Why you should think in best, good and worst case scenarios
Posted by admin on Aug. 5, 2013 / Subscribe 0
Reputation and Risk Management has become a top concern of companies across the globe when it comes to dealing with crises. A hit to a company’s reputation can affect nearly all aspects of its operations – sales, contracts, stock prices and staff – to name a few. The speed of a potential crisis has exploded because of social media.
Brad Jaffe, Senior Vice President at Edelman, gave a presentation on how to identify potential crises and deal with those that arise to a group of about 60 public relations professionals in the Kansas City area on Tuesday, July 23, 2013.
Here are some of the top takeaways from his presentation.
There are three main categories of crises:
1.The Blindsider (i.e. acts of God, natural disasters)
2.The Wave (inherent in the industry, urban legends)
3.The “Should have seen it coming” (i.e. unresolved issues that are known to leadership). This one is the most damaging type of crisis to a company’s reputation. Nothing is worse than an organization that knows something is wrong but does not correct the situation.
There are three best practices to handling a crisis:
1.Talent & Mindset: Develop a company culture that is prepared to deal with a crisis. Incentivize staff to deliver bad news to management sooner rather than later. Allows the company to get ahead of the problem right away.
2.Organization & Governance: Have a clear set command order. Know who is in charge of what during a crisis, and make sure that everyone in the company knows as well.
3.Process & Tools: Create a process to manage any potential crises. Keep any resources on hand that will be needed to execute the crisis management plan.
4.The companies that fare best through major crises are those that are committed to a strong Organizational IQ, which is the extent that its employees know and understand the company’s mission and values.
5.Recognize a potential for advocacy. Is there an underlying cause within a crisis that the company can become a champion for? Getting ahead of an issue can mitigate NGOs from demonizing it, and then lobbying the government for unneeded regulation.
6.Two things that cannot be replaced – trust and competency. After a poorly handled crisis, stakeholders find it very difficult to trust that a company is competent to handle its business.
7.“If you only remember one thing from today, remember this,” Jaffe said. “Everything we do is all about the stakeholders. Take care of your stakeholders and they will take care of you.”
No one likes to think about worst case scenarios. But it’s even scarier to think about being unprepared in the event of a crisis or catastrophe. Whether you’re dealing with an act of God, a reoccurring issue or something that probably could have been avoided, it all comes down to being prepared. Take stock in your employees and organize a course of action. If you keep these things in mind and follow the plan, you may not come out on the other side completely unscathed, but you will survive and rebound much faster.
Contributed by Jessica Bjorgaard, used with permission. Jessica is a media planner/buyer at InQuest Marketing, and works with traditional and non-traditional media to get her clients' messages out the best way possible. She works with a wide variety of local clients ranging from retail to entertainment to non-profits.
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