NAVIGATING THE UNCERTAINTY WITH CRISIS COMMUNICATION

NAVIGATING THE UNCERTAINTY WITH CRISIS COMMUNICATION

On 21 September 2024, CPROCOM held SaBar (Saling Belajar) Forum; a free webinar designed to be a learning forum with experts, to discuss and to enhance one’s knowledge about communication and sustainability. Every month, SaBar discuss a new topic. September’s forum’s main topic is crisis communication and is roles in maintaining reputation and public trust.

What is Crisis Communication?

Crisis communication is a strategy that companies use to address any challenging situation or interruption in business that jeopardizes the firm's reputation or employee’s trust within the company. A crisis can strike out of the blue in today's world, threatening the stability and image of institutions, companies, and communities. To minimize the damage, it’s important to implement effective crisis communication.

What to Do When Crisis Occurs?  

Crises usually arise from unresolved issues or unexpected incidents such as natural disasters. In the forum, Dr. Emilia Bassar; key expert in PR and Crisis Communication stated that a company can implement pre-crisis communication strategies such as:

1)    Gather a crisis communication team to anticipate crises. Ideally, the board and senior management should lead the communication team.

2)    Media Spokesperson and Handling: It is important to have a designated spokesperson for various crisis levels. It’s important to be transparent in communicating with the stakeholders, employees, and the public.

3)    Train the spokesperson and their team so they will be well prepared for when a crisis occurs. Having annual drills of crisis simulation can be beneficial for the company’s long run.

4)    Establish a crisis alert and monitoring system to keep the company in the loop about crises happening within the company. It helps to gather insights for future crisis prevention and response. This also supports transparency in communications.

5)    Identify target audiences to ensure the company relay correct messages to the exact group of people. Always remember that besides external stakeholders, employees are the company’s main driver of crisis mitigation efforts.

6)    Develop holding statements to use during crises. These statements should be reviewed regularly until the crisis is over.

What Happens After Crisis?

Crisis communication process doesn't end when the crisis is successfully resolved, it’s important to use the insights gained to refine the company’s crisis communication plan for future incidents. Here are some post-crisis communication strategies to be considered:

1)    Assess the crisis communication situation to determine an appropriate response when needed.

2)    Adapt no more than 3 key messages that the team has gathered about the crisis that will be relayed to all stakeholders and target audiences.

3)  Conduct a post-crisis communication analysis for continuous development of the crisis communication team and overall function of the company. This includes evaluating and developing SOPs and communication strategies based on the crisis that has occurred.

Another important tip after a crisis occurred or post-crisis is finding out whether the crisis management is a success. One of the keynote speakers; Lauda, stated “indicators of success include short-term sentiment and long-term perception, as well as the importance of surveys to measure public perception after a crisis. Feedback and criticism should not be taken lightly after a crisis to ensure better prevention in the future.”.

To learn more about Crisis Communication, get an in-depth insight with hands-on practice about crisis on CPROCOM’s Crisis Communication and Media Handling training. Activities are held regularly as scheduled on CPROCOM’s Linkedin (Center for Public Relations, Outreach, and Communications) and Instagram (@CPROCOM). Get the chance to link with participants by joining CPROCOM’s exclusive group to learn and network as well! Don’t stop learning because as stated above, continuous development leads to better function.