George Allen / EducateMHC Blog Mobile Home & Land Lease Community Advocate & Expert

April 26, 2020

Land Lease Community Coronavirus Update

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 5:13 am

Blog # 582 @ April 26, 2020; Copyright 2020. Educatemhc.com

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, asset class historian, data researcher, education resource, and communication media, for all land lease communities throughout North America!

To input this blog &/or affiliate with EducateMHC, telephone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Also email: gfa7156@aol.com & visit www.educatemhc.com

Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal: To promote HUD-Code manufactured housing & land lease communities as U.S. #1 source of affordable attainable housing! Attend MHM class!

INTRODUCTION: A response to blog posting # 581 (last week): “George. A good column. I was a kid in those (Vietnam War) days, but remember them well. Healing and forgiveness is still needed.” Mike
I. Land Lease Community Coronavirus Update. Good rent collection so far, but watch…
II. Renters’ Insurance. Once a popular offering, soon to reappear at Roundtable, etc.…
III. EducateMHC’s MHShipment ‘#s&$s’ Report (+) REIT & MHStock Market Data for all…
There will be only one national MHShow this year: the 29th annual Networking Roundtable, 2-4 September, in Nashville, TN. For information and to register, visit www.educatemhc.com

I.

Land Lease Community Coronavirus Update

Here’s What I Hear & Read From Around the U.S.

First off, it’s not easy getting useful news these days about land lease community operations. We average more than 100 emails (+ spam) per day, here at EducateMHC, and the majority of these have to do with community marketing, sales and operations. Today however, still the same 100 emails per day volume, but now 75 percent have to do with various ‘takes’ on the coronavirus pandemic re health advice, economic impact, and ‘flattening the curve’. Here’re a couple gems mined this past week:

• Rental homesite rent collection during the month of April? Seems to have been better than most owners/operators expected, coming in on either side of 85% efficiency; a.k.a. 85 percent economic occupancy. Not bad at all. One REIT boasted 94 percent during March, and 91 percent during April! Now however, everyone is looking to May, and what to expect three months into the pandemic – and the operative word is not ‘optimistic’. Will keep you informed as to what evolves.

• This from one of our larger portfolio owners/operators. “Among our 20,000 rental homesites, we’ve had eight residents come down with COVID-19, only one died. And one of our managers and a maintenance man, at one of our land lease communities, have come down with the virus. At our home office, we’re working a split shift (7-Noon & 12:30-5:30PM), so we don’t have more than ten employees together at one time.”

• While Congress was crafting CARES legislation, ‘one of our own’, a community owner/operator proposed “Leveraging the Section 8 infrastructure…to accomplish our collective goal of helping renters, landlords and banks.” How so? “Section 8 could be quickly engaged to deliver payments directly to landlords on behalf of residents in need of assistance due to the economic impact of the pandemic.” While there’s more to this solution than described here, it’s now moot as Disaster Assistance and PPP loans are now in place. Thanks to Chad Graves (ID) for sharing this suggestion.

Wish I could tell you more, and maybe we will next week. How ‘bout you? Any unique experiences dealing with the coronavirus hiatus within your firm and or among your land lease communities? If so, let me know via gfa7156@aol.com

II.

Renters’ Insurance

This has long been a property management topic known more for its’ ‘fits & starts’ than substance. At one point in time, it was an insurance product line offered by American Modern Insurance. Today, Assurant Insurance is reintroducing this means of adding tenant (i.e. homeowner/site lessee or resident) liability coverage, giving them legal defense and indemnity, usually with a $50K limit – or more, on a case by case basis; should they be accused of negligence that lead to damage to other’s property or bodily injury. The policy also covers damage caused by the resident to the community’s property (e.g. rental home). And the program covers the resident’s contents and additional living expense if they have to move out of the home, i.e. $15K in contents & $50K in liability, costs approximately $10 – 20/month or $180/year.

Keys to success of this program include 1) the land lease community must have a liability requirement in their lease, and 2) the community needs to bill the insurance with the rent to ensure the coverage is not cancelled by the resident. And there’s a requirement for licensure only if community owner/operator desires to receive commissions. For more information on this Assurant program, before the Networking Roundtable – where it will be presented and discussed in detail, contact John Loucks via (248) 808-3089 or john.loucks@assurant.com

III.

