PRAISE FOR CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES,

SECOND EDITION

‘If you are a communicator trying to navigate a more unpredictable

world, this book is a timely and valuable guide. Drawing on a range
of case studies, Amanda Coleman clearly sets out the plans, processes
and procedures you need to put in place to be prepared when a crisis
strikes. But more importantly, she recognises the fundamental impor-
tance of people – from CEOs to customers, terrorism victims and
communicators themselves – to effective crisis communication and
recovery.’
Oana Lungescu, NATO spokesperson

‘This is a book that does something special and really different in

crisis communications. It is definitive on the immense organizational
challenges but also holds those affected by the crisis to the heart
of the approach. A must read.’
Professor Lucy Easthope, disaster recovery specialist and author

‘There is a major focus on preparing to issue rapid and accurate

communications when a crisis happens. But in this second edition of
her acclaimed handbook, the widely admired Amanda Coleman goes
beyond the early hours to take us through every stage of a crisis,
including recovery. Her practical approach is forged through real-life
experience. This new edition is required reading for public relations
professionals and leaders who wish to understand the role of commu-
nications in a crisis. It should be in every company library.’
Donald Steel, global crisis communications practitioner and Vice-
President, Crisis Communications, at Kenyon International Emergency
Services
‘In a crisis you need people, plans and professionalism to keep a level
head. Crisis Communication Strategies is a step-by-step, expert guide
to the critical early legwork, staying afloat in the eye of the storm and
managing the transition to recovery. Jam-packed with learnings from
real-life crisis case studies, Amanda Coleman has put her years of
experience into creating a clear framework for people to follow. If
you’re a CEO or any director focused on risk and resilience, this
book is your critical friend. Grab a copy now.’
Sarah Waddington CBE, Director, Wadds Inc

‘Making a great resource even better, Amanda Coleman’s second

edition of her outstanding book adds new material on the critical
issues facing organizations today. She provides step-by-step guidance,
checklists and tips for handling crisis communication successfully.
This book should be on every leader and communication profes­
sional’s desk as an invaluable reference for handling one of the
most important aspects of any crisis – how the organization explains
it to the public and key stakeholders. I wish I had this book when I
first moved into the crisis communication field.’
Bob Jensen, Senior Managing Director, Strat3 LLC

‘The second edition of Crisis Communication Strategies proves

again that Amanda Coleman is one of the best practitioners out there.
It is well written, easy to read and covers a variety of topics and
stakeholders that are important for crisis communication to succeed
in 2023. What I value the most is that Coleman includes so much
practical advice that will be useful for communicators around the
world. I can highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the
field of crisis communication.’
Kjell Braatas, communications adviser and author
 Crisis Communication
Strategies
Prepare, respond and recover effectively in
unpredictable and urgent situations

SECOND EDITION

Amanda Coleman
 Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book
is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author cannot accept
responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or
damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the
material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author.

First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2020 by Kogan Page Limited
Second edition published in 2023

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as
permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be repro-
duced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of
the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and
licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent
to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:

2nd Floor, 45 Gee Street 8 W 38th Street, Suite 902 4737/23 Ansari Road
London New York, NY 10018 Daryaganj
EC1V 3RS USA New Delhi 110002
United Kingdom India
[Link]

Kogan Page books are printed on paper from sustainable forests.

© Amanda Coleman, 2020, 2023

The right of Amanda Coleman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBNs
Hardback   978 1 3986 0944 0
Paperback 978 1 3986 0941 9
Ebook      978 1 3986 0942 6

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Coleman, Amanda, author.
Title: Crisis communication strategies : prepare, respond and recover
effectively in unpredictable and urgent situations / Amanda Coleman.
Description: Second Edition. | New York, NY : Kogan Page Inc, 2023. |
Revised edition of the author’s Crisis communication strategies, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022055450 (print) | LCCN 2022055451 (ebook) | ISBN
9781398609419 (paperback) | ISBN 9781398609440 (hardback) | ISBN
9781398609426 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Communication in crisis management. | Crisis management.
Classification: LCC HD49.3 .C65 2023 (print) | LCC HD49.3 (ebook) | DDC
658.4/5--dc23/eng/20221121
LC record available at [Link]
LC ebook record available at [Link]

Typeset by Hong Kong FIVE Workshop

Print production managed by Jellyfish
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
This book is dedicated to those who have provided me with endless
amounts of support, who have believed in me and have encouraged
me throughout the years. It is particularly dedicated to my Dad and
my late Mum (Philip and Prue) who have given me determination
and helped me reach for the stars. Also to my furry companions
Digger and particularly Edward, who was my soulmate for 19 years
and sadly died just as this edition was being finalized.
 CONTENTS

List of figures and tables xi

About the author xiii
Preface xv
Acknowledgements xvii

1 Are you ready for a crisis? Creating and testing a crisis

communication plan 1
Controlling the narrative 2
Strategy or plan? 4
The crisis communication strategy 6
Sharing the crisis communication plan 19
Understand the plan 22
Conclusion 29
Notes 30

2 Recognizing a crisis: What it is and how to spot it 33

What makes a crisis? 34
Anatomy of a crisis 36
The importance of preparedness 41
The role of the communicator 47
Conclusion 53
Notes 54

3 The operational response: The approaches and how they

relate to communications 57
The first steps 58
Misinformation, disinformation and fake news 66
Who can we learn from? 67
A military approach 68
The emergency services approach 72
Other approaches 77
viii CONTENTS

A strong framework 78
Communication at the heart of the response 80
Conclusion 86
Notes 87

4 Remembering the people: How employees should come

first 89
Involving people 90
Making connections 91
The internal audience 92
Learning the language 92
Careless words 94
Employees and recovery 96
Building success in employee engagement 96
Evaluating the impact 106
The future for staff 108
Conclusion 111
Notes 112

5 It’s tough at the top: The role of leadership in a crisis 115

Driving the crisis response 116
Crisis leadership qualities 117
The right image 124
Training leaders in communication 125
Who is the spokesperson? 126
Supporting the spokesperson 128
Ensuring staff wellbeing 131
Leader’s checklists 132
Conclusion 137
Notes 138

6 The impact on the community: Managing the

consequences 141
Who are the community? 142
What is consequence management? 149
 CONTENTS ix

Working with those affected and their families 151

Communicating with victims 154
Principles for victim communication 156
What is stakeholder management? 161
Conclusion 166
Notes 167

7 It’s OK to not be OK: Ensuring support is in place 169

Recognizing the impact 170
Modern pressures 172
Creating a resilient organization 172
Creating resilient communities 174
Wellbeing before a crisis 175
Wellbeing during a crisis 177
Wellbeing in recovery 178
What are trigger points? 180
Communication and wellbeing 182
Conclusion 185
Notes 186

8 Stepping on the road to recovery 187

What is recovery? 188
Long-running crises 189
Making the decision 192
Training for recovery 197
The focus of recovery 198
When there is no return to normal 200
The four Rs of long-term recovery 201
Debriefs and reviews 203
Conclusion 208
Notes 209

9 So, what happens next? 211

The five Ps of crisis communication 213
Maintaining readiness 220
x CONTENTS

Bottom up 221
Do it now 223
Conclusion 223

Index 225
 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1.1 Relationship between crisis communication plan and the

organizational response plans 7
Figure 2.1 Example of communication-focused risk management
plan 44
Figure 3.1 Example of a logging system 64
Figure 5.1 Example of a reputation tracker 121
Figure 6.1 Example stakeholder map for public organizations 144
Figure 6.2 Example stakeholder map for businesses 144
Figure 6.3 Example of a consequence management heat map 152
Figure 7.1 Example of a trigger points plan detailing known events and
announcements that may have an impact on affected
people 181
Figure 8.1 Example of staffing levels during the lifetime of a crisis 195
Figure 8.2 A reputation data tracker working across the business
sector 201

Table 4.1 Example of employee communication and engagement

chart 101
THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amanda Coleman is a PR and communication professional with

extensive experience of managing communication when dealing
with crises. She is the director of her own crisis communication
consultancy and works with a wide variety of clients providing both
training and support to deal with crises. Amanda is a Fellow of both
the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and the Public Relations
and Communications Association, as well as being a Chartered PR
Practitioner. Amanda is the author of Everyday Communication
Strategies, also published by Kogan Page. She writes a blog under the
name Amandacomms Blog ([Link]).
THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
 PREFACE

After many years dealing with crises and developing effective com-
munication strategies to deal with whatever had occurred I wanted to
find a way to share my experience and help other communicators. At
times it seemed that I was dealing with a new crisis on a daily basis
and they became the norm. But for many PR and communication
professionals a crisis may happen just once in their career and they
will be thrown into a high-stakes and high-pressure environment. I
hope this book will encourage people to think about crises, and to
develop plans and prepare for when it happens. In short it is about
investing some time to be able to deal with the darkest day a business
is likely to face.
From all my experience it became clear that there were some
aspects of the crisis communication in both planning and response
that were not being considered. In short it boils down to one word
– and that is people. We have spent time, possibly, in establishing
plans, processes or procedures but I would be fairly sure that none
of them have taken adequate account of the impact on people. This
is people both within the organization and, importantly, those who
are affected by the crisis. Those are the aspects that I wanted to focus
on, and to encourage others to refresh their approach to crisis
communication.
This new edition includes consideration of how behavioural
change communication can support a crisis response, how to ensure
a focus on diversity and inclusion is maintained even when under
pressure, and how to remain resilient when dealing with a long-
running crisis. Since the first edition in 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic,
aftermath, war in Europe and extreme weather have all expanded
our knowledge and experience of facing crises and developing appro-
priate communication. I have reflected this in the updates within this
edition.
The book covers the whole span of the crisis from the time before
it happens, during the incident and the aftermath, including the move
xvi PREFACE

to recovery. It aims to guide you through each phase, providing

details of what to consider, what should be done and tips on improv-
ing your response. Alongside this there are a number of case studies
detailing where organizations have responded to a crisis, showing
where things worked well and where they could have been improved.
Anyone dealing with communication planning and strategy devel-
opment will benefit from the advice within this book, but equally, if
you are a senior manager or CEO who will have to respond to a
crisis, this book can provide assistance. Having the right knowledge
and understanding is the first step to developing an effective crisis
communication strategy. If you are going to be ready to respond then
you need to invest time now.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In developing this book I have to thank all those who have supported
me in good times and bad, as well as the Chartered Institute of Public
Relations and the Public Relations and Communications Association.
Special thanks to Christine Townsend for her assistance. I am grateful
to the team at Kogan Page for their continued support, as well as the
clients, organizations and businesses that working with has assisted
in the development of the book. A special thank you to those on
social media who provided suggestions for what to include in this
updated second edition.
 1

Are you ready for a crisis?

Creating and testing a crisis
communication plan

Every communication professional knows there will come a day

when they must face a crisis. The test is how they deal with it and if
the response is both efficient and effective. It is the moment in time
that can make or break careers. If it is done well it will be the making
of the individual or team, providing them with a wealth of experience
and knowledge that will benefit future work. When things go wrong
with the communication response it can impact negatively on people,
share prices and ultimately can decimate a brand. Being ready for a
crisis is essential for every organization, company or brand. Dealing
with a crisis requires a different approach and a specific set of skills
when compared to everyday communication. Crisis communication
has a level of intensity and risk involved that means the communica-
tor needs to be operating at the peak of their performance. They must
be ready to spring into action, to rally the troops to deliver the
response, to balance the demands and to have the resilience to steer
the organization through the crisis and out to recovery. Preparation
is the foundation to the success of a response and must have taken
place. The speed of communication required in the eye of the storm
of a crisis increases the possibility of a critical element, of the issue or
the response, being missed. There are many facets of the communica-
tion that need to be operating at the same time and spinning the
plates is a test for even the most seasoned crisis communicator.
2 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Comments, views and criticism will be coming from many places,

which can quickly put a company in a defensive position. Being
defensive will be identified by onlookers and the public, who see this
as a negative approach. The nature of some crises can make them feel
incredibly personal both to the management and the workers in the
business. For an in-house communicator or those working closely
with a brand this can be strongly felt, and those emotions, alongside
the pressure on the resilience of those involved, can lead to unex-
pected plans for action rooted in emotion rather than fact. It requires
an ability to be acutely aware of the emotions around the crisis but
to be able to step away from it to provide an intelligent and strategic
response. Developing this ability to step into and out of the crisis will
be discussed in more detail in the coming chapters.
Every element of the response to the incident will be scrutinized
and analysed both during and after the crisis. This includes the oper-
ational response and the success of communication, which is always
a key area to review. With crises that are handled by emergency
services the debriefs are often critical of elements of communication,
from a slow response through to a failure to connect and engage with
those who are affected. From the statements or actions of the CEO
through to the comments made by customer services and frontline
staff, all will be under the microscope instantly. The Gjørv report into
the response to the 2011 Oslo bombing and Utøya massacre in
Norway was delivered to the prime minister just over a year later
and considered in detail the police response and communication
that took place with the public (see the case study on page 25).
Similarly the extreme weather conditions and Storm Arwen in 2022
led to scrutiny and reviews of the response, which included assessing
the communication that was undertaken (see the case study on page
27).

Controlling the narrative

Public response, feedback and the commentary from those caught up
in the incident can quickly become the narrative of the incident or
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 3

issue. Narrative is the story of the events, and all those connected will
have their approach and viewpoint on the crisis. Within a very short
period one version of events will become the accepted statement of
the situation and this can last for some time even through to an inves-
tigation or public inquiry. A company or organization must work to
ensure its commentary on the situation is the one that becomes the
dominant narrative and the trusted information about what has
occurred. If this is achieved then it is on its way to building trust and
confidence through showing understanding, taking action and
demonstrating learning. All this is more likely to be achieved if work
to define the response to a crisis has been undertaken in the quiet
moments when the business can take care and time to consider how
the response will be delivered. Given the pressure and speed of a
crisis, there is no chance to develop a crisis communication plan from
scratch when an issue or incident is unravelling on social media and
on rolling news channels. Having a plan, systems and procedures in
place will save precious time and put the business into a proactive
position quickly. It is not just about having a plan but about testing
whether it is likely to work as a response. Beyond that, the work must
not just be completed but it must also be embedded into the business
as a key cog in the organization’s response. The business can then act
swiftly when a crisis happens.
Communication thrives on creativity. This will be restricted when
a crisis occurs as the freedom that leads to creativity must be replaced
with a systematic approach to the sharing of information. In the
initial stages of a crisis a cool head is needed and being able to turn
to a clear plan will build some resilience for the communicators
involved. There will be time enough to develop a creative approach
to the problem at hand once you have faced what is emerging and put
things in place after the crisis breaks. Systems and procedures are
what will help to calm the pressure on communicating in the initial
stages of a crisis. Despite the many benefits that come from having a
plan ready to launch at a moment’s notice, organizations are still
reluctant to put enough time and effort into the development of a
clear crisis response system with a plan and procedure.
4 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

The crisis communication strategy and approach are only as good

as the scenario planning and testing of the processes. This must be
more than a theoretical development of something that will sit on a
shelf or languish somewhere in the company’s databases. More about
the implementation and embedding of the plan within the business
later in this chapter.

TOP TIP

Take some time to consider what plans you have in place to deal with a
crisis or emergency the business may face. Does it stand alone? Is it part of
an organizational response plan? Have you considered the main risks the
business may face?
It is essential to understand what you may already have in place to help
in the response to a crisis. If there are plans in place, then review them con-
sidering the guidance and advice you will find in the pages of this book.
Consider if the plan you have puts communication as a key part of the over-
all response. The activity of the communication team must align to the re-
sponse of the organization, and, as will be explained later in this book, it
can help to drive the organization’s response.

Strategy or plan?
There is often confusion about what comprises a communication
strategy and what is a plan. It is important to be clear about which of
these you are developing before you set out to write or update a crisis
document. A crisis communication strategy sets out the high-level
approach to be taken when dealing with any issue or incident. It will
consider the management of channels, including media and social
media, and any policies that need to be in place or linked to the strategy.
In contrast, a crisis communication plan is a tactical document
that looks at the specific situation and considers the actions that need
to be taken at key points as the crisis emerges, develops and then
ends. This will be a roadmap for managing communication when a
situation occurs. The documents must be connected and work
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 5

together to ensure an effective crisis communication response.

However, it is important to understand the distinction between the
two so that both elements are developed in a crisis response.
The most important starting point is to have a clear crisis commu-
nication strategy that can be understood by the communication
professional and everyone else working in or supporting the business’
crisis response. It will be the framework for responding to any crisis,
whether it is reputational or operational. An operational crisis is
something that has happened in the environment around us.
Something that emerges due to world events or due to an operational
issue within the business. Reputational crises are rooted in percep-
tions and commentary. They do not require anything physical to have
happened as they can be due to something that has been said either
online or in the media. We will explore this further in the following
chapter.
For any crisis communication strategy, simplicity is key, both for
ensuring that anyone can pick the document up and understand what
the approach will be and what their role is, and for the ability to use
it for every crisis that may occur. Details and step-by-step guides to
responding to a crisis should be included in a plan. But it must avoid
being restrictive and should allow development and new approaches
to the situation to be considered in the response. Plans should follow
themes or risk areas so that they are not covering just one set of
circumstances alone as invariably this will not be the situation that
emerges when a crisis hits. For example, planning for a cyberattack
that steals personal data when what happens is a ransomware attack
that blocks systems and demands money. Both are cyber crises but
require slightly different tactical approaches.
Every crisis is unique and has its own very distinct set of circum-
stances. If you have a pre-prepared response that lacks flexibility then
your communication will miss the target and fail to respond to what
is emerging. Relying on a plan without thinking and considering
exactly what you are faced with will lead to a poor response. It is
more beneficial to have a broader, more strategic document as a crisis
communication plan; a document that considers approach, provides
prompts, outlines clear roles and includes checklists that can support
6 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

the response to any set of circumstances. It is a foundation to assist

in dealing with any crisis. This works closely with a crisis communi-
cation strategy outlining the organization’s approach to all issues,
incidents and emergencies.

The crisis communication strategy

The key sections of a crisis communication strategy are:
● purpose of the strategy
● approach
● communication priorities
● structure of the response, phases of a crisis – roles and responsibilities
● scenarios, narratives and key messages
● priority channels
● stakeholder engagement
● resourcing
● review and evaluation

Other elements may be required for individual businesses and organ-

izations, such as brand management or shareholder communication.
Being ready for a crisis goes beyond having a plan on paper or
hidden in a database – it is essential to consider how the strategy and
approach is shared, communicated, tested and developed further.
However, having a strategy and plan in place is a fundamental first
step to being prepared to manage a crisis. Let’s look now at each
stage of the strategy and what it should cover.

Purpose of the strategy

In this section, outline the responsibilities that the business or organ-
ization has in responding to a crisis. For example, if you have respon-
sibilities under legislation then make it clear what these are and what
they may mean for your communication response. The legislative
process may lead to some restrictions on what you can do, and these
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 7

must be understood before developing a response. Outline the details

of when and how the approach will be used and how it will fit with
any organizational crisis response. The preference is always to have a
communication strategy that will be a section or chapter of any busi-
ness’ crisis or emergency response manual. However, if this doesn’t
exist and it must sit alone then ensure there are links to any other
corporate strategies.

FIGURE 1.1 Relationship between crisis communication plan and the

organizational response plans

Welfare and
staff plan

Shareholder Operational
management plan response plan

Community
Crisis and
Marketing/
communication consequence
advertising plan
plan management
plan

Security/IT plan Legal plan

Stakeholder
management plan

Approach
The organization will have its own vision, mission and philosophy
and this should influence the approach to be taken to communicating
8 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

in a crisis. Consider what you want people to say about the business
and what it is known to stand for, such as amazing customer service
or taking an ethical approach to business, and ensure this is reflected
in the approach you plan to take when dealing with a crisis. Handled
effectively, crisis communication can enhance and build the organiza-
tion’s reputation and strengthen the vision, mission or philosophy
among the workforce and the public.

Communication priorities
This is the section where you can outline the priority actions for the
communication response through the stages of a crisis, from recog-
nizing the issue or incident and the first phases of the crisis, develop-
ing the response, re-establishing the status quo and finally the move
to recovery. Consider within this whether the organization will be
leading the response or whether you are working alongside other
organizations or agencies that may be taking the lead. Provide details
of the activities that you will undertake during the initial phase of the
crisis, which may include alerting the CEO, implementing the response
structure and calling in additional resources. If there is a necessity to
contact key stakeholders before providing any response then make
this clear in the priorities.

RESPONSE CHECKLIST

Initial response

● Grab bag – have a bag that is filled with essentials that the first
communicator dealing with the incident will need. This could include a
USB stick loaded with the plan and any prepared short holding
statements (holding statements are developed to buy the business
some time before making a more detailed response), details of
additional resources and contact information, and other relevant items
such as building access information, emergency mobile phone or other
technology that will assist. (It is common that technology may be found
lacking in the initial stages of an emergency so it is important to have
access to back-up systems.) This could also be supported by a virtual
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 9

grab bag, which is a folder containing all relevant information. But

avoid leaving all documents online, as if there is a power outage it will
mean key information cannot be accessed.
● Contact the operational lead to gather enough information that is
accurate at that moment in time and can be used to support the
development of the first statements. Remember never to assume or
expand on information unless you are sure at that moment it is
accurate.
● If another organization or agency is taking the lead on the
communication and operational response contact it to be clear what
can be stated publicly.
● Provide an initial statement as swiftly as possible. It may state nothing
more than that you are aware of the issue, incident or situation and
that you are dealing with it or assessing the situation and will provide
more detail as it becomes available, or that you are working with
another lead agency. This ensures that people can see you are aware
something is happening and are acting.
● Start a rolling log of what information has been provided, who
authorized it and what communication decisions have been made. This
can become invaluable as time passes as it will provide clarity about
what has been said, when it was said, who said it and who it was
provided to, such as to specific media outlets or placed on social media.
● Contact the relevant people or agencies who will provide additional
resources as the situation develops. An early alert will mean the
additional resources arrive more swiftly.

Response in first 24 hours

● Use the crisis communication plan that has been developed to create a
bespoke plan that will focus on the detail of the scenario you are faced
with.
● Identify the key spokesperson for the company/organization and
ensure they are briefed on the situation and what has currently been
provided via media/social media, and are ready to appear publicly to
provide updates.
● Ensure media and social media are being monitored and relevant data
is being gathered, including commentary that may need to be corrected
as well as understanding the sentiment of the comments.
10 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

● Establish the structure of the communication response and ensure key

roles are being undertaken; this includes internal messaging and
stakeholder engagement, and remember to consider the welfare of
those involved, including any communication staff.
● Provide a regular time for updates to be given to the media, social
media or other audiences, even if this is just to restate what
information is known and accurate.

Developing activity

● Consider whether greater access can be provided to the media,

bloggers or others to show the care and attention being given to
dealing with the issue.
● Work with operational staff to identify those affected and manage
communication to them either directly or indirectly depending on the
scale of the issue.
● Ensure that by this stage you have the relevant stakeholder
engagement plan in place and that you are sharing statements and
encouraging others to assist in a shared narrative about the issue or
incident.
● Ensure you have enough resources for the next week to four weeks,
including to cover activities at weekends and overnight. Are your
on-call arrangements sufficiently robust during the response phase?
● Be clear when and how updates will be provided and utilize the same
spokesperson wherever possible to ensure continuity.
● Consider how to be creative in the communication to assist in
rebuilding confidence in the organization or brand.

Re-establishing status quo

● Identify when you can resume ‘normal’ business. This will require
careful discussion with the operational lead dealing with the issue, and
the CEO. Once you have a clear time frame you can start to scale back
the resources being used for communication activity.
● Be clear with people who have been following updates on the incident
about when and how they will receive further information once the
crisis is over.
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 11

● Use creative communication to update the shared narrative and always

provide an explanation of why the move towards recovery is now
taking place.
● Keep any public telephone or digital helplines running if they are
receiving relevant calls. As the calls subside replace them with existing
communication methods and ensure this is clearly understood.
● Review the communication activity and evaluation that has taken place
to identify further work that may be required to rebuild trust and
confidence.

Road to recovery

A later chapter in the book will deal with the difficult decision of when to
start to move the operational activity and communication activity into the
recovery phase (see Chapter 8).

Structure of the response: Including roles and responsibilities

As mentioned, taking a systematic approach to crisis communication
can provide a greater opportunity for a successful response. Whether
you are working in-house, for an agency or as a consultant you can
still clearly outline the structure that will be in place to provide the
required response. Consider how you will be able to get decisions
from within the business and how much flexibility there is for
communication to be developed and implemented without a sign-off
process. Governance is an essential part of a communication strategy
as it establishes delegated authority, and the way actions and state-
ments are agreed. A clear decision-making process needs to be
outlined along with any communication sign-off protocols. The best
position is to have ensured the leadership of the organization have
confidence in the communication team and the preparation work
that has been undertaken to allow some flexibility and autonomy in
the initial stages.

PHASES OF A CRISIS
While much of our focus is on the starting point of a crisis and
ensuring that it is identified, a crisis has many phases and each needs
12 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

careful consideration when defining the approach to take. There are

five broadly defined phases of a crisis and the elements that com-
prise each of them will also require a change, refinement or develop-
ment of the communication approach and activity that is being
undertaken.

1 Identification
2 Initial actions
3 Eye of the storm
4 Pre-recovery
5 Recovery

The operational response will be different within each of these phases.

For example, in the identification phase the key will be about ensur-
ing key people are briefed and aware of what has happened, and that
the crisis response plan has been implemented. When in the eye of the
storm it is essential that the focus is on tactical actions being taken to
minimize the impact of the crisis and ensure things are brought under
control. Each of these phases also requires crisis communication to
be handled slightly differently to ensure the focus is on the key and
relevant issues, and the potential changes within people’s attitudes to
what has occurred.

1 Identification
This is the point at which the crisis has been recognized and
identified and has been highlighted within the organization.
Communication needs to be involved from the earliest possible
point so that an initial comment can be made and plans can start
to be developed.
2 Initial actions
Dealing with the first moments of a crisis, and particularly the
first 24 hours, will set the scene for how things may develop. It is
the point where plans and strategies need to be considered,
reviewed and developed as required. It is also a point where
resourcing for the crisis response needs to be considered and
additional support sourced if needed. This is the point where the
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 13

crisis communication plan is agreed and in place, immediate

actions have been completed and the structures, resourcing and
narrative are agreed.
3 Eye of the storm
After the initial urgent actions have been carried out and work is
underway, the next phase is moving towards addressing the
problem. This phase can last for a few days or for years and the
long-term crises require additional considerations, which we will
cover in Chapter 8. The eye of the Covid-19 pandemic storm
lasted for more than a year in many parts of the world. It is this
stage when activities and a plan need to be in place. The plans
should centre around engagement following the broadcast
approach of the initial stages, and ensuring the approach is
inclusive and reaches all communities is essential. It is also during
this phase that plans must be developed using consultation, and
actions evaluated.
4 Pre-recovery
Once the whirlwind centre of the crisis has happened there is a
stage where the situation is being brought under control and its
impact is reducing. But the crisis is still underway, so it is not the
recovery phase. This is a time to start to consider the recovery
phase but recognize that activities are still managing the crisis.
It is also important to be aware that at any point something may
happen to move you back towards the eye of the storm. There is
a delicate balancing act to be carried out between continuing to
deliver the crisis communication plan, and creating and
implementing the recovery communication plan. It requires the
communicator to be very aware of developments, possible future
scenarios and the state of the operational response.
5 Recovery
This is the point at which the crisis is under control and has
ended. It is a time when the organization can review what has
happened, rebuild from what was happening before the crisis,
consider the required resourcing and move to re-establish the
reputation of the business or organization. For the communicator
14 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

it means moving from a crisis communication plan to a recovery

communication plan (see Chapter 8).

Each phase of the crisis will take as long as it needs to and cannot be
rushed. The identification needs to be undertaken swiftly to put steps
in place that can begin to manage what has happened. But in some
cases identifying the crisis can take longer to achieve. If the business
or organization attempts to move quickly then it can potentially
damage the confidence people have in the response. Always be clear
at what point in the crisis you are so that appropriate communication
can be undertaken.

ESTABLISHING ROLE PROFILES

Establish clear role profiles that identify the actions and span of
control of each of the team members involved in the response. The
profiles can be used for any non-communicators that are brought in
to support the communication response, as well as agency or free-
lance staff who are recruited to assist. If you are delivering the
response alone (and this is not a recommended position to be in) then
you can use the profiles to ensure you are developing a response that
covers all the critical areas of communication activity. Among the
roles to consider having in place is communication leader, usually the
most senior communication professional working on the crisis and
will report to the organization’s spokesperson, who will provide the
face of the response. They will operate at ‘Gold’ level, which will be
outlined in Chapter 3. In many cases the spokesperson will be the
CEO but it will be dependent on the nature of the issue or incident as
it may be more appropriate for another senior executive to be the
face of the response. The communication leader is a professional who
will set the strategy and keep it under review as the situation devel-
ops. Depending on the nature of the incident and the size of the crisis
they may be able to manage the implementation of the strategy or
may have a deputy to assist in making the strategy live. Other roles
to consider having in place are internal communication lead, partner-
ship lead, affected people lead, digital communication lead, staff
wellbeing lead (this may be part of the internal communication lead
role but if the impact on resilience and wellbeing of the workforce is
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 15

significant then a separate role is recommended) and a media/social

media monitoring lead. This is not an exhaustive list and in different
business sectors it may be that additional roles are required. The key
to establishing which roles are relevant is to understand who the key
stakeholders or groups are that you will need to connect with during
a crisis. Map out who they are and understand what impact there
will be if there is a failure to adequately connect, brief, inform and
listen to them during a crisis. This should then provide you with a
clear picture of the roles that are required to manage communication
activity.

Scenarios and key messages

As mentioned earlier, having very fixed messages that will be used for
every crisis regardless of the specific details of the event being
managed is not recommended. The first thing to do when considering
what messages may be appropriate to have in place is to have detailed
the most likely scenarios that the business will face. Scenarios may
include a cyberattack, product or service failure, or a disgruntled ex-
employee going public with criticism of the business – and there will
be many others that you can consider, linked to the nature of the
business. If you are not sure where to start, then consider reviewing
the organization’s risk management plan or risk register as this will
detail possible threats. Once you have the scenarios then you can
develop some initial key messages based on the likely issues. Focus on
key points such as providing helpline numbers, detailing that you are
aware of the issue and are responding to it, and any key information
you can provide that will demonstrate a swift response and that the
issue is being taken seriously. Wherever possible provide ways that the
public can assist in the response, such as providing information,
keeping away from the area, returning any damaged goods. All this
will provide you with a starting point when a crisis emerges, which
allows a swift response and gives some space to consider the detailed
responses that need to be developed. The key messages are there as a
guide and need to be adapted to the issue or incident that occurs.
16 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Priority channels
Managing a crisis requires using all acquired knowledge from previ-
ous work. The strategies that already exist will provide understand-
ing of where the business’ priority audiences get their information
and where they will turn to for updates in the moment a crisis
emerges. The number of social media sites and digital platforms that
exist is overwhelming and trying to service all of them will be an
uphill struggle. Instead of spreading things thinly across all digital
platforms, focus on where the key audiences are and identify those
channels that you will prioritize within the plan. For example, if you
have a strong presence on Facebook or LinkedIn then identify those
as priority channels within your communication response. However,
do not neglect other more traditional channels of communication
such as local media, face-to-face communication, helpdesks and
frontline workers. The key is to put the effort of the communication
response where it will have the biggest impact and that requires
understanding audiences and having detailed insight about customers.

Stakeholder engagement
We have already touched on this when we considered scenarios and
how they can support the development of key messages. Conducting
a stakeholder mapping exercise is important for all aspects of commu-
nication activity. It will ensure the business understands who its key
audiences and influencers are, which becomes critical during a crisis.
Communicating to those groups, whether they are shareholders,
investors, regulators or partner agencies is essential throughout the
crisis. It can build trust and confidence in the business and demon-
strate that it has the situation under control, and in turn that will
develop strong future relationships. Be clear who is important to
connect with during a crisis; as we will see, ensuring they know the
plan in detail will become an important part of the preparation for
dealing with any crisis.
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 17

Resourcing
The intensity of a crisis is like nothing a communicator will have
experienced before. With rolling news channels and social media sites
it is a round-the-clock responsibility, and it takes a significant number
of people to be able to deliver the plan effectively. In developing the
roles and responsibilities section you will gain a greater understand-
ing of the number of people required to manage the response. This is
important so that you can ensure there is access to the resources, and
this can be achieved within a short time frame. First understand what
resources you need, and then identify where they will come from. The
plans and mechanisms need to be in place to draw in additional people
if required either from across the business or from external agencies.
Successfully emerging from a crisis will take time, effort and care,
which all requires enough resources to be in place. Ensure you
continue to consider the resources that are required through to
completion of the recovery phase. Once you have identified where
resources will come from, ensure that the individuals or teams under-
stand what role they will play. This will be covered in more detail later
in this chapter when we consider how the plan should be promoted
within the business and how to ensure a level of preparedness exists.

RESOURCES MAY BE DRAWN FROM:

● communication staff
● others with communication knowledge or experience
● individuals who may have been on secondment to the communication
team
● mutual aid (identify staff within partner agencies or businesses who
may be brought in to assist)
● agency staff
● freelancers or retained external contracted staff
18 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Review and evaluation

Traditional methods of evaluation will not benefit the crisis commu-

nication in the initial stages of the response. However, building in the
ability to review the impact of the activity is essential. Ensure that
your plan identifies how and when the communication work will be
reviewed and assessed. There may be key trigger points that prompt
a move to review or evaluate the activity, such as when a key opera-
tional activity is carried out. The information gathered will inform
the development of the plan by clarifying what has worked and what
gaps still exist. Both review and evaluation are very different to the
media monitoring that is required throughout a crisis. Media moni-
toring is about understanding what is being said on social media and
in the traditional media so that inaccuracies can be corrected, and the
messaging and activity can be refined. Evaluating the crisis communi-
cation plan is about a longer-term understanding of the organiza-
tion’s reputation and trust and confidence in the business. This should
happen at key points, likely to be part-way through the operational
response, at the end of the crisis phase as the business is moving into
recovery, and then as the recovery phase is ending. This is when the
existing methods of evaluating communication activity can be
brought to the fore. Check out the AMEC Integrated Evaluation
Framework1 to provide some guidance and clarity on areas of meas-
urement that can be undertaken. It is important for the evaluation to
consider outputs, outcomes and outtakes for all the work as well as
the organizational impact of the activities undertaken. Reviewing
and evaluating will support the prioritization of activities and ensure
that effort is being put where it is needed the most.
Earlier we discussed having the right technology at your fingertips
the minute a crisis emerges. A laptop and smartphone are essentials
to have with you or easily accessible so you can utilize them instantly.
Statements and replies need to be posted on the organization’s website
and social media so ensure there is access to any platforms and
systems. This means having the right passwords that will allow quick
access. If the organization has controls that prevent access to social
media on business computers, then consider having a non-networked
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 19

computer that can be used. Technology can assist in the creative

development of communication as the crisis continues and this will
be considered in a later chapter.

