How important is it for companies/organisations to be prepared to communicate in a crisis situation??
A crisis is an unexpected event that is beyond the control of leaders and has an impact and affects how stakeholders perceive the business or organisation. A crisis can cause reputational damage, which is why companies/organisations need to be prepared for this type of event.
It is therefore important for companies/organisations to have prepared a crisis management dossier with all the possible scenarios, to have defined who the spokesperson will be in a potential situation and to carry out response simulations to see how quickly and effectively they can act.
The crisis management dossier should include points such as who our stakeholders are, what we will tell them, how the message will be conveyed, when the communication will take place and who will be responsible for communicating.
A quick and effective response to a crisis can minimise long-term impacts on the organisation and its reputation and ensure that stakeholders maintain trust.
On the other hand, what we often see in a failed response to a crisis scenario is a very slow response, situations in which we "chase the damage" instead of taking control, an inability to correct the problem, insufficient or inappropriate communication, and confused, disorganised or contradictory responses.
No organisation wants this because, as Warren Buffett once said, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and only five minutes to destroy it".
For this reason, crisis management is no longer an activity that is worked on only when a crisis erupts. Through ongoing public relations and stakeholder management work and ongoing risk control activity, it is possible to anticipate and deal with crisis scenarios more effectively.
