Who's Talking Now?

Chapter 7 of our book in class briefly mentions one very important point to consider when making all crisis management plans and crisis prevention tactics: The assignment of one spokesperson. For Joe Gibbs Racing, the main spokesperson would be Joe Gibbs himself, because he is the owner of the team and has the final say in all decisions. However, one of the drivers, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, or Joey Logano, may also have to speak if the situation clearly involves them.

To prepare for a crisis, all four team members should have crisis management training, if they do not already. Although they all speak to and deal with many different media outlets on a regular basis, it is important that they can handle the pressure of a crisis when in the public eye.



Another consideration to go along with the speaker is the audiences that he will be speaking to. Internal audiences for Joe Gibbs Racing will include their own team members. So, owners, mechanics, drivers, crew chiefs, crew members, assistants, sales personnel, marketing personnel, etc. It is imperative that the team maintains one voice during a crisis, no secrets are kept and that all team members have all of the imformation they need.



External audiences include fans, NASCAR officials, spectators, sponsors, investors and retailers who might purchase merchandise with the Joe Gibbs Racing Team name on it. All of these publics, both external and internal, are of great importance and need to be addressed correctly and promply in the event of a major crisis.