Sharing the crisis communication plan

Once you have invested time in developing a crisis communication
plan you are part of the way to having established readiness for any
emerging issue or incident that may occur. The next step is to ensure
that the details of the plan are shared with the business. Why is this
important? It will ensure that the plan is clearly understood by all
those who are likely to be involved in any crisis response, which
includes the CEO, key department heads, customer services staff and
anyone involved in any part of the communication response. There
are many ways to embed the plan into the work environment. Simply
start by sharing it and explaining it to people and make it accessible
on any shared computer systems. Share it not only with those inside
the organization but, as mentioned, with those from other organiza-
tions who will need to be aware of the plan. Remember the stake-
holder engagement plan that had to be developed as this can be
utilized to assist the communication of the plan.
The next phase is to establish a rigorous and regular testing
programme. This will not only ensure that the plan is fit for action
but can also ensure there is a detailed working knowledge of the
work by those briefed during the communication of the plan.
It is always challenging to find time in busy schedules to undertake
scenario testing and exercising but these are essential ways to prepare
and be ready to operate at speed when a crisis emerges. Think of it
like a football team that needs to prepare for penalties. They are not
always going to need to use the training on penalties but they never
know when penalties could decide the match. Communicators will
rarely face a crisis but when they do, everyone involved has to play
their part and be at the top of their game. Training, exercising and
planning for the potential crisis will keep you in a state of readiness.
20 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

When undertaking any kind of testing or exercising of the plan the

key is to try to find the gaps that exist in the response and be open to
the fact that things may not work effectively. That may sound like the
wrong approach, but it is only by getting things wrong, identifying
the gaps and highlighting delays that the plan can be developed to
ensure it is fit and ready to be used when a crisis happens. Showing
where the plans won’t work will mean improvements can be made,
so weaknesses can be seen as an opportunity.
Plans will have been developed using knowledge and possibly
experience but even with experience they need to be tested and
redesigned. This work will mean the paper version of the plan identi-
fies the most effective and efficient way of working when a crisis
breaks. Plans must be put through their paces in a real-life environ-
ment, allowing flaws to become clear. No organization wants to be
wishing it had done more testing and exercising of plans in the after-
math of a crisis. Investing time ahead of a problem will save money
and time when a crisis does happen and will also build the resilience
of the business and team. Building resilience is an essential element
for a successful response to a crisis. It can be done in two ways – with
the individual and with the business. Resilience will improve the
readiness and ability of people to respond to the crisis using the guid-
ance, plans and procedures as well as equipping them to be confident
and able to make decisions. Think of emerging issues as bricks that
are picked up and placed in your rucksack; if you are resilient you
can carry the rucksack without a problem but if you are under pres-
sure some of the bricks need to be removed. Building resilience within
the business will take some time to achieve if it doesn’t already exist.
The organizational culture must support the development of a resil-
ient workforce. Systems and processes have a big part to play in
creating a resilient organization, but are also linked to the culture
and the ‘feel’ of the business. The CEO and top team are central to
creating a culture within the organization that accepts failure as a
learning opportunity. If plans, procedures and testing of them during
‘normal’ times is done in the right way then there will be a strong
workforce ready to test and evaluate emergency plans.
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 21

Scenario testing and exercising can be done in several ways.

Tabletop and desk-based exercises require a little planning but can be
done very cost-effectively. Exercises that involve live role-playing are
incredibly beneficial because they bring the element of reality but
require resources in both planning and taking part in the exercise.
These sorts of large-scale, real-life role-playing exercises are mainly
undertaken by the military, government departments, law enforce-
ment agencies and emergency services. However, they are now avail-
able for all communication teams using new software programmes
and systems that can replicate the communication team environment
in a realistic way. Live role-playing exercises often require volunteers
to take parts such as playing the role of journalists or members of the
public, so it is worth finding out if you are able to get involved in one
of these exercises that is being carried out by another organization. If
you can get involved then you will be able to see the elements work-
ing together, and how an exercise can be developed. Alternatively,
work with specialist crisis communication agencies that can provide
these services. You will undoubtedly take away learning that can be
utilized for your own crisis communication planning and exercising.
Many organizations have testing procedures in place looking at
high-risk areas. Those in food production, chemical handling and
transportation will have testing regimes that will focus on the opera-
tional activity. It is a good starting point to test your crisis communi-
cation plan by adding the communication element into the planned
operational activity. The scenario will already have been developed,
which makes it easier to just add in the communication response as a
real-time exercise without extensive work. Negotiate with the techni-
cal people who are responsible for these exercises and encourage
them to make it even more realistic by adding a communication
element to the testing. After all, no crisis or emergency will happen
entirely out of the public gaze.
If there are no available exercises or tests planned, then you can
run a communication-focused exercise. Look at the scenarios that
you have outlined in the plan and identify which are the most likely
to occur, such as cyberattack, service or product failure, and build a
22 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

fictional desk-based scenario that will test the communication

response. Securing the services of an external agency to assist in
developing the exercise and testing plan can ensure it is undertaken
thoroughly and with intense scrutiny. There are crisis communication
and training companies operating worldwide that are experienced in
this work. Having an independent review of your response and crisis
communication plan is the only sure way of truly exposing any weak-
nesses. It eliminates any possible bias in evaluating the plan and
response to testing as there is no personal attachment to the plan. It
also gives an expert eye on the proposed approach you are detailing
and means that you can have more confidence in the plans that have
been developed.

Understand the plan

Exercising needs to be carefully developed so that it tests the right
aspects of the plan. This means understanding where you may be
vulnerable; again an external company or individual can undertake
this when they are developing the test. Among the aspects that must
be reviewed are the swift delivery of the initial alert to the issue or
incident, the speed and quality of the early statements, the ability to
respond to both media and social media issues, management of infor-
mation as the situation develops and the ability to adapt the approach,
statements and plan to reflect the changing nature of the crisis. The
more detailed the exercise is the more you will be able to assess from
the planned approach. If you have a full day or even two days, then
the scenario can run as live time or almost live, which will ensure
greater authenticity. However, even if you only have half a day you
should be able to run a detailed tabletop exercise.
Ensuring the scenario is as real as possible for all those taking part
is essential. It must feel as though the incident or issue is taking place,
which will then mean that people act as they would if it was really
happening. Running a media cell of pseudo-journalists who can ask
questions as the scenario develops is hugely beneficial. They will
operate as they would do reporting in the event of a crisis breaking
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 23

and will ask the tough and challenging questions needed to test the
ability to respond and adapt. Developing a test that includes a social
media element has been problematic but in recent years several
companies have developed systems that are able to operate crisis
simulation and mimic the growth of a crisis in the digital space. This
is a specialist area of work that is an essential ingredient in any exer-
cise or scenario testing. Social media will be where most crises break
or develop and having it included in your crisis communication plan
and testing of the plan is non-negotiable.
Any exercise that is undertaken should involve key people from
within the organization. The CEO, the department heads and all
those who are identified as having a role to play within the crisis
communication plan. The spokesperson, the people who support the
workforce, the customer services staff – whoever has a part to play in
communicating should take part in the test. If they are not able to
take part in testing, at the very least they must clearly understand the
plan and their role in delivering it. They need to know how the
elements fit together, the structure, the sign-off process and the stake-
holder engagement activity. Communicators have a key role to play
in advising on the operational response, which we will explore in
more detail in the following chapters.
The exercise increases its level of authenticity if you can involve
key stakeholders and others who will be delivering parts of the
communication response, or areas linked to the communication
response. When an exercise is being developed to test the communi-
cation response alone and not, as mentioned earlier, as part of a wider
operational scenario, consider who should be involved in the activity.
If there are key regulatory bodies or agencies that are included in the
stakeholder engagement section of the crisis communication plan,
then consider how they may be able to take part in the exercise. It
may also be beneficial to the stakeholder’s development activity in
this area to consider whether their plans are enough to be ready to
respond to a crisis. Never be afraid to work alongside those you will
need to be close to during a crisis. When something does happen, you
will face similar challenges to those other agencies, which means you
can often assist each other in the response. This may be by emphasizing
24 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

statements, sharing information and keeping key individuals updated

before they are asked to make a comment.
Where this is not considered possible because of sensitive issues,
confidentiality or other organizational difficulties, the plan should at
least have been discussed with communication colleagues from key
stakeholder groups. Having a clear understanding of how different
agencies and organizations will respond in the event of a crisis will
help to build a consistent narrative and messaging. This consistency
will assist both those affected and the wider public.
If there is a particularly well-developed and mature approach to
risk and crisis management in the business, then you may feel able
to involve the public, either as customers or service users. Provided
they are well briefed about the scenario and what is expected of them
they could deliver valuable insight into the intended approach and
wording that will be used. This can also assist in building a diverse
response and ensuring that the response is inclusive and accessible to
groups. This will be covered in Chapter 6. This may be a step too far
for many organizations though, so a safer alternative may be to use a
focus group to discuss the plan and gather views about what the
public would expect to happen publicly. If this is undertaken in an
open way to strengthen the plan it could give a fully rounded and
developed plan.
A crisis communication strategy must be regularly reviewed and
continually developed. It cannot be written and then left on a shelf or
in a section of the website for years. Organizations are regularly
changing, developing and adapting. Every change within the organ-
ization requires the communication strategy and approach to be
reconsidered. The same needs to happen with significant external
environmental factors that can impact on the approach. For example,
all crisis communication strategies and plans required reviewing and
updating after the Covid-19 pandemic. The nature of work will
change from year to year. There will be a different focus, a new
CEO may bring different values, the environment may change
with new building and new technology or new services and products
may be introduced leading to new risks to the business. A crisis
communication plan needs to be reviewed and assessed considering
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 25

these changing circumstances so it can be amended and ready for

action.

EXERCISING CHECKLIST

● Work with operational colleagues to develop an exercise if possible.

● Focus the exercise on the key areas of risk or approaches that feel
weak.
● Consider bringing in an agency or third party to run the exercise.
● Decide whether you will do a full role-play exercise or a desk-based
review.
● Involve key people from inside the organization to take part in, or run,
the test.
● Discuss involvement in the exercise with communicators from key
stakeholder organizations.
● Run a focus group with members of the public to test their response to
the plan and any prepared messaging.
● Keep the plan under continual review, taking into account feedback from
testing and changes in the organization and its operating environment.

CASE STUDY
Norway terror attack

On 22 July 2011 one man brought devastation to Norway. It started with a car
bomb that was detonated in Regjeringskvartalet, the government quarter of Oslo.
The bomb killed eight people and injured more than 200. Less than two hours
later a second attack took place on the island of Utøya in Tyrifjorden where a
Labour Party youth camp was being held. The lone-wolf terrorist, Anders Breivik,
was dressed as a police officer and opened fire, killing 69 people and injuring
more than 100, at least half of whom received serious injuries. The impact of the
terror attacks was devastating, and the response of all the agencies to the attack
was considered in detail in the Gjørv Report published in 2012.2
The extended timescale of the attack led to those caught up in the Utøya
incident having the time to contact the outside world using social media, which
26 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

was a place where the police and other agencies were noticeably absent.3 This
was problematic when the incident was unfolding on Facebook as well as Twitter.
But the Gjørv Report did conclude that ‘the Government’s communication with
the general public was good’.4

What improvements could be made?

The main issues were related to the failure to undertake enough and relevant
exercising of the emergency plans and an inability to learn from the results and
outcomes of what tests had been undertaken. The Report makes fascinating
reading when considering how much time and effort to put into developing plans
and then exercising them.
The Report concluded that ‘Any failures were primarily due to:

● the ability to acknowledge risk and learn from exercises has not been
sufficient;
● the ability to implement decisions that have been made, and to use the plans
that have been developed, has been ineffectual;
● the ability to coordinate and interact has been deficient;
● the potential inherent in information and communications technology has
not been exploited well enough;
● leadership’s willingness and ability to clarify responsibility, set goals and
adopt measures to achieve results have been insufficient.’

If crisis communications had been developed and reviewed by the key agencies
involved, the weaknesses in their approach may have been identified. The relevant
agencies should have also recognized the importance of social media to crisis
communication. Developing more scenarios to test could have also highlighted
the potential likelihood or risk of a firearms-related incident.
The Gjørv report underlined what should be remembered: ‘The very essence of
crisis management lies in the preparations: plans, drills, exercises, interaction and
ways of thinking. Crisis management per se is a test of how well prepared one is.’

Key learning points

● Put enough time into testing, reviewing and developing your crisis
communication plans.
● Help to create a culture of preparedness in dealing with any form of crisis.
● Expect the unexpected when developing the plan and think creatively about
the scenarios you identify.
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 27

● Ensure you have factored in dealing with the media, social media,
stakeholders and other key groups (more of this in the following chapters).
● Bring leadership of the organization into the discussions about the crisis
communication plan and involve them in the testing.
● Develop a presence using the key channels of communication and prioritize
them in the crisis communication plan.
● Build proactivity into your crisis communication plan so you can actively
share the narrative and key messages.

CASE STUDY
Extreme weather and Storm Arwen

The end of 2021 and start of 2022 brought a number of extreme weather
situations across Europe. One of the worst storms was in November 2021 when
an extratropical cyclone brought strong winds and snow to parts of the UK, Ireland
and France. Three people were killed and there were widespread power outages
as winds reached up to 100mph.5
Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power, many of them for
more than a week. For some people, it was up to 12 days before their power was
restored.6 In the UK, those most seriously affected were in the North East, Cum-
bria and Scotland. A major incident was declared in some areas but this didn’t
happen until some days after the storm had struck. The response led to military
assistance being brought in.
In the aftermath the UK Government announced a review would take place
looking at both the response and the way power companies communicated with
customers. Ofgem, the industry regulator, announced it was to undertake its own
review of the performance of network operators against the legal standards they
are required to meet.7 Those caught up in the impact of the storm and the after-
math shared their anger about the response. People talked of their despair and
being in a nightmare where they were unable to wash, cook or keep warm. There
were criticisms that the response from authorities was slow and it was not sup-
ported by a national effort linked to the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR).8
Northumberland County Council declared a major incident a week after the
storm, which was criticized as too late.9,10 Northern Powergrid was criticized by
customers for frequently changing its repair dates.11 Regular communication took
place on websites and social media but the challenge was that people did not
have the power to access those channels.
28 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Further environmental challenges occurred during the summer of 2022 when

extreme temperatures affected Europe and other parts of the world. The weather
highlighted operational challenges to how communities could manage situations.
There were wildfires, and droughts were declared in many places.12 It was clear
during these unusual situations that there was a need for more preparation and
explanation of what could be done to manage the situation. People were left
hunting for information about what was best to do when temperatures soared. All
of this information could have been shared as part of an ongoing discussion about
how to be resilient and create resilient communities.

Key learning points

● Consider business continuity to ensure that there are methods of

communication that can be used when extreme weather impacts on power.
These business continuity plans should be in place for a range of risks.
● As well as honesty being important in crisis communication, so is managing
expectations. People caught up in a crisis need to know what is happening,
how things may develop, what to expect and what they can do to manage the
situation.
● Clear messaging from all agencies involved in an emergency response is vital
if it is to have the required impact and to assist people in understanding what
they can do to support the response.
● Social media requires a detailed response and can be resource intensive.
Crisis communication strategies must have dedicated sections outlining how
social media will be managed during an incident. Cutting and pasting the
same response to every query does not help to build confidence in the
response. People need to feel their issues are being taken seriously.
● Start conversations about resilience when there is no emergency or crisis in
place. People can become more comfortable with facing challenging
situations if they know what they can do to be more prepared. This should be
part of the consideration of crisis communication so there is a plan to explain
how the business or organization will respond when something happens.
● Continually test your crisis communication plan. It doesn’t matter how many
times you have put the plan to the test, there is always more that can be
done. With the development of communication and internal organizational
developments the approach that is outlined may need to change.
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 29

Conclusion
Preparing to deal with a crisis and to ensure effective communication
throughout is critical for every business and organization. It can help
secure or mean the end of a brand that may be caught up in a serious
incident or experiencing a significant issue. The starting point has to
be ensuring that thinking has taken place to inform the creation of a
crisis communication strategy and associated plans. It requires time
and effort to be taken away from the daily business to consider what
is required and how it will work alongside the organization’s crisis
response. Testing the response and the people involved in delivering
it is a fundamental step in being crisis ready.
Alongside the strategy, develop a testing and exercising timetable
that will put pressure on what you have developed to check whether
it will meet the requirements of a crisis. Again, this will require time
and resources but can mean the difference between having a plan that
exists on paper and having one that has been stress tested to be ready
for real-life implementation. Failing to take this approach in prepara-
tion will mean the plan is tested first in a real-life situation, which is
not beneficial to the response or to the business.
Ensure that this preparatory work starts from the point of identi-
fying and recognizing that a crisis is occurring through dealing with
the incident and then working forward to implement the recovery
phase. A crisis has the potential to exist and be in place for some time
and to require careful communication and PR handling right through
its lifetime and into the recovery phase. Work from the initial stages
and document the communication requirements throughout the
stages of the crisis. This work can then easily become the starting
point to manage all types of crises.
Finally, sweating the small stuff really does matter. The crisis
communication strategy has to provide the big elements such as the
processes and procedures that will be in place, who will be the spokes-
person, and how the narrative will be created and agreed. But it must
also have associated plans and documents that can consider all the
small aspects that have the potential to slow down or derail the
communication response. Work from mapping the process through
30 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

to making sure roles and responsibilities are clear. Ensure you have
the appropriate IT devices and an emergency communication bag
ready to be deployed. Make sure people know where the tools to
manage the crisis are; if you have put time in to think things through
then these small developments that are ready and available can save
valuable time.

Notes
1 [Link] (archived at [Link]/AH92-VM6J)
2 A B Gjørv. Rapport fra 22. juli-kommisjonen, Departementenes Servicesenter,
Oslo, 2012
3 E Frey. ‘Do you tweet when your friends are getting shot?’ Victims’ experience
with, and perspectives on, the use of social media during a terror attack,
Social Media + Society, 2018, 4 (1). [Link]
full/10.1177/2056305117750715 (archived at [Link]/5FSN-GKEZ)
4 A B Gjørv. Rapport fra 22. juli-kommisjonen, Departementenes Servicesenter,
Oslo, 2012
5 ITV News. Storm Arwen: Three people die as gusts of wind of almost 100mph
recorded in areas of UK (online video), 27 November 2021. [Link]/
watch?v=5jNUBKtKgnE (archived at [Link]/FT27-BSXF)
6 BBC News Tyne and Wear. Storm Arwen: Homes without power for 12 days is
‘best estimate’, 1 December 2021. [Link]/news/uk-england-
tyne-59516192 (archived at [Link]/KJ9F-PNGA)
7 Ofgem. Storm Arwen Report, 9 June 2022. [Link]/publications/
storm-arwen-report (archived at [Link]/5UXZ-HA7A)
8 J Clinton. Storm Arwen: Thousands ‘in despair’ without power across North
of England as residents criticize Government, i News, 5 December 2021.
[Link]/news/storm-arwen-thousands-without-power-snow-rain-
forecast-1336162 (archived at [Link]/5QJ8-YRXS)
9 Northumberland County Council. Storm Arwen – Major incident declared,
3 December 2021. [Link]/News/2021/Dec/Storm-
[Link] (archived at [Link]/5LCX-9JQS)
10 BBC News Tyne and Wear. Storm Arwen: Homes without power for 12 days is
‘best estimate’, 1 December 2021. [Link]/news/uk-england-
tyne-59516192 (archived at [Link]/KJ9F-PNGA)
 ARE YOU READY FOR A CRISIS? 31

11 BBC News Tyne and Wear. Storm Arwen: Northern Powergrid sorry for power
cut communication, 4 December 2021. [Link]/news/uk-england-
tyne-59531590 (archived at [Link]/8Z5T-ATLR)
12 A Hancock. Almost half of Europe under drought warning conditions,
Financial Times, 23 August 2022. [Link]/content/2c10693b-49f2-40db-
a0c0-b46e3f706dbf (archived at [Link]/SF6G-NC2M)
THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
 2

Recognizing a crisis:
What it is and how to spot it

Crises arrive when you least expect them. They come in all shapes
and sizes, from huge global events through to business-focused repu-
tational issues. How they are categorized and viewed by an organiza-
tion or business depends on the level of risk that it is prepared to
carry. The scale of the crisis doesn’t matter – if it is a crisis for the
organization then it must be categorized as such. What is important
is recognizing that you have a crisis on your hands before someone
else tells you. This is the first fundamental step that has to be taken
– admit that there is a problem. Being able to spot a crisis emerging
is a skill but one that can be developed with some training and a bit
of hard work. The key is understanding the anatomy of a crisis –
what it is, how it looks and feels – and being able to dissect the parts
that come together to create the crisis.
Risk managers, business continuity experts and lawyers may all
stake a claim on being able to both recognize a crisis and provide the
best advice for the business. But at best they provide only part of the
answer and by the time a crisis has come to the attention of the legal
team or the risk managers it is likely to have grown substantially and
to be significantly advanced. This is where the role of the communi-
cator comes in, with knowledge, experience and hopefully training
that will enable them to take the lead. This chapter looks at how to
recognize a crisis but will also cover the reasons why professional
communicators are the ideal people to take a lead in identifying a
crisis, making others aware and then galvanizing the business into
34 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

action. A time of crisis is the time when a communicator who is

prepared can step forward and demonstrate their worth to the organ-
ization. As mentioned in the previous chapter it is when the reputa-
tion of the communicator can be made or lost so being able to step
up is essential.

What makes a crisis?

There are five elements that need to be in place to make the critical
incident or issue into a full-blown crisis. First, this is a time of intense
difficulty or, at the worst extreme, danger. Consider the natural disas-
ters such as floods or the 2004 tsunami as well as the terrorist attacks
that have taken place around the world. These are all incidents that
clearly demonstrate extreme danger. But in other cases, such as the
crisis Pepsi had with their advert in 2017, it can be classed as a time
of intense difficulty for the brand. In short, a crisis must be serious
and have an impact in some way whether that is on the business, on
people, on the staff or on the environment.
Second, a crisis requires action to be taken. It is a point where
difficult and important decisions must be made and puts the organ-
ization at a crossroads, a crisis point, where there may be a range of
options available about how to respond. Those options will probably
be forthcoming from departments including operations and human
resources but almost definitely the legal team. The battle between
legal and communications will be discussed in the next chapter.
Myriad views about what should be done will be laid before the CEO
but the role of the communicator can be key to a successfully managed
crisis. Communicators have the ability to see across the organization
and how it is positioned in the external environment.
Third, for the situation to be considered a crisis it must be a nega-
tive position, potential negative position or a negative change in the
prevailing position of the company. There is no situation where a
crisis will emerge that is seen in the early stages as a positive position
for the business or organization. A positive approach can occur later
if the crisis handling is effective and the opportunities that emerge
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 35

during the crisis and in the recovery phase are taken forward.
However, when the crisis emerges it will be seen negatively for the
business.
Fourth, most crises develop abruptly and while a crisis may have
been highlighted as part of the risk management process and plan-
ning, and considered within the scenarios, it is unlikely to have been
recognized or identified before breaking. There will be little or no
sign that the crisis is going to emerge. For example, during early 2020
there was an illness that was being identified but it became a crisis
when the illness led to deaths and then restrictive measures had to be
put in place. Alongside this it is possible that there were signs that
could have alerted people to the developing storm but that they were
just not recognized. Remember the tsunami; warnings were given but
the scale of the incident was beyond what had been identified. In
many reputational crises, which will be considered shortly, there may
have been a complaint on social media, a letter to the business or a
message given to frontline staff that was ignored, and the crisis then
developed by virtue of the inaction. This is where the communicator
has extra insight that can benefit the business because communica-
tion teams have a unique position. They can see across the business
and beyond. They see what is happening in the environment around
the organization.
Fifth and finally, the situation or issue must have an impact on
people in some way. It can be argued that every action has an impact
on someone somewhere at some point. However, a crisis will have a
significant impact on people, their lives, communities, neighbour-
hoods and possibly even countries. It is this element of the human
impact that can be forgotten in a world of share prices, business deci-
sions and managing resources and yet, as Chapter 4 will show, it is
the most important element within the response. If affected people
are forgotten, then the crisis will grow and the opportunities to
manage and repair the damage will be significantly hampered.
The five elements outlined will all be in place if your issue can be
classified as a crisis. If these aspects are not in place, then you may
have a serious or critical incident that you are attempting to manage.
But it is important to remember that there are many significant and
36 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

critical incidents that can be managed using the same crisis commu-
nication plan and approach that you develop. It may not require a
full deployment of the crisis communication plan but the systems and
processes that are in place will be beneficial in handling a serious
incident.

TOP TIP

Every situation will be different and will have its own unique elements. Sce-
nario planning, as outlined in Chapter 1, is important but it can never pro-
vide you with a script of how to deal with a crisis. To be successful in
managing a crisis the communicator needs to have an open and enquiring
mind. They need to be able to think on their feet, analyse data and situa-
tions quickly, ask the right questions to support their assessment and be
prepared to think differently. A key part of this is to know the structure and
processes that exist but to allow yourself some freedom of thought in test-
ing and exercising the crisis communication plan.

Anatomy of a crisis
Crises can be categorized into two main groups – operational and
reputational. The approach to managing them will be similar but it is
essential in understanding the anatomy of a crisis to be able to distin-
guish between the two and to understand the characteristics of each
group. Being able to analyse the crisis, understand the events that led
up to it and see what differentiates it from other situations is critical
to the formulation of the communication response and to developing
a plan that will safely steer the business into the recovery phase.

Operational crises
An operational crisis is something that has happened in the environ-
ment around us because of either world events or a third party. It is a
tangible event or situation that the business has been caught up in.
This type of crisis, such as a fire, flood, health epidemic, other natural
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 37

disaster, terrorist attack or riot, is often seen being dealt with by

primary responders. It may involve a fundamental failure in the busi-
ness processes such as a breakdown in the production line, contami-
nation of products or failure in service delivery. In many situations
the organization responsible will be at the heart of developing the
response. It will be the organization’s issue and leading on developing
the narrative will be a matter for the business. But every brand,
company or organization faces the possibility of being caught up in
someone else’s incident through association. With natural or
manmade disasters, the location of them, the nature of them or the
people involved in them may mean that the business is brought into
the crisis. In the London Bridge terrorist attack in summer 2017 the
company that had hired the vehicle used by the attackers was suddenly
brought into the crisis. Questions were asked about what they did,
what they knew and the level of their involvement. If not handled
sensitively, carefully and with the principles of crisis communication
at heart it could have produced a reputational crisis for the company
involved.

Reputational crises
The second group is the reputational crises. The reputational crisis
still has the same five elements that make it a crisis and the impact of
it still could be the same, including loss of share price, impact on
consumers, employees and communities. It still needs action to be
taken to mitigate, manage and respond to the situation. But a reputa-
tional crisis does not need anything physically to have happened and
it can be rooted in the feelings towards the organization, business or
even an individual CEO. This type of crisis often breaks in the digital
world with comments, events or issues emerging on social media.
There is also the possibility that the crisis has been born from a media
approach or position on the company or the way it is operating. A
reputational crisis can involve the actions and behaviour of people
within the organization. The employees may spark the events because
of the way they work, the way they have acted or the way they have
responded to circumstances. In the aftermath of the global financial
38 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

crisis the record store HMV was in the position of making staff
redundant when a disgruntled member of staff who had access to the
company Twitter account began posting about what was happening,
swiftly pushing the business into a situation where a crisis communi-
cation response was required. This highlights the importance of
words and actions, bringing the two together and ensuring that the
response puts people first.
The reputational crisis is rooted in perceptions. There is still the
same potential impact as seen with an operational crisis, including
loss of share price, loss of reputation, impact on consumers, employ-
ees and wider communities. But for a reputational crisis to emerge
there does not need to have been anything that has physically
happened. We live not only in the real world but in a virtual world
and brands and businesses must be able to deal with crises that
happen in both. With the growth of social media and the digital plat-
forms that exist there is every opportunity for people to publish and
broadcast their own views about any situation, incident, issue and –
most importantly for communicators – organizations. People can
post if they are unhappy about services or products. They can high-
light if they believe there has been inappropriate behaviour or corrup-
tion from the business. They can challenge where they feel something
should not have happened or where something should have happened
that didn’t.
They can give their personal story, which has the potential to
elevate even the most mundane issue into a national or international
media storm. If the impact on the individual is seen as particularly
severe or creating unnecessary difficulties, then public sympathy will
feed the social media and media response, quickly spiralling the situ-
ation into a full-blown reputational crisis. The actions of the organ-
ization, whether it is swift to respond or slow and uncaring, can
define whether the situation develops from a small problem into a
crisis. It is important to recognize that this type of crisis builds and is
fed by perceptions – first from those involved and then from the
wider public, community and society. It starts from the actions and
behaviour of the people within the business, and for those working
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 39

inhouse as a communicator within the business it can be challenging

to identify this kind of crisis emerging. Critical to this response is
being prepared for an attack on the reputation of the business through
planning and testing, which we covered in Chapter 1. Having insight
into the business, what people think of it, how its reputation stacks
up in the marketplace and what the frontline service looks like is
essential to being able to identify this crisis emerging. If a communi-
cator is in the dark about what the perception of the business is and
what could be classified as normal, then they will not be able to assist
in providing the business with an early warning of a reputational
crisis. We will discuss this further later in this chapter when we
consider what the role of the communicator should be.
Of course, this freedom and access for people to publish individual
views does present the opportunity for fake news to rear its head.
Fake news is misinformation that often is deliberately created to
negatively impact on a scenario, events or potentially businesses. It
can range from sensationalizing a set of circumstances through to
fabrication of events. Primarily, fake news exists in the digital and
social media world, but it can leach out into the more traditional
mainstream news media. Communicators must be alert to the possi-
bility that the issue and the views that are being shared are being
developed for another purpose, which is to discredit or negatively
impact on the business. This may sound Machiavellian and highly
unlikely to be experienced by most communicators, but this is a very
real threat to brands and organizations. It is why an open mind
and attention to the detail of what is happening or being said is criti-
cal to the crisis communicator. The development of fake news
within a crisis situation creates an additional issue or crisis that needs
to be managed. It means the communicator is effectively having to
manage two situations. First, leading the response to the crisis itself
and the communication that is required, and second managing the
potential reputational damage that could be caused by fake news
starting to circulate. Dealing effectively with fake news is not easy,
and is something we will cover in Chapter 3 when we consider the
operational response.
40 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

CASE STUDY
United Airlines

On 9 April 2017 a United Airlines flight sparked a social media storm that
developed quickly into a reputational crisis. Flight 3411 out of Chicago had been
overbooked and airline employees had offered vouchers to passengers in an attempt
to get them to leave the flight. None of the passengers accepted the vouchers and
so four passengers were selected to be removed from the flight involuntarily. One
passenger refused to give up his seat when requested and security staff were
called to forcibly remove him from the plane. Video of the incident was recorded
by passengers on the flight, which was then posted on social media and quickly
went viral. Criticism of the incident and the behaviour of the airline was swift and
came from the highest levels of government.
The next day the CEO issued a statement, which read:

This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to

reaccommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency
to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what
happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him
and further address and resolve this situation (Oscar Munoz, CEO, United
Airlines).1

The language lacked humanity and appeared to justify the forcible removal, when
video that was circulating showed the passenger hit his head on an armrest as he
was dragged from the flight. Behind the scenes the CEO sent an email to United
Airlines staff that appeared to support the behaviour of the staff and criticize the
passenger for failing to quietly comply with the request. This internal message
was circulated outside the organization and was covered by the media and on
social media. It was not until two days later that the apology was finally given and
a more contrite statement provided that said a review would be undertaken. On
11 April the airline’s parent company saw almost $1 billion lost from its market
value and while the apology did lead to some recovery the value was still down by
$250 million.2

Analysing the response

The incident broke on social media and the communication team should have
spotted it swiftly and been able to provide insight about the impact it was having
on reputation and confidence in United Airlines. An effectively trained and
prepared communicator would have advised the CEO to take a different approach
from the start. Regardless of processes and procedures the video appeared brutal
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 41

and the action would never be justifiable in the minds of passengers and the
general public. The communicator could have tackled the wording and ensured it
was more human and sensitive to the public mood. They could have also ensured
an apology was provided, a sympathetic narrative created and pushed the CEO to
meet with the aggrieved passenger to demonstrate action being taken.
The definitive response from the business on the events was slow to emerge. It
was two days after the incident when the CEO finally said sorry and that a review
would be carried out. This had led to difficult media interviews that had to be
undertaken in an attempt to claw back some confidence from the public. Once
this response was provided it did limit some of the damage to reputation as
the business had recognized there was an issue, that it was unacceptable and that
the business would review and learn from this situation.

Key learning points

● Monitor social media and be able to alert the executive team to criticism or
concern.
● Reputational crises can have a significant impact on the business, including
its share price and market value.
● Ensure a speedy response to avoid the situation running ahead on social media.
● Develop statements sensitive to the public view of what has happened.
● Gather the facts as quickly as possible and ensure honesty in the response.
● Work alongside the CEO or company spokesperson from the first alert to a
crisis ensuring coordination of all communication – internal, external and
stakeholders.
● Communication can be the glue to the response by supporting the senior
team and providing advice alongside legal and HR to develop a response
acceptable to the public.

The importance of preparedness

It is vital that any organization or business has a system in place to
identify risks in all aspects of its work. The risks can come from
processes, staffing, stakeholders or other operational activity but
ensuring there is a way to capture them and consider appropriate
mitigation is essential. It should be part of the business planning
42 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

process and be considered from the highest levels of the organization.

