Silicon Valley Bank UK: managing the crisis from a PR perspective

1. Tell your partner / family that you will need to drop everything and that you will need to be 100 per cent focused on the work. Their support will be invaluable in making you effective.

2. Find somewhere, quiet and comfortable. For me, this was our spare room with comfy seating and makeshift desk. Not an ideal set up but it worked for me.

3. Be prepared to speak up even if the recommendation goes against the grain. Survival / damage limitation is paramount.

4. Create a small core team and stay in contact at all times via video calls. Use one channel for all messages and sharing docs. Quick calls to gain clarity make the biggest difference.

5. External comms and internal comms ultimately become the same thing. Whatever you can say externally becomes the internal line.

6. Have your media lists up to date and ready. You never know when an update or alert needs to be sent.

7. Don’t be afraid of speaking to media in real time, stay calm an explain the situation – those covering the crisis are empathetic and can be on your side if you help them understand the context. Explain the limitations you may be under and highlight the consequences for your clients and their clients. The crisis may be more than just about your business. There could be wider industry or macro implications. Journalists are people too and from recent experience, very understanding, especially if you have existing relationships in place.

8. Be visible across other teams that are also in the thick of it. Being the comms representative to share updates and gather intel will be helpful in further explaining the situation with stakeholders and media.

9. Whether you have an agency or not, be prepared to go it solo. Being the point person for all media enquiries helps give media one focal point for all questions and actually can help foster stronger relations as a result.

10. Share important news and updates with your management team and board. Trust your gut as to what is important – make sure you have all relevant alerts and twitter notifications turned on.

11. Stay positive! Your wider team is looking at you for regular updates and leadership. If you can share news, by liking and reposting key stories via your personal LinkedIn and Twitter, then maximise these channels to keep your teams updated if official channels are restricted.

12. Use online / live docs to edit and manage work items. Having one version of truth is vital for input, reviews and approvals. If you have a small team, all jump on a call, review and edit together. No egos here.

13. Get some sleep in between shifts, eat, drink, and look after yourself.

14. Whatever the outcome, sometimes things are out of your control. All you can do is give it 110%.

15. Be sure to see your team after the event to support each other, these events are sometimes life changing. They galvanise teams and businesses.

Mat Gazeley leads on PR and external relations at SVB UK.