The Post Office Horizon scandal and the power of the docu-drama

The Post Office scandal has become one of the top stories over the past fortnight. It is understandable why this has happened because it is such a shocking situation. People being falsely convicted of offences, having their lives and livelihoods destroyed, and facing a cover up that meant the situation continued for two decades. Like many, I have been following the issue since the first convictions were overturned and I have been trying to monitor developments at the public inquiry. But it is a sign of the times that it is through the docu-drama that there now seems to be fast tracked action.

Ensuring that people are aware of what has happened is important and the ITV drama was able to bring home the human impact of the situation. But it should not require this to happen for the government to look at what it can do to help with quashing convictions and providing compensation. Given the scale of this scandal it is something that should have already been underway.

Every crisis, emergency, disaster and scandal has a human impact. It is understanding that human impact that I stress in all the crisis communication training that I do. For those who have to communicate when something has happened, and that have to advise those in charge of the response, this is the most important thing. You have to understand the impact, what it means, what it looks and sounds like and what it feels like before you can communicate effectively.

Look at what has happened from outside of the organisation. Don’t just accept what people inside the business are telling you. It is why access to responses, not just on social media, is such a vital part of effective communication. Ensure you are listening to those who are affected – and I mean really listen.

There is another issue for me which is that communicators need to challenge the approach, response and communication if they believe it is failing in some way. This is incredibly hard to do as in some cases you are putting your job on the line. But blindly trying to protect a business’ reputation is a quick way to cover up and being ethically compromised. Sadly, many organisations will be involved in group think and it needs alternative voices to be heard. There is a huge challenge for communicators to be able to influence when the organisation is under pressure.

The docu-drama should not be the only way to get things to progress when a crisis or scandal has happened. Institutions including the government, police and regulators need to ensure they are responding fully and appropriately as soon as these situations develop. There priorities should not be driven by media and public interest alone. I am sure there are many other situations that need to have a spotlight put on them but I hope they don’t all have to try and secure a docu-drama to move forward.

Amanda Coleman is a crisis communication expert and consultant, founder of Amanda Coleman Communication and the author of Crisis Communication Strategies. Read the original post.