No CEO should be ignorant of the risks that the business they lead
may face. The role of the CEO in leading the response to the crisis
was discussed in the previous chapter, which recommended their
involvement in the development of crisis communication plans.
However, they may delegate the responsibility to a company spokes-
person. The risk management process sits alongside the crisis response
plans and has a place in every section of the business. Communicators
have a key role to play in developing the risk management approach
but they may not lead on it if in a larger organization where there is
likely to be a team to undertake this work.
Risk management is a detailed business that requires analysis and
evaluation.
There are five stages to considering risks:

1 Understand the business context

2 Identify the risks
3 Assess the risk
4 Evaluate the risk and the possible impact it could have on the
business
5 Establish the mitigation to prevent or minimize the risk

Communicators need to have understood the risks of the business to

assist in the development of the crisis communication plan. The risks
are likely to be where situations emerge that can grow into a crisis.
But as well as understanding these business risks, communicators
also need to be able to highlight reputational risks. As we have seen,
the likelihood of a reputational crisis occurring is high.
The process may involve the development of a risk management
matrix or communication-focused risk management plan. Any system
that is introduced needs to fit seamlessly into the organization’s
approach to risk and this approach needs to support the role of the
communicator in this work. The starting point must be a full under-
standing of the risks that may occur or impact on the business. List
all of these and have a clear assessment of what they each mean to the
organization. Compiling this from all the sections, departments or
units within the business will provide the most comprehensive list of
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 43

risks. It may help to take a systematic approach that follows each of

the stages of production or service delivery within the business to
break down the threats and risks for each section. Alternatively, you
could just ask each department and unit within the business to
provide a list of the risks they face. Once you have the comprehensive
list of risks the next stage is to consider the potential impact, both
operational and reputational, and the likelihood of the risk emerging.
This can be done on a scored or a low, medium and high basis. But it
will mean a final rating that gives the hotspots of risk within the busi-
ness. Undertaking the analysis to achieve the final rating can be done
using a variety of scoring methods so review which may be most
appropriate.
The key stage in the whole process is working out the mitigation
that can be undertaken to prevent the risk appearing, developing and
building into a crisis. Take all the highest risks identified in the scor-
ing and look at what can be done to stop them happening. For exam-
ple, if one of the risks is about the failure of a manufacturing process
then the mitigation would be to have a maintenance programme in
place to keep the machinery serviced. This is not within the remit of
the communicator but does highlight the thought process that needs
to be in place. For the reputational risks the communicator should
take a lead in deciding the mitigation that needs to be in place.
Consider the likely risk of a disgruntled employee making a negative
comment about the business on social media; the mitigation may be
to boost the internal communication activity and employee engage-
ment. It may also include a comprehensive social media monitoring
system being put in place to act as an early warning to such posts.
Outlining the risks and mitigation is a detailed process and while it is
labour intensive it requires much less time to monitor and maintain
once it is in place. A quarterly review of the risks to understand what
may have been reduced or increased in potentiality alongside a
consideration of the mitigation and how it has developed will assist
in the long-term development or preparedness for both individuals
and the organization. It keeps the corporate mindset focused on
preparing for a crisis, which is part of the battle towards developing
an effective crisis communication response.
FIGURE 2.1 Example of communication-focused risk management plan

Risk Implications Impact Mitigation Rating

Website Possible attack or IT breakdown that Lack communication Comprehensive security plan to undertake
failure takes the website down channel and possible sales penetration testing, and have a back-up ready to
use. Final option is to focus on messaging
through social media channels

Mixed Frontline staff providing inaccurate or Impact on sales or customer Staff communication plan in place with checklist
messaging inappropriate information to confidence in crisis communication plan to ensure first to
customers/service users receive accurate information and updates

Stakeholder Key individual or agency complaint Damage confidence of other Robust public affairs strategy in place with
complaint about the operation of the business stakeholders and/or support of CEO and management team
customers

Response is Slow messaging that will leave people Impact on confidence in the Develop process for managing alert to
slow to making their own assessment of the business and on the trust in communication and for sharing of updates.
issue situation communication Ensure CEO and senior management team
understand the process and are supportive.
 Total IT failure

Factory breakdown

Customer complaint

Online troll

Cyberattack

The likelihood is rated as unlikely as green , possible as amber and likely as red . The impact is rated as low impact green, moderate impact
amber, severe or critical impact red. The final assessment will take into account any mitigation that is in place with the impact always as the dominant
assessment as in the example above.

For a full-colour version of this figure, visit [Link]/CCS and download it from the Supporting resources tab.
46 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Getting prepared is a fundamental step to achieving the best possi-

ble response to a crisis whenever it emerges. This was outlined in
Chapter 1 with the details of the importance of testing and scenario
planning in creating the crisis communication plan. It is not enough
for communicators to be prepared for a critical incident – the whole
business must be prepared for the unexpected. There are many ways
of getting people ready to respond to a crisis. Within the communica-
tion team, who will be involved, it is essential that everyone is aware
of the risks within the risk matrix and, more importantly, the mitiga-
tion that has been identified. Share the information and allow people
to discuss and consider what the risks and mitigation mean. It will
assist them with the regular communication activity and mainstream-
ing the work required to minimize the risk. We can see in the example
of the requirement to increase employee engagement that the commu-
nication team have a key part to play. Regular team and individual
meetings should highlight the risks, responses and crisis plan. It may
be worth considering having a pre-risk plan that exists to cover the
situations and issues that the communication team have recognized
could grow to become a reputational risk. It would be a potential
critical incident list or possible crises list. The more people involved
in thinking about the issues and considering the response that will be
required, the easier it will be when a problem or crisis emerges
because they are already conversant with the language of the crisis.
A team that is trained and prepared can provide both strategic and
tactical guidance when faced with a crisis. No team can operate at
the peak of its ability and capability as required during a crisis if it
has not prepared, developed and honed its approach. It may appear
to be time that is not boosting productivity in any way but this is
not the case. This work can build an effective team, can increase
resilience and will assist in developing the team to be able to start
thinking strategically and not just focusing on the tactics of commu-
nication. The investment, while ultimately preparing and ensuring
readiness for a crisis, can support development of the communication
team and build the required culture of learning.
The organization’s approach should be to have a regular risk
management meeting where key heads of sections of the business
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 47

such as legal, operational, customer service, HR, finance and commu-

nication come together to consider the matrix and the mitigation.
This is also a valuable opportunity to consider the crisis communica-
tion plan and highlight the roles that individuals need to play in the
response. It may be that the communicator needs to drive this devel-
opment work being put in place and to provide details of the poten-
tial benefits to the bottom line of the business if a crisis is effectively
managed. Sharing examples of where organizations have grown or
shrunk because of the way risks and a crisis were managed will
support the argument for moving risk management and crisis pre-
paredness up the corporate agenda. If preparedness is not in place,
then the communicator should use influencing skills to put it on the
agenda. It is important to remember the value of the testing and exer-
cising of planning for a crisis, and together with the risk management
work it becomes a complete package to support the business.

The role of the communicator

Communication teams have a unique position in any organization.
They are one of the only parts of the business that can see everything
that goes on, mainly because it is their role to find the positive stories
to share and the problems that may need to be managed. Other than
the CEO and top team, no other department has this panoramic
understanding. Communication leads should operate as special
advisers to the CEO daily and if this is in place it makes advising
during a crisis a much easier role to step into. There are five key roles
that a communicator can take in the preparation phase when devel-
oping a crisis communication approach:
1 Communicators can support the development of organizational
strategy.
2 Communicators can be a critical friend to the CEO faced with
leading the crisis response.
3 Communicators can provide an early warning system to potential
crises.
48 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

4 Communicators can guide the business in establishing processes.

5 Communicators can be the glue that holds together the crisis
response.

If we look at each of these in turn, we can see the skills, experience

and knowledge that are required to allow the communicator to oper-
ate in these roles.

Communicators can support the development of organizational strategy

Earlier in this chapter the importance of a risk management process
was outlined. It is this system that can be the foundation for the
whole approach that is taken to deal with possible negative issues
and events that could impact on the business. As we have seen, the
communicator has a key role within this work and if required should
step in to support the integration of a process within the business. This
effort, while not strictly a communication responsibility, will benefit
the communication team in the long run and support corporate
development activity. It is an investment for the future when having
considered the risks, developed the mitigation and created the appro-
priate plans. The whole organization can then use the work to move
quickly into crisis response mode. It is with this work that the commu-
nicator steps into being able to support the development of organiza-
tional strategy and is seen as a critical strategic function to the
business. It is essential to remember that a key part of the organiza-
tional strategy development and the successful long-term operation
of the business is creating a risk management process and a crisis plan.

Communicators can be a critical friend to the CEO faced with leading the
crisis response
We have already seen in the previous chapter that the role of the CEO
is critical in the response phase of managing the crisis. Being the face
of the response to the crisis and being the CEO at a time of a critical
issue or incident can be a very lonely place. They need to have tactical
advisers around them who can provide them with enough informa-
tion about the options for the response that will allow them to make
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 49

the appropriate operational and reputational decisions. The commu-

nication lead has a role to play in sitting alongside the CEO to provide
them with instant advice on the approach to take and how decisions
may impact on people and their views of the crisis. The communica-
tion lead can also help them personally to ensure they can offer
support to staff and be visible in the communication activity. Decisions
made about the operational response could impact on the reputation
of the business and the communicator can be the critical friend giving
the view of the action before it is taken. For example, if the business
decides not to recall a product that may be of poor quality then the
communicator can highlight the impact on reputation this decision
can have and the possible loss of confidence. No decision that is made
about the response to the crisis will be without an impact in some
way on the confidence people have in the organization and ultimately
on the communication. The communicator can highlight the actions
that are more likely to protect or boost reputation or minimize the
damage to the business. It is also important to consider the conse-
quences of actions and activities that are going to be implemented. To
be able to assume this position as a critical friend or tactical adviser
during a crisis, the communication lead must have developed a posi-
tive working relationship with the CEO and senior management
team in the quieter times.

Communicators can provide an early warning system to potential crises

Communication teams and individuals providing support to busi-
nesses should have systems in place for regularly monitoring and
reviewing media and social media reporting about the organization.
They should know the views of the customers or service users and
carry out regular reputation monitoring. If this work is underway
then the communicator should be able to chart any changes that may
require mitigation action, or identify criticism or negative commen-
tary that has the potential to escalate. As mentioned, a risk manage-
ment process within the business provides an avenue to raise these
concerns. However, it is important to remember that issues can
happen at any point, and speed of response, as we will go on to see,
50 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

is essential to a positive result. Always take the opportunity to high-

light an issue of concern and don’t assume that someone will already
have made the senior team aware.

Communicators can guide the business in establishing processes

Systems and processes form an essential framework to crisis manage-
ment. Investing time to ensure risk management, business continuity
and crisis management are within the business’ DNA is critical. If
these elements are not in place or being discussed within the business
then it is something that a communicator can change. They can high-
light the potential impact of failing to manage a crisis on aspects
including share prices, customer confidence and even recruitment
into the business. After all, working in an organization that has been
heavily criticized because of poor crisis management will not be
attractive to potential employees. Being able to use data, insight and
experiences taken from organizations that have been through crises
provides a convincing narrative to share with the executive team.
Once you have gained support, then as a communicator you can help
shape the framework to ensure it gives maximum support to the
essential aspects of communication and reputation management
during a crisis.

Communicators can be the glue that holds together the crisis response
One thing that communicators are very good at is working quickly,
gathering data, analysing situations and developing responses. It is
these skills that can come to the fore when an issue or incident
emerges. Communication takes a leading position when a crisis
happens. Managing reputation is essential to a successful outcome
for the business. This means that the communicator who is equipped
and prepared can step forward and be the lynchpin holding every-
thing together. In being able to provide the most appropriate commu-
nication response you must understand the issue or incident and
what it means for all involved or affected. You must understand the
organizational response. You must be able to understand the possible
stages of the crisis and how it may develop. This means a strong
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 51

position can be taken at the centre of the crisis response. The situa-
tion presents an opportunity for the communicator to be the glue
that holds the crisis response together by helping to guide the opera-
tional activity and identifying any weaknesses. This may sound fanci-
ful but it is achievable if the planning and preparatory work has been
undertaken and the organization is effectively in a state of readiness.
The role of the communicator can move way beyond that of merely
being the writer of a statement, supporting media interviewees and
responding to social media commentary. In being able to see the
bigger picture across the business they are moving to a strategic posi-
tion, making the communication function as a part of the boardroom
discussion. Communicators need to be trained and ready to take up
this opportunity and position when a crisis emerges. It is stepping
outside of the comfort zone of the usual remit of communication but
will demonstrate the value of the communication team’s work for
many years to come.
Previously we have discussed the training required for members of
the communication team and those who will be involved in the
response. Further professional development is required to ensure
readiness to step up and offer both a strategic and a tactical response
to the crisis. All communicators are advised to have continuous
professional development plans to support them throughout their
working life. This should cover both practical and behavioural skills.
The individual and their line manager where applicable should iden-
tify areas of weakness that require improvement and areas of positive
development to continue to grow. Within this discussion about per-
sonal development, crisis communication skills must be considered.
The skills required to take a strategic position in response to a
crisis range from negotiating and influencing skills, understanding
behavioural change communication insights, systems thinking, data
analysis and leadership development through to resilience and under-
standing risk management. All these skills will support the general
communication activity that takes place every day but will be hugely
beneficial during a time of crisis. The CEO must have confidence that
the communication team and the lead communicator within the busi-
ness are ready to support the organization, the CEO and the company
52 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

spokesperson in the event of a crisis. And more than that they have
to be confident that the communication team will be operating at
their most effective throughout the crisis, including into the recovery
phase.

CASE STUDY
Cyberattack on Canadian authorities

In August 2020 a number of Canadian Government departments were subjected

to a cyberattack. On 15 August there were reports of a breach of the Canada
Revenue Agency (CRA) and the Government of Canada Key service (GCKey), the
departments responsible for benefit payments.3 The attempts to log in to accounts
happened just over a week earlier on 7 August but it was only on 15 August that
a decision was made to suspend accounts. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
were informed of the attack on 11 August.4
It was estimated more than 11,000 accounts were hacked in an attack be-
lieved to be caused by using stolen usernames and passwords. The practice is
called ‘credential stuffing’, which is when details stolen in previous attacks are used.5
Media reports criticized the CRA, as people said they were unable to contact it
and had been waiting for details of what they should do. One person claimed in a
report to have had account details changed without their knowledge as early as
May although this could not be definitively linked to the same attack. The system
was finally back up and running on 19 August according to the CRA Twitter ac-
count, @CanRevAgency.6
A statement released by the Chief Information Officer of Government Canada
had little recognition of the disruption and impact that the attack had on people.7
Instead it focused on the technical aspects of the breaches and the issue of pass-
words being reused, which may have appeared to be ‘victim blaming’.

Key learning points

● Ensure out-of-hours cover – this situation broke at a weekend and instead of

providing information immediately, the first announcements were at a press
conference organized on the Monday. Crisis communication needs a quick
response no matter whether it is at the weekend or overnight.
● Monitor social media for signs of issues and concerns that may link to a crisis
situation – people who tried to make contact with the agencies over the
weekend had to wait until the working week to be given important information.
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 53

● Explain quickly what people need to do and provide some reassurance – in

this situation involving finances and personal data there would always be a
high level of concern about what had happened.
● Know your risks and be prepared for them – cyberattacks are a continuous
threat for all businesses, organizations and individuals. Being able to respond
quickly is important and work could have been put in place to have a cyber
crisis communication plan ready to implement.
● Avoid blaming those caught up in the crisis – it will always be received
negatively if communication appears to criticize those who have been
impacted by the crisis. Focus on using positive language that focuses on what
is being done to support people.
● Don’t be too technical or use jargon or acronyms in crisis communication –
the information needs to be as clear as possible and should be focused on
helping the people affected. It is important to focus on what matters, and that
is the people, what they need to do and how they are being supported.

Conclusion
Effective communication first requires the communicator to under-
stand what makes a crisis and to feel confident that they can identify
one as it starts to emerge. Being able to do this will provide valuable
time in which to start to act either to avert or be ready to respond to
the crisis. Developing this skill can take time but there are training
courses available. One of the best ways to develop your own crisis
identification abilities is to watch and learn from other organizations.
Look at what they do the moment a crisis emerges and ask them after
it has concluded. This will be easy to achieve as communication is
instant and will immediately mean discussion on social media and
extensive media coverage. It doesn’t matter whether it is an interna-
tional issue or one affecting a region of a country, the discussion will
take place on relevant forums.
Preparation is key to the effective delivery of a crisis communica-
tion strategy. No one can start to learn about crisis communication
or develop the plan when they are faced with an emerging situation.
54 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Investing time now will bring rewards when reputational issues occur
or when a crisis hits.
At the heart of the preparation work is making sure, as a commu-
nicator, you understand the risk management approach and systems
of the business you are working with. It may feel a long way away
from the work of the communicator but it has a direct impact on the
crisis response. Take an interest in the risk register that documents
the potential risks the business may face and the mitigation that is in
place. Use this data to inform the crisis communication planning and
testing as it provides valuable information. Develop your own
communication-focused risk register of possible critical issues, inci-
dents or events that can impact on the reputation of the business.
If you have an understanding of what makes a crisis, and of what
the risk management approach is, then you are more likely to be able
to deal with issues that emerge to ensure that they don’t develop to
become crises. Be clear how you can escalate concerns and where
they need to be raised in the business to put activities in place to mini-
mize the chance of a full-blown crisis situation. The communicator
has an important role to play in any organization and needs to step
up and demonstrate leadership in managing a crisis.

Notes
1 Associated Press. Read United CEO’s 3 statements on passenger dragged off
flight, [Link], 11 April 2017. [Link]/travel/business/2017/04/11/
read-united-ceos-3-statements-on-passenger-dragged-off-flight (archived at
[Link]/ZHY8-J764)
2 I Kottasova. United loses $250 million of its market value, CNN Business,
11 April 2017. [Link]
stock-passenger-flight-video/ (archived at [Link]/KZC8-HGY5)
3 R P Jones. Cyberattacks targeting CRA, Canadians’ COVID-19 benefits have
been brought under control: officials, CBC News, 17 August 2020. [Link]/
news/politics/cra-gckey-cyberattack-1.5689106 (archived at [Link]/L69A-
WQLE)
4 P Newton. Cyberattack shuts down Canadian government accounts, including
those delivering COVID assistance, CNN Business, 17 August 2020.
 RECOGNIZING A CRISIS 55

[Link]/2020/08/17/tech/cyberattack-canada-government-
accounts/[Link] (archived at [Link]/L546-V2KB)
5 G La-douceur Despins. Cyber attacks: Several Canadian government services
disrupted, WeLiveSecurity, 24 August 2020. [Link].
com/2020/08/24/cyber-attacks-canada-revenue-agency-government/ (archived at
[Link]/UVM7-8KAH)
6 @canrevagency, August 2020
7 Government of Canada (2020) Statement from the Office of the Chief
Information Officer of the Government Canada on recent credential stuffing
attacks, 15 August 2020. [Link]/en/treasury-board-secretariat/
news/2020/08/statement-from-the-office-of-the-chief-information-officer-of-the-
[Link] (archived at
[Link]/7Q54-XBGH)
THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
 3

The operational response:

The approaches and how they relate
to communications

The action that the organization or business takes to deal with the
events that have taken place is central to every crisis. No amount of
carefully crafted words or proactive communication strategies will
provide an effective response if the business is not seen to take appro-
priate action. This is where the communication professional can be
crucial, providing strategic advice and assessing the way the action
taken will be viewed. The communicator provides valuable insight
into the impact action may have on reputation. Later in this chapter
we will discuss why protecting reputation should not be the sole
purpose of both operational work and communication activity when
dealing with a crisis.
In the previous chapter we discussed how to identify a crisis and
the role that communication teams and individuals can play in being
an early warning system to recognize a possible problem in the early
stages of its development. However, despite all the effort to prepare
and mitigate risks a crisis can still occur and it is the actions in the
first few minutes, first hour and first day that will either put you in a
place where you can move forward and deal positively with events,
or you will be under consistent pressure that negatively impacts on
the business. If you have done the work we have discussed then you
will have been prepared with a crisis communication plan that is
clearly linked to the business objectives. This was covered in detail in
58 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Chapter 1. It is in the moments when a crisis emerges that this plan

will become a vital support to those dealing with the communication
response. It provides some structure and resilience to what will be a
chaotic situation. When you are called on to implement a plan at
short notice, having done all the preparatory work will lessen the
stress.
There are many skills that are required to deliver successful crisis
communication but the most important is being able to remain calm
under pressure. Being prepared can help people with this as they both
have a framework and know the framework for dealing with events.
A calm and assured appearance from the chief communicator dealing
with a crisis will help to reassure the CEO, whoever is the spokes-
person for the issue and the senior managers. It is a sense of calm that
can spread to others dealing with the crisis. But in that sense of calm
there should also be humanity and empathy. This is a point where
leaders should not be hysterical, but neither should they appear to
be completely devoid of emotion. When we are calm and unflustered,
we can have a clear approach to the decision-making process and will
be able to define the right steps with cool logic. This cool and calm
signifies the resilient organization that we outlined in Chapter 2.

The first steps

Early alert
The alert that a crisis has taken place can come from many parts of
the business. It may be that the operational team spot an issue, or
that the human resources staff have identified a problem, or that the
legal team have uncovered something, or as discussed earlier that the
reputation monitoring from the communication team has identified
an issue. The key is that no matter which section recognizes the prob-
lem the CEO and senior leaders will be the ones to declare that this
is a crisis or critical incident for the business. Later in this chapter we
will see how the military and emergency services have a very clear
process for declaring a critical incident, which then sets off a chain of
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 59

events to put in place the actions that are required. This formal and
structured approach provides useful guidance and advice in manag-
ing a crisis for all businesses.
In declaring that there is a crisis taking place the organization
should then have a structured approach that it moves into, which will
ensure that action is taken and that all the departments involved in
the response have been alerted to the situation. This ensures a repre-
sentative from each section of the business will receive an alert that
puts them in a state of readiness. It also triggers the activation of the
crisis or emergency plans. This can easily be done using mobile tech-
nology that allows one message to be received by the key group of
senior leaders. You could use text messages, a WhatsApp group or a
product that has been bought by the company to send the message.
The key is to find something that can reach people quickly and with
the minimum fuss. During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic the ability to
communicate quickly with all employees became essential. Staff
needed to receive updates on where, when and how to undertake
their work and in many cases could not be allowed into their place of
work. Having systems in place that will provide critical updates
directly to employees is a key part of business continuity plans.
Each leader can then refer to their crisis plan and start to imple-
ment it, as well as identifying where adaptation of the outline plan
may be required. The communicator should be among the first to
receive the alert to a crisis. The most vital thing in dealing with a
crisis is ensuring a swift response to what has happened is communi-
cated. The organization must be seen publicly to be aware of the issue
and be working on dealing with it at the earliest possible opportunity.
If you imagine a system outage for a tech provider or the failure of
banking systems, there is often significant criticism in the early stages
because the business does not recognize there is an issue and custom-
ers are left in the dark, unclear what is happening. It may be that the
first the business knows of a problem is when it is being openly
discussed on social media, and in many cases will have built up a
head of steam with comments from irate customers. This can all be
avoided if communicators can work quickly and have built a plan
that allows them to act swiftly on behalf of the business without
60 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

having to deal with many layers of approvals. There had been an

acceptance of a ‘golden hour’ during which it was essential to both
recognize that the crisis had occurred and get the first communica-
tion out to both staff and the public. But due to technological devel-
opments, media and the rise of social media this is now a 20-minute
window. There is just 20 minutes to alert communication teams to a
situation emerging and to say something publicly and to staff. This
situation makes it essential to pre-plan, develop and agree short state-
ments that can be used immediately.

Checklists
In Chapter 1 there was an example of a checklist for the crisis commu-
nication plan that outlined the initial activity that should be under-
taken. All the very first actions will be focused on having a clear
situational update from those dealing with the problem. As a commu-
nicator you must understand what information is available and how
accurate it is, what information is not currently known and what the
potential outcomes to the situation could be. You can then add to this
with your own knowledge of the public view of the issue and the
reputational impact that may already be known in the early stages. In
addition, any historical awareness of the business, risks and previous
issues is helpful at this stage. This detailed knowledge and under-
standing means the communicator can outline what can be said in
the narrative response and that it can be done quickly while still
being honest and reassuring. At its centre it must focus on what is
known at that moment in time and allow the communication and
conversation to develop as more details become known. It can then
be followed by a plan of what information can be released, key times
in the operational response, essential information that is required and
preparing so that future developments can take place. Getting the
maximum amount of information about the developing situation is
needed even when the situation may still be unclear. Gather as much
of the factual detail as you can.
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 61

Getting the facts

Communicators may worry that there is little about the crisis that is
clear, as in the example of the banking system failure. In that case the
bank may not know what has caused the problem or how long it may
take to rectify, which is a challenge to effective communication.
However, there are lots of points that can be made. First, a swift
statement that recognizes there is a problem and talks about action
being taken will help to reassure people that the business is aware
and dealing with things. In the early stages of a crisis this is essential.
But other details about the scale of the team responding, the alterna-
tive arrangements that may be in place for customers and how people
can get updates are all elements that should be able to be shared
when information is scarce. Always ask why you can’t release infor-
mation rather than whether you should, as this helps to create an
open and transparent approach.
The checklist in Chapter 1 mentions having a ‘grab bag’ with all
the vital information the first communicator needs, and this will
assist if the communication team need to respond from a venue other
than their normal working base. Again, in the very first moments of
a crisis happening, the lead communicator needs to be sat alongside
the operational leaders developing the approach and coaching the
CEO or senior leader who may be the spokesperson even if this is
done remotely. Being involved in the initial discussions about the
operational action required will ensure that the communicator can
input into the decision making. Reputational concerns can be raised
and if action is likely to be perceived negatively this information can
be provided to ensure that the CEO is aware of all the relevant advice
to support decision making.

Writing the plan

Once you have made an initial statement, have gathered as much
information as possible about the situation and have started to
develop the crisis communication plan, then consideration should
be given to starting the stakeholder engagement. Making a swift
62 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

connection to those stakeholders most critical to the business will

bring long-term benefits. It ensures they have information before or
at least at the same time as the wider public and if they are approached
for their comment by the media or via social media they will have a
knowledgeable position to speak from. In this early stage, getting the
public messages and situational update to all employees is also vital
to effective crisis communication. We will learn more about this in
Chapter 4, looking at the affected people, and Chapter 7, looking at
wellbeing and resilience as part of the crisis communication response.
Employees should always be given information before it becomes
public so that they are fully aware of the position and what the
message is. This helps to make it easier to develop a shared narrative
about the issue and the events that followed.

Gathering support
On a more practical note, the first few hours after a crisis has been
identified and work is underway to provide a coherent and consistent
response across the business is also an important time to set some
processes underway that will assist in the future management of
communication. First is the importance of recognizing the resources
that are required to provide the effective response to the incident or
event from the communication team. As outlined in Chapter 1, there
may be a range of people you call in to support communication in the
hours, days and weeks that follow the crisis erupting. The wheels
need to be set in motion to ensure that this resourcing is in place to
boost the communication response and that there are sufficient
people to run 24 hours a day if required and to be able to cover all
the roles and responsibilities detailed in the crisis communication
plan.
The first one to five hours can be managed by a core group of
staff, depending on the scale of the crisis, but as time goes on more
actions need to be undertaken, more information needs to be shared,
and this sharing is fundamental to an effective communication
response. Never underestimate the speed with which a crisis can
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 63

develop and the number of people that you need to be able to manage
the communication strategy. Second, don’t forget to have a logging
system in place that notes what you have released publicly, what
decisions have been made and any authorizations that have been
given and by whom.
This should be accessible to the team providing the communica-
tion response so they are clear about what questions can be answered
both in the media and on social media, and that they are aware of
when updates will be available. You can do this through a shared
drive or Google Docs depending on the internal security systems that
are in place to protect documents. In the aftermath of the issue or
incident the action that has been taken will be subject to review of
some kind and being able to provide a clear narrative about the
communication activity, what was done and why will be hugely bene-
ficial. If you attempt to do this retrospectively then you will find it
difficult to accurately recall what was done and at what point.
Logging may seem very basic but without it the consistency of the
narrative can easily be lost as more people are involved in supporting
the communication response.

The initial statement

The first communication that comes from the business about the
crisis is the most critical. As mentioned, if it sets the scene in the right
way it can increase the probability of an effective outcome once the
crisis is concluding. It can maintain reputation and public confidence
and support the viability of the business. Make sure the statement
shows an awareness of the situation and states that action is being
taken. It should also give an indication that more information will be
provided as things develop. This means the first statement does not
need to be extensive and detailed, but releasing it quickly will provide
some time to allow the communicator to get the full situational
update. It leaves the way open for more information to come to
light and avoids stating information that may prove to be assumption
or inaccurate.
FIGURE 3.1 Example of a logging system

SOURCE Reproduced with permission of Christine Townsend, MusterPoint CEO (17 November 2019)
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 65

TOP TIP

The process for approving statements when dealing with a crisis needs to
be as lean as possible so the fewest possible number of people are involved.
Why is this? It is to speed up the time taken for the statement to be written,
agreed and published. The best position is to have discussed the initial
statement within the planning and preparation process that has taken
place. The CEO and senior team should have agreed some template state-
ments, which can then be refined to suit the circumstances occurring
without the need to gain approval. However, if there is an approval that
is needed it should be only one person, who is aware that they must be
available to agree the communication immediately.

Wherever possible the first statement should be issued within 20

minutes of the incident or issue emerging, and earlier wherever possi-
ble. Communicators should always work to gain the trust of those in
charge of the business to benefit them in managing a crisis as it will
allow them the freedom to act without requiring approval.
The crisis or situation will develop and at that point more detailed
statements and public announcements will be required; this is the
stage at which approval becomes essential. Those providing the oper-
ational response need to be on hand to ensure that the information
being released is accurate and clear. It is at this point that the impact
on affected people should also be referenced and the statement
focused on the human impact of the crisis. The first statement may
include this, but as detailed information will be sketchy do not try to
add in information that may be unclear. Ensure that you are focusing
on the people affected and imagine them hearing your communica-
tion – what would they think? If they are not going to be comfortable
with what is said, then you should reconsider the wording and
approach that is being used. Crises have a significant impact on
people and in many situations there will be a sense of loss and griev-
ing. This makes it even more critical that wording is sensitive,
thoughtful and focused on the people at the centre of the crisis.
66 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Crisis situations can be won or lost on the way the affected people
are managed, supported and assisted. Affected people can be those
involved in the crisis or whose relatives and friends are involved, but
they are also the employees of the organization involved in the
response. We will cover this more in Chapter 4.
The public statements need to be written, developed and shared
quickly, which moves the situation forward in proactively managing
the issue or incident. Remember to have a stakeholder engagement
plan in your crisis communication plan, which can provide a list of
who the statements need to be sent to, with a detailed hierarchy of
importance. This is vital because it means you will be starting the
conversation rather than trying to join it part-way through when
people will have started to make up their own narrative. A clear
narrative for all parties, from stakeholders to staff and affected
people to the general public, helps people to make sense of what has
happened. This narrative can be updated, developed and refined as
the crisis develops. This should be made clear from the start of the
communication.

Misinformation, disinformation and fake news

Modern communication has been heavily affected by the growth of
incorrect news and information or commentary, and things that are
not quite what they seem at face value. There are different elements
of this that can be in place when a crisis happens: misinformation,
disinformation and fake news.
Misinformation refers to inaccurate and false information that is
shared regardless of whether it is intended to mislead. This can
happen when an incident occurs and people attempt to fill any gaps
in knowledge and understanding of the issue. They make assump-
tions and can use previous experience to try to define what is happen-
ing with the current situation. Counteracting it can be through
providing as much information as possible and correcting inaccura-
cies quickly to avoid them spreading.
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 67

Disinformation is more problematic as it relates to false informa-

tion that is deliberately shared with an aim of misleading people.
Information that has been shared can be manipulated in an attempt
to claim a different narrative from what was intended. Propaganda is
a form of disinformation as it is information that is intentionally
biased or misleading to promote a particular viewpoint.
Dealing with disinformation is more challenging as merely correct-
ing the inaccuracy will not stop those intent on spreading it. It
requires careful thought and an approach that attempts to marginal-
ize the inaccurate viewpoint.
Fake news is totally inaccurate information that is crafted to be
misleading, in an attempt to appear as mainstream news. This infor-
mation is often sensationalized and full of emotion. It is important
with fake news to understand what is accurate, what is misinter-
preted and what is totally false before deciding on the course of
action to take. Alongside this it is important to understand who the
source of the fake news is. Is it a mainstream media outlet? Is it a
blogger or online influencer? Is it from an activist or campaigner, or
a member of the public?
With all three issues it is important to have a clear plan for how
they will be approached, what will be done and who has the respon-
sibility for undertaking any actions. This should form part of a crisis
communication strategy with a focus on how each problem will be
addressed, who will carry out the work and how its impact will be
assessed. Never underestimate the potential impact that misinforma-
tion, disinformation and fake news can have on developing effective
crisis communication.

Who can we learn from?

Dealing with crises is something that a few organizations do on a
regular basis. The military and emergency services face a range of
crises more frequently than any other organizations. In developing
the crisis communication approach and our processes to deal with
68 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

situations it is worth reviewing how these organizations operate, to

identify if there are any transferable aspects. The importance of a
structure and framework to both identify risks and manage situa-
tions has been highlighted previously. The military and emergency
services appear to be more able to manage crisis situations due to the
nature of their daily business. They are already structured to work
round the clock, which means there will be communication support
available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are also organiza-
tions that invest more in planning and preparing for possible crisis
situations. They have relevant plans and they will exercise them regu-
larly. These organizations will also have a strong business continuity
and risk management function.
All businesses should recognize that the investment in develop-
ment, training and exercising of the crisis response will put the busi-
ness in a state of readiness that will assist in providing an effective
coordination of the organizational response. Emergency planning is
a critical part of the operation of any organization or business and
should not be overlooked.

A military approach
The military around the world are a uniform service with a strong
disciplined approach to the work that they do. There are many
reasons why they are successful in responding to unexpected situa-
tions. When they are faced with challenging situations that require
clear decision making under pressure they use their approach to full
effect. Six key elements of the approach can be reflected on to assist
communicators preparing to plan for and deal with a crisis:
1 Training and learning
2 Right person for the job
3 Clear procedures
4 Hierarchy of decision making
5 Support mechanisms
6 Debriefing
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 69

Training and learning

There are very few times that the military will be called on to work
at their top level and potentially face the enemy on the battlefield. But
this does not stop them continually training to be able to move swiftly
from a resting state to a place where they may be called on to face an
enemy. This focus on ongoing training and the exercises that are
carried out is essential for the military to be able to perform effec-
tively. All the time spent is essential to ensure that they can do the job
properly, therefore this time is an investment. It is not seen as wasted
effort. As discussed in Chapter 1, this keeps the organization in a
state of readiness where learning has happened in a safe environ-
ment, allowing plans to be refined, adapted and ready for use.

