Transcript
[00:00:05.870] - Imogen
Hello and welcome to Dear Comms, the coffee break podcast where we tackle your biggest corporate comms challenges. I'm Imogen…
[00:00:12.700] - Amanda
…and I'm Amanda. We're here to give you practical, no-nonsense advice so you can focus on the things that will really drive influence, engagement and impact.
[00:00:24.140] - Imogen
Today, I'm very excited to say we're kicking off a brand new series and we are going to be focusing on crisis and risk management. So, 5 episodes with one big question: what do we do when a crisis hits, and how do we protect our reputations before, during, and after?
[00:00:42.500] - Amanda
All companies, no matter what the size, are going to face an issue or a crisis at some point. We know they can take many forms, from the serious to the not so serious, and we'll talk a little bit more about how you know which is which in an upcoming episode.
[00:00:58.070] - Imogen
Right, I think the important thing to realize is that no matter what's going on, The way in which the company responds, and of course, how they're supported by their comms teams, is absolutely vital to safeguarding reputation, as well as their ongoing ability to actually do business.
[00:01:15.800] - Amanda
Absolutely. The key to good issues management is preparation. And that's absolutely where we're going to start, the before stage. And this is about making sure that your team is ready to deal with anything that comes your way. Because you know what, most so-called crisis, they're not lightning bolts, they're not something going bang. They're usually slow burns that people saw coming but didn't act on.
[00:01:44.600] - Imogen
I mean, we've all seen it happen. It's in the news every day, isn't it? You know, something goes wrong, suddenly it's a crisis. But actually, if you look more closely at it, there were warning signs all along.
[00:01:56.320] - Amanda
Exactly. Somebody's flagged a pattern in consumer complaints, an employee raised a turn, there was a media story in another market that easily could come our way, but no one connected the dots, or they didn't know who to flag it to. You know, sometimes you know it, but then don't say it.
[00:02:16.930] - Imogen
And I think that's really the heart, isn't it? Most companies don't fail at protecting their reputation because of one big event. They fail because those small issues build up and they're ignored, deprioritized, or kind of buried in the sort of business as usual.
[00:02:35.180] - Amanda
Yeah, and do you know what separates the ones who spot problems early from the ones who don't? For me, it comes down to two things: clarity and confidence. Do people know what to look for, and do they feel safe enough to raise it?
[00:02:49.250] - Imogen
Absolutely. That's really where culture kicks in, isn't it? Does the company reward people who flag risk? Or, and unfortunately, this happens too often, those people are labeled as blockers or people who ask too many questions or difficult. We worked with one client in the past who actually had a Speak Up Champion Network built into their business. So, these were people who were trained to notice and escalate issues before they even blew up.
[00:03:19.420] - Amanda
Yeah, that's such a smart model because it turns gut instinct into a system. One of my old clients had a brilliant risk radar log. They updated it monthly. It included things like employee sentiment, competitor alerts, supplier audits, and media audits. Not everybody's going to go that far, but I think even a quarterly horizon scan and making sure that you're having the conversation at the right levels can make a big difference.
[00:03:51.440] - Imogen
Another thing that underpins that culture of speaking up and the ability for employees to raise their voice when they see risk is actually how well they understand risk. And I don't mean this in a sort of theoretical way. It's not about articles and how many you've, you've read on risk management, but it's whether they understand how to deal with or mitigate risk in a very practical day-to-day way.
[00:04:22.270] - Amanda
Exactly. And I think this is where a lot of teams get stuck. They either panic about everything or downplay real threats because there's no shared framework for assessing that risk.
[00:04:33.810] - Imogen
I mean, there is a simple model that we have used with clients before that we continue to use, and it's something you can put in place to help your teams build that literacy. And you're really looking at likelihood, impact, and control. So, first off, you need to assess how likely is it that this is going to happen. Secondly, if it does happen, what is the impact of that? What is the impact to our people, our customers, our reputation, our operations? And then thirdly, and I think the most important piece is how much control do we actually have over this thing? Are there things that we can do to mitigate the risk? Are there things that we can do to influence it? How fast can we respond if the worst happens?
[00:05:22.380] - Amanda
That third axis is a game changer. We once worked with a brand facing backlash for third-party sourcing issues. The likelihood and impact were both high, but what made the difference was mapping where they had control. Control in their supplier contracts, the monitoring that they were putting in place, the auditing, and the governance. And that gave them a plan and not just panic.
[00:05:49.510] - Imogen
It sort of helps you pick your battles really, doesn't it? You know, if something is low likelihood, high impact, and completely out of your control, natural disaster, for example, then you may need to just put in place monitoring and then have a response if and when it happens. If there's something that has medium to high impact, but is within your control, and that could be anything from a tone-deaf social media post, to confusion over policy, to working with contractors, that could be something that you can fix, a fire that you can put out before it starts burning.
