Issues and Crisis Management
Mike Regester
Regester Larkin
MEPRA
Issues and Crisis Management
December 5, 2013
• Linked to Trust, which is broken if there is a
– Gap between what you say and what you do
– Gap between their expectations and your performance
Reputation Matters
What is reputation management?
• Managing the gap between performance and expectations
• Or more simply: improving performance and communication
crisis/incident issues
Speed Fast-moving Space and time
Surfacing Suddenly Gradually
Scrutiny Immediate / intense Sporadic
Structure Rigid / formulaic Fluid
Stance Reactive Proactive
Issues v Crises
Manage issues to prevent a crisis
Issue Management
Early Issue Identification
Media
Coverage
Pre
ssu
re
Opportunity to Influence Difficult to Influence
Potential Current Crisis DormantEmerging
Period of Increasing Awareness
Origin Mediation/Amplification ResolutionOrganisation
Development
Formal
Constraints
• Poor financial performance
• Poor ‘corporate’ governance
• Business and society (macro issues: global warming; child labour; fair trade
etc)
• Business and communities/consumers/partners (micro issues: employment
practices; product contamination; food scares)
Where do issues come from?
• Erosion of authority / decline in trust
– Trust in established institutions like government and the media remains
shaky
– Business suffering from rash of scandals
– NGOs becoming most trusted institutions
• Growth in anti-business activism and consumer concern with “what lies
behind the label”
• Growth in victim and litigation culture
• Greater scrutiny and expectations of transparency / governance
• 24/7 media, the Internet and USA generated content
What’s different these days?
Twitter is a 'connector' that has a short lifespan but high viral power
Your mum or the bloke in the pub probably won't care about it
But journalists and bloggers do - they are on there and listening in
David Bowen,FT
October 2009
In a nutshell, social media…
• can be the trigger • can escalate a crisis• unstructured, so can complicate crisis management• creates new circles of trust and credibility• requires up-skilling and different resources• can be an asset
But…• principles of good crisis management still apply• should not distract from overall strategy and objectives• still think audience first – message & medium second• credibility is still important (but the rules are different)• social media connects, but news media still has power to
disseminate to masses
How do you manage issues?
2. Identify
3. Understand
4. Prioritise
5. Plan
7. Evaluate
1. Monitor
6. Implement
3. Understand
Step 1 - Monitoring
contractors
customers
shareholders
employees
media
Internet
investment
community
competitor
activity
public policy
NGO activity
ethics
values and
lifestyles
risk/liability
business
environment
international
environment
local communities
trade unions academics
business partners
government
supply chain
Political
Economic
Societal
Technological
Legislative/Regulatory
Environmental
Luke Johnson
Chairman Ch 4
BBC Radio 4 – January 2007
Big Brother
Step 2 – identifying relevant issues
• Identify issues that have the potential to impact on the company
– Are they gaining support / interest?
• Assess the type of issue
– Is it media friendly?
– Where is it in the lifecycle?
– Are there links to other issues?
– Are there any new, emerging patterns forming?
Step 3 – understanding issues
• Analyse the most important issues in detail
– Is there a gap between performance and expectation? (Perception
is reality)
– Do we understand the context, current status, likely developments,
potential scale and scope, triggers and escalators?
– Which stakeholders can influence the issue and / or which can
influence our reputation and performance?
• Identify an issue owner and establish a team ensuring all the right
people are at the table including Operations, Legal, and
Communications
High
Med
Low
HighMedLow
Po
ten
tial Im
pact
on
re
pu
tati
on
Likelihood of Occurrence
Proactively
managedContinuous
monitoring
Periodic
assessment
Active attention &
preparation
Step 4 – prioritising issues
Continuous
monitoring
Continuous
monitoring
Active attention &
preparation
Periodic
assessment
Periodic
assessment
Step 5 – planning
• Develop a plan for each issue that:
– Sets clear objectives
– Creates a strategic corporate response and defines key messages
– Identifies the resources needed
– Describes specific operational actions
– Defines communication strategies to be taken – by who, how, when and
with whom
– Has clear evaluation measures
• The issue plan should be aligned to the business plan and key operating
principles and values
Think from the outside in
Who are your stakeholders?