Right person for the job

People are chosen because of their skills, abilities and experience in
key areas. Not all military personnel at the same level will have the
same abilities and choosing the right person who can perform the
tasks most effectively is a key strength. Each person has a specific role
to perform and, as mentioned, will have been testing themselves and
their ability to undertake it. Having an awareness of who is best at
what will be critical to ensure there is a high-functioning team in
place. For communicators it is about using those with a personable
nature to undertake the work to support affected people and even
staff wellbeing, or it may be about having the media specialists taking
a lead on responding to the deluge of questions that will be received
during and after a crisis. The military know where the skills are, so
they are then able to fit the person to the right role. This is the situa-
tion even if the role being carried out differs from the usual activities
that are undertaken.

Clear procedures
All organizations will have a range of procedures in place but not all
employees will know what exists and how they will work to support
those systems. Knowing the details of the plans and processes is a
70 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

vital part of any well-run business. The military operate within a

strict framework of what is acceptable behaviour but also of how
they are expected to work. Every business will have procedures that
ensure the effective daily running of the operation. But everyone
needs to understand them and what they mean, to know what behav-
iour is acceptable and how they should operate. This is all activity
that can be achieved during the preparation phase and before any
crisis emerges and needs to be faced. The procedures can be a support
mechanism to use.

Hierarchy of decision making

The hierarchical nature of the way the military is structured makes it
clear who reports to whom and where the chain of command exists.
This sense of strong governance is at the heart of effective crisis
response processes. Decisions can be made at each level but there are
set parameters of what can be done at what level. It means the front-
line can take action and decide certain things, but they are aware of
when to refer decision making upwards or to wait for orders from
the top. This command and control approach ensures there is no
confusion about what has been done and there are no gaps that
emerge. It is a way of ensuring the situation is approached with a
united front, that all the required elements, activities and decisions
are made at the appropriate level, and all the players are aware of
what it is and where it is from. Lacking this sort of clear structure can
create delays as it must be established from scratch, which in the heat
of a crisis can lead to significant problems including loss of confi-
dence and operational failures.

Support mechanisms
Along with the fact that everyone has their clearly defined place, the
military also operate alongside other supporting organizations. In
many countries they are part of NATO and are a function of the
government. It gives them state approval for their activities and
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 71

actions, which supports the justification of their approach to dealing

with the situation. But it also means they have access to additional
resources, specialisms, equipment and professionals. This ensures
they are unlikely to feel overwhelmed by any situation and they can
also tap into expert knowledge from those who may have experi-
enced a similar circumstance. Businesses are always trying to keep
costs low and avoid unnecessary spending. This can be a challenge
when a crisis hits and when putting time and money into prepara-
tions for crisis management.

Debriefing
Testing and exercising are important as part of the development of
the appropriate plans but so is the debrief process. After every signif-
icant event, manoeuvre or activity there will be a structured approach
to reviewing the deployment and what worked, and where improve-
ments could be made. It works from the start of the activity through
to the conclusion. It ensures all the decision making is assessed and
consideration is given to whether improvements could be made. It
creates a learning environment where the experiences of individuals
can be assessed and shared. Alongside this is a culture where people
want to do their best and no one wants to be found falling short at
the most critical moment in their career. This places a lot of personal
responsibility on the individual members of each platoon or squad.
Through each of these six elements you can see the focus on the
individual as part of a team. It is the team approach that brings the
biggest rewards for the military. Structure, skills, processes and
support are all built around getting the best from the personnel and
ensuring they can work together to achieve the required outcome.
Many businesses lack a sufficient focus on the importance of having
a high-performing team in place that can achieve results. Just having
the right processes will not bring the results you require to ensure
staff are actively involved in being prepared. This will be covered
further in the next chapter when we look at the people involved in
the crisis and consider employee communication and engagement.
72 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

The emergency services approach

Emergency services also have some similar approaches to the military
that provide key areas of support to manage during a time of crisis.
However, emergency services will face more challenges in relation to
the support of affected people and managing the long-term impact of
the crisis. The police, fire and ambulance services will be the ones
offering immediate care and attention to any affected individuals but
also will need to continue this throughout the crisis and even into the
recovery phase. The focus for emergency services when faced with a
crisis is to preserve and protect life first and foremost. This is the
thread through all emergency responses. It is worthwhile understand-
ing how the emergency services work during a crisis so that if you are
caught up in an incident you know what will be happening and what
that means for your business’ communication approach. In the UK
the Chartered Institute of Public Relations published a document in
2019 providing information on how organizations can manage
communication when a terrorist attack happens. All organizations
and businesses could find themselves caught up in an emergency
services-led crisis, so it should be part of preparations and planning.
There are eight key elements of the emergency services approach:
1 Command and control approach
2 Structural support
3 Exercising
4 Role identified in legislation
5 Managing the consequences
6 Focusing on the human aspects
7 Tactical advisers
8 Debriefing

Command and control approach

In dealing with a disaster or emergency there will be a strict structure
in place with a Gold Commander in overall control. The Gold
Commander will be a very senior person within the organization and
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 73

will set the overarching strategy. They will make the most critical
decisions related to the response. They are supported by Silver
Commanders who have some decision-making responsibility and
Bronze Commanders who will be working tactically on the ground.
It can be referred to as strategic (Gold), tactical (Silver) and opera-
tional (Bronze). Silver Commanders coordinate all the individual
plans in place to ensure they are supporting the strategy that has been
set. Bronze Commanders are responsible for developing the plans for
their operational area of responsibility. Decisions can be taken at
each level – Bronze, Silver or Gold – but these are carefully controlled.
Those with responsibility for key areas will be expected to undertake
the actions required by those above them. Hence it is known as
command and control.

Structural support
The Gold, Silver, Bronze approach has a clear structure around it,
and this means that at each level they have clear decision-making
responsibilities. Commanders will be the ones leading in the key areas
of the response, which can include, for example, investigation, intel-
ligence, community issues, communication and welfare. The struc-
ture also includes regular briefings and meetings that will assess
progress, each area having a plan in place that they are working to.
The meetings check on the progress of those plans and whether the
situation has changed, requiring an alteration in the course of action.

Exercising
Emergency services organizations have departments established that
are staffed with people who are responsible for building emergency
plans, reviewing developments that may impact on existing plans,
and developing training and exercising of plans. They may be
members of the Emergency Planning Society in the UK, or similar
organizations in other countries. Such organizations promote the
importance of resilience and ensuring preparedness within institu-
tions, organizations and businesses. These departments will involve
74 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

people as required at all stages of their work. It means there is a

continued focus on exercising and ensuring a readiness to deal with a
crisis. This includes a programme of work on exercises that takes
place throughout the year, something that may appear excessive for
many businesses but is a defendable position for those charged with
being the first responders in an emergency.

Role identified in legislation

The position for emergency services organizations is that they have a
requirement to undertake actions during a crisis. In the UK there is a
Civil Contingencies Act that establishes the role for emergency
services. In the USA there are Acts of Congress that outline the posi-
tion. The actions and responsibilities are laid down in legislation that
charges them with the role as first responders. This means they can
face severe penalties if they are not ready and able to perform these
functions immediately. If there are inquiries and reviews that find
they were ill prepared for any reason, then ultimately it can mean
some form of sanction being put in place.

Managing the consequences

Unlike the military response, the police and law enforcement agen-
cies have to take a long-term view of managing a crisis. This can be
over many years, particularly if the police have to carry out a lengthy
investigation, for example. They have a responsibility for community
cohesion and ensuring that there is a return to normality within soci-
ety. This requires a strand of work during any crisis that looks at the
impact the event or issue has had on key communities, individuals or
organizations. It combines stakeholder mapping with the operational
response and the communication activity. Communication is an
essential part of what is known as consequence management as it
ensures there is a consistent narrative across all forms of communica-
tion including face-to-face conversations that are not within the
corporate communications remit. It can prevent confusion or con-
cern among communities but also alert the responders to emerging
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 75

issues that may impact on their work. We will explore this further in
Chapter 6 looking at the community.

Focusing on the human aspects

Supporting victims and their families and those affected by a crisis is
within the responsibility of the police with support from other public
sector organizations and third sector charity agencies. Emergencies
will require family liaison officers being assigned to those affected.
These are usually police employees who are there to provide informa-
tion to support people through the incident and the events that
follow. This will include support when faced with things such as
inquests and inquiries. The impact on people will be considered from
an early stage within the police structured meeting process, with a
coordinator or senior officer providing information and updates. At
the heart of this is an attempt to keep those involved and affected
updated during a fast-moving crisis so that they are not damaged or
further affected by learning about developments second- or third-
hand. Again, this will be discussed further in Chapter 6.

Tactical advisers
The emergency services response must cover many areas of responsi-
bility as previously outlined within the discussion on the structured
approach. To support this, those with areas of expertise are given the
responsibility of being tactical advisers. The advisers will be expected
to provide details of the best possible course of action to take, to
understand the detail of the processes and guidance, and to be work-
ing at the top of their area of expertise. While they are often quite
junior officers in terms of rank, they will have developed their exper-
tise to a point that makes them the ‘go-to person’ within the organ-
ization. This advice will then be provided to the officer in charge to
help inform their decision making during the incident. The key is that
people are recognized for their expertise and encouraged to take on
the adviser roles. Commanders at senior levels need to be open to
listen and act on their guidance and advice. Communication at this
76 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

point must also be able to operate at both strategic and tactical

levels. It is why the structured response should identify the roles and
responsibilities, ensuring that there is a clear strategic lead for
communication but also that the tactical roles are in place to deliver
the plan.

Debriefing
In a similar way to the military, law enforcement will be focused on
ensuring debriefs take place looking at all areas of the response, and
considering what worked and what could be improved for the future.
Unlike in the military, these reviews will often involve other agencies
that have also been involved in the response and will happen both
immediately after the main incident – which is known as a ‘hot
debrief’ – and in the longer term to ensure the recovery phase is also
subject to review. The UK College of Policing has set down a struc-
tured debrief process where all aspects of the police response will be
reviewed and if needed trained staff can be brought in to assist the
process. At the end there will be a detailed document that will include
a plan to address any issues of concern that were raised. The commu-
nication approach will be part of the structured debrief but the
communication team can also consider discussions with communica-
tors from other agencies or the media to assess the communication
strategy and plan and how the implementation of it worked. It is
important when running debriefs to stress the reasons why they are
undertaken. Debriefs are not about apportioning blame but should
be about improving the response, identifying urgent actions and
building for a stronger recovery. When undertaking debriefs this
point needs to be stressed so people are open and comfortable shar-
ing both what worked and what needs to be improved.
The emergency services structure benefits communication because
they have a seat as tactical adviser to assist in the development of the
response. However, alongside this there is a significant amount of
pressure from supporting affected people, getting the right messages
out and being subject to intense scrutiny. This will be considered in
Chapter 7. However, the fact there is a chance to get communication
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 77

within the crisis plans and to be able to test them puts emergency
services communicators at an advantage when something happens.

Other approaches
There are other structures and approaches to crisis management that
may bring additional benefits and challenges to the communicator. In
some situations it may be more effective to have a collaborative
approach rather than a response controlled by a single agency. This
will require significant agreements about working arrangements and
a mature approach to the way management operates. In this response
all agencies will stand and work together, sharing ideas and sugges-
tions for how to move forward. It supports the coherent narrative
and will avoid organizations moving to a negative blame scenario
focused on others. But it can lead to inaction and inertia if there is
too much discussion and negotiation taking place that prevents action.
A legal response is often seen to be the most beneficial to a busi-
ness. There will be concern about legal action emerging from the
incident or issue and the legal team will be aware of the potential
problems they may face. Legal challenges are costly to the business
and damaging to the reputation so the CEO managing a crisis may
put more weight on the advice from the legal team than from the
communication function. This leads to the traditional problem of
legal advice being contrary to communication advice, which creates
problems for those leading the response to the crisis. What commu-
nicators can provide to this situation that the legal team will not be
able to is a clear understanding of the emotions of the situation and
the human toll of what has taken place. With the relevant data,
insight and information to support this, they can then start to lever-
age a place at the top table and the ear of those in charge of managing
the crisis, so that they are a tactical adviser in the same way as the
head of legal and occupy the same space. In the same way that lawyers
will use case law as an evidence base for their advice, so communicators
should be comfortable using case studies of crisis communication
activity to provide evidence to support their advice. Doing what is
78 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

right from a legal standpoint will not always match the right course
of action from a communication perspective. The ability to influence
those in charge is an essential skill for the communicator not just
during a crisis but for 365 days a year.
Finally, you have the potential business-focused approach to the
crisis, which can often be clearly aligned to a legal approach. The
central tenet of the response will be to do what supports the business,
and the structure will potentially involve shareholders and key stake-
holders. It is the share price and the potential impact on the stock
exchange that will be the priority and the support will be gathered
around that. This is a potentially flawed approach if it is the main
aim of the crisis response as it can forget the human impact of the
incident. In the eyes of the public, who will be looking at the impact
on people, this will not be an acceptable approach and can have the
reverse effect of what it attempts to achieve. Rather than securing the
business it can put things on shaky ground. A better position is to
have a tactical adviser who will monitor the impact of the crisis on
stocks and shares and provide guidance on how this can be managed.
This can then be assessed alongside community issues, legal advice
and communication guidance.

A strong framework
From all the operational approaches we have considered there are
seven aspects that need to be in place for the business to have a strong
framework for crisis management:
1 Ensure that the business appoints people to lead
These are people with clear areas of responsibility with each led
by a named individual. This covers the demand for specialist
guidance and advice together with a clear decision-making process.
It mirrors the crisis communication strategy in having clear roles
with key actions assigned to each.
2 Bring everyone together in one room, whether virtually or in person
If you can bring together the key commanders or leaders who
have areas of responsibility, even if this is for the first few hours
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 79

of a crisis emerging, then you will have a more consistent and

coherent response. It allows people to operate with speed while
consulting with key decision-makers and take agreed decisive
action to support the over-arching business strategy to manage
the crisis. Having a ‘war room’ where people can come together
and work to bring things under control is hugely beneficial.
3 Planning and testing keep people in a state of readiness
This should always be remembered. We have seen from the work
of the military, law enforcement and the emergency services that
planning and preparing are critical elements to support operational
success in managing any crisis. It ensures structures, systems and
processes are in place and assessed for effectiveness, and that
employees are trained and understand what is required of them.
They can then be ready for action.
4 Have the right person in the right role
If you have a clear plan, then you need the right trained and
skilled people to lead in key areas. The military will use the right
people for the right role and in all organizations that is going to
be important. Use people’s skills and experience in the right way
and put them where they will be able to do their best. This creates
the culture where they will want to succeed and show how they
can support the team response.
5 Understand the implications and those affected so you can
manage the consequences
Identifying the impact of the crisis, whether it is an operational or
reputational issue, will provide support through the initial
management and right through to the recovery phase. It requires
using the understanding of events, as well as data about customers
and service users, and other insight to see the incident or event’s
touchpoints. Having conducted some scenario planning you will
be able to utilize this to map the groups and individuals likely to
be affected.
6 Keep communication integrated
Bring all the communication together so that there is a consistent
narrative regardless of the channel and the audience. Everything
80 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

that is provided helps people to make sense of what has happened

and to understand the course of events. This does not mean hiding
or withholding key information; rather, it is about providing the
context that is required to assist the response phase. Make sure
the response puts systems in place to update employees and
stakeholders behind the scenes, as well as the victims, victims’
families and affected people, with similar information, to
minimize the risk of anyone learning about what has happened
from an unofficial source, or second-hand.
7 Focus on the human cost and doing what is right, not what is
going to protect the reputation of the business
If decisions are made purely to protect the reputation of the
organization or to ensure there is limited impact on the share
price, then they will be potentially flawed. The decision making
will be based upon a small section of information and, as we will
see in many of the case studies throughout the book, failing to
consider the human cost of the situation will threaten the success
of any crisis communication activity. The reputation of the
business should be built upon the actions that are taken and not
just in communication alone.

Communication at the heart of the response

Businesses may see the critical aspects of the response as being focused
on developing the operational activity to tackle what has happened
or to move things forward. The operational activity is central and
does have to be in place for communication to be effective. But the
communication must sit alongside this operational activity and be
equally important. The two parts must go hand in hand for the most
effective response. Without clear, consistent and focused communica-
tion, all the operational activity will take place without public recog-
nition and the perception of the business will not be managed.
Communication can address several key issues that impact on or
derail the operational response. It is where the operational benefits
from the crisis communication strategy and plan that have been
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 81

developed can be seen. First, the communication function must have

a seat in the ‘war room’. They need to be at the heart of the opera-
tional developments so that they can advise at an early stage and get
the latest situational updates to inform the communication plan. As
things will be potentially fast moving then, the communicator must
be able to get instant updates so that they fully understand the unfold-
ing situation.
Having a clear narrative, as we have mentioned, ensures the organ-
ization can address what has happened and start to take people on a
journey to reach the recovery phase. The benefit is that the consist-
ency builds trust and confidence in the response as employees, stake-
holders, affected people and the wider community will all hear the
same information. In the early stages of the crisis the communicator
should be gathering all the known information and details of where
the gaps in knowledge are, to start to be able to develop the wording
that is required. This narrative will be updated and developed as
more information becomes available and the crisis develops. It is
essential to ensure that all the required people have access to the
latest statement or narrative for consistency, so systems need to be in
place for the quick dissemination of information across the business.
The communicator must also work closely with the spokesperson,
who should in many cases be the chief executive or person at the very
top of the business or organization. The CEO will have to step up
and show leadership throughout the crisis and hitting the right note
with the communication content and delivery is essential. The tactics,
approach and activity all need to be informed by the advice and guid-
ance from the communication lead. It requires positive working rela-
tionships to be in place before any crisis emerges so that there is trust
and confidence when the pressure is on. The role of the CEO and
other key leaders will be considered in more detail in Chapter 5.
In the modern era with the developments in social media, a crisis
is likely to be beset by the problem of ‘fake news’. This can be delib-
erately created to impact on the response to the incident or issue, or
it may be inaccurate but without malice. Dealing with the two aspects
can require slightly different courses of action. In the first instance
where inaccurate statements are made, they should be immediately
82 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

challenged. This is why having a media and social media monitoring

team working from the start of the crisis is so critical. If the commu-
nication team is operating at the heart of the operational response,
they will know what is accurate and what is inaccurate, accepting
there may be a grey area in the middle. They must then have the free-
dom to be able to quickly and robustly challenge statements that are
wrong or inaccurate. It may mean complaining to social media plat-
form operators or making a complaint to the media outlet or the
regulatory bodies should the initial approach be unsuccessful. If no
action is taken to remove or retract the inaccuracy, then the organiza-
tion should consider going proactive to discredit the inaccurate news
and provide an honest account to clarify the position. This needs to
be included in the crisis communication plan to ensure that it is part
of the consistent response and to identify opportunities where chal-
lenge can be made.
Some business leaders may wonder what the point is of challeng-
ing inaccurate or fake information if media outlets, social media plat-
form operators and regulatory bodies are not going to remove or
correct the information. However, in the recovery phase when the
actions of the organization may be scrutinized or brought into ques-
tion, they need to be seen to have attempted to take action to deal
with inaccuracies. Failure to do so makes it appears as though the
business is complicit with the publication of the information.
If the information is inaccurate but without malice, then a starting
point is to attempt to develop a conversation with the publisher with
a view to them making a correction. Speed of the response in doing
this is essential to try to prevent it becoming widely published or
shared. If you can start that conversation early and the publisher
agrees to correct the information, then you can deal with it and move
forward.
The communication team can also utilize the information and
knowledge that they have to operate as a representative for those
who are affected by the crisis. They can provide a voice within the
operational response that asks, ‘How will those affected view this
activity?’ In developing the communication response, it is advanta-
geous to have the affected individuals supportive of the approach and
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 83

the content of the communication. If you are not able to achieve this,
then you should at least ensure that the individuals receive the details
before they are made public. Communication activity must be sensi-
tive to the impact that the issue or incident has had, and this is where
the consequence management needs to be in place. Ensure that you
consider the concerns of people, groups and communities. This will
be covered in more detail in Chapter 6.
Finally, the communication team must start to bring all the elements
together so that they can begin the task of preparing the plan not
only for dealing with the current crisis but for considering the move
to recovery and the long-term plans for the organization. As soon as
practicable the plan for the crisis being faced should be documented,
together with those long-term considerations that will need to be
revisited as the crisis develops.

CASE STUDY
Pepsi advert and Oxfam crisis

In 2017, drinks company Pepsi launched an advertising campaign that sparked

outrage. It came off the back of protests in the United States linked to the Black
Lives Matter movement and appeared to mirror imagery from those protests. The
advert featured model and reality star Kendall Jenner appearing to quash a
disturbance between police and protests by opening a can of the drink. The
response was almost immediate and within a short time Pepsi had removed the
advert from social media, although it was continuing to be shared.1
A senior executive apologized and issued a statement that said: ‘Clearly we
missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious
issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout.’2
This shows that it was taking swift action to deal with the offence that may
have been caused by the advert. It also ensured that the action came from some-
one in a very senior position. There was no intention to blame others, which again
added to the accountability and responsibility being taken by the brand. It contin-
ued to apologize also to Kendall Jenner, which showed some attention to those
impacted by the crisis. However, to build on this, Pepsi could have spoken to some
of the key groups affected and looked at addressing the diversity issues of its
management and brand development to rebuild confidence. The role of the com-
municator working alongside the senior executives to frame the response and the
84 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

development is critical in reputational crises. This allows the long-term recovery

to be prepared and considered during the initial response.
If we compare the response from Pepsi with a different reputational issue that
affected the charity Oxfam, we see the importance of being swift and decisive. In
2018 it faced 10 days of reporting about the sensitive issue that it had hushed up
claims of sexual exploitation by aid workers in Haiti, and there were also reports
of sexual harassment by workers in its shops. Charities require public confidence
to ensure people continue to support with finances and bring in government
funding. The response to these concerns was criticized for being slow and focus-
ing initially on the fact it had followed their processes in dealing with the allega-
tions. However, this also put the spotlight on its decision to deal with the matters
in this way, appearing to avoid any public scrutiny.3
The focus on the process when dealing with such a sensitive and emotive
issue added to negative commentary, which then impacted its reputation. This
was always going to be a challenging situation to face but the response was seen
to ‘have an air of inconvenience’ to the management.4
In addition to the concerns about the focus of the initial response, it was also
slow to react to the criticism and to put a senior executive in front of the media.
It reminds us of the importance of effective media training for all those who are in
executive levels within organizations and particularly to undertake this with a
focus on a crisis response for those who will be taking that responsibility. In this
digital world it still remains a fundamental skill for any senior manager to be able
to effectively handle a media interview.5
At the heart of this situation Oxfam seemed to lack openness and transpar-
ency, which are critical for voluntary and charity organizations that rely on public
and government donations. The approach appeared defensive and did not appear
to recognize the need to make changes to the systems and processes that it had
in place. It then did not seem to recognize the need to make changes to the way
it worked so the same situation could not happen again.6
It has been estimated by a brand valuation report analysed by PR Week that
£400 million was wiped from the value of the Oxfam brand due to the issue and
how it was handled.7 If we look at both cases it is clear there needs to be a struc-
tured approach to the crisis where communication can operate at the heart of the
response. Building in the consequence management and voice of those affected
would have assisted the response to both issues and, in the case of Pepsi, had
there been an external overview the crisis may never have occurred as the advert
would never have been made or broadcast.
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 85

Being in a state of readiness will support making a swift and decisive response
that has taken account of all the factors identified as important to the organiza-
tion. Emergency procedures should take us into that structured response, sup-
porting both operational and communication activity.
Both cases also emphasize the importance of the wording used in the first
statement and the feeling that it conveys. In the case of Pepsi it was recognized as
being decisive but for Oxfam was seen to be dismissive of the situation.8

Key learning points

● Honesty and openness are always fundamental to all forms of communication

to manage a crisis or critical situation.
● Ensure that the structured response to crises has provided training and
support to those who will be leading areas of work. This should include media
and communication training to help those at the top of the organization to
understand not only the actions that are required from them but the way in
which communication should be delivered.
● Put communication within the crisis response team so that the strategic
communication lead can provide advice and guidance to the team developing
the response. Allow communicators to provide case studies, consultation
information, data and insight to assist in understanding the implications both
of the crisis and of the consequences of the response.
● Bring diverse voices into your crisis communication. This will be covered in
Chapter 6 looking at building diversity and inclusion into your communication
response. Consultation can assist the team in viewing the situation from the
perspective of others, which is vital to developing effective crisis
communication.
● Never appear dismissive in the response to a crisis. Whether it is seen as a
critical situation for the business or not is irrelevant. If people are concerned
about what has happened and it has damaged the trust and confidence they
have in the organization or business then it must be taken seriously.
Explaining what has happened should be done clearly and honestly but not
dismissively.
86 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Conclusion
Remaining calm during a crisis is important. It will allow you to keep
a clear head to develop the right approach and to make the right deci-
sions. More than all that it means you will remember that the plan
exists and what it means. You can take a deep breath and then use the
preparation work to ensure you act quickly to address the crisis
response.
A crisis can come from anywhere and from any set of circum-
stances. Inevitably, it will probably emerge from where you least
expect it and from what you have invested little time in planning for.
All that should not matter if the strategy you have developed can be
reviewed and refined to meet any eventuality. Don’t get too focused
on trying to identify all the risks and situations that could become a
crisis. Instead, ensure that you have an approach that gives you the
foundations to build a bespoke and effective communication response
and the flexibility to adjust depending on the circumstances that are
being faced.
Understand the process that is in place within the business to
declare that a crisis is occurring. Be clear about what that means for
the communication function and what is required from the commu-
nicators. If this isn’t clear, then work to develop that element of the
response. In some cases the business does not have a clear escalation
procedure to raise emerging issues that may become a crisis; if you
find this, then make senior leaders aware it is not in place and that it
is a requirement for an effective crisis management plan. Use your
communication skills, knowledge and experience to help the business
develop an escalation process.
Tailor your crisis communication strategy into a plan that will
meet the circumstances of the crisis you face. Treat it as a unique situ-
ation and consider what those circumstances mean for the way you
approach the communication activity. This includes ensuring you
consider the impact on all affected groups, which must include
employees.
Remember that you don’t have to deal with the incident alone.
Look at how other organizations structure and prepare for a crisis,
 THE OPERATIONAL RESPONSE 87

especially those such as the military and emergency services, which

deal with them regularly. Identify what, from their structure and
approach, may work within your crisis communication response.
Call for help if you need it, from colleagues, experts or others.

Notes
1 D Victor. Pepsi pulls ad accused of trivializing Black Lives Matter, New York
Times, 5 April 2017. [Link]/2017/04/05/business/kendall-jenner-
[Link] (archived at [Link]/JK6C-UUH3)
2 D Quenqua. Pepsi says ‘sorry’ and removes Kendall Jenner ad from the web,
PR Week, 5 April 2017. [Link]/article/1429761/pepsi-says-sorry-
removes-kendall-jenner-ad-web (archived at [Link]/DE2U-CET4)
3 Oxfam International. Oxfam’s reaction to sexual misconduct story in Haiti,
9 February 2018. [Link]/en/pressroom/reactions/oxfams-reaction-
sexual-misconduct-story-haiti (archived at [Link]/7YEA-E9P9)
4 L Weymouth. Oxfam: We ‘failed to get the tone right’ in initial responses to
Haiti scandal, Charity Times, 4 July 2018. [Link]/ct/oxfam-
[Link] (archived at [Link]/R9SQ-ZJMY)
5 BBC Newsnight. Former Oxfam boss knew of sexual misconduct claims (online
video), 12 February 2018. [Link]/watch?v=VwlH0XtmA3Y
(archived at [Link]/S2C3-TVS4)
6 BBC News (UK). ‘We didn’t hide this’ – Dame Barbara Stocking, former Oxfam
chief executive, on how charity reacted to allegations that some of its aid
workers in Haiti used prostitutes [Twitter] 9 February 2018. [Link]
bbcnews/status/961973341023191041?lang=en (archived at [Link]/5HJK-
9W2V)
7 A Hickman. Oxfam sex scandal wiped £400m from brand valuation, report
reveals, PR Week, 9 January 2019. [Link]/article/1522440/oxfam-
sex-scandal-wiped-400m-brand-valuation-report-reveals (archived at
[Link]/9FKJ-5KG3)
8 Z Bangura and K Sierra. Committing to Change, Protecting People: Toward a
more accountable Oxfam. Final Report. Independent Commission on Sexual
Misconduct, Accountability & Culture Change, June 2019. [Link].
org/s3fs-public/oxfam_ic_final_report-[Link] (archived at [Link]/
67H9-EBDG)
THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
 4

Remembering the people:

How employees should come first

All the processes and procedures will be of no benefit if they fail

to take account of the human cost of the impact of the crisis.
Remembering the people involved and those affected, and using this
to improve your actions, means a greater possibility of developing an
effective crisis communication response.
Up to this point in the book we have talked a lot about the exter-
nal audiences and the people outside the organization. This has
included ensuring that there is a swift response to manage potential
public criticism, which will emerge quickly. During a crisis, that is
what communicators often do – they focus exclusively on the exter-
nal communication activity at the expense of considering the staff,
employees and stakeholders. The Covid-19 pandemic did go some
way to changing this approach, as employee communication became
essential to how businesses functioned through restrictions and the
requirements to work from home. There is nothing more important
than developing a crisis communication response that has people at
the heart of it.
If you have planned and prepared appropriately then you will have
a detailed understanding of your external and internal audiences that
can be utilized during a crisis. More than that, you will have found
ways to involve people in the planning, testing and exercising of the
response. The external audience can include all the groups mentioned
in Chapter 1 in planning and stakeholder mapping, and Chapter 3
where we considered consequence management. The key to conse-
90 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

quence management is understanding what is happening and being

able to assess and consider what may follow. This then allows the
communicator to use their knowledge and experience of targeting
audiences to identify who the affected parties are likely to be. The
plan can then ensure that they are reached with communication
actions. The same approach would be beneficial in considering the
internal audience. Start by looking at those who may be involved, the
wider teams who are affected because of the nature of the issue or
incident and the rest of the employees who will be continuing to
make the business run during the crisis. This will be covered in more
detail later in this chapter.

Involving people
First, you need to consider whether you are going to be active or
passive in communicating and connecting with your key audiences.
This is the same consideration for both external and internal audi-
ences. Passive engagement will often happen in the early stages of a
crisis when communicators are looking to broadcast messages to key
groups. As we have already mentioned this is a very short initial
phase in the lifetime of the crisis. It is focused on giving people direct
information to ensure they are safe and protected. The plan should
look to move to communication that is engaging as quickly as possi-
ble as the crisis develops. The same may be said for the communica-
tion to employees within the business. In the initial stages it is likely
to be information that is broadcast for them either to act on or to
share appropriately but it must move to engagement quickly as they
will then be able to more effectively support the crisis response.
Active engagement is the desired state of crisis communication. It
is where communication should be once the first wave of the crisis
has emerged and subsided. Once implemented it will allow thinking
time, the chance to develop activity and a two-way flow of informa-
tion creating an ongoing conversation. This is when time should be
taken to consider how to involve key groups and individuals in the
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 91

communication response. There are many ways to involve people.

They could be brought in to see the response and understand the
actions that the organization is taking. For example, in the case of a
product failure key individuals from the shareholders, the consumers
and community representatives could be brought into the plant room,
design suite or other key locations to see the work under way. Bringing
people into the heart of the response is a way to build confidence in
the response. Another possibility is to go and talk to key groups and
individuals. For example, if you are a small business that has under-
taken building work that has negatively impacted the surrounding
neighbours, one of the best ways to involve people is to go and meet
residents to discuss the situation.

Making connections
Developing relationships is at the core of all effective communication
and during a crisis this doesn’t change. Dealing with an incident is a
time when your hard work in creating connections through commu-
nication throughout the year should bring you benefits. If the rela-
tionships are strong then you will be able to quickly get in touch with
the right individuals and start to share information, and work to
bring them into discussions about the communication response. But
this all needs to be part of your daily work. There is no way you can
develop effective relationships quickly when you are under pressure
dealing with a crisis. As outlined in Chapter 1, invest time when you
are not in crisis to equip you to respond to an incident when it
happens. This includes ensuring that your communication activity
considers a number of additional areas, including community engage-
ment, consequence management and employee engagement.
In Chapter 6 we will consider community engagement in more
detail when we look at community and consequence management.
We will also consider how you can involve people in reviewing and
adapting the narrative and communication approach based on their
knowledge and experience.
92 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

The internal audience

The operational response to the crisis is only possible with the hard
work, commitment and dedication of the employees of the business.
If they are involved and engaged, they will ensure there is an effective
response because they take responsibility for it. Employees are the
most important part of any business. It is why we should keep staff
at the forefront of our communication activity when we are dealing
with a crisis. Systems and process are important to managing the
response but the biggest factor contributing to the success will be the
people involved. Employees have a key role in all the phases of the
crisis response from planning through to recovery. They should have
the freedom to provide feedback on the actions being proposed
throughout the response.
Employee engagement is what effective companies are built upon.
The staff feel a deep connection to the business and want to do their
best to ensure success. This is reciprocated with an organization that
involves and listens to them, valuing their contribution and their
wellbeing. Opening the floor to staff suggestions may appear to be a
contradiction to having a very structured response to a crisis. This is
not the case and misunderstands how organizations can and should
operate. The structure is required so that people know their area of
responsibility and the level of decision making that they can be
involved in. It gives clarity about what they should do and how it fits
together. However, this does not mean that people cannot provide
their valuable insight and input into managing the situation. It is
essential if the response is to be as effective as possible. There is a
close relationship with employee engagement and wellbeing, which
we consider in more detail in Chapter 7.

