communicating in a crisis catherine worboys, curtin&co

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Communicating in a Crisis

CATHERINE WORBOYS,CURTIN&CO

For discussion today

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• What makes a crisis?

• Why effective communication is crucial in a crisis

• Key stakeholders and pre-crisis communication

• Assembling a crisis team

• Effectively preparing for a crisis– Both internally and externally

What makes a crisis?

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• Rather like earthquake prediction– Many indicators, but unreliable– So you need to be prepared for a range of situations

• In crises: • Those with good reputations

– will be less scarred; recover more quickly

• Therefore you must handle issues well; tone of voice, honesty, generosity, etc. to avoid a crisis

A crisis is an issue badly managed

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Perceptions are Powerful• In today’s media landscape:

• If you think you have a problem then you probably have one

• If someone else thinks you have a problem then you definitely have one

• EG: TGV France “crash” – simulation which was reported as real

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Why managing a crisis matters• Reputation management

• Impacts on sales, credibility, credit rating, etc.• Could make recruitment more difficult - hits internal

morale• Uncomfortable for management

• Expensively built brand image is tarnished• In the best case you can gain

• Tylenol – blackmailer threatened to poison products

• In the worst case you lose the company• Perrier – accidental minute contamination

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Perrier – the iconic brand of the ‘80s in crisis

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Lessons to be learnt • Things always get worse before/if they get

better - a snowball effect• BP – oil spill

• Murphy’s Law rules– No one is ever in the right place at the right time

– If it can happen on Christmas Day, it will

• Everyone has a different agenda– Which you need to know before a crisis hits

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The dangers of the ‘cover-up’ • Cover-up – a media definition: Deliberately (a)

hiding information (b) not releasing it promptly • Hiding information always leads to either

– economies with the truth– misinformation or – plain lying

The Hydra Syndrome• The more lies you tell, the more you must tell

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Cadbury and salmonella

20th January: Cadbury Discovers Salmonella

19th June: Cadbury admits contamination to the Food Standards Agency when outbreak of Salmonella linked to product

22nd June: FSA says Cadbury posed ‘unacceptable’ risk to public

23rd June: Chocolate recalled

30th June: Cadbury documents show same factory infected with salmonella in 2002

Outcome: Cadbury looks as though it knew the problem existed and wilfully put its customers at risk

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Key rules of communicating in a crisis• Speed is of the essence

– If you have information, release it– If not, have “no comment” prepared– Five minutes is a long time in Cyberspace

• Know your stakeholders before you are in a crisis– Who will help you when you need them?

• Prepare your key messages– And all the scenarios you can think of – they may seem extreme but crises

are

• Most of all – prepare your people– Who is your crisis team?– How regularly do they train?– Everyone else should be trained to give “no comment”

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Crisis Management

Some of the key players you must know

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The Media – old and new• Speed is of the essence• The media watches the media

• TFL suffered from Twitter campaign against employee in 2010

• Website comment - posted fast• Can deflect hundreds of queries quickly• Can be easily prepared in advance as a “hidden” page to trigger

• Agenda-setting rather than opinion influencers

– Media tells people what to think about

• They are under fierce competitive pressure

• Journalism is ‘the first rough cut of history’

• Truth is an early casualty

– But having friends can help

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The Politicians • Politicians have strong drivers

• Ego and altruism

• Make sure they have a special ‘hot line’ number for crises

• Get to them before they get to you– Have telephone numbers (office, home, mobile, addresses, e-mails, etc.)

• One/two Directors to contact top politicians

• Senior Managers handle local councillors, MPs etc.

• A crisis is an easy campaign “band wagon” for politicians– If they know you and support you in the media it can reduce impact

This is third party advocacy - they can say what you can’t

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The pressure groups• Remember they are competitive businesses

– Their own corporate battles - Membership drives

• They can take risks - edge of the law

• Speculate with strong and inaccurate views

• The are symbiotic friends of the media– The environment is fashionable - a good ‘horror story’– They are underdogs - like the journalist– They are ‘independent’ - no immediate financial gain

• Get middle managers or handle them– Same consistent messages– Do not be side-tracked onto other issues– Discussion can take the heat out of relationship

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Handling a Crisis

The Boy Scout Rule:

Be prepared,

internally and externally

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Planning for a crisis – Internally • One Co-Ordinator/Director leading a team

– All senior roles must be duplicated– Easy to assemble – get on the ground early (30 mins)

• Crisis Management handbook– Easy to read and use, checklists, templates, etc.– Reviewed regularly – as a priority

• Train well and often - exercises, briefings, etc. • Get the messages right

• Only the truth - don’t be afraid of ‘don’t know’• Have a ‘life-belt’ statement ready

• Empower the team to handle the crisis• NO outside interference – not the role of the CEO

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The crisis management team (CMT)

Crisis ManagementTeam Leader

OFFICERS: Operations Media Political

Secretary

Customers/Suppliers

CEO

InternalComms

Press Roomteam

Political liaisonteam

Call Centre/Salesteam

Human Resource

team

Legal

SAILORS:Field

information

Field information

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Planning for a crisis – Externally• Set up a stakeholder management programme

• So you know the key players before you need them• Invest in a CRM programme to monitor progress• Make it a key KPI for all senior executives

• EG: To meet one journalist a week; one politician a month

• Regularly brainstorm potential scenarios• And create key messages for them

• Review hidden website pages regularly• And consider social media options

• Ask your advocates to input into your key messages• And make them the first target for supportive quotes

• Above all…train everyone regularly• Even if it is just to say “no comment”

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Conclusions • Crisis Management is a sequential stage of Issues

Management

• A company which manages issues well will either avoid

crises or lower their impact

• To manage a crisis well, you must be prepared

• Crisis management and comms is an on-going process– It cannot start when the crisis occurs

• And this is all hard work…

• ...but then, a crisis is always much more fun than work