The document discusses the importance of effective communication during a crisis, highlighting that good reputation helps organizations recover more quickly from crises. Key strategies include preparing a crisis management team, understanding stakeholders, and being transparent rather than covering up issues. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for speed in communication and thorough preparation, including regular training and scenario planning.

1. Communicating in a Crisis
CATHERINE WORBOYS,
CURTIN&CO
www.curtinandco.com

2. For discussion today
• What makes a crisis?
• Why effective communication is crucial in a crisis
• Key stakeholders and pre-crisis communication
• Assembling a crisis team
• Effectively preparing for a crisis
– Both internally and externally
www.curtinandco.com

3. What makes a crisis?
• Rather like earthquake prediction
– Many indicators, but unreliable
– So you need to be prepared for a range of situations
• In crises:
• Those with good reputations
– will be less scarred; recover more quickly
• Therefore you must handle issues well; tone of voice,
honesty, generosity, etc. to avoid a crisis
A crisis is an issue badly managed
www.curtinandco.com

4. Perceptions are Powerful
• In today’s media landscape:
• If you think you have a problem then you
probably have one
• If someone else thinks you have a problem
then you definitely have one
• EG: TGV France “crash” – simulation
which was reported as real
www.curtinandco.com

5. Why managing a crisis matters
• Reputation management
• Impacts on sales, credibility, credit rating, etc.
• Could make recruitment more difficult - hits internal
morale
• Uncomfortable for management
• Expensively built brand image is tarnished
• In the best case you can gain
• Tylenol – blackmailer threatened to poison products
• In the worst case you lose the company
• Perrier – accidental minute contamination
www.curtinandco.com

6. Perrier – the iconic brand of the ‘80s
in crisis
www.curtinandco.com

7. Lessons to be learnt
• Things always get worse before/if they get
better - a snowball effect
• BP – oil spill
• Murphy’s Law rules
– No one is ever in the right place at the right time
– If it can happen on Christmas Day, it will
• Everyone has a different agenda
– Which you need to know before a crisis hits
www.curtinandco.com

8. The dangers of the ‘cover-up’
• Cover-up – a media definition: Deliberately (a)
hiding information (b) not releasing it promptly
• Hiding information always leads to either
– economies with the truth
– misinformation or
– plain lying
The Hydra Syndrome
• The more lies you tell, the more you must tell
www.curtinandco.com

9. Cadbury and salmonella
20th January: Cadbury Discovers Salmonella
19th June: Cadbury admits contamination to the Food Standards
Agency when outbreak of Salmonella linked to product
22nd June: FSA says Cadbury posed ‘unacceptable’ risk to public
23rd June: Chocolate recalled
30th June: Cadbury documents show same
factory infected with salmonella
in 2002
Outcome: Cadbury looks as though it knew the problem
existed and wilfully put its customers at risk
www.curtinandco.com

10. Key rules of communicating in a crisis
• Speed is of the essence
– If you have information, release it
– If not, have “no comment” prepared
– Five minutes is a long time in Cyberspace
• Know your stakeholders before you are in a crisis
– Who will help you when you need them?
• Prepare your key messages
– And all the scenarios you can think of – they may seem extreme but
crises are
• Most of all – prepare your people
– Who is your crisis team?
– How regularly do they train?
– Everyone else should be trained to give “no comment”
www.curtinandco.com

11. Crisis Management
Some of the key players you
must know
www.curtinandco.com

12. The Media – old and new
• Speed is of the essence
• The media watches the media
• TFL suffered from Twitter campaign against employee in 2010
• Website comment - posted fast
• Can deflect hundreds of queries quickly
• Can be easily prepared in advance as a “hidden” page to trigger
• Agenda-setting rather than opinion influencers
– Media tells people what to think about
• They are under fierce competitive pressure
• Journalism is ‘the first rough cut of history’
• Truth is an early casualty
– But having friends can help
www.curtinandco.com

13. The Politicians
• Politicians have strong drivers
• Ego and altruism
• Make sure they have a special ‘hot line’ number for crises
• Get to them before they get to you
– Have telephone numbers (office, home, mobile, addresses, e-mails, etc.)
• One/two Directors to contact top politicians
• Senior Managers handle local councillors, MPs etc.
• A crisis is an easy campaign “band wagon” for politicians
– If they know you and support you in the media it can reduce impact
This is third party advocacy - they can say what you can’t
www.curtinandco.com

14. The pressure groups
• Remember they are competitive businesses
– Their own corporate battles - Membership drives
• They can take risks - edge of the law
• Speculate with strong and inaccurate views
• The are symbiotic friends of the media
– The environment is fashionable - a good ‘horror story’
– They are underdogs - like the journalist
– They are ‘independent’ - no immediate financial gain
• Get middle managers or handle them
– Same consistent messages
– Do not be side-tracked onto other issues
– Discussion can take the heat out of relationship
www.curtinandco.com

15. Handling a Crisis
The Boy Scout Rule:
Be prepared,
internally and externally
www.curtinandco.com

16. Planning for a crisis – Internally
• One Co-Ordinator/Director leading a team
– All senior roles must be duplicated
– Easy to assemble – get on the ground early (30 mins)
• Crisis Management handbook
– Easy to read and use, checklists, templates, etc.
– Reviewed regularly – as a priority
• Train well and often - exercises, briefings, etc.
• Get the messages right
• Only the truth - don’t be afraid of ‘don’t know’
• Have a ‘life-belt’ statement ready
• Empower the team to handle the crisis
• NO outside interference – not the role of the CEO
www.curtinandco.com

17. The crisis management team (CMT)
Crisis Management
Team Leader
Secretary CEO
Customers/ Internal
OFFICERS: Operations Media Political Legal
Suppliers Comms
Political Call Centre/ Human
Field Press Room
SAILORS: liaison Sales Resource
information team
team team team
Field
information
www.curtinandco.com

18. Planning for a crisis – Externally
• Set up a stakeholder management programme
• So you know the key players before you need them
• Invest in a CRM programme to monitor progress
• Make it a key KPI for all senior executives
• EG: To meet one journalist a week; one politician a month
• Regularly brainstorm potential scenarios
• And create key messages for them
• Review hidden website pages regularly
• And consider social media options
• Ask your advocates to input into your key messages
• And make them the first target for supportive quotes
• Above all…train everyone regularly
• Even if it is just to say “no comment”
www.curtinandco.com

19. Conclusions
• Crisis Management is a sequential stage of Issues
Management
• A company which manages issues well will either avoid
crises or lower their impact
• To manage a crisis well, you must be prepared
• Crisis management and comms is an on-going process
– It cannot start when the crisis occurs
• And this is all hard work…
• ...but then, a crisis is always much more fun than work
www.curtinandco.com