Pointers For Dealing With A Company Crisis
Consider the following pointers if you are the manager charged with dealing with a crisis at work especially if the crisis will get your company well and truly into the news!
- Be involved – but never immersed – in crisis planning: lead from the front by all means but never forget to delegate key tasks both in the planning and modelling of crisis strategy and in its actual management once the issue breaks. Often the speed of a crisis will means that one person alone cannot hope to manage its impact and there will be a huge number of operational decisions to be made alongside managing reputational damage.
- Avoid the limelight of being the spokesperson: the sole speaker for the company can actually become the story itself with hordes of hungry newshounds researching all about your personal tastes, habits, cars owned, schools your children attend and a host of unsavoury information you would rather have kept quiet! Consider how these duties should be shared out amongst the throng of willing candidates!
- Review the position before saying anything – caution always pays!: this is not the time for a knee-jerk reaction to what is happening but it is most definitely the time for cautious and careful communication which is the result of thorough research and analysis. The spokesperson should be visible, concise and well-informed which can be a game-changer for how the organisation proceeds after the initial wave of panic and angst has passed by.
- Invest in crisis media training: the media environment is not a pleasurable place to be as news-hungry hacks will devour information at a bullet-like pace. Delivering key messages, expressing sympathy, saying sorry and showing clear and calm leadership are necessary tools in managing the crisis so that business can resume as quickly as possible once the media storm has passed by.
Good Luck!
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