Crisis Communications

With the UK General Election now over, the past few weeks of campaigning has certainly witnessed some ‘interesting’ ways political parties have chosen to deal with their communications in front of the media during a crisis. If your organisation finds itself at the centre of a controversial and damaging event, how you choose to manage your communications during that time can have a huge impact on the eventual outcome.

Here are some useful DO’s and DON’T’s from our Risk Management team to help you and your organisation navigate through a crisis.

DO

Establish and train a crisis communication team and spokesperson before an incident occurs as part of a formal plan.

Tell it all, tell it fast and tell the truth.

Be sincere and apologise if you are at fault, even if others are also partly responsible.

Demonstrate your concern by acknowledging the impact of the incident and sympathising with those affected.

Communicate what you are doing to address the issue as quickly as possible.

Thank employees and others as appropriate.

Constantly monitor the situation and public/media opinion.

Look out for a pivot point to stop focusing on the issue and get onto the solution or back to business.

DON’T

Immediately adopt a defensive stance.

Speculate on unknown information.

Decline to answer questions.

Attempt to blame others.

Use the crisis to pitch your products or services.

Allow advisers to significantly slow down your response times or dilute your key messages.

If you found the tips above helpful, look no further than David Honour’s (Continuity Central’s Editor) excellent dissection and commentary on the National Grid CEO’s statement. This statement followed the National Grid’s largest power outage for over a decade on 9th August 2019 which caused widespread disruption.

For more information on crisis communications, business continuity planning and business interruption insurance contact our Risk Management team who will be delighted to assist you.