Key principles to consider when it comes to crisis comms

To err is human, to forgive divine. Or, to adapt the phrase clunkily for this blog about crisis communications: to err is human, and to be befallen by a crisis outside of your control is part of business life.

A crisis can be of a firm's own making, or it can be driven by external events. Either way it poses a clear reputational risk to an organisation. So too does the firm's management of the crisis, both in the operational sense and in the communications sense.

Bad communications will tend to make a crisis scenario even worse. By the same token, while every crisis and underpinning facts are different, good crisis management and crisis communications can serve to significantly mitigate the damage. Depending on the circumstances and given that audiences will tend to give latitude in situations that are not of a firm’s own making, good crisis comms can even see a business’s reputation enhanced. The following are among the key principles we recommend businesses to consider when they find themselves in a time of crisis.

1 – Try to avoid being totally caught on the hop

In the first instance, businesses need to ensure they have a plan or a set of principles in place for how they will handle any crisis that emerges. A crisis is a highly stressful situation, where firms are under the microscope with all their key audiences. The level of stress and difficulty will be exacerbated if you are trying to react on the fly with no practices or principles to fall back on. Poor decision making becomes more likely in such a situation. Don’t leave yourself in such a vacuum.

2 – A half-baked response can cause more fully-baked problems

Often when a crisis emerges one of the first things that will take place is a scramble for information. Some of the information you receive may not be accurate, and so caution is needed about putting something into the public domain before you have the full facts at your disposal.  Providing inaccurate details, which you later have to row back on, will convey a sense that you are managing the crisis poorly and are not in control, damaging your firm’s reputation. A holding response which states that you are seeking to understand the situation and will provide further detail is far preferable.

3 – When you know the facts, transparency helps to earn credibility and trust

Businesses undergoing a crisis can earn credibility and trust by adopting a transparent approach and demonstrably living up to that approach. This is not always comfortable, especially when it involves putting out information that may portray the firm in a negative light. But where it is appropriate to do so, being open and transparent proves that the firm is not seeking to duck responsibility or blame others for its own mistakes. This is an important first step in rebuilding credibility and trust as you seek to resolve the issues you face and move forward.

To hear more about Drury’s crisis communications training and support, feel free to contact Gavin on LinkedIn or at gavin.mcloughlin@drury.ie

Gavin McLoughlin, Director Financial Communications