Key messages:
- Organisations should have a crisis management plan in place, and this should be reviewed regularly.
- In some cases, a crisis can be anticipated and potentially averted through effective monitoring and horizon scanning.
- When a crisis does occur, clear communication with internal and external audiences can help to maintain trust and reduce reputational impact.
- Be sure to consider and share what has been learned from a crisis to rebuild trust in the organisation.
In a previous Governance 2024 blog, we explored whether risk is inherently negative. This blog looks at when a risk has escalated to the next level and considers the board’s role in crisis management and reputation.
Any sensible organisation will be doing their utmost to avoid potential crises, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have a crisis management plan in place.
Ownership of the plan can be delegated to a board member or a member of the executive team who should take responsibility for reviewing and updating it regularly. Being prepared can help organisations to react swiftly and effectively should a crisis situation arise. Collaboration with the risk management team may be useful in identifying key risks that could precipitate crises, with a view to preparing for specific scenarios. However, each situation is unique and while a plan can help to simplify crisis management, some aspects will be outside of the organisation’s control.
Crisis management plans should include a definition of what counts as a crisis so that organisations know when to put them into action. The escalation of a crisis to the board is often seen as being the responsibility of senior management. However, crises can be time critical so it may be worth considering whether that responsibility should be delegated to more junior staff as well to ensure that flags are raised as early as possible.
Should a crisis occur, the first thing organisations need to know is who’s going to be on the crisis management team. Once the team has been assembled, all members should work cohesively and should be empowered with an equal voice. They have been selected on the basis that they have expertise that can help – if people are not enabled to contribute, their value will be lost.
As is so often the case, good communication is imperative when responding to a crisis. The crisis management plan should include information about who the organisation will need to communicate with, both internally and externally, and the communications channels that will be used.
It sounds simple, but the crisis management team must have access to those channels. If social media has been identified as a key communication tool in a crisis and the social media manager happens to be away when disaster strikes, organisations may find themselves locked out of accounts, adding insult to injury at an already stressful time. Scenario planning can be a useful to model what would happen in a crisis and to identify these types of potential weaknesses in the plan ahead of time.
In most situations, organisations will want to get ahead of a situation and communicate proactively. In general, speed is a positive thing but can come at the cost of relying on imperfect data. By their very nature, crises tend to evolve over time. Messaging which provides clarity about what is known for sure and what is speculation can help stakeholders to understand should messaging change further down the line.
The choice of spokesperson is also important. Relevant board or staff members should receive appropriate media training as part of their induction to make sure that they feel confident to deliver potentially difficult messages clearly and concisely. When it comes to reputation management, this can make the world of difference. Finding the balance between sharing as much information as is reasonable, the legal team’s inevitable caution and behaving in a way that feels ‘human’ and credible is challenging. That balance will be influenced by the nature of the crisis and the organisation’s role in it. Organisational values can help to shape these types of communications.
Communication doesn’t apply only to external audiences. Employees will be impacted when the organisation that they work for is experiencing difficulty. While it may feel safer to say as little as possible, information vacuums will tend to be filled with rumours. Being up front with staff – while providing clarity about the sharing of sensitive information – will help to build trust and should have a beneficial impact on culture in the long term. In many cases, staff will be integral in working through and building back after a crisis, so the importance of maintaining their trust cannot be overstated. Depending on the nature of the crisis, specific wellbeing or support mechanisms may be require after the event as employees and board members process what they have been through.
Every experience can be a learning experience, and a crisis is no different. Once the organisation is through the worst of the storm, it is important to consider what went well and what could have been done better, and to update the crisis management plan accordingly. Communication is an important part of crisis recovery and organisations should share the actions that they have taken to make sure that a similar situation doesn’t arise again.
In the Governance 2024 session, panellist Sara Waddington CBE, Director of Wadds Inc. pointed out that, ‘You can’t communicate yourself out of a situation that you’ve behaved yourself into.’ The way that the board, executive and workforce act will influence how a crisis plays out. Board members and governance professionals should be constantly monitoring culture and alignment with organisational values, asking probing questions and highlighting challenges or bumps in the road to ensure that they are addressed before they escalate into crises.
If you missed out at Governance 2024, Justine Blakesley FCG, Company Secretary, Rolls-Royce SMR Limited will be moderating a session on crisis management at Governance North taking place on 1 October.
This blog is based on the discussion at Governance 2024. The session was hosted by Justine Blakesley FCG, Company Secretary, Rolls-Royce SMR Limited alongside panellists Onyeka Nweze, ACG CEO & Founder of Unikorrn and Sarah Waddington CBE, Director, Wadds Inc.