• Governments
• Regulators
• The local community
• Customers and consumers
• Activists
• And don’t forget employees
• What are they concerned about?
• What is on their agenda?
• What do they want to hear?
• What do they want to see?
Engage for a reason
• What is our vision?
• What are our objectives?
• Why are we doing this?
• Who are we engaging?
• What will success look like?
Prioritise your stakeholders
HIGH
STAKEHOLDER
CONCERN
NOT
CRITICAL TO
OUR SUCCESS
HIGHLY
CRITICAL TO
OUR SUCCESS
LOW
STAKEHOLDER
CONCERN
Very concerned
but not critical
Not critical and
not concerned
Important and
very concerned
Important but not
very concerned
Where to focus attention
-
Hardcore
adversaries
+Unconditional
advocates
FOCUS RESOURCES ON
WINNING THE BATTLE FOR
THE MIDDLE GROUND
10% you are
highly unlikely
to influence
10% you are
unlikely to need
To influence
80%
Steps 6 and 7 – implementing and evaluating
• Implement:
– Implement the action plan
– Communicate effectively with stakeholders
• Evaluate:
– Assess the results
– Evaluate success against the pre-agreed measurement criteria to
determine next steps and strategy
– Learn from successes, failures and mistakes
– Review the plan
crisis/incident issues
Speed Fast-moving Space and time
Surfacing Suddenly Gradually
Scrutiny Immediate / intense Sporadic
Stance Reactive Proactive
Structure Rigid / formulaic Fluid
Crisis v Issues
procedures
simulation
audit
training
Culture
Crisis preparedness process
Crisis management =
people and process
• Clear ownership and governance (team roles and responsibilities)
• Risk assessment / scenario planning / risk register
• Procedures and tools (manual; key contacts)
• Simple incident categorisation, alert and escalation criteria
• Competent, confident staff (coach and test)
• Compliance
• Part of your culture
A tried-and-tested
crisis team set up
Finance Legal Operations and SMEs
Team Leader Admin/
Log-keeper
Writer MRT
Leader Monitoring Spokesperson
Media Response
Team
CommsExternal
stakeholdersHR
RRT Leader
Relative Response
Team
Lack of effective communication –ensure regular briefing times, participants and formats
Unclear allocation of tasks and responsibilities, duplication of work –assign RACI, review and update regularly
Leadership getting caught in the detail –maintain sight of overarching strategy, delegate and follow up on detail
Forgetting the external perspective –understand stakeholder perceptions as well as internal facts when making judgements and decisions
Internal politics and personal ambitions influencing strategy –focus on key stakeholders and doing the right thing for the right reasons
Common pitfalls
The Messages!
All the Ws (almost!)
• Care & Concern
• Commitment
• Control
1) People
2) Environment
3) Asset
4) Money (tomorrow)
Relevant = audience!IrrefutableTruthful
Crisis communication
some best practice considerations:
• Do the right thing ... and be seen to do the right thing
– Scenario planning and preparation (worst case)
– Relevant, well rehearsed procedures and people, including partners, authorities and agencies
– Safety culture
• Credible source of information
– Range of appropriate, dedicated confident/competent spokespeople (senior/SMEs/local voice)
– Proactive, transparent and accessible (esp vis social media) –internally and externally
– People-focused messaging with robust Q&A
• Stakeholder relationships forged in peace time
– 3rd party advocates
Leadership
Leading a crisis management team
Leading an organisation in crisis
Very different from ‘peacetime’
leadership
The figurehead role
Global crisis structure
Escalation model – country, region,
group or country, business, group
Not named individuals but functions
Mandate to make decisions; know
powers/limitations
Crisis team is strategic – reputation,
bottom line, license to operate - nb:
supply chain!
Practice
Team