Measuring a Crisis

Chapter 11 in "Measuring What Matters" explains how to measure a crisis. The chapter explains the only reason an organization exists is because society allows it to exist. It also touches on how important it is to follow social media during a crisis to see what is being said about how your organization is handling the crisis and to speak to your audiences about what is happening.

Recently, Trine University had an incident where they found a suspicious package in one of the academic buildings. Luckily, my mom is the spokesperson for the university so I got to hear some of the steps they took during the incident.

One of the first steps taken was briefing my mom, the spokesperson, on the situation at hand before the media and law enforcements arrived. They then decided to evacuate the building and let everyone know why classes were cancelled until further notice. The explosive ordinance technicians (or bomb squad) were then called in to search the package for any explosives. The package was cleared and opened and ended up being a puzzle.

During this whole crisis situation, the crisis team was checking social media and posting updates to their key audiences. The team took the steps explained in this chapter and everything turned out alright.

Although this crisis did not end up being a real crisis, Trine University took the correct measures to make sure they were prepared for the worst. Some people joked about the situation, but after Trine University measured what everyone was saying, it was apparent everyone appreciated how well the university handled the "crisis."

This goes to show the authors of "Measure What Matters" really do know what they are talking about.