Crisis Communication
It's not what you say, it’s what they hear.
Starting Point
Risks are normal in every company and every organization. Risks are the roots of a crisis. If risks are taken seriously from the beginning, you can avoid them escalating into public crises.
My Service
- Analysis of the risks in your organization
- Drafting of a manual for crisis communication for your organization
- Role play and simulations
Stuck in the thick of it?
The top seven tips in case of emergency:
This list is from an interview with Fredrik Barkenhammar published in the magazine "Die Stiftung", (March 2013). Topic: Emergency! What now?
- Inform your employees. They shouldn't find out about a scandal from the press.
- Take back the initiative. Go public yourself and taking suitable measures to win back your fading trust{C} .
- Take your criticism seriously. Admit to mistakes and resolve the problem. Mistakes are human and will be forgiven. Outrage comes when an organization tries to cover something up.
- Don't waste any energy trying to correct minor factual errors in reports and insisting on their rectification. Let your actions prove that you will correct your mistakes.
- Social Media provides the opportunity to explain yourself directly to your sponsors and the members of the public concerned. However, during this crisis, the management or the CEO should communicate personally with the community, not the junior editor in the press office is responsible for updating the Facebook page .
- If a statement is to be made in the form of staff-based consequences, then it really should be someone from the top-level of management who goes (leaves?!). If a mid-level manager were to exit the organization, the public would hardly notice it .
- Don't comment on accusations or speculations which do not concern you at all. If an organization is not subject to direct criticism, then there's no need to shine the spotlight on itself.