By Brian Dolby
This is the latest in a series of articles from Brian Dolby, a PR consultant. For others, see
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You may be a brilliant PR exponent — you may achieve undreamed of levels of profile for your company or client. But, as inevitable as football club managers eventually getting the sack, there is the harsh reality that one day the need for crisis management skills will darken your horizon.
Crisis management comes like a bolt from the blue — like an instant nightmare of the worst kind. Suddenly your world is turned upside down as keeping out of the media — or at least management of the headlines and the stories that follow them — becomes the skill you need.
The problem can be through no fault of your own — or it can be down to a simple and honest mistake which spirals into an uncontrollable disaster.
You cannot predict your crisis. But you can predict that one will happen and be ready to meet the challenge head on.
Planning is critical, although the development of a crisis management plan is always threatened by colleagues who will say they are “too busy” and offer the advice that commitment to such a project is a waste of time. In one company, a PR manager’s job workload was questioned when he had the initiative to suggest the development of a plan.
My own blooding into the world of “no press is good press”, came after the Gulf War to liberate Kuwait. Air raids had created multiple new business opportunities by knocking out Iraq’s telecommunications network but as soon as my company won a United Nations contract to supply equipment all hell broke loose.
Reporters from the national press and even the more shock-horror members of the trade press descended on the appropriate sales director’s home with reporters and photographers.
Facts in the way of a good story
This was one of those times where the press decided not to let the facts get in the way of a good story. My company, the GEC and Plessey joint venture GPT, had won a tender from the UN against major opposition from France, the US and Canada. But the fact that we had safeguarded British jobs, and won a prestige contract in the process, failed to register with the media and they made life intolerable for a totally innocent staff member and his family.
Fortunately we had a plan in process and followed it to the letter. So, what are the basics you need in this situation?
Firstly you must have a chain of command to keep the media informed in a controlled manner and one which allows flexibility as the situation evolves — as it surely will.
At the senior level, while the CEO might seem the first port of call, the communications director needs to insist on 24-hour availability during the process.
This often does the trick in invoking delegation to a board member — who probably knows more about the situation anyway and from then on will work closely with the PR team and take the responsibility of reporting upwards.
The PR team should have a lead person and a number two for backup and — depending on the severity of the crisis — they should not expect to see their homes and family for a few days.
Lid on the crisis
It is the PR department’s job to put in a lid on the crisis and they should immediately work with human resources to issue an internal statement. This should appraise the staff of the situation, warn them that talking to the press is a serious disciplinary offence and also give them the name and contact details of the PR contact who is handling the situation.
All contact points — including site entrances and switchboard operators — need to be informed immediately.
I would strongly advise that all media enquiries are handled by taking the question and sending a response. A golden rule is never get into conversations but equally always go back when you say you will — journalists have bosses too.
Answer the question by email so that you can never be misquoted and log every enquiry you receive.
PR professionals reading this article should note the last point in particular. When the proverbial is flying, the company hierarchy is always looking for leaks (or scapegoats) and in a panic situation reason can go out of the window.
During the crisis mentioned earlier, I received an unscheduled visitor into my office. He was from head office — and had been sent by my ultimate superior — and wanted to know more about what we did in the press office and how we were handling the crisis.
After some pleasant chat it turned out he was from the unknown department — to me, anyway — called internal affairs and the company call logger had me down as suspect number one.
I still get the shivers today, when I think of how I was then grilled about why these newspapers were calling me and why I was actually ringing them back. They eventually got the message that someone had to deal with the enquiries but not before prisoner of war film interrogation images had flashed across my mind more than once.
Report to stakeholders
It is also important to regularly report back to all the stakeholders in the crisis and — in my example — make sure the members of staff and their families are fine.
The crisis team must talk regularly and keep trying to keep one step ahead and ensure all bases are covered.
The list is long but any possibility of an effect on share price means that analyst relations need to consider action, while local politicians and other opinion formers should not be ignored.
Returning to the media, a policy of previously fostering good relations can often pay off in terms of the company getting a fair hearing in times of crisis. I was once helping to fight off a hostile takeover bid — successfully at it turned out — of an electronics company from a much bigger rival when news filtered out from the shop floor that we had lost a major contract to the rival.
Thousands of jobs were at stake as nervous shareholders would have been even more tempted to take their cash and run — but with a crucial legal ruling on the bid due in a few days, we managed to keep the story out of the local press and bought some precious time.
It saved the day: we promised (and delivered) the newspaper an exclusive when the news finally broke and the company was saved.
Contrast this sadly to Marconi, whose media stance changed markedly for the worse as times grew difficult at the beginning of the 21st century despite the fact that the whole industry, and not just the company, was in crisis.
The media grew tired of no comment and “unanswer” machines and turned against the company so radically that stories of private jets, internal conference junkets and massive pay-offs for senior executives littered the press as the share price plummeted from more than £12 to almost nothing.
Have plan in place
So it is therefore vital to have a plan in place and it is important to make sure it is accessible and regularly updated.
It need not be a document to rival War and Peace in terms of wordage: less is more in terms of making the rules and the process clear, simple and precise.
The main elements to cover are who are the contacts, what is the chain of command and how is the process is to be activated, with internal messaging and so on.
Once completed and signed off, re-read the contents every three to six months with a possible simulated crisis to test out the system.
And make sure the simulation is as realistic as possible and timed at an inconvenient moment, such as 5pm or later — when the press are usually at their most demanding.
Internationally focused organisations need to pay particular attention to this point as a global crisis will always cause timing issues somewhere around the world and “back-up” contact numbers on your lists will be vital to ensure the crisis can be managed.
An US data centre company I worked with was particularly effective in this regard, having three contacts across every region, with a view that at least one would always be reachable if needed.
Such planning and attention to detail will make all the difference and allow you and those around you to swing professionally into action as the situation requires.
Without doubt, crisis management in PR demands discipline and commitment from all those involved. I cannot deny that it is a stressful time but then again so are new product launches or press conferences. It may not seem like it at the time, but it can be just as satisfying to successfully conclude a crisis situation as any challenge in PR.
Honest! Now, it’s about time I updated that crisis management folder of mine. GTB
This is the latest in a series of articles from Brian Dolby, a PR consultant. For others, see
Ignore Twitter at your peril, but check who’s tweeting
PR can work for businesses, especially in times of crisis
Fork-lift truck drivers and the art of making news about your business
Strike early to get noticed at trade shows by the media