EducateMHC’s MHShipment ‘#s & $s’
Report (+) REIT & MHStock Market Data!

By now, you likely realize this longstanding (first half), and recently (two months past) enlarged compendium of HUD-Code manufactured housing shipment & public market $ information – including real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) news, is now an integral part of the PRIME edition of The Allen Confidential! Business newsletter!

If you don’t realize this, there’s still time for you to subscribe – or increase the value of your subscription to PRIME status, before the May 2020 issue is distributed digitally! Just visit www.educatemhc.com to do so.

Bottom line? Only EducateMHC provides you a monthly newsletter covering land lease communities and manufactured housing. And with the PRIME editions, subscribers also receive at least one Resource Document each month (e.g. the 31st annual ALLEN REPORT this past January), and now, the MHShipment ‘#s & $s’ Report (+) REIT & MHStock Market Data compendium! That’s why HUD-Code housing manufacturers and property portfolio executives subscribe. How ‘bout you?

By the way, the ‘$ report’ I’m working on, for distribution in early May, will likely have a few, if not all, the following features – and more, included:

• Depression, Recession & Lockdown. While the U.S. has endured 47 depressions/recessions dating back to the Articles of Confederation, the three most infamous are, The Great Depression of 1929-1933; Recession of 2007 & 2008; and, The Great Lockdown (2020). Now you know.

• Have any idea the percentage drop in retail sales, manufacturing output, and single family housing starts so far during this Lockdown? Read the ‘#s & $s’ Report in May!

• And how ‘bout business closure percentages? For example: hotels @ 90 percent. What about arts/entertainment, sports/recreation, retail/wholesale; and, restaurants?

There’s much happening these days. We owe it to ourselves, our employees, to stay abreast of the economic and health-related news pursuant to the coronavirus pandemic. We’re doing our best to help to this end; so please do your part, and like the motto at the beginning of this blog posting: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’

***

George Allen, CPM, MHM
EducateMHC

April 18, 2020

World War III Coronavirus Battlefield Report A Warning to Politicians

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 7:47 am

Blog # 581 @ April 18, 2020; Copyright 2020. www.educatemhc.com

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, asset class historian, data researcher, education resource, and communication media, for all land lease communities throughout North America!

To input this blog &/or affiliate with EducateMHC, telephone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE; 9877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Also email: gfa7156@aol.com & visit www.educatemhc.com

Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal: Promote HUD-Code manufactured housing & land lease communities as U.S. main source of affordable attainable housing! Attend an MHM class!

INTRODUCTION: Never before have I enjoyed the opportunity to watch history unfold before my eyes, as Covid-19 has. Well, that’s not really true. Some of the conflict I describe in Part I of this blog unfolded in similar manner. But I digress. I wish every stridently partisan politician could be forced to read Part I, for this truism, ‘People who don’t learn from history are often doomed to repeat it!’ And Part II? A description of marketing and home sales tools driving the ‘two decades long paradigm shift’ (2000-2020) away from independent (street) MHRetailers to in-land lease community sales and seller-financing of transactions. Part III = ‘Calling all writers!’ This is at best, a ‘once every two or three years opportunity’. So, if interested, sign up now!

I.
World War III
Coronavirus Battlefield Report
A Warning to Politicians

Mortal conflicts result in casualties and lessons learned. Whether the conflict is between nations, or among combatants, even disease-driven, some-if-not-many will be killed or wounded physically and or mentally, and often live lessons learned for decades to come.

I experienced the harsh reality of both perspectives, as a casualty and lessons learned, by dint of firefights in the Republic of Vietnam, not healed until 50 years later here at home. ‘Making Amends’ tells the story of my recovery, and a societal requital. Following it, I’ll make comparisons to the Covid-19 battle we now fight.

‘Making Amends’

“When I deplaned in Los Angeles, following flights from Vietnam and Okinawa, all I saw were mini-skirts. Later that day, exiting a plane in Philadelphia, all I saw was my lovely wife Carolyn! And that night, wanting an evening out alone, we were refused service at a hotel restaurant in Radnor, PA., because I was wearing my Marine uniform with combat ribbons. Such was my homecoming in 1969.