Learning the language

In the planning phase that we outlined in Chapter 1 the full involve-
ment of employees is essential. They must assist in the development
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 93

of the structures, plans and processes that support crisis manage-

ment. In ensuring involvement it supports the creation of a state of
readiness across the business. People will understand what is expected
of them and the role they play in managing the response or keeping
the business running while the crisis is underway. Staff need to have
been involved in testing and exercising the response, so they under-
stand the language of crisis. Imagine learning a new language; you
need to take time to see how the words fit together to make sentences
and then how those sentences can make a conversation. This is the
same for staff who need to understand the approach, what they
should do and how it fits together. You cannot expect the employees
to be fluent in the language the moment a crisis emerges, so take time
to develop their abilities in the planning stages.
The debriefing of these exercises will give people actions to under-
take that will revise and improve the plans and move the organiza-
tion towards a better state of preparedness. It is also an opportunity
to reinforce the approach detailed in the crisis communication strat-
egy. The involvement needs to continue throughout the crisis manage-
ment process, but the critical phase is in the planning and preparation.
All staff should also be involved and aware of the risk management
processes that exist within the business. They will be able to act as an
early warning system highlighting possible issues or areas of concern
and should be encouraged to raise them so that they can be consid-
ered. This will allow mitigation to be developed to minimize the
chance of a situation they have highlighted becoming a crisis.
Do not underestimate how much benefit there is in investing in the
workforce and their knowledge, understanding and experience of
preparing for any form of crisis. When a crisis happens, they will
need to be ready to respond. It is no good having managers ready to
deal with the situation that emerges if the frontline employees are
unclear what to do, where to go for updates, how to gather informa-
tion and what is expected of them. For the most seamless and effec-
tive response, the organization from top to bottom must be ready,
prepared and resilient to deal with the task ahead.
94 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Careless words

In the initial stages of a crisis the actions and behaviour of the employ-
ees in dealing with the situation and talking about it will directly
impact on the trust and confidence felt towards the business. All staff
should understand the details of what has happened and what the
organization is doing to deal with the issue. They should also be clear
about the narrative and know how to deal with questions, queries or
comments that are made to them. A careless word or comment could
easily derail the communication plan and lead to a loss of confidence.
For example, if you are a small business manufacturing a product
and an employee is injured at work, imagine the damage caused by
one of the team posting about the incident on social media. They may
not have the accurate information, and relatives or friends of the
injured person may find out through social media. The same can
happen if you are a business creating a new system or product that an
employee talks about negatively on social media. The views have the
potential to impact negatively on the organization and the develop-
ment of the new element.
Consider all the touchpoints into the organization from customers,
consumers or service users and ensure that the staff working in these
areas at the time a crisis emerges are given a detailed briefing on what
to say. You may want to make that a section in the plan or it could
have its own checklist, where you chart the customer-facing roles
that demand quick updates, and lines to take when they are being
questioned. In this early stage they can calm concerns with well-
chosen, comprehensive and open updates to customers or service
users. Getting things right with employees in the early stages will
create a firm foundation to build upon as the situation develops
through to conclusion.
Ensure the crisis communication plan identifies the best ways to
alert all staff to the fact a crisis has happened, whether this is via
email, internal messaging system or using other technology such as
WhatsApp. It depends on what systems you use daily. Don’t invent a
new system just for crises; instead use what you already have in place.
Awareness is the priority that will help to build employees’ confi-
dence in the way the business is dealing with the incident or issue.
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 95

Once the crisis is underway staff can play their part to demon-
strate strength in dealing with the situation. They will know what to
say and where to say it. They will be able to share the organizational
narrative and assist the communication activity. If they have already
been made aware of the situation and the organizational narrative
surrounding it, then they are unlikely to unwittingly undermine the
approach being taken. Remember the importance of breaking down
the employees into key groups and individuals so that you can tailor
the information that is provided, ensuring more detail goes where it
is needed.
Employees often use social media extensively in a personal capac-
ity and this will continue during a crisis. There may also be staff who
are given authorization to post and update the organization’s social
media in an official capacity. With this latter group you must ensure
they are a key group in your internal communication plan and that
they receive updates swiftly, first and in as much detail as possible.
For those employees who are using social media personally, there
should already be a policy in place for whether they can talk in detail
about their work and if so, what might be acceptable. Personal use of
social media could be part of the employees’ contract and also the
standards of behaviour that are expected. New staff should be made
aware of the boundaries required on social media and education
ensures that all are able to use social media personally without
concern about any impact on their employment. This work will build
a culture in the organization of appropriate social media use, which
will be beneficial when dealing with a crisis. Knowledge and experi-
ence will already be in place and all that will be required are gentle
reminders about appropriate behaviour. Beyond that ensure you
recognize the position of the information that you are circulating to
the employees. Can it be shared? Do you need to advise them of how
they should use social media during the crisis? It is important to
provide guidance and advice so that employees don’t stray into
discussing issues that should be off limits. This must be updated and
shared as the crisis unfolds because the guidance to them will need to
be adjusted to take account of the developments that take place. But
be clear that anything that is said to staff is likely to become public at
some point.
96 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Employees and recovery

Finally, employees will play a critical role in the recovery of the
organization. They need to be involved in the debriefs and reviews of
the actions that were taken and encouraged to provide open and
honest feedback to support the change that will be made. Even when
a crisis has been effectively managed there is always learning from
the experiences and this needs to be gathered and implemented. In
doing this the organization will improve and develop, for both the
daily business and in the event of a further issue or incident emerging.
Debriefs must look at operational activity, people issues such as well-
being, communication and engagement with staff, and resourcing. In
taking the learning forward there will inevitably be an impact on
employees who will need to accept changes to processes, plans and
procedures within the business. Working with employees to imple-
ment the developments will increase the likelihood of success in
embedding new systems and behaviours. Change communication
should assist in putting these new processes in place. The road to
recovery is one of the most critical areas in dealing with a crisis but
often it is the stage that is overlooked. We will look at recovery in
more detail in Chapter 8.

Building success in employee engagement

There are four key areas that need to be in place to ensure effective
employee engagement during a crisis:

1 Structures
2 Leadership
3 Channels
4 Messages

All these, as we will see, need to be clearly detailed within the crisis
plan both for the operational aspects and the crisis communication
strategy. It may be beneficial to have a specific internal crisis commu-
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 97

nication plan that outlines the details of what will happen within the
organization when a crisis occurs. It can provide detail of who is
doing what, and when, and how it will be assessed to support the
broader crisis communication strategy. When developing both plans,
care and attention should be paid to ensuring employee engagement
is part of the crisis response. Underpinning the four areas is a drive to
move from broadcasting messages in internal communication activi-
ties to developing a two-way conversation with employees that is
based on listening to them.
Listening is one of the most important skills any communicator or
business leader can have within their repertoire. It ensures the busi-
ness can learn and develop. It means the leadership are supportive of
a culture of learning and support. This brings new ideas into the
workplace and refines activities based on frontline facts. It identifies
issues and potential problems at an early stage when employees raise
them. In short, listening is fundamental to the development and
survival of the business. This is true not only in day-to-day working
but critically when a crisis emerges and threatens the future of the
business.

Structures
Communicating with employees must be detailed within the crisis
communication plan that has been developed. It should be clearly
identified within the operational structure as well, so that areas such
as HR or personnel and wellbeing can also be developed alongside
communication activity. The structure requires a lead for employee
engagement based at the centre of the business with a connection into
the control room running the crisis. This could be the head of HR or
another senior manager. There should also be local leaders who will
provide support across the business. This network is critical for all
organizations, particularly those that may have locations worldwide.
The central communication approach cannot be effective without
points of contact within divisions or departments who can connect
the leaders with the frontline staff and can feed back issues that are
raised. To achieve the required results with the employees there needs
98 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

to be delegated responsibility for those in leadership and manage-

ment roles, or others, to undertake communication activity.
Whoever is leading the communication to staff from the centre of
the organization needs to be sitting alongside the communication
team or, preferably, will be part of that team. They will also be work-
ing closely with HR and the wellbeing lead as well as any trade unions
or staff associations that exist. In some organizations that are heavily
unionized this may be challenging, but the wellbeing and welfare of
employees is important for both unions and the business leaders, so
that should be a good starting place for discussions to develop from
a point of agreement. All these sections can help each other and need
to align their activities to ensure a consistent response that will build
confidence within employees.

TOP TIP

In your crisis communication plan, detail the role of the internal communi-
cation lead. Ensure it includes how decisions will be made and the key re-
porting lines that exist to authorize actions and information that will be
shared. The internal communication needs to be networked across the busi-
ness and the crisis response. Detail how you will use your network to sup-
port the crisis communication response.

Leadership
In Chapter 5 we will look in detail at the role of the leader in manag-
ing the crisis, but it is also critical to staff engagement. The leader’s
role is usually heavily focused on the external communication and
being the visible face of the organization to provide reassurance and
confidence during and after the crisis, and to support the manage-
ment of stakeholder relationships. The CEO also has a duty of care,
which means considering the welfare and wellbeing of all the employ-
ees and this includes being visible and accessible throughout the inci-
dent. It requires an investment of time and resources but as outlined
this aspect of the crisis communication response is critical to the
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 99

success of the plan. Having a senior HR manager or member of the

executive team to be the person driving the engagement and wellbe-
ing elements of the operational plan will mean things get done. It will
ensure that there is a continued focus on the employees and what
they need to support them. This will enable there to be a voice at the
key decision-making meetings. A leader who remembers all the
employees when the organization is under pressure will be rewarded
with support from the staff.
Alongside the executive leadership (those at the top of the organ-
ization) each division and department within the organization needs
to have someone who takes responsibility to work with the lead to
share information and provide feedback. This structure may already
exist and be used to cascade information around the organization.
However, if the structure is not in place, it is important to have iden-
tified it in the plan and to equip, train and support those who will be
drafted into the internal communication effort. Leaders must place
significant importance on this preparatory work to ensure it is not
overshadowed by demands from the public, stakeholders and share-
holders.

Channels
There are many ways that you can ensure messages are sent and
received around the organization during a crisis. Communication
teams should already have an internal communication or employee
engagement plan in place. This will provide details of how messages
are sent around the business, what channels are used, roles and
responsibilities, and the evaluation of awareness, engagement and
understanding. All the details can inform the internal communication
section of the crisis communication plan and the response that is put
in place. It is unacceptable to attempt to devise and establish chan-
nels of communication while a crisis is underway. You need to go
where people expect information to be shared and these channels can
include some of the below:
● face-to-face conversations
● briefings either in person or virtually
100 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

● visits by senior leaders

● internal social network systems
● organization’s intranet
● video messages
● e-newsletters and internal publications

The central consideration must be how much is shared through face-

to-face communication and how much is given remotely through
systems such as newsletters or the intranet. The decision on what to
share and through what channel will be dependent on the culture and
operating procedures of the business. If you are a business that runs
internationally with staff based at locations worldwide then you will
need to conduct much of the activity using technology. However, you
would also need to build in ways that the managers and leaders we
mentioned earlier will be able to undertake direct communication
with their teams. In a smaller business you could invest more time in
face-to-face communication. Effective communication cannot rely on
one channel or approach unless it is a highly structured workforce
that gathers all its information from one repository.
Within the crisis communication plan, you should identify the key
channels and when they will be used. In the early stages of a crisis
when broadcasting information is going to be the only possible
approach, you may use direct email, internal social networks and the
intranet to share the key statements and messages. As the situation
develops then other activities including face-to-face briefings and
visits by senior managers to key locations can be introduced. This is
part of the work required to map the approach and response ahead
of any issue or incident emerging.
In devising this plan ensure your employees have been segmented
so that you can ensure the right people are being reached by the right
information. This is something that is undertaken for external
communication activity but is rarely considered when working on
internal communication. However, mapping key audiences across
communication is essential and is the way to undertake consequence
management internally. In addition to having segmented the internal
TABLE 4.1 Example of employee communication and engagement chart

Channel Example Benefit Issues Engagement level

Central ● Memo ● Speed ● Lack of access to IT Low

● ● ●
communication Intranet story Scalability Can be ignored
issued ● Email

Noticeboard ● Poster ● Scalability ● Can be ignored Low

● Intranet ● Proximity ● Slow to update

Manager brief ● Cascade briefing process ● Personal ● Open to interpretation Moderate

● Team meeting ● Allows for questions ● Depends on manager’s approach
● Trusted source ● Requires time

Social discussion ● Blog ● Allows discussion ● Lack of central control High

● Internal social media platform ● Different viewpoints ● Challenges corporate position
● Intranet discussion forum ● Involves staff
102 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

audience, which may be done on job role, department, geographic

location or another key factor, when a crisis happens we need to
understand who is the most affected.
A crisis is like a pebble dropping into water. The pebble creates
many ripples across the water in the same way that a crisis will affect
some staff and departments more severely than others. If you have
undertaken some scenario development and testing this will assist
you in understanding where the ripples may flow. Develop the inter-
nal communication plan with the knowledge of the situation and
possible future issues that may emerge. Use the knowledge to outline
a staff engagement plan focusing on the specifics of the issue or inci-
dent. The success of the employee engagement during the crisis will
be linked to having taken time to consider the activity required in
detail and ensuring staff are recognized as a communication priority.

TOP TIP

Mapping the internal audiences can be done quickly if time has been in-
vested in developing and testing the crisis communication plan. Identify
which teams may have to work in difficult or challenging circumstances re-
sponding to the crisis and ensure that they are dealt with as a priority group.
Then work through the employees to find the touchpoints such as staff of-
ficially using social media, frontline staff (e.g. those working in shops or
meeting customers) and detail how, when and by whom they will be given
information and be involved in the developing response.

Remember that staff will also be gathering information about the

crisis through the external channels of communication, which may
be both media and social media. Therefore, it is essential to ensure
that the narrative is consistent across all communication activity,
whether internal or external. Messages given to staff must be clearly
aligned to the public statements that are made. If there is any discrep-
ancy between them, it will be recognized and has the potential
to impact negatively on trust and confidence in the business from
the public and staff. Remember that staff will also be digesting the
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 103

statements and interviews undertaken in the external communication

after an incident. Ensure honesty and consistency are in place to
maintain confidence. If you have developed a detailed crisis commu-
nication plan then you will potentially have identified ways in which
the employees can review and support the communication activity,
and they can provide a reality check for the messages that are going
to be circulated both externally and internally. Employees can provide
vital feedback on the communication, the response and the impact it
is having at a time when opportunities for wider consultation are
limited.

Messages: Getting the right words

Developing the narrative must take account of all the circumstances
that are currently known and available to whoever is leading the
communication. It will become the basis of all the communication
activity and is one of the most important aspects of the work that is
undertaken in response to a crisis. The messaging must provide
enough detail so people can understand what is happening and know
how they may need to respond or react. When dealing with the inter-
nal messaging the same principles of honesty, transparency and
proactivity will apply.
Staff need to understand what situation the organization is facing
and what it means for the business but more importantly for them as
individual employees. They need to fully understand this so that they
can work out the actions that need to be put in place within their area
of the business. There are two elements that are in place as part of
communication: operational and promotional. The operational
element is the actions that are required to achieve a satisfactory
conclusion to the crisis, and the actions that staff need to take. The
promotional element is the messaging and narrative around the crisis
that staff can help to share and explain to customers, stakeholders
and others. Internal messages should be built on the narrative or
core script with additional relevant staffing information provided.
As stated, with all the messaging it is important to hit the right tone
with what is said and how it is presented. At the heart should be an
104 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

understanding of the impact of the issue or incident on the staff

within the organization, and a recognition of the effort that will
be required from employees to address the situation and move
forward. Ensure the messaging is open and inclusive, talking with
staff rather than talking at them. Imagine you are working in a small
construction firm where a worker has been seriously injured. What is
said to staff should take account of the upset there will be among
colleagues and the potential for those who may have witnessed what
happened to feel traumatized. It will be important to remember this
and work with employees rather than to issue statements that appear
insensitive.
There is often an expectation from management that employees
will just continue to do their work without being affected by what
has happened. But if the reputation of the business is going to be
affected then it will have an impact on them and, as mentioned,
potential future employees who will be assessing the way the organ-
ization responds. The incident will be talked about among employ-
ees’ family and friends, which will reflect on them as members of the
organization.
The success of the crisis response will be built upon the efforts of
employees and this should continually be recognized within the
communication messages. Being able to mention specific groups of
employees or departments in statements and communication will
also be beneficial to building confidence from workers that manage-
ment fully understand what is taking place. If there are groups provid-
ing part of the early response or looking to get a grip of the issue that
has occurred, then recognize their hard work. It will give them a
boost but also demonstrate that management are supporting employ-
ees and are aware of the impact of the incident or issue. This recogni-
tion can be part of the internal statements. There is also an opportunity
to highlight this by showing the work that staff are doing behind the
scenes to manage the crisis. This can build confidence within people
looking at the response and activity, and also highlight and recognize
the work of employees involved.
Internal messaging must cover many areas, which can lead to
lengthy statements being drafted. It is more beneficial to split the
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 105

messaging so that it is in digestible chunks. If you have mapped your

employees so that you can identify relevant areas of communication,
then targeting messages to them will be easier. Dealing with the crisis
is taking the staff on a journey, so help them to build understanding
and momentum rather than throwing everything at them and expect-
ing they will be able to make sense of it in one go.
Ensure the internal communication activity has covered:

● details of the issue or incident;

● the action that the organization is taking to deal with the situation
and what the priority activities are;
● what is expected from staff at the current time and how they can
support the work that is taking place;
● how staff can find support if they are struggling due to the nature
of the issue or incident or because of the work they have been
involved with in the response;
● details of how further information will be communicated to them,
by what method and at what time.

The issue of the welfare and support that should be referenced and
included in internal communication will be covered in more detail in
Chapter 7.
All internal communication messaging should be personable and
from a recognized and identified senior leader or the CEO. Remember
the lead for employee engagement could be the HR manager, so
ensure they are named on statements so they are seen to be leading.
Statements that are issued without connection to a person become
impersonal and distance the leadership from the frontline staff, which
should be avoided when a crisis hits. Everyone needs to be working
together to find a way forward. Remember to consider what staff will
take from and feel about the communication that is provided. As the
situation develops, having them involved or able to quality assure the
messaging and activity will be beneficial to being effective. If you
have the structure that has been outlined where managers and leaders
across the organization have responsibility to be part of the commu-
nication network, then bring them in at an early stage to provide a
106 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

briefing and discuss the messaging. Listen to them and encourage

them to gather more views and provide feedback during the crisis
and into the recovery phase. It is the data and analysis that can help
ensure there is continued authenticity in the communication and that
it is meeting not only the organization’s needs but those of the
employees.
Developing plans for the messaging in the future is vital and should
happen in the early stages of the response once the initial pressure has
subsided slightly. Always try to be looking ahead considering what
may happen and how you can manage the communication around it.
Use the data and information that you have about the employees’
views and the issues they are facing, and any operational information
will be crucial to this understanding, to develop long-term employee
engagement plans. This will be vital as you move through the initial
phase into recovery. For many crises that are encountered the impact
can run for a long time, sometimes lasting for many years, with
debriefs, reviews, inquiries, reports and analyses that all have the
potential to negatively impact on the employees. This is covered in
Chapter 8, looking at long-running crises and recovery. There needs
to be a structure and approach that are agreed and ready to put in
place when a trigger event happens, to ensure staff are remembered.

Evaluating the impact

The challenge to communication activity is being able to evaluate the
impact that it has had, and this is still the case in a crisis. There is no
simple method of undertaking evaluation and each business will have
its own standard methods for evaluating how communication, both
internal and external, is working. What matters is that you have
outlined and put in place procedures to gather data and insight that
will support the evaluation that needs to take place. In establishing
the aims and objectives of the crisis communication plan you need to
identify how you will analyse whether you have achieved what you
set out to do. At this point it is important to remember to put SMART
objectives in place. Identify a focus that is specific, measurable,
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 107

achievable, relevant and time bound. Putting these in place at the

planning stage will support the evaluation process. Also ensure you
are clear when the evaluation will take place. For a long-running
crisis that takes place over many months or years there will be key
milestones and points along the way where evaluation is required to
assess the impact and look at the change that may be required in the
communication approach. In shorter crises it may be appropriate
only to evaluate the impact once the situation is under control. The
review of the impact should be kept at the forefront of considerations
when managing crisis communication.
There are two types of data: qualitative and quantitative. In under-
standing how successful your internal communication activity is, you
will need to have both. It may be that you have a strand of the work
that is focused on employee wellbeing and making staff aware of
what support is available to assist them. In this case the statistics on
the number of staff taking up those opportunities will assist in the
evaluation of the impact. But you also need to know what the level of
understanding is about the incident and the response and what it
means for the employees. Not all of that information will be forth-
coming when just looking at the numbers reached. Instead, take the
opportunity of organizing a focus group of staff or going out and
talking to them. You can then dip sample the awareness of the messag-
ing that was issued, assess what action it led the employees to take
and gather views on the morale of the employees.
If you are not already aware of the Barcelona Principles developed
by the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation
of Communication (AMEC)1 then it is worth reviewing them and
considering both your daily business and how they may assist evalu-
ation during a crisis. This will require a focus on outputs, outtakes,
outcomes and the organizational impact of the work that has been
carried out (see below). A baseline is required, and this should utilize
data and information that is in place before the crisis happens. Start
by considering the inputs, activities and objectives that you had
in place, before moving to the evaluation of the impact. Consider
the four Os:
108 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Outputs – these are the communication that you put out publicly or
share with staff. Consider who received it and who was the
intended audience. This can be measured through looking at the
internal email, intranet, staff events.
Outtakes – what the staff did with the things that you shared and
what they took from the communication. This could be measured
by looking at dip sampling awareness and understanding of the
messages.
Outcomes – this element considers the effects on the staff and whether
there has been any change in attitudes or behaviour. This can be
measured through reviewing trust and confidence in the
organization’s approach and activities.
Organizational impact – this is the ultimate benefit of the com-
munication work that is undertaken, to the organization and its
goals and objectives. This can be assessed through the data that is
held within the business, including retention of staff and the
tangible achievement of the goals that are outlined.

Organizations should have methods in place to track employee

morale, sickness and advocacy rates that can be assessed and
compared over time. This will be essential insight that will allow a
detailed communication plan to be developed to support the recovery
of the business. Track whether the crisis and any subsequent after-
math had an impact on the rates of support for the business. What
does it mean for the senior managers and leaders of the business?
What does it mean for the communication team and the activity they
have underway? How can you take the insight and improve the ongo-
ing employee engagement work? A crisis has the potential to have a
long-term impact on all those associated with the business, but
communicators must understand what that is and what it means, as
this will then inform future activities, plans and developments.

The future for staff

Dealing with a crisis can take its toll on employees, specifically those
managing the aftermath. Having effective communication in place
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 109

focused on employee engagement, not just telling people information

but listening, should be a priority for the communication teams and
the leadership of the business. The communication staff have a
balancing act to achieve as they must ensure enough time and
resources are dedicated to the conversation with employees and not
just the demands of media and social media. However, successful
crisis communication can only be achieved with a holistic approach
that brings all the activity together in one plan. This ensures consist-
ency and clarity across all the communication activity and can define
where resources are allocated.
Planning will ensure you are able to have the right systems and
processes in place to achieve the integrated approach to communica-
tion from the moment a crisis emerges. The structures will support
and assist this work. Leadership will recognize the responsibility to
deliver effective employee communication that embodies the values
of the organization and includes listening to staff, their views and
issues.
Any crisis is likely to be a long-term issue for the business. It will
appear, reappear and re-emerge at points in the future. Communication
teams must attempt to identify the trigger points for it to reappear,
and plan accordingly. It will ensure leaders are alerted and able to
develop the appropriate response. Increasingly this will include the
support for the wellbeing of staff. A crisis will test resilience at all
levels and ensuring the wellbeing of the staff will support the future
development of the business. Reputations are won or lost through
effective actions and handling of a crisis. If staff are supported and
cared for it will assist with the recruitment and retention of employ-
ees. Without it there is a possibility that staff will publicly voice their
concerns about the internal handling of the crisis, which will inten-
sify the pressure of the situation being managed.
Employees are fundamental to the effective response to a crisis and
should be central to the crisis communication strategy and the associ-
ated plans. Get it right with employees and you are more likely to
create an effective crisis communication strategy.
110 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

CASE STUDY
P&O industrial dispute

On 17 March 2022, P&O Ferries took the controversial step of sacking 800
employees with immediate effect. The move was criticized by the UK Government,
which called for the CEO of P&O Ferries to appear before the Transport Select
Committee a week later.2 New crew members were brought in, and services were
halted as they required training. New crews were made up of foreign workers
being paid below the minimum wage.
Communication to staff affected consisted of a prepared video message, which
was shown to staff who were then escorted off the ships. Later in the day the
company released a statement, which said that in its current state the business
was not viable. It added: ‘Our survival is dependent on making swift and signifi-
cant changes now. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries.
These circumstances have resulted in a very difficult but necessary decision, which
was only taken after seriously considering all the available options. As part of the
process, we are starting today, we are providing 800 seafarers with immediate
severance notices and will be compensating them for this lack of advanced notice
with enhanced compensation packages.’3
CEO Peter Hebblethwaite told the Committee that the company had acted out-
side of the UK law but stated that he would do it again.4 He said the action was
required to save the company but the comments at the Committee led to calls for
his resignation.5 Shortly after this happened one of the first ships with new crew
was detained in Northern Ireland as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said there
were ‘failures on crew familiarization, vessel documentation and crew training’.6
The job losses led to a number of reviews considering what could be done
about the situation. One of these reported in the Summer 2022 update from the
Insolvency Service concluded that there was ‘no realistic prospect of a conviction’
so they would not begin criminal proceedings.7,8 Despite the situation P&O Fer-
ries’ parent company DP World posted record profits for the first half of 2022 at
$721 million (£604 million). This was a 51 per cent increase, which the company
said had come as they focused on shipping cargo with higher profit margins.9

Key learning points

● Ensure that being human is at the centre of your communication approach. The
way you treat people affected by a crisis will be a significant factor in the way
the response is judged. In this situation the video message may have been
practical, but it demonstrated a lack of empathy with the employees. The
situation is exacerbated when the business is the source of the change or issue.
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 111

● Plan and prepare for business changes and announcements. Difficult and
challenging situations can be more effectively managed if they are subject to
careful planning and consideration ahead of any implementation.
● No organization should appear arrogant in its response to an internal crisis as
it can leave reputational damage. Taking an open and honest approach is an
essential part of effective crisis communication. Losing a positive reputation
can impact on recruitment, staff retention, customers and stakeholders. It
also ensures the media spotlight will remain on the business for some time,
putting all operations and decisions under intense scrutiny.
● In this situation, working carefully with stakeholders to alert them to the
problems the company faced, then building to the potential for redundancies
would have helped to manage the impact of the announcement.
● The crisis does not end when you say it ends. Many months after the situation
the investigations and other announcements including those about company
profits put the business back under pressure. In the case of P&O Ferries it led
to further calls for the CEO to resign. Preparing ahead and considering the
long-term impact of the crisis on people and the business is essential.

Conclusion
The human cost and impact of the crisis on people is the most impor-
tant aspect of the situation to consider when developing the commu-
nication response. The way that people are dealt with, both the
employees and those affected, will be fundamental to whether it is
seen to be a positive response from the organization. Employee
engagement is the foundation to any successful organization and
valuing staff remains important throughout the incident and into the
recovery phase.
It is more than just telling staff what is happening and providing
instructions; to be truly effective you should involve employees in the
crisis planning, approach, delivery and recovery. Part of this is to
ensure that staff are educated in both the crisis response and the
communication approach. They need to understand it and what their
role is in relation to it. This includes how they may be discussing the
situation, both with colleagues and publicly, including on social
112 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

media. Employees must recognize that their actions both at work and
at home can impact on the crisis response.
The internal communication activity requires a senior leader to be
working with the communication team, providing leadership and
ensuring it is driven at the top level, and seen to be as important as
the external communication and work with the media. The right
person taking this role will mean that swift actions and decisions can
be taken, and resources can be provided to support those working in
this area.
Understand the channels that you have access to, what works, who
it reaches and whether it is trusted as a source of information. Use
this to focus the internal activity on those who are the most appropri-
ate for the circumstances of the crisis. But ensure that no matter what
channel you are using, whether it is internal or external, the commu-
nication messages and narrative are consistent.
Finally, the employee communication must link to, and work
closely with, the welfare response that is in place to support the
affected employees. Staff that feel supported and cared for by the
organization are more likely to be aligned to the business and will
voluntarily give extra effort to the work that is required.

Notes
1 AMEC. Barcelona Principles 2.0, 2015. [Link] (archived at
[Link]/DU4U-6H4W)
2 M Weaver and P Walker. Downing Street urges P&O Ferries boss to resign after
800 sackings, Guardian, 25 March 2022. [Link]/business/2022/
mar/25/po-ferries-boss-should-quit-after-brazen-mass-sackings-says-shapps
(archived at [Link]/UD8Q-KY2B)
3 ITV News Meridian. P&O Ferries sacks 800 staff as part of ‘necessary’ cuts and
replaces them with agency workers, 17 March 2022. [Link]/news/
meridian/2022-03-17/p-and-o-ferries-suspends-all-sailings-ahead-of-major-
announcement (archived at [Link]/9DDV-PX9G)
 REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE 113

4 K Gilchrist. Britain’s P&O Ferries broke the law in laying off 800 staff, boss
admits, CNBC, 24 March 2022. [Link]/2022/03/24/britains-po-ferries-
[Link] (archived at
[Link]/9M98-ZATP)
5 J Meierhans. Calls for P&O Ferries boss Peter Hebblethwaite to resign grow.
BBC News, 25 March 2022. [Link]/news/business-60872294
(archived at [Link]/6594-QCG9)
6 M Badshah. P&O ferry detained over crew training concerns, says coast-guard
agency, Guardian, 25 March 2022. [Link]/business/2022/
mar/25/po-ferry-detained-over-crew-training-concerns-says-coastguard-agency
(archived at [Link]/V3K3-JN94)
7 BBC News. P&O Ferries won’t face criminal action over mass sacking of staff,
20 August 2022. [Link]/news/uk-62613625 (archived at
[Link]/T4Y2-898H)
8 The Insolvency Service. P&O Ferries: update from the Insolvency Service,
[Link], 19 August 2022. [Link]/government/news/po-ferries-update-
from-the-insolvency-service-19-august-2022 (archived at [Link]
UE3J-KJTL)
9 J Duggan. P&O Ferries: Grant Shapps calls for travel firm’s boss to resign over
mass sacking of 800 seafarers, i News, 19 August 2022. [Link]/
news/p-and-o-ferries-grant-shapps-travel-boss-mass-sacking-seafarers-1803851
(archived at [Link]
THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
 5

It’s tough at the top:

The role of leadership in a crisis

An essential ingredient for successful crisis management is the pres-

ence of strong and effective leadership. It isn’t just the person at the
top of the business who needs to demonstrate leadership skills; it
must be shown at every level of the structure for the response to the
crisis. We discussed the structure for dealing with a crisis in Chapter
1. Each person with responsibility for delivering an element of the
response must espouse the qualities required to help the organization
through the crisis, into recovery and on into a secured future.
In the previous chapter we discussed how confidence in manage-
ment from the employees is an important factor in the crisis commu-
nication response. This confidence must be built with the leadership
approach that is in place throughout the issue or incident. If employ-
ees have trust in the people managing them and feel they are being
given the right information and know what to do, then it can start
to build confidence. This must be information that is beneficial and
relevant to them. Leadership is about more than purely having an
effective system in place where plans are developed and disseminated.
It is more than just managing the situation. There are qualities
required in each leader to help steer the organization through the
challenging circumstances.
116 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Driving the crisis response

Responding to a crisis needs to be done swiftly and plans that have
been developed to assist the organization to be in a state of readiness
need to be implemented. The CEO of the organization, or the equiva-
lent role such as managing director, must be made aware of the situ-
ation at the earliest opportunity. They must be among the first to be
alerted to ensure they can mobilize the right people and ensure
processes are put in place to develop the operational response. It is
why the CEO must be involved in both the crisis planning and risk
management work that is undertaken. This is good business house-
keeping. The most senior person in the business should be driving the
company to have a state of operational readiness to face any circum-
stances that may arise. It is also true that whatever the CEO of a
business is interested in or concerned with will get the focus of the
rest of the employees. This means that if they show an interest in the
work to develop risk management and crisis planning, the rest of the
business will prioritize it.
Given the crucial role that the CEO has working alongside the
communication team during a crisis, they need to have been through
exercises and tests of the plans that have been developed. They have
very specific activities to undertake, as well as being in the spotlight
with the public, employees, media, social media and others, who will
all be looking in detail at what they do and how they do it as the
crisis unfolds.
If they don’t understand the requirements of the role of CEO in a
crisis, if they lack the skills and qualities, or they lack accountability
to step forward into the spotlight, then it will have a significant and
detrimental impact on the response. For the communicator attempt-
ing to work with a CEO who is not engaged with this area of work
during a crisis it will be a very challenging uphill struggle. The
communication will be affected if there is not strong crisis leadership
in place. But the communicator and communication team can help to
bring this issue to the forefront when developing a crisis communica-
tion strategy and use it to review the leadership capabilities. Be clear
about the communication requirements from the CEO and other
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 117

senior leaders when developing the crisis communication plan. It

may be that additional training or shadowing is required to build
the skills and resilience within the managers across the business. All
this work can be undertaken as part of the planning, reviewing and
testing of crisis plans.

Crisis leadership qualities

There are 10 key leadership qualities that need to be evidenced to
support effective crisis communication. A leader who can demon-
strate them all will put the organization in a more advantageous posi-
tion, and this should be something that all those leading organizations
are seeking to achieve.
The 10 qualities are:
1 Motivating
2 Consistent
3 Decisive
4 Compassionate
5 Visible
6 Ethical
7 Resilient
8 Responsible
9 Effective at communicating
10 Skilful at managing expectations

Motivating
The world will be watching the leader of a business when it is affected
by a crisis and everything they do and say will be analysed. Affected
people, customers and those involved want to have the confidence
that things are being effectively managed. Employees of the business
want to feel they are being given support to do what is required to
tackle the situation. All this requires the leader to be positive and to
118 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

take people with them, creating an atmosphere where staff feel they
will get through the challenging times. This can be achieved by the
leader demonstrating that they are leading from the front, and they
understand the impact of what staff are facing. A positive approach,
where the leader also consistently appears to be unflustered by what-
ever twists and turns the crisis takes, will benefit everyone. It builds
confidence and with that, employees will continue to do what is
required, safe in the knowledge that it will move the organization and
the situation forward.

