll get into some war stories, I hope. Yeah. I always say that I protect and promote my clients. To me, that's the simplest way to explain it. I protect and promote, I manage reputation. So to me, that's kind of the easiest way to explain it. I often get calls obviously when there is a problem.

5:14So my job is, you know, reacting to a situation to repair it. And it's ultimately reputation rehabilitation. Yeah. Well, okay. So in the world of public relations, in the world of communications, my bias is that crisis communications professionals always have the best stories. So feel free to change the names to protect the innocent. but do you mind sharing what you've done in the trenches or what this looks like? And by the way, I'm probably overselling it because I know a lot of it is boring and, and just, you know, kind of hopefully in advance, you know, kind of proactively working out what would happen if dot, dot, dot.

5:57Yeah. I mean, so the, the proactive thing, I think, you know, by the time most people have to call me, they've missed the proactive opportunity, which is a good, it's always a good learning lesson for the client, you know, after they've been through a crisis situation. It's a big lesson to for them to invest proactively in PR, which maybe we can talk a little bit about as well on this. But in terms of clients, yes. You know, I always joke with my, you know, if I'm at dinner, for example, with family or friends, and people are talking about some challenges they're having in their, you know, jobs or whatever.

6:36And, you know, I look at the TV and there's my client on the TV going through just, you know, the most outrageous moment of their life. So I certainly think that no two days are the same. There's always, you know, the latest scandal or, you know, crisis happening. Some aren't as juicy, we'll say, um, you know, data breaches, for example, um, you know, a lot of industries go through things like that but on the other end of the spectrum I've worked with um actors actresses high profile talent a lot of sports figures so you know last year there was a very high profile um place here in Canada that I was involved in that was certainly international news and it was a big Canadian scandal so um you know being involved with that was certainly something um you know it was very rewarding for me to be involved with that.

7:34And, you know, it was, yeah, I mean, it was international news. I'm sure your listeners may have heard of it. You put two and two together, do some research, you'll probably figure out what the story was there. So, Taya, from your perspective, and this is obviously, I think the most important thing that we want to talk about, to SMB founders and owners, what can they learn from a crisis communications professional? So I think the biggest lesson and something I really wanted to, you know, share on this podcast was the idea of proactively investing in PR. And most people think, well, crisis PR, I'm only going to do when there's a problem, which yes, absolutely.

8:19I am that phone call when there is a problem, but making me that phone call before there's a problem is so much more important. It's, I call it, it's like your, it's an insurance policy on your reputation, right? So it's much more affordable to invest in it proactively and then it pays dividends if and when, and it's not usually if, it's when a situation happens and you need that sort of goodwill bought, you know, you need that Goodwill banked up so that you could dip into it when there is a crisis. So that's my biggest, you know, piece of advice for your listeners is invest in it proactively.

8:58It's going to save you a ton. It's an insurance policy on your reputation, like I said. And, you know, it's something you often don't think about until there's a problem, but changing that mindset to think about it early, Like your health, you know, you want to invest in your health. You do workouts to stay fit. And it, you know, you take care of your health that way. It's the same with your reputation. Yeah. Do you find, Taya, most folks are contacting you when it's too late?

9:31Yes. Most of my clients come to me in what I'll call a reactive state. And it is a very hard lesson for them to learn that they should have done it proactively. But that's not to say that, you know, it's, you know, my job to repair damage. So I do think most people come to me when there is a problem. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, and then I would imagine then your advice, you know, when folks are contacting a crisis communications professional, when stuff hits the fan, you got two things, right? Number one, well, shoot, I'm sure you wish that didn't happen as well. But number two, do you mind maybe sharing a little bit more about what, I mean, is it goodwill?

10:21I mean, like, how can we, so for example, let's say that, heaven forbid, a data breach happens, right? And it becomes public. And I mean, this involves customers information. I mean, this would just be a terrible, terrible situation. Aside from just making sure that we are doing the work of good cybersecurity, how might we proactively address something like that from a communication standpoint? Yeah. So I think, you know, taking a step back here, if someone comes to me with a data breach or a problem in general, it could be anything, you know, like I said, no two days are the same, but, you know, managing communications with your customers, I think is the most critical piece.

11:08You can really make or break, you know, the relationship and the trust with your audience just through communication. So that piece is absolutely critical. Now, when you're having to write communications on the fly, and perhaps you're not versed in how to put together an appropriate piece of crisis communication, you can often get into a situation where the communication is just not equipped to go out and build trust with your audience. So I think, you know, proactively putting together, you know, your playbooks is what I call them, your game games to know these are the steps that we're going to take if something happens.