Years later, when it was OK to know a Viet Vet, and finally Thank him or her for their service, I found it difficult to acknowledge this gratitude, as deep hurt and strong emotions would well-up inside, as I recalled friends who didn’t make it back to be thanked, let alone live out their lives – like me.

None of this prepared me for what happened Christmas Eve 2005, in a pharmacy on the south side of Indianapolis. I’d gone there to buy last minute stocking items for my wife and her Mother. After I queried a clerk, who turned out to be the store manager, for help finding an item, she noticed the gold U.S. Marine Corps emblem on a chain around my neck, and asked if we could talk.

Turns out her son is an airman in the U.S. Air Force, likely headed for Iraq. She’s very proud of him and the man he’s become. But 38 years ago, she was a university student in Indiana and active in the anti-Vietnam War movement. She demonstrated with many of her fellow students, believing the war was wrong, and most of what was said about those of us who fought it. Nothing happened in her life, during the next three decades to change those views, until her son enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. When she saw him graduate from basic training, and heard him talk of his service as being patriotic duty to his country, she realized there are indeed many men and women, over the years, who’ve been – and continue to be, willing to risk their lives in service to their country- and her son, her own flesh and blood is now one of them.

So now, three decades following the official end of the Vietnam War, she wanted an opportunity, not necessarily to ‘thank a vet’, but to ask forgiveness for her misguided passion while a university student, all those years ago. And I was to be her veteran.

We talked. I cried. She atoned. I reflected on fallen friends who’d never hear these words but through me. She shared how every time she sees her son, she’s reminded how blessed she is to be an American and mother of a U.S. serviceman. In that moment we helped heal each other’s wounds.” GFA
***
I was an emotional casualty of that conflict, but now healed. Lesson learned? ‘Be careful what you protest’, as history oft returns – and turns, vindicating leaders reviled, while painting detractors as having been shortsighted and wrong.

Know what? I think similarly about the coronavirus conflict, today’s invisible enemy. Here casualties are tallied as deaths, hundreds of thousands of them worldwide. There’s no earthly recovery from that. But partisan politicians, criticizing the handling of this crisis, who’d be wise to verbally restrain, and more legislatively supporting than they are today!
II.

What You Missed at the 2020 MHCongress in Las Vegas

(Not only was there no MHCongress last week, but on 14 April, we learned there’ll be no MHCongress in 2020!)

With that said, know there’s a unique opportunity for you to experience, nigh firsthand, one of the major bodies of information you would have learned if present at the MHCongress in Las Vegas, NV.

The May 2020 issue of The Allen Confidential! Business newsletter will feature this lead story:

‘21st Century HUD-Code Home sales Tools in Today’s Land Lease Communities!’

Nowhere else in the manufactured housing industry, or even among land lease communities selling and seller-financing new homes on-site, will you find this comprehensive, practical body of marketing and home sales knowledge! And, when done reading this seminal piece, if you want FREE copies of at least two of the training aids described, just ask for them!

How can you not want to benefit from this unique learning experience? All you have to do is be a subscriber, either basic or Premium edition, to tap into this ready resource. Visit www.educatemhc.com today!

And, by the way, date for the year 2021 MHCongress is 6-8 April 2021!

III.

Writers’ Conference

Ever Been to a Writers Conference, &/or Have a Hankering to Write for One or Another of the Manufactured Housing Trade Publications?

On Monday, 3 August 2020, at the RV/MH Hall of Fame Library in Elkhart, IN., a group of us will convene to address the topic: ‘Writing for Publication, Profit & Personal Satisfaction!’ From 9AM thru to 3PM, we’ll share examples of good and not so good writing, difference in left & right brain expression propensity, tools of writing, types of writing, maybe even some advice on the popular contemporary practice of self-publishing.

There’ll be no overt promotion of this one day program. Several have already committed to attend, at $95.00/person, and the group will be best served if kept to maybe two dozen writers, and would be writers, in attendance. SO, if interested in receiving more information as the date draws nigh, let me know via gfa7156@aol.com or phone (317) 346-7156.

And if you’re going to be there in Elkhart for the day anyway, consider staying over for the RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet at 6PM. For tickets, phone (574) 293-2344. That gala event always draws between 500-700 RV & MH businessmen and women from across the U.S.
***

George Allen, CPM, MHM
EducateMHC

April 9, 2020

World War III –flattening curve but more deaths!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 8:14 am

Blog # 580 @ April 9, 2020; Copyright 2020; www.educatemhc.com

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ’mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing!’

