Crisis communications 101: The essentials for managing reputational damage
You wake up one morning and find your smartphone pinging like crazy. There is a cascade of messages from colleagues and bosses with subject lines like, “Call me! Where are you!?” or “Have you seen the story?! It’s brutal! It's all over X!”
No one expects to get good press all the time. But the explosion on your phone tells you that this is not garden-variety negative coverage. The story in which you have been implicated has hit a national nerve and, if not managed smartly and swiftly, could significantly — potentially permanently — damage your organization’s reputation. In our social media age, the reputational damage can pile up with lightning speed.
Compass Rose has supported clients over the years who have been caught up in highly pressured crises. Our team of experts has an unmatched breadth of experience in managing crises at the highest levels of government and across the private sector.
Every crisis presents a unique set of facts, problems and choices, but our collective experience and our advice to clients caught in such situations is that you cannot improvise your way out of a crisis on the fly. One-off media responses or quick fixes will not do.
You need a crisis communications plan — a plan that scopes out the size of the problem, its source, and the steps required to address it. A plan that is developed, implemented and communicated in a very compressed time frame and under tremendous pressure.
In the harried moment, this can seem daunting. But with focus, discipline and a commitment to problem-solving and transparency, organizations caught in crisis can not only survive but emerge stronger.
“With focus, discipline and a commitment to problem-solving and transparency, organizations caught in crisis can not only survive but emerge stronger.”
There is no cookie-cutter crisis communication plan that fits all circumstances; however, in our experience at Compass Rose, effective crisis communication strategies have common elements. Here are a few:
Total buy-in
From top to bottom your organization has to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation and bring a willingness to address it.
A dedicated crisis team
Regular business processes will not do in a crisis. It is imperative to assign a dedicated crisis management team composed of policy, procedural, legal and communications leaders who can rapidly get to the bottom of the situation and collaboratively work out a strategic way forward.
Rapid, deep fact-finding
There is no substitute for the facts — all the facts. You need to identify what has happened and why it happened. From there you can begin to piece together a strategic way forward and how to communicate it.
A consistent story
Repeatedly changing your story as you respond to evolving media queries compounds reputational damage and creates an appetite for even more stories. Once you have the facts you are able to confidently draft and stick to a narrative that is fully informed and finely tuned to anticipate new media inquiries.
Accountability
If fault is found in the fact-finding process with organizational policies or procedures, these should be acknowledged with a plan for remedial steps as needed. Admitting errors is hard, but it can enhance your credibility by showing you are committed to addressing legitimate public concerns.
Detecting and correcting
Today's 24-hour news cycle is rife with inaccuracies, rumours, insinuations, and misinformation. Effective crisis management requires the capacity both to search out and find inaccuracies but also the information at hand to rapidly correct them.
Discipline
The temptation to engage with everyone is understandable but must be avoided. You must reflect carefully on whether the benefit to your reputation is worth the risk of engaging in endless online debates.
Compass Rose offers the experience, tenacity, focus and a deeply strategic mindset to help any client facing a crisis. You will find in us an uncommonly dedicated partner and candid advisor who will walk alongside you every step of the way.
Such commitment is part of who we are. It is all a part of our commitment to the uncommon work of finding the common good in even the most challenging circumstances.
With 30 years' experience helping politicians, the federal public service and clients with strategic communications in high profile crisis situations, Ken is a crisis communications expert always looking for the uncommon common good.
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