EMBARRASSMENT TO TRIUMPH: HANDLING CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS IN CRISIS
Everything we have learned has told us to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. This familiar adage applies to individuals, from healthcare to car maintenance, just as it applies to large businesses. Understanding which disasters could occur, even in the most far-fetched scenarios, and effectively preparing the people and systems around oneself to combat and work through those disasters is a primary goal of any well-managed organisation. Why then, are effective risk and crisis management, such difficult tasks for corporations?
Amid the chaos of a company crisis, leaders tend to focus heavily on the issues that first come to mind: mitigating financial risks, adhering to legal requirements, maintaining operations and limiting reputational impact. Although the first three often require a great deal of effort, they have clear immediate and long-term goals; the final item is more difficult. Saving face requires leaders to think about the short term while weighing the impacts of any decision on the long term, all through carefully crafted, well timed internal and external communications.
Crisis communications strategies must address the many possible disasters that could befall a company, from small to large and from high risk to inconceivable. A public relations scandal must be addressed very differently from an ongoing ransomware attack or an operational technology issue affecting a large number of customers. Why, though?
What must stakeholders know and why should they know it? What legal requirements tie or force the hand of the company? Which messages could make the ongoing situation even worse? This is a short snippet of the necessary questions company leaders must ask before, during and after the immediate crisis. All of these questions should bridge the necessary gap between short-term crisis management and long-term company goals.
Apr-Jun 2023 Issue
Good Harbor Security Risk Management