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, asset class historian, data researcher, education resource, and communication media, for all land lease communities throughout North America!

To input this blog &/or affiliate with EducateMHC, telephone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877)MFD-HSNG o r633-4764. Also email: gfa7156@aol.com & visit www.educatemhnc.com

Motto: ‘U Support US & WE serve U!’ Goal: Promote HUD-Code manufactured housing & land lease communities as U.S. main source of affordable attainable housing! Attend an MHM class!

INTRODUCTION: Two perspectives this week.

FIRST. Key statistical findings published in EducateMHC’s ‘ MHShipment ‘#s & $s’ Report for February 2020, & the 4/3/20 ‘MH Manufacturer & REIT $ Market Data’. This information available nowhere else in the HUD-Code manufactured housing industry, or land lease community real estate asset class! Take steps today to ensure receipt of March 2020 YTD ‘#s & $s’ combined report, when distributed during first week of May 2020. How? Subscribe to The Allen Confidential!-Premium Edition, via www.educatemhc.com

SECOND. Personal reflections inspired by self-quarantine and passages from Karl Marlantes’ What It Is Like to Go To War; recollecting what was experienced and learned 50 years ago in Vietnam combat, and how it relates to Word War III. For example, Marlantes’ pens, “In combat, inattention to detail can kill people.” P.6. Just as inaccurate ‘calls for fire (e.g. artillery & close air support)’ can result in friendly fire casualties; inaccurate COVID-19 infection/morbidity models can result in more infections and deaths!

I.

World War III –flattening curve but more deaths!

“Manufactured housing business update. Coronavirus’ (negative) effects on HUD-Code housing shipments were minimal at end of February 2020, but devastating to stock prices and market (cap) values of six public companies on 3 April 2020.” GFA

HUD-Code manufactured housing shipment volume, at end of February 2020 was minimally affected by the imminent coronavirus threat. How so? The 8,240 new HUD-Code homes shipped were UP 1,027 units over February 2019, but DOWN 493 units from the month before, January 2020.*1

The ‘production value’ of these 8,240 new HUD-Code homes is estimated to be $355,000,000., based on 2013 base year data. Year to date (i.e. January & February 2020) total production value is estimated to be a revised $732,000,000.*2 Time to update the 2013 base year data!

The coronavirus effect definitely affected stock prices and market capitalization values of seven MH public companies (i.e. four HUD-Code housing manufacturers & three land lease community real estate investment trusts or REITs) on 3 April 2020. Among six non-Buffett firms, the average drop in stock price ranged between 30 & 50 percent.*3

Berkshire-Hathaway, at $428B is, for now, the only large (big) cap firm among manufactured housing and land lease community ‘players’; REIT Sun Communities, Inc. dropped to $9.98B, and REIT ELS, Inc., to $ 9.32B. Cavco Industries is the only other MH & LLCommunity-related firm, at $1.07B, to remain in the billion dollar value category. Skyline Champion Corp. is now at $682M, REIT UMH Properties, Inc., at $404M, and Legacy Housing Corp. at 226M.*4

Do you understand the difference between ‘coronavirus disease 2019’ and ‘COVID-19’? Former is the healthcare label; the latter, its’ abbreviated form.

Effective 1 May 2020, EducateMHC’s MHShipment ‘#s & $s’ Report for (March 2020); and early May 2020, the ‘MHManufacturer & REIT $ Report becomes an integral part of The Allen Confidential! business newsletter – Premium edition (This format includes subscriber access to more than a dozen Resource Documents during the course of the year, beginning with the ALLEN REPORT (a.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among Land Lease Community Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America!’) every January. Visit www.educatemhc.com for more information. Obviously this is, and will continue to be, your best source of MH & LLCommunity information and data anywhere in the U.S. and Canada! GFA

End Notes.