[00:06:31.340] - Amanda
How do we make crisis resistance part of business as usual, and not just something that we dust off once a year, as you say, for a fire drill?
[00:06:40.330] - Imogen
I think what we would recommend is planning out scenarios. So, creating realistic cross-functional crisis simulations to really stress test your systems. So, that could include customer complaints, employee leaks, HR issues, supply chain failure, journalist investigations, or interest from activists.
[00:07:06.540] - Amanda
Yeah, I think we also need to consider stakeholders and making sure that you've mapped them in advance. You know, who matters most in a crisis? Who do you need to get on side early? We once worked for a company to map stakeholders and their expected emotional responses. It made their communications 10x much more empathic and effective.
[00:07:28.760] - Imogen
And I think finally, you need to have a crisis management team ready to go. I think this is where people sometimes forget. It's no good trying to scramble together a bunch of people when you're in the middle of things. You need to have those people in place, and they need to be trained in crisis management.
[00:07:46.190] - Amanda
Absolutely, and you need to have all their telephone numbers and mobile numbers, because they're either going to be on a plane, or in bed, or down the pub, or something. There are a couple of people on your crisis management team who are non-negotiables. So you usually would have a CEO as your crisis leader, not always, but mostly, and they're going to be the key decision maker. A Chief of Staff is a must, somebody who organizes and runs the crisis management team. And then we have communications. Their role, driving the conversation, protecting reputation, and acting as wise counsel and guide for the decision making.
[00:08:27.370] - Imogen
I mean, you're going to need other people, of course. It's not a crisis management team of 3. You're going to need spokespeople, you're going to need legal counsel, you'll need subject matter experts, you'll need members of leadership team from whatever department is impacted. But those other people are really going to depend on the nature of the problem you're facing. Your crisis leader, your chief of staff, your comms, those are the must-haves, they're going to be there no matter what.
[00:08:57.380] - Amanda
It's like the Holy Trinity, isn't it? And then the others are sort of the supporting cast, if you like. I think what is really important is that you keep things lean and simple. Short reporting lines, clear areas of responsibility within the team, and make sure absolutely you can get hold of each other quickly when we need it.
[00:09:19.750] - Imogen
Some clients we've seen have had sort of a telephone tree where they cascade the information. Call 2 people, they call 2 people who call 2 people. And that can be a really good way of getting that crisis team together. Even when all these things are in place, even when we have done our risk assessment, we have our crisis management team, we've got our stakeholders mapped, there are still some things which trip people up. For me, It's our employees. Too often, when we're in the middle of it all, we forget to ask our employees, you know, how do they feel about the crisis? How are you communicating with them about what's going on? Because you could have the slickest external comms going on, but if your people don't believe what you're saying, then you've already lost that battle.
[00:10:12.590] - Amanda
Yeah, and it's, it's that old adage in terms of making sure that you're communicating internally in the same way or aligned with externally, and they shouldn't see it in the paper before, you know—
[00:10:28.430] - Imogen
Before they do when they're at work.
[00:10:30.770] - Amanda
Yes, or sat at the desk and suddenly it comes into the inbox. The other thing, of course, is the rise and impact of social media on crisis, and it's not just what's trending today, but shuffled, you know, subtle shifts in tone. Sometimes sarcasm is a good warning sign that something is brewing.
[00:10:53.050] - Imogen
Yeah, I think as part of your media relations strategy, you should have some kind of a feel for social media anyway. So just be sure that you're really tracking what's being said about the organization, about the products, about your leadership team. And then you might be able to spot that something is coming up. You mentioned it earlier, Amanda, and I think the other sort of pinch point is your suppliers, because so many crises are really as a result of third parties. You know, it's about packaging or ingredient recalls, or maybe you've got a contractor who's done something a bit dodgy. They are outside of your organization, but they are absolutely part of your reputation. So, you need to have things in place to ensure that your third parties are going to help you mitigate any risks from their work.
[00:11:49.810] - Amanda
Yeah, it goes back to that likelihood, control, impact, doesn't it? And putting things in place to give you more control. So, if you want to build a crisis-resistant culture, focus on visibility, vigilance, and voice, making sure your employees have a voice. Make it safe to speak up and make it clear what to look for. And you've got to make sure your systems are strong enough to handle the truth early.
[00:12:16.170] - Imogen
Next episode, we're going to go a little bit more into the mechanics. So, what do you do with people, plans, and processes once the— what's it— actually hits the fan?
[00:12:28.200] - Amanda
The proverbial.
[00:12:29.710] - Imogen
Indeed, you are in the midst of it. But that is for next time. So until then, bye-bye!
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