Crises are part of our daily round. We speak about foreign policy crises, parliamentary crises, crises in sports, culture, values and personality. Trade organisations are also threatened by potential crises, but not all of them render account of this. There are two types of attitude towards crises - active and passive. The more mature organisations develop programme for crisis management and rely on specialised internal or external departments for prevention and preparation for crisis response when a crisis bursts. However, a great number of organisations only think about how to react after one flares up. Until this precarious issue comes directly to the office, they consider crisis an abstract entity out of the orbit of their organisation.
There are many prescriptions, rules and approaches for crisis management. But none of them will be effective if it is not combined with adequacy, flexibility and good preparation. There is no universal truth in crisis management. Success depends mainly on a well-balanced combination of diverse elements such as creativity, experience and a specific way of thinking. One of the most precise definitions of crisis communications, given by Curt Stocker, says that crisis management is a way of behaving and thinking at a point when everything around you is out of control.
Above all, crisis management is a philosophy and an attitude towards life. Some of the best recommendations in this area are based on Asian philosophy, because the East bears the message that in the shadow of every crisis is hidden a new, positive opportunity. It is not by chance that the Chinese pictograph for crisis consists of two parts - a sharp rock, representing the problem, and a flower at its base.
Crisis management activities aim at three things - preventing the appearing of crises, modifying the negative effect of a crisis and creating a positive basis for further activities of the company. A true art in crisis management is active behaviour, which can help an organisation take advantage of an already-existing crisis situation. As the commander takes guidance over his retreating troops by standing before of them in order to lead them back into battle, so is the crisis management expert called upon to take things into his hands, turn the crisis into an opportunity and battle to turn the tides.
Many companies feel relatively protected from crises, exerting efforts to maintain things under control by keeping an eye on their products and services, distribution, competitors’ actions, etc. They concentrate on marketing activities, while reputation and crisis management are not a priority. Sooner or later comes the point when things get out of control. A crisis might be fueled by the reaction of a discontented customer, an incident with a product, an employee accident, inaccurate corporate conduct, disasters or below-the-belt hits by competitors. As a rule, the crisis appears suddenly and unexpectedly. It is characterised by extreme stress and pressure over the concerned parties and the audiences close to them. Media pressure on the company increases, and the people responsible for crisis management have little time to react.
In order to break away from such situations, every organisation should work for prevention, preparedness and crisis handling. These are the three compulsory elements of crisis communications.
Good preparation is undoubtedly the most reliable defense. The corporations that have matured to the point of realising that potential danger should not be underestimated make their best efforts before the crisis arises. They conduct crisis audit and risk evaluation processes, develop a crisis plan, and establish a crisis staff and action procedures. They create detailed handbooks and so-called “dark” websites that are activated only in case of emergency. Finally they prepare a crisis plan that includes the answers to questions such as:
What can threaten our company?
Can we develop a plan for diverse situations?
What are we trying to defend with this plan?
How do we best prepare ourselves?
Every company’s needs are specific. The crisis plan allocates responsibilities among the managers and respective employees. An early alert system should be developed based on market monitoring, media analyses, etc. At the end, specific recommendations are provided for centralising the control and management during a crisis - there should be only one contact point within a company, someone who will be responsible for communication with the external and internal audiences. Official spokespersons, PR specialists or PR agencies usually take up this task. The crisis plan recommends certain types of behaviour and defines procedures, but it cannot include detailed preparation of tactics for action.
Crucial for the proper preparation is not just mechanically gathering facts, but tracking the reasons and preparation of long-term analyses for what is happening. The specialist in crisis management should bring the capability to think creatively about facts and events. A specialised agency, for instance, can provide recommendations for preparation and prevention of crises, because as an external consultant it has a broader and independent view of the respective business and issues. It can complement the potential and experience that an organisation lacks.
Good crisis management starts with identification, before something flares up. Watching for the first sparks of a crisis is done through monitoring systems as well as analysis and encouraging constant contact with consumers. The information gathered by consumer telephone lines, e-mails, corporate websites, consumer databases, etc., can be used as an element of the early warning system. The PR specialist or the agency responsible for crisis management should combine information from diverse sources (as well as its own experience) in order to be able to notice the crisis in its early stages of development.
After the fire flares up there are two ways to go - active and reactive.
Reactive crisis management obliges the communication specialist in the company or agency to do whatever possible to subdue or minimise the negative consequences. Almost every PR practitioner has been compelled to react immediately in order to check competitors’ attacks, to refute negative allegations, to meet disgruntled consumers or to investigate accidents related to the company. Firstly, he should be to gather information from all possible sources, including internal and external experts, analysts, journalists, affected parties, etc. The PR specialist turns into a multi-task officer who should be present at several venues at once. He participates and sometimes initiates a meeting of the top management, where the situation and possible actions are discussed. Simultaneously, he answers journalists’ questions, drafts press releases, organises interviews and prepares question and answer lists. The reactive behaviour during a crisis can be compared to the activities of the fire brigade when the building has already caught fire.
But the key to success lies in the prevention, rather than the fighting of the blaze and the picking up of its ashes.
What can turn the situation in our favour?
A popular book by Benjamin Hoff tries to explain the ancient Chinese philosophy of the Tao Te Ching via the heroes in another popular book - Winnie the Pooh. Some of the advice for “turning the situation in our favour”, brought forward by Hoff, might be very useful in any crisis management case. In this respect, the calmness and the wisdom of the Eastern philosophy could be a source of good strategic decision-making, which could turn a crisis into a positive base for future actions.
The positive thinking and the transformation of negative into positive is key. These principles of the Taoist martial arts are applicable in crisis management, because the “enemy’s messages” could be transformed into power for our victory. Eastern philosophy teaches not to overlook the simple things that surround us. If today we have learned something new, our enemies could have learned twice as many things. The often underestimation of our competitors leads to exacerbation of the crisis.
The Eastern principles of respect and preserving resources turns into respect towards consumers, partners and journalists. They are the key resources for the success of each company. The good communications specialist does not loose contact with them, does not just use them, but helps them. The so-called unstrained action can help the drawing of the correct conclusions through a creative analysis of the available information and to reveal the best possible solutions. The perspicacious search through the structure of everything and the interconnecting of events is an obligatory condition for good preparation.
Be naive - speak simply, the men of wisdom advise us, because there is nothing worse than vague and wordy statements during a crisis. They leave space for misinterpretations and manipulation. Last but not least, aggression is not the best technique for crisis management, because it does not leave much space for “taming of the fire”.
Effective crisis management is the result of putting efforts in preparation and prevention, as well as the creation of specific ways of thinking and perception of the world and events. But whatever happens, it is important to maintain self-control and to always look for the advantages of a crisis. In the worst case, it will teach how to prepare and avoid it the next time it comes around.
