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Crisis comms: Don’t just see the change, make it happen
It’s not good enough for organisations to say that they’ve learnt from a crisis and move on. They need to change their plans to put that learning into practice.
Where do we start with being crisis ready? Having a plan, sharing the plan, and testing the plan. All of these are important things and are essential in a world where problems can be found around every corner. But it doesn’t end there.
It is a frustration for me that on so many occasions problems are identified with plans and approaches, and the changes that are needed are identified and discussed. And then nothing. A tumbleweed moment. We move on and don’t expect that that crisis will happen or that we will have to face the worst time for people and for businesses.
Yesterday (22 May) marked the anniversary of the Manchester Arena terror attack. Eight years have gone by but for the families and friends who lost loved ones and for all those affected it is something they have to face every day. The public inquiry found that the learning from a previous exercise had not been put into changes to plans and approaches.
Only a few weeks ago we saw the incident at Heathrow where the potential risk from a power outage was raised but nothing was changed. If we look through so many crisis and situations that have happened we will see this pattern repeated. It may be complacency. It may be over confidence. Whatever it is the failure to make changes before something happens cannot be excused.
I love to develop crisis simulations that test communication teams. I enjoy creating the world, the social media, the internal demands, the stakeholder queries, and the media requests that put plans to a test. This is only the first part of the story. When I develop the reports which detail what worked and what aspects could be improved it is the most critical point.
Recognising that change is necessary is one thing but making it happen cannot be overlooked. If you are investing in a crisis exercise or simulation make sure it is used to update and improve your crisis response.
Amanda Coleman is a PR consultant whose blogs on crisis communications are often published on Influence. She is the founder of Amanda Coleman Communication where this blog was first published. Read a review of Amanda's latest book, Strategic Reputation Management.
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