1. 8,240 new HUD-Code homes shipped, as reported by the Institute for Building Technology & Safety, MHARR, NAMHCO, and EducateMHC. Manufactured Housing Institute alone reported 8,209 new HUD-Code homes shipped during February 2020, or 31 fewer manufactured homes.
2. This production value, YTD, was erroneously reported, originally, as being $530 billion.
3. BRK-A or Berkshire Hathaway stock price was not included in this analysis. No reason.
4. Large (big) cap firms = $10+ billion in value. Market (cap) value is computed by multiplying current stock price times total number of outstanding stocks.

II.

Lessons from War

Karl Marlantes and I were Marine second lieutenants during early 1969, as we participated in Operation Dewey Canyon, an infantry assault into the infamous Ashau Valley in western South Vietnam, near the Laotian border. I was a ‘short timer’ by then, nearing the end of my 13 month tour of duty – in May; Karl had recently arrived in-country. He was a grunt (infantry) officer, I was a combat engineer officer, assigned as shore party company commander (Responsible for dozens of helicopter support teams, or HSTs, on mountain forward combat bases throughout I Corps). We never met, but his ‘historical novel’, Matterhorn, authored during the next 30 years, is graphic and accurate to a flaw – but for name changes (e.g. Matterhorn is fictional name for one of many fire support bases scattered throughout northern South Vietnam).

I’ve recommended reading Matterhorn to male friends, including my grandson – as an acid test of how determined he was, at the time, to become a U.S. Marine. He was determined. But it was what I read in Karl’s equally-engaging second book, What It Is Like to Go to War, that got me thinking about the present day personal, social, health, and business combat trauma Americans are going through in World War III – as President Trump says, against an ‘invisible enemy’.

This blog posting could not be more timely, distributed during the week of 5 April, and carrying over into the following week – predicted to be the two worst weeks – for deaths – due to the coronavirus disease, even as the infestation bell-shaped curve flattens!

Following paragraph sets the stage for what we’re going through at present in the U.S.

“War…blows away the illusion of safety from death. Some random projectile can kill you no matter how good a soldier you are. Escaping death and injury in modern warfare is much more a matter of luck – or grace – than skill, and this is a significant difference from primitive warfare. In a combat situation, you wake up from sleep instantly aware this could be the last time you awake, simultaneously grateful you’re alive and scared shitless, because you are still in the same situation. Most combat veterans keep this awareness – death is just around the corner. We know that when we drive the freeway to work, we could be dead within the next hour. It’s just that the odds have changed greatly in our favor from when we were in combat.” P.17

There are at least three perspectives at play today during World War III, a.k.a. the coronavirus effect. First responders and medical personnel on the battle scene day after day after day until the virus is no longer efficacious – and the enemy is defeated. For them, death could well be ‘just around the corner’.
The citizenry who’ve been told, repeatedly, to ‘shelter in place’, practice self-quarantine, stop giving the virus anywhere to go.

The citizenry, likewise warned, but for personal reasons, ignore warnings and advice, to place themselves – and often loved ones, at unnecessary risk.

And let’s not forget the business owners and employees suffering unemployment, and the very real possibility of business failure. The differences?

When ordered, as a Marine lieutenant, to undertake a particular combat mission, I gave the matter only enough thought (i.e. attention to detail) to plan for and lead my men into and back from harm’s way – knowing full well some, including me, would likely not return intact. And by comparison, that’s why we’re grateful to doctors, medical personnel, and first responders during WWIII.

When secure in a rear area, generally safe from immediate ground attack, we reveled in the relative security of our position. Interestingly, with the passage of time – usually less than a week – some younger troops relaxed their diligence and left themselves vulnerable – to sniper fire and rocket attacks, while their (older) officers – oft with families back home, encouraged caution. And frankly, some individuals seem to like putting themselves at risk. As Marlantes pens in his book, “When you are confronted with a seemingly painless moral choice, the odds are you haven’t looked deeply enough.”p.154 – into the consequences of one’s actions and inaction! Sure, it can be fun, even stimulating, to flirt with danger. Just be aware of the consequences, remembering the law enforcement bromide: “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!’ Or, ‘Afraid of dying? Stop trying!’

***

George Allen, CPM, MHM
EducateMHC

April 3, 2020

World War III? What a Major Difference One Month Can Make!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 6:36 am

Blog # 579 @ 3 April 2020; Copyright 2020; www.educatemhc.com

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing!’

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, asset class historian, data researcher, education resource, and communication media, for all land lease communities in North America!

