Simple, factual information at times like these helps to lessen anxiety and allows the organisation to take control and manage the narrative of the event. This helps to stabilise the situation, particularly if the incident has negative immediate and long-term repercussions.
It sets the stage for putting in place post crisis communication strategies as well. Crisis communications is imperative to business continuity, and is part of an organisation’s crisis preparedness measures. It starts with understanding the firm’s key stakeholders and a crisis communication plan. Crisis communication plans provide important guidelines for preparing a business for communicating during an emergency or unexpected event. They outline what to do at the onset of the crisis, and how to continue communicating with the public during and post-event. Anything that could disrupt business continuity is an instance where a firm needs to communicate with its stakeholders.
Ethical questions often arise when a crisis occurs; how these are addressed reflects the company’s corporate values. Most crises are inevitably emergency situations as well. This compounds an event already fraught with difficult decision-making. Crisis communication and management are critical in the organisation’s crisis management plan; roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined, and the plan should be field-tested for fitness of purpose. It is within the operationalisation of the crisis management plan that the role of PR becomes apparent. Depending on the requirements of the firm, a PR strategy aligned to that of the crisis communication plan, should be developed.
Besides identifying and training appropriate spokespersons for the firm, PR usually also organises media-related engagements, and is the go-to unit for information dissemination. It does this through media releases and briefings; establishing relationships with representatives of the affected parties, interest groups or stakeholders; and preparing communiques relevant to the event, to internal and external parties. While PR is important, it is only one of the many components or tools that needs to be wielded effectively in the event of a crisis. What is crucial, is having the right people to do it – and this starts with identifying appropriate members for a crisis management team.
And the team starts work before the crisis hits – by anticipating all manner of events which could inflict damage on the organisation. Ideally, it should be a small team led by the CEO but
25 The IERP® Monthly Newsletter September - October 2021