Remember when radio stations would ask for the title of your “desert-island disc” to help you survive if stranded?  (Remember radio stations?  Or, for that matter, discs?)

Over the years, I’ve been asked the same about crisis management – is there one tool that I favor over all the others? 

Without question, I think an audience reaction grid is the best tool to help manage crises.  For several reasons:

• It’s simple.  You could draw one in the sand if you had to.
• It gets you prioritizing key audiences, probing their concerns, exploring what it will take to satisfy their fears.
• It helps you regain a broad view of the top priorities – i.e., those approaches that have the broadest appeal to the most audiences.

I’ll provide a sample Audience Reaction Tool here, and also store it on the Crisis Response section of this Web site.  Take a look, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me a note through the Contact / Ask form, or leave a comment below.