To input this blog &/or affiliate with EducateMHC, telephone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Also email: gfa7156@aol.com & visit www.educatemhc.com

Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal: Promote HUD-Code manufactured housing & land lease communities as U.S. main source of affordable attainable housing! Attend an MHM class!

INTRODUCTION: So, how are you faring these days? Hunkered down at home like Carolyn and me, or still at work? Today is our 20th day of self-quarantine, and we’re getting along fine. Guess that’s a benefit of knowing one another for 57 years. But that hasn’t helped us complete the very detailed 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle we began on 14 March. It depicts Noah’s Ark and is comprised of many tiny animals. In any event, our adult children are keeping us in groceries.

What follows are my musings about the coronavirus pandemic. Am interested in our ‘take’ on this serious national health and economic welfare matter.

I.

World War III?

What a Major Difference One Month Can Make!

Following two paragraphs comprise the lead (‘attention-getter’) in a feature article titled ‘Drowning in Money’ – New capital continues to pour into the private equity real estate space; found on page # 23 of the March 2020 issue of NREI (National Real Estate Investor) magazine.

“There has never been more private equity cash chasing commercial real estate assets. And yet more funds than ever continue to come to the market. That could make 2020 the frothiest year yet for private equity investors in the commercial real estate space.”

“In 2019, fund managers raised #151 billion, a volume that edged past the previous record of $148 billion achieved in 2018, according to data from London-based research firm Preqin. Average fund sizes are now larger than ever as well, with 295 funds accounting for the $151 billion in capital versus 486 funds that had raised the $148 billion the year before.”

As I pen these lines on Wednesday, 1 April 2020 – not as an April Fool’s Joke, I find my thoughts turning to what I’ve been hearing and reading about the coronavirus to date. After all, these past couple weeks have quickly become very trying personal health and corporate economic times, unlike anything since

World War I (1914–1918) & the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918; 100+ years ago!

World War II (1939-1945) & the Vietnam War of 1954-1975; 50+ years ago!

I find myself agreeing, as President Trump suggests, this is a war we’re fighting against an invisible enemy! We should be thinking of this mobilization of our nation’s private sector, and passage of the Coronavirus Aid Relief & Economic Security Act (‘CARES’), as being akin to

World War III (2019 & 2020) & the difficult path we’ll be following to restore public health and economic prosperity to a strong but traumatized nation!

What do YOU think of what we’re going through these days? Let me know via gfa7156@aol.com

II.

Bruce Condit’s Seven Critical Steps to Crisis Management

Being pissed about the criticism directed at President Trump, during this coronavirus ‘war’, I decided to research how, in a perfect world, one prepares and effects crisis management – corporately, and by extension, governmentally. Here’s what I learned from Bruce Condit:

1. Have a plan. Every plan begins with clear objectives, e.g. protect endangered individuals, ensure audiences are kept informed, and organization survives. What specific actions are needed?

2. Identify a spokesperson. To ensure a clear and consistent message, name a spokesperson and prepare them to answer questions and participate in interviews.

3. Be honest and open via all communications channels, news interviews, social media, internal announcements, etc.

4. Keep one’s public (workforce, citizenry) informed. Minimize internal rumor mill subject to false reports on social media.

5. Communicate with customers and suppliers via every practical means.

6. Update early and often. Better to over-communicate if need be, rather than allow rumors to fill the information void.

7. Don’t forget social media. Monitor it, post and react to social media activity throughout the crisis.

As I worked my way through this crisis management planning process, I reflected on how – in my opinion – President Trump has fared to date. At first there was no workable plan in place. Is that his fault, or a shared shortfall with his predecessor? Spokespersons. Don’t know ‘bout you, but besides our president’s willingness to lead daily update briefings, I’ve been impressed with the two doctors who accompany him most of the time! And frankly, I believe the president and his advisors have been ‘honest & open’ with us to date – as there are always ‘state secrets’ we are at times better not knowing, until timing is right. And yes, I believe, as citizenry we have been kept informed, as the president and his staff advises us ‘early & often’, via print, online, broadcast, and social media. Bottom line for me? Stop criticizing President Trump, and ‘get on board’ with his health guidelines, so we can see our lives return to normalcy as quickly as possible.

***

George Allen, CPM, MHM
EducateMHC

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