Consistent
The importance of having a clear and consistent narrative about the
crisis that is understood across the business has been outlined in
previous chapters. Consistency is an important way to build confi-
dence in the response. The leader can achieve this by embodying the
brand values of the business. Organizations can move away from the
principles the business operates under when an issue or situation
develops. This is the easy option and will require fewer difficult deci-
sions to be made. However, it is when the organization is under pres-
sure that it needs to stick closely to the vision and ethos that it stands
for. This will be understood by employees and customers alike and
gives them some certainty during the moments of pressure. If the
leader at the top of the business is seen to embody the brand values,
then others will follow, which will build consistency across the organ-
ization and most importantly within the communication as part of
the response.

Decisive
Responding to a crisis requires swift action, which means quick deci-
sions need to be made. The leader needs to show they are in control
and are comfortable to take those decisions that will put actions in
place. This is not a time to waver and appear nervous about the task
that is ahead. It is why the leader needs to have been involved in the
crisis planning so they are able to move quickly into taking a decisive
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 119

role directing the response because they know the plan in detail. The
response must be swift but never appear hurried because haste brings
a flustered appearance and lack of control, and that in turn impacts
on confidence. A true leader will be able to listen to advice and guid-
ance that may be given by experts within the business and will show
how they are using that guidance to inform the actions that are being
taken. There is a careful balance that must be struck between being
directive and finding a way to be able to involve staff in the develop-
ment of plans. It is particularly important for the leader to show they
have listened to and heard the views of affected people, employees
and members of the public. A failure to listen and ensure a course of
action is in place will extend the lifetime of the crisis.

Compassionate
Historically, the public expectation of a CEO during a crisis was that
they would show resilience, calm and that they were taking action.
These elements are all still important but alongside this there is an
expectation of some humanity coming through the communication
and activity. We can see the authentic and compassionate voice come
through from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern1 in
response to the terrorist attack in 2019, covered in the case study at
the end of this chapter, or from the CEO of Alton Towers in 2015
when the focus of his response was on those injured in the roller-
coaster incident. People want to see that the emotion of the issue or
incident has been understood right to the top of the organization. We
see this in further detail in some of the case studies throughout this
book, particularly Alton Towers, discussed in Chapter 8. When public
statements are being made it is vital that they reflect an understanding
of the human cost of the issue or incident. Facts should not exist
without emotion and emotion should not exist without facts when
developing statements and messages about a crisis situation. It also
means that the leader needs to be able to show empathy and humanity
visibly in media interviews or any TV/video footage. Without some
emotion being evident the response will appear cold and impersonal.
However, they should not be viewed as hysterical in their approach,
120 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

which means another careful balancing act must be in place. CEOs

should allow their human response to the issue or incident to assist in
shaping the response, and if they do it with authenticity it will appear
as an acceptable form of emotion. The CEO must be approachable,
recognize the importance of the public response and deal with things
as a human being and not just the person in charge of the business.

Visible
A CEO who is not visible from the early stages of a crisis will be
viewed as hiding from the problem, which will reflect on the organi-
zation’s response. As we have seen, a swift recognition that there is a
crisis emerging or underway is vital to show situational awareness
and increase confidence that action is being taken. This visibility
needs to be in place throughout the duration of the crisis with the key
groups that have been outlined in plans, both public and staff. It does
create additional pressure on the CEO who is already facing a huge
burden of responsibilities, but there are other aspects of the response
that can be delegated to prioritize communication and being visible.
The CEO must utilize methods of communication to show they are
involved in the response, are directing events, but are also listening to
views and meeting with those affected. If another senior manager is
being used for communication that is fine, but at some point the CEO
must be seen to speak. Face-to-face communication with key staff
who have been affected or are heavily involved in the response is a
vital part of the employee engagement work. The same is true for key
external groups and individuals, including any victims, victims’ fami-
lies, affected people, stakeholders and shareholders. It is an onerous
task but one that is a key step towards effective crisis management
and moving towards recovery. At the heart of the communication
plan is that the CEO has a vital role as the face of the organization and
must step up to do this at some point in the early stages of the crisis.

Ethical
The leader must be focused on doing the right thing in developing the
response to the crisis and not on trying to protect the reputation of
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 121

the company. In 2006, two young children died in a hotel in Corfu

due to carbon monoxide poisoning. The tour operator, Thomas
Cook, faced significant criticism for its treatment of the family and
finally apologized after the inquest in 2015.2 Some form of apology
could have been given much earlier. A similar accusation could be
levelled at the leaders running Oxfam at the time of the sexual exploi-
tation allegations were made in 2018 (see the case study in Chapter 3).
Demonstrating an ethical approach is closely aligned to the humanity
that is an essential part of how the leader operates. The business must
operate within any ethical or legal frameworks and ensure the deci-
sion making is undertaken in line with these. But it goes further than
that – there is the court of public opinion to consider. Organizations
and leaders who put protecting the reputation of the business as the
top priority will make bad decisions based on flawed logic. They will
act based on facts and figures but at the expense of the emotion of the
situation. The approach should be based on doing what is required to
get through the crisis effectively while ensuring that the people
involved are supported. Again, in developing the action that is required,
consider how it will be viewed by people outside the business. This is
where the monitoring of media, social media and the views of the
employees is vital in assisting the planning. It is a crucial service that
the communication team can provide to the CEO and leadership team.

FIGURE 5.1 Example of a reputation tracker

Reputation tracker
6

0
April May June July August
Your business Competitor A Competitor B
122 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Resilient
Dealing with a crisis is exhausting and it will be the most pressured
time in any leader’s working life. The leader has an opportunity to
deal effectively with the situation and build their credibility in the
role. The same is true for the communication team who can build a
positive reputation through their handling of the crisis. But it can
also break them and the leader, damage their reputation and ulti-
mately put them out of a job. Leaders need to work on their own
development to ensure that they have the inner strength to face the
challenges and work through them. They need to appear as the face
of the organization as well as directing the activity and working out
long-term plans for recovery. It is a time of immense pressure that
they cannot show as they must maintain a level of composure
throughout. This doesn’t mean that they should neglect their own
psychological wellbeing as they, like all affected by potentially trau-
matic circumstances, should ensure they seek appropriate help. This
will be covered in Chapter 7 when we will look at resilience and
wellbeing in more detail.

Responsible
A crisis, as we have seen, will put a huge pressure on the leader of the
organization. They face operational demands, communication
requests and stakeholders that require managing. Everyone will want
to get a piece of them during the crisis response. There will be
demands for the CEO to carry out media interviews, union leaders
will want reassurances for the employees of the business and politi-
cians, business leaders and banks will all need to be engaged with.
This cannot be achieved by one person alone and the crisis response
team or the network of strategic and tactical leads is essential to
deliver the response. Effective crisis management is built on effective
teamwork, but the leader must take responsibility. If there is a diffi-
cult decision to be made, then they need to be the one to make it. If
there is an apology that needs to be made to affected people, then
they need to do it. They are the person who is accountable for the
issues or incident but more importantly for the organization’s
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 123

response to it. This means they need tactical advisers for areas of
work, with communication as one area, and they need to prioritize
their activities to ensure they are focusing on the most important
tasks that need to be carried out. They must also manage their time
effectively, which makes the role of their personal assistant in manag-
ing their diary a key part of the response framework.

Effective at communicating
All CEOs and senior leaders in organizations must understand the
importance of effective communication to support the business. It
means the communication team must demonstrate how they are
effectively contributing to the business priorities daily. This work will
assist when a crisis occurs, and the CEO or a senior manager must
become the key spokesperson for the organization. A leader needs to
not only understand the role of communication but they need to be
an effective communicator. They need to be able to speak to people
at all levels and across all sectors of society. They need to be able to
undertake the most challenging of media interviews, and they need to
know how to conduct themselves on social media. The latter element
is important, as many CEOs and senior leaders are regularly using
social media to engage with customers, service users and employees.
How they behave on social media during the crisis, including whether
they continue to post or not, will be subject to intense scrutiny.

Skilful at managing expectations

If the CEO has been able to share the narrative and engage with
people throughout the early stages of a crisis then they will build
trust and confidence in not just the business but in them as the leader
of the business. This is built through an honest and open style that
provides information based on evidence. They should manage the
expectations not just of the public but also of employees. If the situ-
ation is going to take some time to bring under control, then they
should say so with an explanation of why that is. If they require
additional specialist skills to help to deal with the issue, then again
explain this with the details of why. If the person at the top of the
124 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

organization provides this level of information with an honest

approach it will lead to trust and confidence in the response.

The right image

The 10 qualities show that the way the leader operates, the decisions
that are made and the words that are used are vital to the success of
the communication response. Remember we are in a visual world
where the way someone presents themselves is still a key factor in
how they are viewed by both the public and the media. Managing the
image of the person in charge is not just important during the response
to a crisis, it is part of the daily work of the communication team. It
may seem that this should not be important to the crisis response but
how the CEO appears is seen as a reflection of the health and wellbe-
ing of the organization. They are viewed as the leader or representa-
tive of employees.

TOP TIP

Simple things can make a big difference. A carefully ironed shirt and
appearing neat and tidy are ways to show visually that someone is in con-
trol. Attention should be given to the detail of the image that is presented.
First impressions still count both when appearing before the media and in
other interactions. If the leader is doing a TV interview, look at how the
camera is framing them and ensure it presents the right picture. If they are
talking to employees, ensure that they accurately reflect what is happening
and explain the role staff need to play. Depending on the crisis that has
emerged it may be more appropriate to choose a particular backdrop for
such messages. These backgrounds may be at certain venues, be with spe-
cific people or provide confidence through being alongside other agencies.

The image does not always have to be 100 per cent strong and in
control as mentioned when discussing the qualities; there can be
some humanity, empathy and vulnerability presented by the leader.
In considering this, the discussion must take account of the
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 125

circumstances of the crisis, the role of the business in creating and

managing the crisis, and the external tone and mood towards the
crisis. Use all this information to consider what the best approach
would be regarding strength and vulnerability. For example, if the
organization is partly responsible for the problem and is going to
make an apology, then ensuring that the understanding of the human
impact comes through is critical. However, if the organization is not
going to accept responsibility, then appearing to be emotional will
lack authenticity and be seen as a cynical ploy to gather support.
Therefore, the ethical strand of the qualities of leadership and
communication must always be in place.
Image is also important, as are the words that are used and the
personal delivery of the communication. Above all, authenticity must
be in place with a personal twist. Communicators can draft state-
ments, answers and narratives but if something is going to be attrib-
uted to the leader then that person must be comfortable that it reflects
how they would speak. They need to develop a personal connection
to the wording and presentation so a constructive dialogue about it
can exist. The communicator and the leader of the business should
have developed a working relationship before the crisis that will
allow this discussion to take place in an open and frank way. The
communicator must have the freedom and support to be able to
provide advice and guidance, and the leader needs to be comfortable
with the nature of the conversation. Ultimately, a leader who has
considered the clothes to wear and the way to look, along with devel-
oping a personal connection to what they are going to say, is likely to
demonstrate authenticity and increase confidence in the response.

Training leaders in communication

The look of the company spokesperson is important, but it is also
essential for them to have been effectively trained to deal with media
interviews, community meetings, stakeholder and shareholder meet-
ings and employee engagement. This training is vital to develop the
business as the head or executive team are running the organization
126 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

and will be put under the spotlight during a crisis. It is often a

neglected area of work for many reasons, including budgetary or
time pressures or an unwillingness from those at the top to undertake
media and communication training. Being able to sensitively sell
senior managers the proposition of training is something that the
lead communicator in the organization will need to do. It is why
skills such as influencing and negotiation must be key parts of the
abilities of the modern communicator. Consider such skills in any
training plan or professional development work. When a crisis hits,
the pressure quickly mounts on the person at the head of the business
and they must be able to respond swiftly, which means having all the
necessary skills in place. Take time now to be ready to respond in the
future. The leadership team must be involved in the development of
the crisis communication plans and the testing of them, as outlined
in Chapter 1. This will help to increase their readiness to deal with
a crisis. But the training must go further than just an awareness of the
crisis communication plan.
There is an element of performance that is required to manage the
communication around a crisis, but this should not be a negative
thing. With any performance there are rehearsals, people learn their
lines, they look the part and then they are confident to face the audi-
ence. In the same way the crisis spokesperson must have exercised
and reviewed the crisis communication plan and the organizational
crisis management strategy, they should know the communication
approach and the wording that may be used, they should know how
they want to look in the event of interviews at a time of crisis, and
should be trained so they feel able to face the communication chal-
lenges. Time spent in preparing, developing and training is time well
spent. It will mean the CEO, senior managers and spokesperson are
prepared and ready no matter what the crisis.

Who is the spokesperson?

In developing the spokesperson, we have focused primarily on the
role being carried out by the head of the organization, but although
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 127

this is what is usual it isn’t always possible or appropriate. In some

cases, the person at the top of the organization is so heavily involved
in the crisis that they may be unable to act impartially, or they may
not be seen as able to act honestly. In this situation you must ensure
you have the right person with the right qualities, as outlined earlier
in the chapter. Training the whole of the executive team to be able to
undertake the role of spokesperson in a crisis is advisable. When
considering the crisis media and communication training develop
something that can be rolled out to all the top team. Bringing in
specialist crisis communication advisers and trainers will allow this
to be undertaken in a confidential and independent way. Many senior
leaders will find it difficult to learn from a more junior member of
staff. The communicator can act as a specialist intermediary working
with both the communication and leadership teams.
The spokesperson must be able to commit a significant amount of
time to undertake the required media and communication activities
linked to the crisis. This includes undertaking media interviews,
developing digital packages, going to see key employees and speaking
to stakeholders. These responsibilities can be shared if the structure
is put in place to support this, focusing on consistency of messages
and a narrative that is clearly understood by all involved in commu-
nicating. If you are the CEO or managing director of a small company,
you need to be able to call upon support to manage the response and
the communication responsibilities. Think this through as part of the
planning.
All those involved in being spokespeople will also have to make
themselves readily available to the communication team. They should
be able to be called upon at a moment’s notice as the crisis develops
or may erupt. Every organization needs to have a duty rota for inci-
dents that happen out of office hours. This includes dealing with an
emerging media issue so that the communication team can contact a
senior person at a moment’s notice during the day or night. This
process should be written into the crisis communication plan as part
of the structure to deal with the time a crisis happens and becomes
known. But that level of access to senior leaders is essential through-
out the crisis so that issues can be challenged, responses provided
128 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

and the spokesperson can maintain the visibility that is required at

all levels.
Understandably if a crisis runs for an extended period of time, as
was seen with the Covid-19 pandemic, the spokesperson is unlikely
to be the same person, as they will face burnout. Even if the crisis
lasts for just 48 hours, as it will have a continuous requirement for
communication it needs a spokesperson and a deputy to be estab-
lished. The priority will be to keep the same face and use the same
spokesperson wherever possible but if essential the deputy can be
used. Both should have had the required media and communication
training to deal with a crisis and should understand the detail of the
crisis communication plan. A key to the effective working of this
relationship is for them to have a detailed understanding of the plans
and approaches, to have a confidence in their ability to communicate
and to keep consistency and continuity with the organization’s narra-
tive in relation to the crisis.
The spokesperson is a key role and should be supported with
advice and guidance throughout the duration of the crisis. This
includes providing opportunities to undertake proactive communica-
tion through available channels including media interviews and live­
streaming, recognizing rumours or inaccuracies that need to be
challenged and guiding the development of the narrative as the crisis
runs and changes. The communication team should be able to wrap
this support around the spokesperson(s) quickly and continuously.

Supporting the spokesperson

The development of the crisis strategy for any organization should
have a big focus on the structures that are in place to support effec-
tive decision making during the response. This is covered in detail in
Chapter 3 where we considered the role of command and control and
the approaches that can be taken to manage the operational response.
Having the right people in place to provide tactical advice is essen-
tial for leaders dealing with all elements of the crisis. The strategy, as
has been said, should already have been outlined and be ready to put
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 129

in place for any crisis no matter what the circumstances are. So, these
tactical advisers will be the bridge between the strategy and the tacti-
cal activity that is required specific to the incident or issue being
faced. One of these advisers will be the communication and PR lead
for the business. Others will represent specific parts of the business
and its operational activity, and possibly someone to lead on share-
holder issues. Plans and procedures must recognize the role of tacti-
cal adviser and put them in place at the start of the crisis to help those
making decisions. One of the most challenging issues is balancing the
advice from the legal adviser against that of the communication and
PR adviser. The first is focused on the best legal outcome for the busi-
ness, which will be based on not accepting liability unnecessarily and
on protecting the operation. However, the PR lead will be looking
at the moral approach and ensuring the future reputation of the
business remains positive. The potential battle between these two
often conflicting positions makes it essential for the communicator
to have a good working relationship with the legal team, and influ-
encing skills to be able to effectively argue the position to make an
apology or accept some form of responsibility. At the end of the day,
it will be the leader at the top of the organization who will be faced
with listening to the advice and deciding.

TOP TIP

Before going into a discussion with leaders about different approaches to a

crisis, ensure you have evidence to support the course of action you are
going to advocate. Legal representatives will bring case law to support them
in their advice to those leading the crisis response. To be able to challenge
the legal recommendations ensure you have case studies of previous crisis
situations and communication responses, can evidence the appropriate
action and manage any concerns about perceived risks in your approach.

Being a leader dealing with a crisis can be a very lonely place as you
take control and aim to ensure you are making the right decisions.
You do this all while under the media and social media spotlight. The
person at the top of the business must have enough resilience to be
130 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

able to absorb the pressure, keep a clear head for decision making
and be able to demonstrate a personal understanding about the issue
and its impact. It is the toughest test for any head of an organization
and their future will depend upon the successful management of the
incident. They need to remain positive to bring the team and the
organization with them in working through the crisis and building a
successful recovery. It is why they need to surround themselves with
tactical advisers who can provide information to ensure they are fully
briefed to make any required decisions. These individuals, as we have
said, will hold expert knowledge, and can advise on options and
possible outcomes within their area of expertise.
Negative communication and the use of terminology that will
damage the business need to be banned from discussions and from
any communication that is shared both internally and externally.
There is an inevitability that if the leader talks about failing to manage
the crisis it will transmit to the rest of the operational response and
the organization, who will then be building towards failure.
Throughout a crisis, only positive terminology should be used and
accepted. If we remember the BP Deepwater Horizon crisis, the
language used by the CEO complaining about the personal impact of
dealing with the disaster caused significant problems for the response
and recovery. On 20 April 2010 an explosion occurred at the oil rig
offshore south east of Houston. It caused the death of 11 crewmen.
Two days later on 22 April the rig sank, causing the largest oil spill in
US waters. BP CEO at the time Tony Hayward made a number of
statements during the crisis that were criticized, including downplay-
ing the impact in the early stages. On 30 May he told a reporter,
‘We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused to their lives.
There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do, I’d like my
life back.’ It was the comments about his own position that were
viewed as selfish by all those affected and their families.3
The same occurred in 2022 with the comments from a police chief
in the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting. His comments to a
journalist when he talked about the families who had been bereaved,
about waiting for them to ‘quit grieving’ sparked anger.4 Details are
outlined in the case study at the end of this chapter.
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 131

Ensuring staff wellbeing

When a crisis happens, it will put huge pressure on those involved in

the initial response who will feel the weight of acting quickly and
decisively. There will also be people deployed to support victims and
victims’ families or who may be involved in other sensitive areas of
work. There will be people keeping the business running despite the
crisis and there will be employees who may be going through difficult
times. All of these will need extra support and care to ensure they are
protected throughout the crisis. Wellbeing is an essential part of the
internal communication response when a crisis happens. It means
having the right services available to provide support to employees
who may be feeling the pressure. There are lots of services that can be
accessed so understanding what is available is an important part of
the preparations. Support could mean the need for an employee to
see a psychologist, to undertake some form of talking therapy or just
to have a chance to share views as part of a debrief.
The leader’s role must be to ensure this support is available but
above all to demonstrate empathy with any employees who feel they
need to access this support either during the crisis, at the conclusion
of the crisis or even in the months and years to come. It must not be
seen as a sign of weakness for an employee to ask for help or support
to manage the psychological impact of dealing with a crisis. The
person at the top of the business has the responsibility of creating a
culture where it is acceptable to ask for assistance and to access
support services. The enlightened leader will make it known that they
have received support or are going to access support services, so it is
seen as normal and not unusual. This will be covered in more detail
in Chapter 7.
Leaders must decide to stay and see things through or leave the
business. This may seem stark but it is the reality of any significant
crisis situation. There are lots of factors that will need to be consid-
ered before making the decision. Sometimes the situation is so devas-
tating, and the business is seen to be responsible, it will only be a
matter of time before there are calls for the person at the top to go.
An effective leader will recognize when this is going to happen and
132 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

where it may lead to long-term damage to the reputation of the busi-

ness and will make the decision to leave. However, in most cases
what is important is the person at the top taking responsibility and
showing that they will be in charge to see things through to their
conclusion. This will inspire confidence from the workforce as well as
customers, shareholders, stakeholders and the wider public. Visible
leadership ensures the crisis is managed and that building for the
future is guaranteed. Leadership is when you continue to run the
business through the crisis and into recovery even if you make the
personal decision to leave once you have moved past the recovery
phase.

Leader’s checklists
There are two checklists outlined below. The first is to assist the
leader facing the initial stages of a crisis, providing a simple list of
points to consider and elements to have put in place. The second
checklist is for long-term essentials of the response that should be
in place. These elements affect the ability to deliver effective crisis
communication.

FIRST HOURS CHECKLIST

● Ensure you have been fully briefed and understand the issue and its
possible future development.
● Head to the ‘war room’ or operational hub from where the incident is
being managed.
● Make direct contact with key stakeholders or shareholders to provide
an early alert that the crisis has occurred.
● Ensure you have the right clothes to undertake any media interviews or
attend any key meetings.
● Gather key tactical advisers together.
● Appoint a member of staff to provide support by monitoring required
actions and ensuring they are communicated to the right person.
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 133

● Identify the affected groups and individuals so they can be referenced

within the communication and be part of the future communication
activity undertaken.
● Meet with the communication lead to agree the initial narrative and
key messages.
● Walk through the operational areas of the business, if possible, to be
visible and offer support to those on the frontline of tackling the issue
or incident. If this cannot be done physically then ensure there are
online opportunities to connect such as virtual drop-in sessions. These
areas will be defined by the nature of the crisis. If this is a reputational
issue, then being visible within the communication and PR office will be
welcomed.
● Establish a meeting structure and timetable for regular updates to be
provided to the leader.

FUTURE ACTIVITIES CHECKLIST

● Have a programme of visits in place, either in person or virtually, to

speak to the most affected employees face to face and ensure all key
departments are visited. Even if the visit has not happened, knowing
that it is going to take place will benefit staff.
● Welfare services should be in place and details of how to access them
communicated, as well as managers being encouraged to refer people
for help if they have any concerns.
● Ensure a consequence management unit is in place and that
stakeholder and shareholder briefings have been mapped.
● Instigate the programme to debrief the response and review the
activity that was undertaken.
● Receive a review of the impact of the crisis on the reputation of the
business.
● Evaluate the communication plan and ensure there is continued
proactivity built into the ongoing communication approach.
● Establish a group of staff to take forward any recommendations from
reviews and debriefs that will embed any changes that are required and
track developments.
134 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

● Review the structure of the response and identify any areas for
development, including recommendations on training and exercising of
the plans that are required in the future.
● Ensure a continued open, transparent and positive approach to
communication.

CASE STUDIES

New Zealand terror attack and Uvalde school shooting: What do they reveal
about leadership in a crisis?

New Zealand attack

On 15 March 2019 there was a terror attack in New Zealand targeting mosques
where worshippers were praying. Fifty Muslim worshippers were murdered in the
attack, which was partly livestreamed on Facebook. The leadership of the country’s
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern received widespread praise from across the world.
She very quickly appeared on television and made a strong statement on what
had happened, which demonstrated strength as well as compassion. It was an at-
tempt to be a unifying voice at a time when there would be concern and distrust
between communities.
Her initial statement included these lines:

Our thoughts and our prayers are with those who have been impacted today.
Christchurch was the home of these victims. For many, this may not have
been the place they were born. In fact, for many, New Zealand was their
choice.
The place they actively came to and committed themselves to. The place
they were raising their families, where they were part of communities who
they loved and who loved them. It was a place that many came to for its
safety. A place where they were free to practice their culture and their religion.5

The words were very powerful and created a direct connection between the
victims and their families, New Zealand and herself. Ardern consoled the victims
and their families in person and in giving statements showed humanity when she
appeared upset. She appeared at events to mourn those who died and respectfully
wore a hijab. Ardern also offered to cover the funeral costs for the victims.
In a widely publicized move, she refused to speak the name of the man respon-
sible for the attack so that he did not receive the notoriety that he craved. It was
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 135

a position she continued to hold throughout the crisis. In addition to the initial
response, she moved quickly to talk of reform to the New Zealand gun laws, which
showed decisive action to make a difference and learn from the crisis.

Key learning points

● Remember the small things that demonstrate caring and compassion, such as
Ardern wearing the hijab.
● As well as a positive response to the events the leader needs to be finding
ways to learn from events and make changes.
● Keep those affected at the centre of your response and your communication
about the incident.
● Leaders can show humanity and vulnerability and still be seen as strong and
decisive.

Uvalde school shooting

Nineteen children and two teachers were murdered in a shooting at Robb

Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, USA on 24 May 2022. The situation emerged
at 11.30am when a teacher called 911 to report a car crash and a man with a gun,
who minutes later started shooting through classroom windows. Five minutes
later three officers from Uvalde Police Department entered the school and a
further four followed but found the door locked.6
At 11.41am a police sergeant and US border agents arrived, and the rest of the
school was evacuated. Parents had to be held back by police as they tried to gain
entry to the school. Moments later parents pleaded with police for officers to
enter the building. By 12.03pm there was a 911 call from a child in the classroom,
who called a further three times in the following 10 minutes. The child said peo-
ple had died but some were still alive. It was 12.38pm when an ambulance arrived
at the school and at 12.47pm a second child called 911 saying ‘please send the
police now’.
A Border Patrol Tactical unit officer used janitor’s keys to unlock the door and
after further shots were fired the gunman was killed. Police announced at 1.06pm
the shooter had been stopped. The police released inaccurate information and
faced significant criticism that they had been slow to respond and to tackle the
gunman. Governor Greg Abbott said he had been ‘misled’ about the police re-
sponse when he spoke at a press conference shortly after the shooting happened.7
In the weeks that followed the police continued to defend their response and
claimed officers risked their own lives without hesitation. Parents criticized the
response as being chaotic and slow.8
136 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

The problems were compounded when the Uvalde Police Department chief
Pedro Arredondo was challenged about not working with an investigation into the
shooting by the Texas Department of Public Safety. He said more information
would not be released and then said to the CNN reporter ‘We’re going to be re-
spectful to the family,’ he said. ‘We’re going to do that eventually. Whenever this
is done and the families quit grieving, then we’ll do that obviously.’ This again led
to outrage at the phrase ‘quit grieving’, which demonstrated a lack of humanity,
empathy and compassion.9
In July a report by the committee of state legislators found ‘systemic failures
and egregiously poor decision-making’. It highlighted a lack of leadership and
urgency and a ‘lackadaisical approach’ by authorities.10 In August the police
officer in charge of the law enforcement response, Pete Arredondo, had his con-
tract terminated with immediate effect at a meeting of the Uvalde Consolidated
Independent School District’s board.11

Key learning points

● Information should be accurate and provided as swiftly as possible,

particularly to those who are affected by events. With this situation there
were complaints of inaccuracies, delays in information and mixed messages.
● People must be at the heart of the response, and with so many people
affected the communication should have centred around an apology,
reparation and support to the families and children.
● Language really does matter and the poor choice of words by the police chief
will impact on those caught up in the emergency. All communicators or those
delivering messages during a crisis should take care with the words they use
and consider how they will be received by those affected by the situation.
● Those at the top of the business should be trained to effectively deliver crisis
communication. They should have a strong background in crisis leadership
and training to balance the demands that they will face. This includes
managing uncertainty, dealing with inconsistencies and taking decisive action.
● Apologies are important and should be considered within all crisis
communication plans. There are times when it is not relevant but where there
has been a significant failure by the organization it is important to proactively
say sorry. Where corrective action can be taken it should be done quickly and
the error minimized. However, any apology should be genuine and be about
more than just words; the actions taken are critical to demonstrate the
sentiments in the statement.
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 137

● In planning for a crisis response, identify agencies that will also be involved
and discuss approaches to communication. This will assist when a situation
emerges and will help to coordinate the response. Organizations should help
people make sense of what has happened and working together can assist this.

Conclusion
Every crisis requires strong leadership to be in place. But this is not
just from the CEO or the person in charge of the organization; it is
important for everyone managing staff at all levels across the busi-
ness. Obviously the CEO has a critical role, even if they are not the
spokesperson at the start of the crisis. Remember the CEO will have
many responsibilities and may be unable to devote the required
amount of time to the communication demands. They must speak
about the crisis before the incident has progressed too far, otherwise
they will face criticism for appearing to hide from the events. Involve
the CEO in the crisis communication planning so that the role and
actions can be discussed before any situation emerges.
There are 10 leadership qualities that are essential for the crisis
communication response. Among them are the importance of consist-
ency and that is grounded in a rational approach to the events.
Emotion is acceptable because authenticity is essential to the response
from the CEO or person at the top. Leaders need to understand and
recognize the importance of communication in a crisis but also in
ensuring that the response is ethical and not rooted solely in protect-
ing the reputation of the business or them as a leader.
CEOs need to be trained and accept feedback on how to present
themselves. They have one chance to make the right impression so
preparation is key. Formal training is important alongside identifying
strong and successful leaders who they can study who have commu-
nicated effectively.
Train a number of people to undertake the spokesperson role. The
right person will be required and with the pressure on that activity
there needs to be a group of people who are ready to undertake the
138 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

role. Ensuring resilience of the people involved in the response and of

the organization’s approach is essential. The more people who are
able to do the role, the easier it will be to find someone to act as
spokesperson in the critical initial stage.
If you are a leader, be prepared to listen to advice and recognize the
knowledge of those around you who can be trusted advisers. Use
their experience and the elements of the crisis communication plan,
such as checklists, to support and guide you. If you are a communica-
tor, ensure that the crisis communication plan includes checklists,
guidance and support for leaders at all levels and critically for the
CEO.

Notes
1 B Britton. New Zealand PM full speech: ‘This can only be described as a
terrorist attack’, CNN, 15 March 2019. [Link]/2019/03/15/asia/
new-zealand-jacinda-ardern-full-statement-intl/[Link] (archived at
[Link]/ZPL6-L2BD)
2 J Bourke. Thomas Cook: From a tragedy to corporate disaster, Independent,
19 May 2015. [Link]/news/business/analysis-and-features/
carbon-monoxide-deaths-from-a-tragedy-to-a-corporate-disaster-for-thomas-
[Link] (archived at [Link]/C2NY-6LM7)
3 T Jaques. Lessons from an oil spill: how BP gained – then lost – our trust,
The Conversation, 22 April 2015. [Link]/lessons-from-an-
oil-spill-how-bp-gained-then-lost-our-trust-40307 (archived at [Link]/
JTB9-HCZP)
4 A Cooper, S Prokupecz and E Levenson. Uvalde school district police chief
declines to answer CNN questions in first public comments in a week, CNN,
1 June 2022. [Link]/2022/06/01/us/uvalde-shooting-police-chief-
pete-arredondo/[Link] (archived at [Link]/J4XN-WZ6X)
5 B Britton. New Zealand PM full speech: ‘This can only be described as a
terrorist attack’, CNN, 15 March 2019. [Link]/2019/03/15/asia/
new-zealand-jacinda-ardern-full-statement-intl/[Link] (archived at
[Link]/ZPL6-L2BD)
6 L Keay. Texas school shooting: The full timeline of police’s response to
massacre, Sky News, 28 May 2022. [Link]
shooting-the-full-timeline-of-polices-response-to-massacre-12622366 (archived
at [Link]/7YHM-ESQV)
 IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP 139

7 J Fechter and R Oxner. ‘The wrong decision’: Texas DPS says local police made
crucial error as school shooting continued, Texas Tribune, 27 May 2022.
[Link]/2022/05/27/uvalde-school-shooting-police-errors/
(archived at [Link]/R7W9-MB4R)
8 BBC News US and Canada. Texas school shooting: Uvalde school police chief
defends mass shooting response, 10 June 2022. [Link]/news/world-
us-canada-61685119 (archived at [Link]/SX97-GQ87)
9 A Cooper, S Prokupecz and E Levenson. Uvalde school district police chief
declines to answer CNN questions in first public comments in a week, CNN,
1 June 2022. [Link]/2022/06/01/us/uvalde-shooting-police-
chief-pete-arredondo/[Link] (archived at [Link]/J4XN-WZ6X)
10 BBC News US and Canada. Texas shooting: Uvalde report finds ‘systemic
failures’ by authorities, 18 July 2022. [Link]/news/world-us-
canada-62200507 (archived at [Link]/GZD2-QQJS)
11 C Phillips and D Katz. Uvalde school police chief fired 3 months after botched
response to school shooting, NPR, 24 August 2022. [Link].
org/2022/08/24/1119340765/uvalde-pete-arredondo-fired-school-police-chief-
robb-elementary (archived at [Link]/DQ3W-ZGXN)
THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
 6

The impact on the community:

Managing the consequences

People judge the way organizations and businesses deal with a crisis
and are heavily influenced by the way that affected people are treated.
If you treat the people who have suffered because of the crisis well,
whether it was as a result of something the business has done or not,
then you will receive recognition for it. Society is about people and
regardless of how efficiently you deal with the issue, if you have not
taken into account the people involved and the ways in which they
are affected it will not be effective crisis communication. It is vital to
have understood who the affected people are within the incident or
issue you face. Earlier in this book we looked at the crisis and its
impact, likening it to a pebble being thrown into a still pond. The
pebble hits and then leaves ripples that are strong close to the pebble
but are weaker further away. This is the same for the impact of a
crisis. There are those who will be directly affected by the issue or
incident and are at the centre, but you cannot forget the impact on
others around or on the fringes of the crisis. Organizations must
ensure they are able to work with and support people while ensuring
that the communication is respectful and sensitive to the situation.
Communication plans must be focused on the human aspects of
the issue or situation that the business is dealing with. Failing to
include this will impact on the effectiveness of both the response to
the crisis and the move to recovery. In Chapters 1 and 3 we discussed
the importance of looking at the community who will be affected by
the crisis and its aftermath. This is where consequence management
142 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

has a key part to play. In preparing for a crisis, the way consequence
management will work and the support that will be available for
those affected including victims and victims’ families must be detailed.
It is vital to have a clear understanding of what, or who, your organ-
ization’s community or communities may be.