11:53We'll have some boilerplate, some templates already prepared that have been signed off on, which is saving us time in a crisis opportunity because time is of the essence. It's absolutely of the essence. So if you don't know who to call when there's a situation, if you don't know who on your team to bring together to form your, you know, your crisis team to make approvals, God forbid it's on a weekend or after hours and you're trying to wrangle people, that time is really costing you. So having these sort of game plans, these playbooks, like I said, is what I call them in advance to just detail those steps and have some semblance of a template in place, which is, of course, going to be modified, given that no two situations are the same, but at least having that baseline where everybody in the organization, or at least, you know, at an executive level understands that this is what we're going to do when there's a problem.

12:53And I guess my curiosity is that decisions made when everyone can think logically are probably going to be different than decisions when like, oh my gosh, time is ticking right now. There's like emotions are high. Those are likely going to be two different or two slightly different paths or decisions or courses of action. So the idea would be to kind of think about, like, and this should go without saying, like, if you're doing your ongoing SWOT analysis, what's in your threat box? Okay. You know, how can you mitigate that? How can you prevent that? And should that happen, what would you do? You know, and thinking about that and taking time to ponder that, I would imagine, again, you would probably advise those practice.

13:48Yeah. you made a really good point about social listening to being able to identify threats in advance and you can get ahead of them in, in that case as well, because, and you hit the nail on the head when you're in a, you know, a crisis state, a reactive state, you go into fighter, you know, fight or flight mode, fight, flight or freeze. Um, and everyone handles that differently. So you, you might have some folks that, um, you know, want to be very, um, you know, much more aggressive in the way that they communicate, or you might have some people that just don't know the next step to take because they're in a frozen state.

14:23Some people just want nothing to do with it and you don't want to flight. So exactly like you said, being able to make those key decisions, you know, when you're in a, you know, a calm state of mind and able to think through things more objectively, because when you, your business is under threat, it's emotional. It's It's obviously the most stable person is still going to feel that in some way. So yes, to the best of your ability, you want to be making critical decisions in the right frame of mind. Yeah. Taya, what is it like when people work with you? Like what does engagement look like? So like I said, I get the call usually when there's a problem and that the first call is very, it's emotional.

15:12I mean, that the person's obviously going through turmoil and they need help. So the first call is about getting the client calm. That's my first job is let's get you regulated and to a state where I can truly understand the problem. It's often, you know, the first phone call is just a lot of rambling about this is the problem. We need help. It's a bit of a, it's a bit of chaos. So I need to get the, you know, the client regulated. it, truly understand the root of the problem. Sometimes people may think that the service level problem is it, but once you dig a little bit deeper, there may be something else that actually needs to be resolved.

15:57So I think it's my job to also get to that root issue and resolve that. So that first call, like I said, regulating and then giving them a simple one, two, three, this is what I need you to do right now. Before we get started, this is who we need to assemble. You know, oftentimes, a legal team might need to get involved. So we're just pulling the pieces together at that point. And then digging into more of a strategy. But the initial call is usually what I would say the most critical in avoiding mistakes. Talking off the ledge. Do you like, how do you, you have to be able to be pretty good at setting boundaries doing what you do as well, I would imagine.

16:42It was really difficult. I'm not going to lie the first few years. Because I do really, you know, I take these situations to heart, it's hard not to you become really, these are intimate situations that you're, you're involved in. And it's people's livelihoods and careers and, you know, things that they've worked their whole life towards. So, you know, my, my heart really goes out to them and wanting to support them. So yeah, the first few years, it was challenging to find what those boundaries were. I think, you know, during the pandemic, when a lot of folks were going through, obviously a lot, you know, that was a challenging time for, for me.

17:26And it was really after the pandemic and being so busy that I just, you know, I really learned the importance of being able to set those, those boundaries so that, you know, the, the burnout didn't happen again. Yeah. All right. So Taya, your website is Taya Inc. You're a friend that's listening. I know you've got some resources here, but if they want to learn more about your superpowers and, or maybe just kind of gain some best practices, you know, for their own sake, what would you recommend they do? Yeah. So I'm very active on social media. So, you know, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter. My company page is, you know, my first name.

18:14So T-I-E-J-A-N-K dot com. But I also post a lot on my personal channels, which is just my first and my last name. I think, you know, those posts on social really help people to understand, you know, what the day-to-day of crisis looks like and get little nuggets of wisdom. I always post about if I see something on the news that's trending, you know, this is how I would handle it if I was working on the case. And I find often people take a little bit of wisdom from that. Yeah, I am kind of getting sucked into your blog here, particularly your post about 10 PR-themed movies and tv shows so that is the most trafficked page on my entire i bet i bet i bet uh there are a lot of them that uh we have seen succession mad men scandal flack miss okay there's there's there's a good list here if you want to see the rest of the list you just go to teya inc.com You click on news and you'll see that article there along with other resources that you have available.

19:26Well, Taya McLaughlin, thank you so much. It was a great conversation. Thank you for the work that you do. Thank you so much for having me.

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