Who are the community?

Defining the community for your business and set of circumstances
can be quite problematic. It requires work to have been carried out to
map stakeholders, understand customers and identify scenarios
before any crisis happens. Having an existing stakeholder map is an
important part of everyday communication. When a crisis occurs it is
a resource that can help you to progress quickly to identify those key
individuals or groups that you need to engage with. Each of these
must consider both the internal and external audiences and be regu-
larly reviewed and updated to take account of changes. Changes can
be to the product or services, in personnel or the environment the
business is working within. The affected people can be defined in
many ways, from being from a geographic location, already an exist-
ing community in some form, service users or those caught up in the
incident or issue. There will also be the internal community to
consider, which we outlined in Chapter 4, looking at the impact on
the workforce. Identify those who may be adversely impacted by
the crisis and others who may be key stakeholders to the response
so that you can use the data and information to develop the most
efficient plan.
All this information needs to be readily available and understood
by those leading the communication response to the crisis. It is not
something that can, or should, be done on the spur of the moment
when the crisis has emerged and is developing. Preparation is key and
gives the ability to move quickly, put structures in place and to start
managing the impact of what has happened. The three key aspects
of managing the consequences are: stakeholder mapping, customer
definition and impact analysis. They are defined as follows.
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 143

Stakeholder mapping
This is the process of outlining who the key stakeholders are for the
business. Stakeholders are simply those people or organizations who
have an interest and influence within the business. In most cases they
will be employees, investors, customers, suppliers, regulators or other
interested groups. The situation can change depending on the sector
that the business operates in, for example whether a private company
or a public or governmental body. A stakeholder map is a visual
representation of these groups, which makes it easy to group them
under certain characteristics; again this will be of vital importance to
developing the communication plan. They are usually characterized
according to the level of interest they have in the business and the
amount of power or influence they may have that could impact on
the business. There are a range of processes that can be undertaken
to carry out stakeholder mapping and you can involve specialist
companies to do the work for you.
However, there are four key steps:

1 Identify the stakeholders

2 Analyse the stakeholders
3 Prioritize the stakeholders
4 Develop engagement with the stakeholders

In each of the maps (Figures 6.1 and 6.2) you can see four boxes. The
top right is for those with influence and with a high level of interest.
This group needs regular updates and engagement rather than broad-
cast communication. The bottom right is for those with influence but
little interest and these require promotion-style communication. The
top left is for those with interest but little influence, requiring regular
communication, and the bottom left is for those with little interest or
influence and you may provide minimal updates to these groups.

Customer definition
An analysis of the people who use the service or buy the product
created by the business will inform the customer profile. This could
144 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

FIGURE 6.1 Example stakeholder map for public organizations

Public Partner agencies

Community groups Health services

Interest level

Media

Former service users

MPs

Influence level

FIGURE 6.2 Example stakeholder map for businesses

Customers Shareholders

Financial authorities
Interest level

People living near premises Media

Public
Public sector organizations

Influence level

involve the use of tools such as MOSAIC, which is a business

model that uses extensive data sets to categorize people to increase
the possibility of successful cross-channel communication. It was
developed by Experian Limited and is used by many marketing
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 145

departments. If this model or others are being used by the marketing

department then discuss with them access to use it to benefit
communication activity.
Systems can access significant amounts of data and then analyse
them to provide a picture of the groups that can be classified as
customers. Data and information that is available from customer
services teams will also assist in developing this picture. The customer
definition will always assist in targeting goods and services and is
valuable not only at the point of a crisis emerging. The key is to
understand who the customers and service users are and their likely
characteristics, which allows improved targeting of communication.
For example, if you are a small retailer operating in an specific loca-
tion then you can understand how people access information to use
this to target communication more effectively.

Impact analysis
This can, and should, be part of the risk management process that is
in place for the business. It will look at the issues that may affect the
organization and then consider how they could impact on the busi-
ness at all levels. There will be statistical information and data to
assist in the process but alongside this it requires qualitative data that
will consider the customer experience and review similar issues that
may have affected rival or competitor organizations. For each
scenario that will have been considered and outlined as part of the
planning and testing process there should be some form of impact
analysis available.
The risk impact information is essential insight to support the
development of a bespoke crisis communication approach for the
problem at hand. When the situation emerges, refer to the work you
have done and look at how it can assist in identifying who has been
impacted by events, what you need to say to them and how to start
saying it. Understanding the potential impact of scenarios is a vital
part of the crisis preparedness work. For example, if you have
con­sidered the impact that a data loss or breach may have for the
business, you will already understand the key connections to other
146 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

organizations, who is affected and what it means to them. Considering

this ahead of time helps in making swift progress.
Reputational issues have to be played into this process. If it is left
to the accountants and lawyers then it will focus on financial and
legal aspects but fail to take account of the impact that an issue may
have on the reputation of the business. As we have discussed in
Chapter 2, the impact of a reputational issue can be serious enough
to lead to the end of the business or significant financial losses.
Communicators have an important role to play in reviewing and
updating the impact analysis to ensure it captures these factors.

Think bespoke
Once an issue or incident has occurred and a crisis is on the horizon
the three elements must be reviewed and updated considering the
specific circumstances that are being faced. This will help to define
the community, and individuals, that are affected by the situation. In
preparing communication, the narrative and any materials must take
account of the groups that have been identified. A ‘one size fits all’
approach will only be acceptable in the very short-term initial stages
of the crisis being declared. Very quickly after that, as we have already
outlined, the organization should have a plan in place to deal with
the situation at hand. Within this the communication can start to be
targeted to reach the audiences that have been outlined.
It is important to remember to consider all aspects of the diverse
communities and individuals that will be involved in the communica-
tion plan. With the speed of communication in the initial stages of a
crisis it is easy to forget to consider diversity, so ensure that you have
reviewed it in the planning and preparation for a crisis.

Ensure inclusivity
Crises intensify situations. If there is a challenge in connecting with
audiences ahead of a crisis then it will only become more problematic
when you are dealing with events. The crisis puts a spotlight on the
effectiveness of communication. When crises emerge they have the
ability to exacerbate inequalities that may exist within communities
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 147

or society. This has been discussed in academic studies of the Covid-

19 pandemic and the impact it had on increasing inequalities. One
study featured in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
of the United States of America, identified that: ‘Crises lay bare the
social fault lines of society. In the United States, race, gender, age and
education have affected vulnerability to Covid-19 infection’ and
concluded with the point that ‘Strategically deployed relief efforts
and longer-term policy reforms are needed to challenge the perennial
and unequal impact of disasters.’1 So, our communication needs to
consider diversity, equality and inclusivity from the moment we have
to acknowledge the crisis has happened.
Start by understanding exactly who is affected by what has
happened. Which communities may be at the heart of the crisis?
Communities do not have to be about just geographic locations but
can be around a theme, issue or interest. Who are these communities?
Where are they based and how do they receive information? Even
more importantly what sources of information do they trust? These
questions will help you to ensure that you gather the required detail
to move on to considering the communication that may be required.
Remember that you will be considering the situation from your own
perspective and viewpoint. This means you will assess what has
happened from the point of view of your own knowledge and experi-
ence, and this may also be influenced by the organization you are
working for. Gathering alternative perspectives and listening to
different voices about the crisis, the impact of it and what it means
for different communities is essential insight to gather as soon as
practicable.
When you have identified who is affected consider what data and
insight there is about them. How have they reacted to previous crises?
Are they already connected to the communication from the business?
Do they care about the issue that has emerged? If there is no relevant
research and data that can assist, consider undertaking some insight
gathering of your own. Look at what quick consultation could be
done, or how a third party may be able to develop the necessary insight.
Once the information is available you can review and consider
how this refocuses your communication. Are there communities that
148 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

need to be a priority for you? What groups don’t connect with the
business but are affected by what has happened? This should then
shape your communication towards becoming more inclusive in its
approach. During the Covid-19 pandemic the UK Government
needed to refresh and refocus its communication, which was attempt-
ing to address society as a whole but did not connect with many,
including the Black and Asian communities. This is featured in a
government report on tackling inequalities during the pandemic. On
communication it concludes: ‘Using a wider range of channels and
approaches to communications were crucial to reaching audiences
who might not always engage with traditional media. Tailoring
content and partnering with specialist media helped to cut through
and to land messages.’2
It is beneficial to find a way to hear directly from the communities
affected to understand what is needed from the crisis communica-
tion. In developing these approaches communicators need to be
aware of their own biases in delivering communication. Perhaps there
are assumptions about the impact of media outlets, or that social
media connects with all key groups. Ensure your crisis communica-
tion is rooted in evidence and research on communities, the impact of
communication and issues that matter.
In addition to building a crisis response that is diverse and inclu-
sive it is also essential to review the language that is used. Our
language can easily be misunderstood, confused or in the worst case
be offensive to people. Consider carefully the wording you are going
to use and if possible test it on a diverse range of groups or individu-
als who can provide advice. This is something that can be developed
as part of crisis preparedness and does not have to wait until a situa-
tion emerges. In the development of crisis plans assess the language
you would seek to use and what impact it has, both positive and
negative, and use the feedback to refine your plans.
As the crisis develops ensure your approach provides bespoke and
not just blanket communication. Communication should become
tailored to those affected, those interested and those involved at the
earliest moment possible after the initial communication about an
issue emerging. If you are working globally being aware of cultural
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 149

differences, traditions and history is essential. Use your understand-

ing, or that of a locally based adviser, to inform your content,
approach and language. Where possible we need to approach commu-
nication by recognizing the individuals that are involved and the
groups they may be connected to.
Understanding intersectionality is essential throughout the crisis
communication activity, which is why understanding customers and
stakeholders is vital. People cannot be characterized in simple group-
ings, as they may be impacted in a number of ways. For example,
they could be in a disadvantaged group, live in a specific area or have
a certain background, and all of these could overlap. This needs to be
considered to ensure your communication approach becomes more
sophisticated. There will be a whole range of communication chan-
nels and platforms that will have to be considered and having good
links to them before an incident happens is important. Organizations
should consider having diversity leads who work both within the
business and also help to identify those key stakeholders and commu-
nity leaders outside of the business. This will all be beneficial to the
consequence management activity and crisis communication plan.

What is consequence management?

In Chapter 3 we outlined in some detail the issue of establishing
consequence management to support the response. It will be part of
the roles and responsibilities detailed in the crisis communication
plan and has a key part to play in ensuring consistency across commu-
nication activity. While consequence management is very much asso-
ciated with the crisis response from public agencies it can be
introduced to all forms of crisis communication management. Public
agencies use consequence management to ensure vital services
continue and to manage and mitigate problems.
Consequence management does exactly what it says it will. It anal-
yses the consequences of the crisis and the response in all forms, both
intended and unintended, and then looks at how these things can be
managed most effectively in the days, weeks and months to come.
150 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

The consequences are those ripples that appear on the water and
being able to identify them and put mitigation in place is an impor-
tant skill for the communicator. The focus must be on minimizing the
detrimental impact of the crisis on stakeholders, customers, employ-
ees or the wider public. It may be that there has been a breakdown on
the production line, which is the crisis. Consequence management
would define who would be adversely affected by this incident, which
may be delivery drivers, shops or franchisees, current customers,
future customers, people living near the factory. The list could
continue and as you can see, the key is to be open to looking at all
possible groups or individuals that may be affected. In repairing the
problem you may have another impact on those involved and this
requires additional consideration. The system needs to be in place to
be able to undertake this with the right people who can then support
the business and communication in managing the crisis. It should
build resilience within the organization, reduce negative impact from
the events, identify key groups to support, identify opportunities for
communication and manage any protest groups and individuals.
There are several ways that the consequence management element
of the crisis response can operate, depending on the scale of the inci-
dent and the potential impact it could have. It can be run with key
participants all sat together in a room near the crisis incident manage-
ment room, or it can be run as a virtual meeting with people dialling
in to a conference call. The approach taken will depend on the organ-
ization and the issue, but you should make it fit easily within the
crisis management framework. Consequence management brings
together representatives from the operational response, customer
services, legal services and communication. Other roles can be added
as required. It is a strand of the crisis plan and as such needs to have
a named lead individual to oversee it and make key decisions. This
must not be a communicator as they will be needed to deal with other
areas of the response. In developing plans, you can train and establish
a cohort of consequence management leads that can be called upon
when an incident occurs.
A meeting of the consequence management group should take
place quickly after the crisis has been identified so that it can start to
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 151

report into the crisis management structures. It will assess the situa-
tion with the support of those involved in the group and will then
produce a plan detailing the activities as the situation develops. The
first key task for the group is to carry out the impact assessment so
that the affected groups are identified. It may assist if this informa-
tion is then plotted on a heat map showing where activity needs to be
prioritized.
The communication team will ensure that the narrative and infor-
mation that is provided about the situation is shared with the conse-
quence management team who can then use it to develop further
communication to critical groups. The communication contact sitting
with the consequence management group will be able to review the
communication to ensure consistency as well as identifying oppor-
tunities for proactive communication. Information needs to flow
quickly and freely between the communication team and the conse-
quence management team. This includes updates on the media and
social media monitoring, mood evaluation and public confidence
assessments, which can all support both areas of work.

Working with those affected and their families

In some crises there will be people who are so severely affected that
they should be categorized as victims, and together with their friends
and families they will be a critical group to the management of the
incident or issue. The term ‘victim’ can be seen as negative and some
people may be concerned about the impact of it as a label, so you
may consider using the term ‘affected people’. They are the people
who in the most serious cases have been hurt, damaged, killed or
have suffered because of the situation and possibly actions related to
it. The impact needs to be assessed based on the circumstances but
those affected could have suffered financial loss, loss of services, been
inconvenienced or left isolated, or experienced psychological impact.
As we have said, the way we respond and support these people and
their families will be one of the most important ways by which the
crisis response will be judged. Talking about people as victims may
FIGURE 6.3 Example of a consequence management heat map

Likelihood
90

80

70

60

50

Impact
40

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Each point represents an issue or consequence of the crisis. The ones with a high impact and high likelihood are red ,
high impact and low likelihood or low impact and high likelihood are amber and low on both scales are green .
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 153

feel a little strong if the situation does not involve a criminal or terror-
ist act but you can see them as the people most severely impacted by
the situation. What you call them is irrelevant; it is how you recog-
nize them and put actions in place to support them that matters. I
will use the term victims to refer to those most significantly affected
by the incident or issue.
The victims of a crisis could be the individual who faces illness
because they have been caught up in a food contamination situation.
They could be the people who have bought goods only to have been
left waiting for them to be provided because of a delivery failure.
They could be the people living in an area that is flooded or is left
without electricity or other services. They could be those with a
protected characteristic or part of a specific group that are reputa-
tionally impacted by the situation. How you support them must be
a central part of the response. Is the business being accountable for
what has happened, and showing empathy and caring about what
has happened? They should also be at the heart of the communica-
tion approach and activity. Focusing on the impact on the business
and its reputation will appear heartless and uncaring, leading to a
negative view of the response. People are what matters in the crisis
communication plan.
The business needs to have defined who will be best placed to
support and liaise with the victims. It could be that you have specially
trained individuals from a customer service background who have
the required skills to support the victims. Alternatively, you may
recognize individuals within the team who have the necessary abili-
ties to perform the function effectively. Being a support to victims can
be very challenging and will test the resilience of the employee. They
should be given every support to undertake such a role, with training
beforehand if possible and welfare checks throughout the time they
are carrying out these duties. There will inevitably be a difficult situ-
ation where legal departments may feel such support is an admission
of guilt and responsibility for what has happened. However, this is
not the case; it is about ensuring support is available and working
with others such as Victim Support, the Citizen’s Advice Bureau or
other charities that may be able to assist those affected.
154 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

SKILLS REQUIRED TO SUPPORT VICTIMS

Those individuals who are chosen to work with victims in the aftermath of
a crisis need the following skills and abilities:

● empathy
● resilience
● knowledge of business processes
● organizational understanding
● communication skills
● patience
● the ability to remain non-judgemental
● listening skills

Communicating with victims

Keeping the victims and their close families updated on the develop-
ments in managing the issue or incident is central to the liaison. The
aim is to ensure there is never an occasion when they learn about
what is happening through the media or social media. This is more
ambitious than it may appear. With the speed of the delivery of
communication, particularly through social media, information is
out in the public arena instantly. We have all seen footage collected as
a crisis incident develops that is instantly streamed online and shared
immediately through social media platforms. It makes briefing and
updating victims hugely challenging. In the initial stages you may not
even know who the victims are so can only be sensitive to the fact
that there are affected people you have not yet defined. In developing
your messaging and narrative you can reference them even before
they have been identified. Media statements can be started with an
acknowledgement that it is a difficult time and support is in place for
those affected before talking about other aspects.
Once they are identified it is essential to have a process by which
you can provide those affected and their families with information
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 155

and updates quickly and ensure that they understand what to expect
from the liaison with the business. You could consider having a phys-
ical or virtual meeting with them within the first 36 hours of the crisis
emerging. The meeting will be to explain what the business is doing
to deal with the crisis and to manage the situation, to be clear about
how the communication plan will work and when and how they will
receive updates, and also to ensure they are aware of how the media
will operate in broadcasting about the crisis.
It is important that communicators don’t assume that people will
all understand what they may face from media and social media
when they are caught up in an incident. It is also essential that in
providing information there is no attempt to sway the decision that
the person makes about whether to speak to the media about their
story or not. They should be given details of options alongside the
positives and negatives of them all. The decision about whether to
speak to the media, or to use social media to tell their story, is some-
thing they must make on their own and they should not be influenced
by the business. The business should be able to recognize that the
decision is made independently, and they must deal with the conse-
quences of these actions. Any attempt to ‘gag’ affected people will be
hugely damaging to the reputation of an organization and you should
expect that in some way the detail of the actions will become public.
In large-scale incidents victims will all approach the situation from
their own personal circumstances so there will be some who want to
talk to the media and others who want to avoid it. The organization
must allow people the freedom to deal with the situation in their own
way but be there to support as and when required.

TOP TIP

Have a small leaflet or flyer that explains about how the media operate
within the base country of the business and abroad. Detail what it will mean
for the affected person, such as that they will be contacted for comment,
may be offered payment for an interview, and that if there has been a fatal-
ity the photographs and details of their loved one will become public
156 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

quickly. Be sure that it includes details of where they can go to get advice or
to make a complaint, for example any media regulation process that is in
place in their country.

Principles for victim communication

There are eight key principles for how victim communication should
be approached by the organization. These should be remembered
throughout the management of the crisis and in every communica-
tion that is undertaken. Ensure those working on consequence
management are aware of them and what they mean for any meet-
ings, discussions or conversations they may have in the execution of
their duties:
1 Open
2 Honest
3 Victim-focused
4 Supportive
5 Independent
6 Continuous
7 Attentive
8 Conscious of trigger points

Open
The communication should be shared without being unfairly or
unnecessarily edited by the organization or the victim support role.
People must be given the information in as much detail as possible
so they can understand what has happened even if they can’t know
the ‘why’ it has happened until later. The affected people should
not feel they have to keep pushing to get information from the busi-
ness; it should be freely given. In the UK medical professionals work
under a duty of candour, which is also being considered for wider
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 157

application. The duty of candour guidance explains it as ‘… to ensure

that providers are open and transparent with people who use services.
It sets out some specific requirements providers must follow when
things go wrong with care and treatment, including informing people
about the incident, providing reasonable support, providing truthful
information and an apology when things go wrong.’3 This clearly has
a significant impact on the crisis communication approach, the plan
that is put in place, the messaging that is used and how transparent
an organization is.

Honest
There should never be an occasion when the business does not tell the
truth to those who have been severely and adversely affected. Being
dishonest will irreparably damage the relationship with those affected
and any trust in the organization will disappear. Honesty is always
the best policy and if you can’t provide the details explain that you
can’t and why you can’t at this stage. Even if the information is some-
thing that may be controversial or upsetting it should be provided
but with careful consideration of how it is given and what support
may need to be in place for those affected.

Victim-focused
As we have stated throughout this chapter, the way the business deals
with people will be important whether it is judged to have been effec-
tive in crisis management or not. Put the people affected at the heart
of how you develop the communication. The best operational
management of a crisis will always fail in the minds of the public if it
has neglected to support the people most affected.

Supportive
The work with victims and families should always focus on how they
can be supported, whether that is just listening to a problem or trying
to make a connection to some form of support agency. It should not
158 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

be a relationship that is based on directing them to undertake some

action or activity. If the business finds this approach challenging then
it may want to consider having advocates who can be there to connect
the business to the affected people. They will be able to act to create
a meaningful dialogue between the victims and the organization.
Some affected people may quickly appoint legal representatives to
undertake this role. If that is the case then they can and should be
included in the process of updating and communicating with the
affected people.

Independent
The relationship between the victim liaison and the organization
should be a very loose connection. The individual undertaking the
role should be impartial and operate neutrally. This can be one of the
most challenging things, which is why involving another agency such
as victim support charities may often be the best way forward. Any
communication should be factual without value judgement so that
the affected person can make their own decisions or form their own
views about what has happened.

Continuous
If you are going to engage in communication with victims and victims’
families then it is not a one-off activity. It cannot end once the initial
communication and information has been shared. This is a continu-
ous relationship that should be in place for some years to come so
that any ongoing support or assistance can be identified and provided.
The impact of a crisis can last for many months or even years, as we
will see in Chapter 8 when we discuss the recovery phase. Building a
strong relationship that will continue into the future will ensure
maximum support is in place for those affected by the crisis and its
aftermath. This does not stop when a crisis ends, particularly in
significant situations that have fundamentally changed people’s lives.
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 159

Attentive
Communication is often seen to be all about what is shared, talked
about or broadcast. One of the most critical elements for effective
communication is listening. It is also important for effective crisis
communication to listen to the feedback about the crisis, what people
are saying about the response and what is being said by employees.
Listening to the views of victims and victims’ families should be at
the centre of the support and response. As we have said, understand-
ing their views and issues can assist in adapting the response and
developing the communication. Always ensure you are open to
people’s views and listen to what is being said.

Conscious of trigger points

The crisis will last for a finite period but the impact of it may roll on
for many months or even years. Those people who have been adversely
affected by the issue or incident will have to live with the impact of
what has happened for the rest of their lives. It is important in the
long-term relationship that is developed to anticipate times when
things may be brought into focus and cause distress to the victims;
such times may be anniversaries, the publication of reports or similar
events happening somewhere else in the world.

Victims Commissioner
In the UK the Government has created a Victims Commissioner, who
is an independent person appointed by ministers to advise, challenge
and offer views that will promote the interests of victims and
witnesses. The principles of the role were initially set down in the
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. While they don’t
have the remit to be able to champion individual cases, they can
review services and make recommendations.
The Commissioner also has the role of monitoring compliance
with the requirements set out in the Code of Practice for Victims of
Crime. The Code is part of the Government’s approach to making the
160 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

criminal justice system focused on putting victims first. It establishes

a minimum level of service that victims should receive and was
created at the same time as the Commissioner role.4

A collective approach
In the planning and preparation for dealing with a crisis, being able
to work with others and develop a collective approach is the most
beneficial way forward. In Chapter 1 we discussed how it can improve
and enhance the communication if it involves other key organiza-
tions or agencies. The same is true in developing the victim commu-
nication and working to support those who are affected. In the
principles of victim communication, we outlined that having a clear
and open approach to communication is critical. Those affected will
have a lot to deal with and a lot to consider, so being able to stream-
line the number of agencies or organizations that make direct
approaches will allow them breathing space to deal with what has
happened. This means using the relationship that the business has
developed to share updates and information from other key agencies
as well. This also can benefit those affected who feel they have a
single point of contact to use when they have questions or concerns
that they need to raise.
Developing a collective approach does not mean limiting the access
to information for everyone but it is about providing a structure and
process that will be easy for the individual and their family to under-
stand. When a person is caught up in a crisis it puts them into an alien
position where they are not sure of what to do, what is happening
and how to deal with what has happened. Providing them with ways
to access support and to know how to ask questions or raise concerns
is a critical part of the victim–business relationship. Helping and
supporting the victims is a key part of the crisis management plan,
which makes it a vital part of the crisis communication plan.
It is imperative to remember that a collective approach should
ensure there are no gaps in the response and support to the people
most severely affected. The relationship should identify additional
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 161

help and support that is needed or information that needs to be

provided now or in the future. If we think about a product failure,
then it is important to be able to provide important health or safety
advice to the affected person, update them about the work being
done to recall and replace the item, and any compensation that may
be available. If the business is being open and honest in its approach,
then it will be comfortable in appointing someone to be the liaison
point and help the affected person access all the relevant information
regardless of the possible legal implications to the business. This may
sound like a nirvana that many communicators may feel is out of
reach of the business they are working with or supporting. However,
it is the mark of a mature and developed business that it feels able to
undertake this work without concern about any negative impact.

What is stakeholder management?

Stakeholder management is not the same as victim communication
and support. The two should not be confused as they require differ-
ent skills and approaches. Stakeholder management is also not the
same as consequence management, which we discussed earlier in this
chapter. However, the two are linked and do need to be closely aligned
to have maximum impact. Stakeholder management is about devel-
oping engagement with the key individuals and groups, which we
discussed earlier as part of the development of stakeholder mapping.
The plan will need to have the full support of the CEO and top team
as it will require them to undertake some of the key actions including
briefing other senior leaders in key organizations. Understanding
who the stakeholders are is the first stage but then the crisis commu-
nication plan must find a way of identifying how and when to
converse and engage with them. Therefore, the development of a
stakeholder management plan is important. It will be able to take
account of the relationships that already exist in defining what
communication activity needs to take place.
162 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

TOP TIP

Develop a stakeholder management plan as part of the consequence man-

agement activity. Detail in it who the stakeholders are, how frequently they
need to be communicated with (use the mapping of interest and influence
to assist in defining this, Figures 6.1 and 6.2), what channel of communica-
tion will be used and who will take responsibility for doing it. This will assist
in ensuring that people know exactly what they are responsible for and can
monitor that it is taking place as outlined.

CONSEQUENCE MANAGEMENT CHECKLIST

The following is a checklist of the key actions and activity required in the
early stages of dealing with a crisis, and establishing a consequence man-
agement team:

1 Gather up and share the crisis communication plan.

2 Bring together key individuals from sections of the business, e.g.
operations, customer service, communication.
3 Ensure a meeting is in place quickly to establish the framework for
updates.
4 Discuss the situation using data and analysis.
5 Develop a stakeholder map.
6 Create an impact assessment specific to the crisis.
7 Ensure a lead is in place and responsible for consequence management.
8 Develop a stakeholder engagement plan that can sit alongside the
crisis communication plan.
9 Be clear that the timescales for both the communication and
stakeholder engagement match up.
10 Provide regular updates on developments to the person leading the
crisis response.
11 Create a victim communication plan and ensure the people who will
be making the connection are briefed and ready to be deployed.
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 163

12 Establish a timescale for the plans and situation to be reviewed,

linking with any meetings to check the management of the crisis, and
ensure key people are kept updated.

CASE STUDY
KFC

Early in 2018, KFC had a significant problem to deal with. During a change in the
supply process they ended up without chicken at its restaurants. There was an
outpouring of fury and concern on social media from customers who were
frustrated by their failed attempts to get fried chicken. It even led to people
contacting the police to complain about the situation.
KFC very quickly recognized a mistake had been made and there was a swift
management apology for the situation. This was followed by an explanation of
what it was doing to try to rectify the situation. It went on to take a lighthearted
approach to the apology, taking out a full-page ad in the UK’s national news­
papers. The advert showed an empty KFC bucket with the initials changed to say
‘FCK’ alongside an apology for the restaurants being closed.
The advert had the following wording:

A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It’s not ideal. Huge apologies to
our customers, especially those who travelled out of their way to find we
were closed. And endless thanks to our KFC team members and our franchise
partners for working tirelessly to improve the situation. It’s been a hell of a
week, but we’re making progress, and every day more and more fresh chicken
is being delivered to our restaurants. Thank you for bearing with us.5

Saying sorry

In making a swift apology and from a very senior level in the organization, KFC
demonstrated that it was aware and actively seeking to sort out the situation. But
more than that, it went on to show that it had a good understanding of its
customer base and what the organization’s values are when it took a lighthearted
approach, making fun of its position but not downgrading the seriousness for the
franchises and employees. Using humour is always problematic but it worked well
here because of the clear understanding of the organization and who it is talking
to and working with daily.
164 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

KFC demonstrated it was being open, transparent and above all authentic in its
response. Making an apology is always problematic because of the concerns
raised by legal teams that it is an assumption of guilt. However, in this case the
apology was carefully worded, and covered all those affected – customers, staff,
franchise partners – which ensured that it had demonstrated an understanding of
who would be adversely affected. It had also ensured that the employees were at
the heart of their public response.6
All this work meant that the damage to the reputation of the organization was
minimized and was hardly noticeable.7

Key learning points

● Ensure that you understand who your customers and service users are before
any crisis may happen.
● Conduct stakeholder mapping and refresh it on a regular basis.
● When devising your crisis communication plan, develop scenarios with linked
impact assessments that can be utilized when a crisis occurs.
● Actively demonstrate an understanding of who is impacted and what you are
doing to help them.
● Consider when and how an apology may be required.
● Ensure there is a close relationship between developing the consequence
management plan and liaison with stakeholders and the wider
communication.

CASE STUDY
Kinder Egg product recall

In April 2022, shortly before Easter, chocolate-maker Ferrero recalled batches of

Kinder Surprise eggs due to a potential outbreak of salmonella. An investigation
was carried out by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Public Health Scotland,
Public Health Wales and Public Health Agency Northern Ireland.
The recall was initially said to be a precautionary measure and restricted to the
one product. But a few days later the recall was extended to all products from the
factory in Belgium. By 8 April, 150 children in the UK and Europe had become ill,
with some requiring hospital treatment.8 The situation then spread to other coun-
tries including the US and Canada.
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 165

There were reports that salmonella had been detected at the Belgian site in
mid-December 2021 and measures to address it were put in place.9 In the April
recall the company appeared to move quickly and to take pre-emptive steps to
prevent problems. In a statement Ferrero said: ‘This serious event goes to the core
of what we stand for and we will take every step necessary to preserve the full
trust and confidence of our consumers.’10 Early reports included details that some
of those affected were going to take legal action.
Within the statements provided there was a focus on what the company stood
for but no details of what was being put in place to support those affected. The
company website did not feature details of the recall and there was no social
media communication. In addition there were no media interviews undertaken.

Key learning points

● There was an opportunity to address the problem in December when the

issue first occurred, and this may have averted a full-scale crisis. Developing
systems to gather data and information will assist in spotting anomalies and
trends that may allow early detection of problems.
● Find people, don’t wait for them to come to you. The social media absence
impacted the ability to get information out to a broader audience. Consider
where the people are who need the information and prioritize those
channels.
● Effective crisis communication needs people to be at the centre of the
strategy and that means ensuring there is appropriate support, prioritizing
those affected within the communication and the response.
● Avoid being silenced by legal advice. Communication guidance is as relevant
as it considers the impact on reputation and confidence in the business.
Ensure legal and communication advice are considered together and
discussed in detail. Even if the advice is to avoid providing comment there is
always something that can be said in response to a crisis situation.
● Rebuilding reputation takes time and should not be rushed. It is important to
recognize that the situation can impact on trust and confidence for a long
time into the future. For some businesses and brands a severe crisis that is
poorly managed can mean the end. Focus on acting appropriately and then
working on rebuilding in the aftermath.
166 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Conclusion
Communities are made up of people, and defining your community
around the crisis will support the work to manage the consequences
of what has happened. This is work that can, and should, be under-
taken before any crisis happens. Understanding customers and service
users is essential to the day-to-day communication activity. Alongside
this, stakeholder mapping supports communication plans, not just at
the time of a crisis. Working together with stakeholders can assist in
the development of a consistent narrative.
Through the risk management process, make sure you have devel-
oped an impact analysis that looks at each possible risk and rates it
on likelihood and expected impact. This will help to develop mitiga-
tion and to ensure that crisis communication has considered what
may happen. Keep all these documents under review, particularly if
the business’ operating procedures or activities change.
Understand how consequence management works and what it
means for the activity, structures and processes that are required.
This element of the crisis response works hand in hand with commu-
nication so build a strategy that makes this clear. The consequences
can be for the community as defined, or for the affected people. These
people, who may be labelled as ‘victims’, need to have special care
and attention within the crisis response. Remember, ‘victim first’
should be the approach for all communication. The affected people
should be considered or communicated with before the media or
social media.
Finally, work with those who have specialist knowledge and expe-
rience of supporting victims or affected people. Understand what
they have to offer and how you may be able to access it. Work to
meet the principles of victim communication throughout the crisis
response, from the moment it is identified right through to the recov-
ery phase. Always remember why you are doing it. It is not a checklist
or tick-box exercise – it is about doing the right thing to support
those most affected by the crisis.
 THE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY 167

Notes
1 B L Perry, B Aronson and B A Pescosolido. Pandemic precarity: Covid-19 is
exposing and exacerbating inequalities in the American heartland, PNAS,
2021, 118 (8). [Link]/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2020685118 (archived at
[Link]/8E7V-EPXB)
2 Equality Hub and Race Disparity Unit. Final report on the progress to address
Covid-19 health inequalities, [Link], 3 December 2021. [Link]/
government/publications/final-report-on-progress-to-address-covid-19-health-
inequalities/final-report-on-progress-to-address-covid-19-health-
inequalities#communications (archived at [Link]/N64V-4TD7)
3 Public Health England. Guidance: Duty of candour, [Link], 5 October 2020.
[Link]/government/publications/nhs-screening-programmes-duty-of-
candour/duty-of-candour (archived at [Link]/9LH2-TXFT)
4 Victims Commissioner. Annual Report of the Victims’ Commissioner 2018 to
2019, 1 July 2019. [Link]/annual-reports/annual-
report-of-the-victims-commissioner-2018-to-2019/ (archived at [Link]/
52X4-E3R2)
5 R Priday. The inside story of the great KFC chicken shortage of 2018, Wired,
21 February 2018. [Link]/article/kfc-chicken-crisis-shortage-supply-
chain-logistics-experts (archived at [Link]/AGN6-FH9Y)
6 A Hickman. The crisis comms lesson behind KFC’s ‘FCK bucket’, PR Week,
8 November 2018. [Link]/article/1498405/crisis-comms-lesson-
behind-kfcs-fck-bucket (archived at [Link]/CZC7-MY79)
7 A Topping. ‘People have gone chicken crazy’: what the KFC crisis means for
the brand, Guardian, 24 February 2018. [Link]/business/2018/
feb/24/people-have-gone-chicken-crazy-what-the-kfc-crisis-means-for-the-
brand (archived at [Link]/NC22-GTFT)
8 J Lee. ‘He looked dead’. Mum’s horror as son, three, hospitalized by
‘salmonella from Kinder egg’, Express, 15 April 2022. [Link]/
news/uk/1596653/kinder-eggs-health-news-salmonella-hospital-wales (archived
at [Link]/LD4W-HBAQ)
9 J Whitworth. Ferrero passes probation at salmonella-hit factory, Food Safety
News, 17 September 2022. [Link]/2022/09/ferrero-passes-
probation-at-salmonella-hit-factory/ (archived at [Link]/QRQ7-6UEV)
10 C Schofield. Kinder recall: which batches of chocolate has Ferrero pulled from
UK supermarkets after salmonella outbreak? National World, 10 May 2022.
[Link]/health/kinder-recall-ferrero-salmonella-uk-
supermarkets-3639478 (archived at [Link]/NKV3-FYMU)
THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
 7

It’s OK to not be OK:

Ensuring support is in place

A crisis will hit individuals in many ways, including physically,

emotionally and psychologically. Dealing with these aspects is some-
thing that should be recognized and covered in all organizational
crisis plans and emergency planning, as well as being reflected in the
crisis communication plan. As we will see in this chapter, the recogni-
tion of the impact, the support to employee wellbeing and the impor-
tance of managing the damage at all levels is vital to any crisis. It
may be argued that the role of developing a resilient organization
and ensuring wellbeing is at the heart of the crisis response are not
issues for the communicator. However, as we identified earlier, the
professional communication lead can be the ideal person to act as
a catalyst in developing the response, planning for the inevitable
crisis and providing an emotional barometer when a crisis occurs.
Communication teams, alongside any customer service representa-
tives, will be the ones at the forefront of making connections with
customers and service users. They hear information first-hand, can
analyse the impact of the situation and provide emotional awareness
that can be fed back into the nerve centre looking at the response.
Communicators are therefore the ideal people within the business to
promote the idea of support and wellbeing during a crisis and other
significant events and developments.
Organizations have a duty of care to their employees and that
means taking all reasonable steps to ensure their health, safety
and wellbeing. This is more than a legal duty; there is an ethical
170 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

requirement and looking after staff directly impacts on productivity

at work. Remembering wellbeing is always critical to the business.
This is why it requires the roles of wellbeing coordinator and well­
being communicator to be directly linked to, and involved in, the
crisis communication plan. Creating this plan and testing it is often
overlooked in favour of assessing the initial response phase. However,
as we outlined in Chapter 4, the way people are supported by the
organization when a crisis happens will be a critical factor in judging
whether it is felt to have been effective. If your existing crisis response
plan and associated policies don’t include a consideration of well­
being, then it is definitely time to update them. People have a huge
amount of sympathy for the employees of businesses that are caught
up in a crisis and the support available will come up in the questions
from the media.

Recognizing the impact

The scale of the impact of events on people’s psychological and
emotional wellbeing will depend on many factors, including the
details of the crisis, the history of the business and the personal
circumstances of the employees. It is impossible to chart all the people
affected by a crisis individually from one central point in the organ-
ization unless you have a very small team running the business. This
makes it essential for managers and senior leaders within the organ-
ization to be trained on how to identify those people who may be
suffering or in distress before, during and after a crisis. They are not
expected to be experts in the field, but they are expected to be able to
provide regular updates on the number of people affected and the
range of support that is required. These managers provide the early
warnings of who may struggle and who appears to be starting to
struggle so that they can be given support as soon as possible.
If we remember the analogy of the stone making ripples on the
water, then the impact of the crisis will affect people in very acute
ways if they are at the centre of the ripple where the stone has entered
the water, and the impact will lessen the further out we go. Those at
 IT ’S OK TO NOT BE OK 171

the centre of dealing with a crisis may be affected by post-traumatic

stress disorder (PTSD), requiring one-to-one counselling, help and
support from trained specialists. Those further away from the centre
of the issue may be affected but in a lesser way that will need talking
therapy or some form of group counselling. However, things do not
always follow in this very simplistic way. You could have an employee
showing signs of PTSD but on the fringes of dealing with the crisis.
This is why being able to recognize the signs that people are strug-
gling, and being able to signpost people to support, is critical.
People can show signs of PTSD immediately after a traumatic,
stressful or distressing event or it can appear many months or even
years later. It has a tremendous impact on the person’s life, as they
will relive events and may have problems sleeping or concentrating.
It is estimated by the NHS in the UK that PTSD affects one in
every three people who have had a traumatic experience. The key is
to recognize the signs of it as early as possible.1 People caught up in
difficult situations can suffer mild symptoms of anxiety and stress,
but it is when these feelings last more than four weeks that it becomes
important to check with your doctor. The key for managers is to be
aware that PTSD is a possibility for those caught up in a crisis and
while they are not expected to be able to diagnose, they must be able
to spot someone struggling and ensure they are directed towards the
right medical support. If they don’t recognize the signs then the
person may require a significant time away from work to recover,
which affects the operation of the business.
Employers should consider the psychological and emotional
impact of work on their employees. This will ensure that they are
ready to deal with these issues when caused by the impact of a crisis.
If they fail to consider wellbeing then they are likely to have staff off
sick, will see others leave the organization or see work performance
dropping as people struggle to concentrate. All these things can affect
the bottom line of the business’ performance so if the business doesn’t
accept the moral responsibility then bosses may see an impact on
profitability. The central thread is ensuring people are resilient to the
challenges that may lie ahead. This has to be developed over time
and cannot be introduced at the moment a crisis hits. A resilient
172 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

workforce will be able to keep calm, develop the crisis response and
be able to weather the storm.

Modern pressures
Modern life and difficult situations can lead people to suffer from
stress, anxiety and depression. The statistics show that the number of
people who have experienced one of these conditions at some point
in their lives is incredibly high, alongside high suicide rates. The
World Health Organization estimates that one person dies every 40
seconds worldwide due to suicide.2 This is the case for people dealing
with the pressures of modern life, all before they may be caught up in,
or have to deal with, a crisis. Dealing with a crisis can be the final
straw for some people already struggling to manage issues in their
lives. Businesses must be able to recognize those who may be strug-
gling and at risk should they be caught up in a crisis. The key is
always to ensure the appropriate support is available at the earliest
opportunity.
Welfare and wellbeing are an ongoing responsibility for employ-
ers, and are not something that can be ignored. However, as with
crisis communication planning, wellbeing support can be seen as a
‘nice to have if we have time’. Taking this approach will be storing up
problems that will emerge at some point in the future. Failing to look
at the welfare of staff will ultimately have an impact on the recruit-
ment and retention of employees. This means that welfare is not just
an issue for the days and weeks when the crisis is underway, or for
the months ahead and any trigger points. It is something that must be
part of the healthy organization and should be considered as part of
the business objectives and measures.

Creating a resilient organization

The importance of a plan for wellbeing within the business cannot
be overemphasized. It is a critical element to support employee
 IT ’S OK TO NOT BE OK 173

engagement and to ensure the retention of the most talented people

to work within the business. Creating a resilient organization is
something that must be part of the culture and built into the policies,
processes and procedures. No business should wait until a crisis hits
to consider the wellbeing and resilience of employees. Building resil-
ience takes time but it can be improved by ensuring there is a strong
risk management focus within the business and encouraging every-
one to be involved in the crisis management training and exercises. If
people understand what will happen and the role they have to play
within the management of a crisis at all levels, and not just in the
communication management, then they are more likely to be able to
cope when they are put under pressure because of an issue or inci-
dent. Keep an eye out for people who show signs of stress during the
testing process. People who do can be given extra support and train-
ing to ensure they are more able to deal with a crisis when it happens,
or you may decide to alter the responsibilities that people have, to
minimize the pressure on them.
For communicators, being resilient and appearing calm under the
pressure of dealing with a fast-paced crisis is essential. Emotional
awareness should be part of the training plan in any continuous
professional development that they undertake. It is important for
them to be aware of their own emotional response and how they can
manage it to ensure they are able to keep a level head to deal with the
crisis. However, they must also be able to spot the signs of stress and
pressure on those around them. Training for employees looking at
resilience, managing stress and keeping themselves well can be value
for money, bringing financial benefits to the business. Remember, if
there is funding available, bringing specialists in to assist with this
training will be more cost-effective.
Communicators themselves have a central role in managing any
crisis so they will be a key group requiring monitoring and consid-
eration as to whether psychological and emotional support is needed
both during and after the crisis. It is worth remembering that it is not
just the crisis that can push people to breaking point. They may have
dealt with a series of really challenging or upsetting issues at work
that when put in close succession test their resilience. Again, being
174 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

able to spot the signs of someone who is struggling with the pressure
of ongoing problems is also important. Consider who has knowledge
of which staff may have been involved in difficult or challenging
projects, and what do they do with that information. There will
undoubtedly be more that they and the organization could do with
that information to put greater support in place.

Creating resilient communities

Governments are continually looking for ways to ensure individuals
and communities are ready to respond to the most serious crises.
There are ongoing programmes to ensure people know what to do if
they are caught up in flooding, wildfires and terrorist attacks.
Government-developed national campaigns run to ensure people
understand their role and what they should be doing both to prepare
for an emergency and to respond when one happens. The explana-
tion of the plans helps people to be clear what will happen, where to
go to for help or assistance and how they are expected to behave, for
example, evacuating the area. The more involved communities are in
planning for national and local crises the more likely they are to be
resilient when something happens. They can understand more about
what is happening, what they can do to help manage the situation
and how developments in the situation may impact on them. At the
heart of this work should be an attempt to ensure they are alert to
emergencies that may happen but also that they are not unnecessarily
worried about them. For example, those living in areas of flood risk
should know what signs and warnings to look for, how to protect
themselves and reduce the impact on their property, and how to
access help. If they know where to go and how to respond they will
work more effectively with emergency responders.
Businesses do not need to develop such large-scale crisis communi-
cation campaigns, but they can start conversations with customers
and service users to explain their planning and training. For example,
if you are a food manufacturer you can find ways to proactively
explain how you will communicate about any contamination or
 IT ’S OK TO NOT BE OK 175

product failure issues. This should be part of the work to show the
business takes safety incredibly seriously and is working hard to
avoid problems but is also preparing in case something happens. If
you go back to the scenarios that you have outlined within the crisis
communication plan then you can consider whether there are any
communities, groups or individuals that you could start to have
discussions with about the crisis response. The training and planning
for a crisis should never consider only the actions required within the
organization; they need to look at how the plans can be shared with
stakeholders and other key groups. Preparing and getting people to
think about the possibility of a crisis will start to build resilience.
They will understand what could happen and what they can do to
help with the situation. For example, if you are a bank customer you
need to understand that cyberattacks can happen and if you recog-
nize a fraud situation you need to know where to report it and how
to protect yourself.
There are four key points to building a resilient community:
1 Have a clear plan about how those affected will be supported;
this will support the ‘victim’ plan.
2 Discuss the support that is available, from medical services to
those offered through mental health charities.
3 Prepare a timeline to consider the trigger points and how to
mitigate their impact (more about this later in the chapter).
4 Don’t lose sight of the human impact of the crisis and that this will
continue for some time after the incident has happened.

Wellbeing before a crisis

Organizations should have some services and employee wellbeing
programmes in place as part of the daily business. Even the smallest
business needs to know how it will deal with wellbeing issues. It is
important to be aware of what is in place, what is covered and how
quickly support systems can be put in place should a crisis emerge.
Organizations must ensure they have access to psychological and
176 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

physical support services and that this information is built into the
crisis plan. To have to find support and to try to understand where to
go when a crisis has occurred will cause unacceptable delays to devel-
oping support for those affected. If the issue causes a significant
impact to individuals or communities, as we discussed in Chapter 6,
then consider how those affected can be supported and where assis-
tance can be found. There are many charities and organizations that
exist to support people affected by a whole range of issues and they
may be able to work with the business to manage the impact of what
has happened.

TOP TIP

Understand what psychological support is available and can be accessed

both by employees and those affected by the crisis. It may be through
health services, health providers or through charities and third-sector or-
ganizations. Contact them in your area or nationally to ensure you know
where to go, the helpline numbers to share and how to get in touch at short
notice.

The planning and preparation to deal with a crisis must refer to

putting a welfare lead in place to ensure the business is supporting
the staff that are adversely affected. This role will work closely with
the internal communication lead to ensure that staff are told about
how to seek help and support if they feel they are struggling to deal
with what has happened. The welfare lead also needs to work with
the human resources or personnel section of the business to ensure
consistency of the support that is available. This is often an aspect of
the crisis preparation and planning that is neglected and so once the
process has been written and communicated it should be subjected to
some form of testing. The test will look at whether the individuals
undertaking that role can step up quickly to become the welfare lead,
will assess how the role works with other sections of the crisis
management response and will review the assistance that can be
made available.
 IT ’S OK TO NOT BE OK 177

The consequence management work can ensure that those who are
adversely affected by the incident are identified so communication
activity and support can be put in place. In addition, the work to
provide support to ‘victims’ will also help in devising wellbeing and
resilience support that may be required for communities and indi-
viduals. In short, the work to plan and prepare for a crisis must
always consider the welfare and support that is required and what
should be put in place very quickly.

Wellbeing during a crisis

Below is a checklist to assist in the immediate response to a crisis to
ensure that welfare and wellbeing support is being considered and
put in place.

1 Use the consequence management work and impact assessment to

help identify those who are adversely affected by the issue or incident.
2 Identify the employees who may be most severely affected.

3 Ensure the initial internal communication provides details of where to

access help and support if employees feel they are struggling to deal
with what has happened.
4 Put a meeting in place with consequence management, internal
communication and human resources to coordinate activity.
5 Provide regular updates to staff about how to access support services.

6 Ensure managers are aware of how to identify staff who may be

struggling and know how to signpost them to find help.
7 Develop a plan of visits to key departments and teams within the
organization who are at the centre of managing the crisis. The aim is to
ensure senior leaders, or the CEO, can visit to boost morale and ensure
wellbeing is being considered.
8 Consider what support network is in place, or should be put in place,
for people who are affected to mirror the employee wellbeing that is
available. Note that in a national emergency criticism can follow when
178 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

victims and victims’ families feel they are not given emotional and
psychological support, but the emergency responders have access to a
range of such support.
9 Identify what external support is available for the public who may be
affected and reference this within media work, as well as circulating
details through social media.

Wellbeing in recovery
In the next chapter we will discuss in detail the issue of recovery and
when and how the organization should move from dealing with the
crisis to moving into recovery. One aspect of the recovery will be to
ensure there is ongoing support to those who have been adversely
affected by events. This support needs to continue even when the
cameras have gone and the media interest has disappeared. Dealing
with the emotional and psychological impact will take months or
even years. In some cases, people will be in denial that there is any
problem until there is a trigger that unlocks pent-up emotions.
Communicators must be aware of the ongoing challenge from the
aftermath of the crisis and the sensitivities required in the recovery
phase. There needs to be ongoing support that remains available once
the rush of the crisis has died down. In all the internal communica-
tion that takes place in the weeks and months that follow the crisis
there should always be a reminder of how employees can access help
if they need it. This may include a helpline, drop-in facility or online
portal to access help. Plan for the wellbeing support and communica-
tion activity to continue for months and keep it under review along-
side the decisions around the recovery phase, which we will discuss
in the next chapter.
Another simple way of improving morale and boosting wellbeing
across the workforce is to find a way to recognize the hard work and
commitment that people demonstrated during the crisis. It won’t take
away from the trauma people have faced but it will provide a positive
opportunity to reward people for the effort they have put in.
 IT ’S OK TO NOT BE OK 179

Recognition is an important way to provide a boost to employees. It

can be as simple as just meeting people and saying thank you, which
we covered in Chapter 5 when we looked at leadership. If the crisis is
significant and means people are doing some difficult and challenging
work, then it could be beneficial to develop a more formal recogni-
tion process. This may be in the form of an event, some token of
appreciation or a bonus payment. However, the organization must
always consider how this may be viewed by those who are ‘victims’
of the incident or issue. It can appear insensitive to be ‘celebrating’ in
some way once the crisis is over because many people may still be
dealing with the impact it has had on their lives. For example, consider
if you are a bank that has suffered a significant outage. Many people
may have lost money or been penalized because they could not pay
bills. The bank has agreed to cover these costs where people can
evidence the negative impact. Managers at the bank realize that some
key employees in IT and customer service have worked excessive
hours and gone above what was expected, and they want to reward
this effort in some way. In providing staff with some form of bonus
or reward it may be seen negatively by people still working to get
their costs reimbursed. Be sensitive in finding ways to recognize the
effort of employees.
The crisis will continue through to recovery and into the future. It
is essential that a timeline is developed that will assess and review the
potential trigger points that could impact on people’s wellbeing. It is
important to recognize the impact of anniversaries and other factors
that can require wellbeing interventions. This timeline should be used
for both internal and external communication activity as the triggers
will be similar. It will guide you towards the work that may be
required in the future to continue to be sensitive to, and support,
people’s recovery.
Finally, all the learning and experience gathered in dealing with the
crisis and the aftermath should be captured. Organizational wellbe-
ing programmes and welfare support should learn from the experi-
ences and be improved and developed from the feedback. This should
be included in reviews and a part of the debrief process that has
already been outlined. Debrief the wellbeing and welfare support
180 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

that was in place during the crisis with key members of the organiza-
tion as well as other support agencies and stakeholders. Keep data on
the kinds of issues and problems that arose and the support that was
required. You can use information about the issues and any problems
to develop and enhance the wellbeing support that is provided. If you
are aware of what support was required it may signify where resil-
ience training can be focused to help develop employees. Gather as
much data as possible in relation to the wellbeing support required
during and after the crisis. Be clear about what trigger points emerged
during the crisis. During the debrief ask what worked, what didn’t
work and what could be done differently in future. All this data,
insight and information can significantly improve any wellbeing
programme that is already in place for employees. It is data that will
also assist in the review and development of the crisis communication
plan. There may have been gaps in the approach, a lack of resources
focused on the wellbeing and internal communication aspects, or
lack of management buy-in to the work that needed to be actioned;
the strategy and plan should be updated to ensure this is improved
when managing future critical issues or crises.

What are trigger points?

We have mentioned a few times during this chapter the issue of trig-
ger points but what are they? Put simply, the trigger points are times
or events when the crisis is brought back into the spotlight not just of
the media, but of employees or the wider community. The timeline
document will chart all the potential triggers so that the situation can
be tracked, and relevant communication activity put in place to miti-
gate the impact. The following are all possible trigger points for those
adversely affected by a crisis:
● key dates such as one week on, one month on, six months on and
a year on from the crisis;
● publication of any reviews or debriefs;
● inquiries, investigations and inquests, all of which will have
specific dates;
 IT ’S OK TO NOT BE OK 181

● a similar crisis or issue happening somewhere else in the world;

● a similar crisis or issue happening within the business;
● the early warning that a similar crisis may be on the horizon;
● other situations that may be vicariously linked to the issue or
incident;
● publication of any statistics that will include information linked to
the event, for example details of annual food contamination figures
after a similar crisis.

This is not an exhaustive list and you may find there are additional
trigger points when dealing with your crisis. When you look at the
scenarios you have outlined and the issues raised in your risk manage-
ment matrix you can consider what trigger points might exist. This
will help you develop the thinking process required when you are
working on a timeline for a live issue or incident. Developing the
details of the trigger points and working through the future impact
will give clarity on the timeline document. This can then lead to the
crisis communication plan being updated ready for the move to
recovery and beyond.

FIGURE 7.1 Example of a trigger points plan detailing known events and
announcements that may have an impact on affected people

March
• Report published
• National figures released

April • Revision to production line

• Announcement about product changes

May • Share announcement

• Board meeting

June • New building opens in location

• Public meeting

July • First anniversary

• Local events/meetings
182 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Communication and wellbeing

The communication team are not the people who should lead on the
wellbeing strategy or the organization. The work should be under the
remit of either a wellbeing coordinator or sit within human resources,
organizational development or another such central function.
Communicators will already be stretched to undertake the work that
is required to manage the crisis communication, so the skills and
expertise of others should be put in charge of the wellbeing response.
The wellbeing work is essential to support people and continue to
improve the public view of how the human impact is being managed.
The CEO and senior team should be aware of this work and find
ways to be able to support it daily. This is a key element of the leader-
ship role and demonstrating care and support for the workforce and
affected people outside of the organization.
The communicator’s role within wellbeing is to provide support by
making people aware of the help that is available and by replaying
back to the business how the response is being viewed. They can
provide data to give insight into the impact and people’s views on the
success of the response. Communicators need to have the confidence
to challenge the wellbeing response provided by the organization and
how people are supported. If the team works in-house this can be
difficult to do, which is why bringing in external support to assist
during and after the crisis may be beneficial. But they will be the best
team positioned to have an early alert to where gaps may exist, as
those staff are very likely to have complained to the media or using
their own social media accounts. The communication team should
know their channels in detail, and not only know how best to share
the information about the wellbeing support that is available, but
also be able to monitor channels and identify areas of concern.
The communication team should push for the wellbeing aspects to
be part of any exercise that is undertaken to test the crisis plan. It
may seem like an area outside their remit but as they will have respon-
sibility for developing an internal communication plan and under-
standing the affected people and what is required they will be focused
on support in a way that other departments will not. They can prompt
 IT ’S OK TO NOT BE OK 183

the business to include the wellbeing response in the training and

exercising linked to their communication plan. Doing this will
provide valuable data about how to develop the plan and identify
where problems may exist. It also helps to put the issue of wellbeing
and welfare onto the table for the managers involved in the exercise.
The more these issues are discussed, talked about and included in the
planning process the more likely it will be that they will be accepted
as part of the crisis response. Communicators can facilitate that
happening when working through both internal communication and
community impact work.

CASE STUDY
Pakistan International Airlines crash

On 22 May 2020, flight 8303 on a domestic flight from Lahore to Karachi in

Pakistan crashed as it was preparing to land. The Pakistan International Airlines
(PIA) aeroplane crashed into a busy residential area of Karachi. The impact killed
89 passengers and eight crew on the flight, and also eight people on the ground.
Only two people on the flight survived the crash. The pilot had aborted an attempt
to land the plane and issued a Mayday call just before the flight crashed.
Immediately there was speculation about the cause of the crash, including
damage to the plane caused by the aborted landing, and pilot error. An initial re-
port by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority blamed pilot error for the aborted
landing and then damage to the plane that was not identified.3 It was the third
plane crash in five years involving PIA flights.4 In the aftermath of the crash
Arshad Malik, the CEO of PIA, issued a statement while boarding a flight, which
was viewed as a casual response. Even before the investigation had concluded,
the CEO appeared to suggest he could not understand the pilot’s actions.5
It was some hours after the accident before a statement appeared on the PIA
Facebook page and the first statement on the PIA Twitter account was on 28 May.6
The website finally had an emergency contact number and message of condo-
lence but no other information and no rolling updates on the situation. In the
aftermath, families of the victims of the crash had complained about the lack of
information and cooperation from PIA.
One family member posted a number of concerns and criticism about how the
situation had been handled. This included failing to support the search for his
family, who had been on the flight. In one video clip, Arif Iqbal Farooqi said he was
184 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

‘tired of going from one hospital to another’ visiting mortuaries and police sta-
tions in an attempt to trace his family. He said bereaved families were being sub-
jected to red tape and that ‘the federal government, the Sindh government, PIA
officials and administration had left them alone’.7 Families were frustrated with a
lack of coordination at a time of intense grief, which could lead to a long-term
impact and effect on them. People expected that PIA would have appropriate
plans and support that would be put in place in the event of a plane crash.

Key learning points

● Those who are at the centre of a crisis, including families who have been
bereaved, should be at the centre of the crisis response and the
communication. Support mechanisms should be put in place to provide them
with all the help they need to navigate through the situation. This means
communication about where to go and how to find information.
● Plans for key risks and potential crises should be in place, tested and ready to
use at a moment’s notice. This requires careful consideration of how to
provide support to those affected but also to support those involved in the
response, who may have to deal with the most horrific circumstances.
● Leadership is an essential part of an effective people-focused crisis response.
Strong leadership that demonstrates empathy and compassion, while also
implementing the systems that are needed to help those most affected, must
be in place.
● Information should be provided quickly, accurately and consistently in the
days that follow the emergence of the crisis. Families who have lost loved
ones should know where to go and how to receive regular updates. This can
go some way to helping them at the most difficult and traumatic time in their
lives.
● Give those affected by the crisis a way to ask questions, to understand what
has happened and listen to any concerns that they have about the response.
Engagement is essential, as without these opportunities affected people will
use the media and social media to voice concerns and even anger about the
response.
● Avoid speculation, particularly when a formal investigation is underway. The
focus should be to provide those affected with accurate information and
support that allows them to grieve. Speculation adds confusion and can lead
to concerns about the accuracy of the information that is being provided.
 IT ’S OK TO NOT BE OK 185

Conclusion
Managing a crisis requires empathy and it is vital to remember all the
ways the situation has, or can have, an impact on people. This includes
understanding the psychological, emotional and physical impact of
what has happened. Ensure that this includes looking at the impact
on all affected people and communities, as well as employees. Build
wellbeing into your employee communication plans, because you
can’t develop it in the aftermath of a crisis if you have not considered
it as part of daily operational business.
People can respond to a crisis in many ways and this includes
experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You don’t have
to try to understand the implications alone; there are many charities
and voluntary organizations that work with mental health issues and
will be able to provide assistance. Before a crisis happens, make sure
you know what is available to support employees and focus on devel-
oping a resilient organization. This means ensuring a robust risk
management process and providing appropriate training for manag-
ers to be able to support their teams.
Resilience is also something that can be created from the wider
environment around the business. Starting conversations and discuss-
ing with customers about how crisis management will happen can
ensure that they are more prepared should the worst happen. If they
understand where to go for information and what they need to do
then they are more likely to feel an element of control over the situa-
tion. This is about being alert but not alarmed by possible events.
Wellbeing support and assistance is required throughout the crisis
but also into the recovery phase.
Communicators should be able to assist the business in under-
standing the trigger points for the future; the points in time and
events that may put pressure on people psychologically and emotion-
ally. If you are aware of when and where these will, or may, occur
then you can put appropriate support in place.
Finally, recognize the good work, dedication and commitment of
the employees who have responded to the crisis. It is one way of
demonstrating support for them and should be part of the wellbeing
186 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

plans. But be careful how this recognition and any form of reward
will be viewed by those affected by the situation, otherwise you may
face another reputational crisis. Remember to also recognize the
efforts of those who have kept the organization functioning when a
crisis occurs. They may not be in the middle of events but play a key
role in managing regular business, which allows others to dedicate
time to managing the crisis.

Notes
1 NHS. Overview – post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), last updated 13 May
2022. [Link]/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/ (archived at
[Link]/5FKF-LBL8)
2 World Health Organization. Mental health – suicide data, 17 June 2021.
[Link]/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide (archived at [Link]/
K6QP-HCPX)
3 BBC News Asia. Pakistan plane crash was ‘human error’ initial report, 24 June
2020. [Link]/news/world-asia-53162627 (archived at [Link]
6EPD-ESMD)
4 [Link]. A timeline of major air crashes in Pakistan, Dawn, 22 May 2020.
[Link]/news/1558945 (archived at [Link]/M253-FMUC)
5 Express Tribune. PIA Air Chief Marshal Arshad Malik gives official statement
regarding the PIA aircraft crash [Facebook] 22 May 2020. [Link]/
watch/?v=246141083275453 (archived at [Link]/3HTQ-NNX9)
6 @Official_PIA [Twitter] 22 May 2020
7 K Hussain. Red tape adds to agonies of crash victims kin, The Express Tribune,
27 May 2020. [Link]/story/2229412/red-tape-adds-agonies-
crash-victim-kin (archived at [Link]/RWE4-6XK9)
 8

Stepping on the road to recovery

The road to recovery following a crisis can be a long and difficult

one. It is one of the most important aspects of the crisis response and
can make the difference between moving forward positively or suffer-
ing long-term reputational damage. Think about when you have
suffered from some illness or a bout of flu; you don’t suddenly feel
back to normal and able to do everything you used to do. It takes
time to recover and you need to look after yourself. The same is true
of the crisis recovery. You need to work on it and accept that it is
going to take some time to move forward.
Recovering after a crisis is made easier if you have had a successful
response to the initial issue and the early stages of dealing with things.
Communication that has been developed in the way we have discussed
throughout this book will put you in a good position to deal with the
response. If you have implemented the key elements, then you should
be able to move forward positively. If not, then the recovery phase
may be your last opportunity to turn things around and develop an
effective response.
As with all the work on the crisis communication plan, you must
ensure you have considered what is required regarding communica-
tion in the recovery phase. Understanding what recovery means and
what it will look like will assist in the development and refinement of
the crisis communication plan.
188 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

What is recovery?

Recovery is a time when you have managed the initial impact of the
crisis and are moving forward. It is when you are dealing with the
long-term aftermath of the crisis, looking at the learning to take
forward, mitigating the issues to guard against any future recurrence
of the problem and rebuilding reputation. Later in this chapter we
will talk about the issue of reputation and where it should feature in
the work to recover after an incident or issue has run its course.
Failing to consider and plan for the long-term impact of the crisis has
the potential to be costly to the business both financially and reputa-
tionally. This planning has to consider all the elements of the response
including the communication. When you start to look at the commu-
nication issues around recovery it is important to know where you
want to get to or get back to. Look at what is important to the busi-
ness; what does it want to achieve and what does the plan look like
for the next five or ten years? Keep that end goal in sight even though
recovery may take many months or years to complete.
Making the move from crisis response to recovery is not easy and
choosing the right time to do it is essential. Crises can run for some
time and maintaining the communication approach and refreshing it
during a situation that can last for years is a huge challenge. In such
cases the move from crisis into recovery could be many months or
even years away. The decision requires careful consideration and
discussion with all the relevant parties involved in the response. This
can include the operational staff, the HR staff, communication lead,
consequence management lead and those supporting the affected
people. It may also need to involve other key agencies, particularly
when they are stakeholders or are part of the response. There are
both physical and emotional factors to take account of when consid-
ering moving forward and away from the crisis phase. Physically you
will see a reduction in the number of staff involved in the response
and any central control room or ‘war room’ will become audibly
quieter with fewer people working within it. But alongside this there
are emotional factors involved. The affected people dealing with the
impact of what has happened may impact on whether a decision is
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 189

made to move to recovery. For example, if you have suffered a prod-

uct failure then the problem may have been identified and rectified
but if people are still falling ill or being affected then you would be
criticized for talking about moving to a recovery phase. As with many
elements of crisis communication management it is people who hold
the key to an effective recovery, including when it starts.

Long-running crises
In some situations a crisis can last for an extended period of time,
although this is not common. There is an assumption that a crisis
may last for a day or a week or possibly even a month and, until the
Covid-19 pandemic, a crisis lasting more than a year was thought
unlikely. When managing a long-running crisis communication plan
there are a number of factors to consider. It requires a change in
mindset at the point it is identified that it will last for some time. In
such situations, there will be a requirement to resume the usual busi-
ness operation while still managing the actions needed in response to
the crisis.
Patience, determination and resilience are three critical factors
when managing the communication of a long-running crisis, or if the
organization becomes known as being crisis-hit because of a series of
issues. Communicators like to problem solve and get things done but
with a crisis over an extended period of time this will take longer to
achieve. Being able to recognize the small steps to take on the road
through the crisis without attempting to rush ahead is essential. This
may be a frustrating time but communication can only go at the
speed of the crisis itself. Being resilient and able to continue to drive
communication through a serious crisis or a number of crises is the
most important element. For those working closely with a business
or organization, such moments can feel like a personal attack and
as if there will be no way out of the difficult position. Crises do have
a lifespan and the five stages mentioned in Chapter 1 will always
play out, even if it happens over years rather than days. In Chapter 7
the importance of building resilience was outlined and long-running
190 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

situations will be a huge test of any communication team. Ensuring

they can maintain some perspective on what has happened, find time
to switch off, and know where they can get support will assist in
building resilience.
With any long-running situation it is important to keep focused on
it and to ensure it is part of day-to-day considerations. The balance
will need to be found between undertaking ‘normal’ activities and
delivering crisis communication support. When communicators feel
fatigued it is important to take some time away to recharge and
return refreshed and ready to continue the work.
There are six key elements to remember when managing a long-
running crisis:
1 Strategy – during a long-running situation the strategy will
change, develop and be refined. The approach should be reviewed
at regular intervals, assessing what has changed, whether the
communication so far has worked, how the problem may develop
and what has been learnt from the crisis so far. Update the strategy
and ensure that those providing the crisis communication response
are aware of what the strategy is and how it has changed from the
one they may have been working to deliver.
2 Evaluation – this is a critical element of any crisis communication
activity and must not be overlooked. At key points during the
long-running situation, carry out an evaluation assessing the
effectiveness of the communication and ensure it covers outputs,
outcomes, outtakes and the impact on the organization. If
something is not working then look at an alternative course of
activity and refine the approach being taken.
3 Consultation – understanding what people think and feel about
the crisis as it develops over many months is a vital part of the
strategy and evaluation. Finding ways to listen to external voices
will assist in developing inclusive and effective crisis
communication.
4 Focus – it is easy to lose the focus needed on a problem when it
carries on over a long period of time. Build the management of
the issue into your day-to-day communication tasking processes
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 191

and monitor the activity as you consider work that is underway.

During a long-running crisis, communication has to be sensitive
to undertaking work that may have a negative impact on the
crisis, and particularly on those being affected by it. For example,
an organization promoting a change to a product that may be at
the centre of a crisis will be seen as insensitive, leading to an
additional reputational crisis.
5 Mood – monitoring the mood that exists around the crisis is
critical. If you become focused on the internal issues and how the
crisis is affecting the business without considering others, it will
be seen as ‘tone deaf’. The steps should be taken at a pace that is
acceptable to those affected by the crisis and to the wider society.
Track the mood around the crisis, as the situation may change
over time.
6 Creativity – throughout a crisis it becomes more challenging to
find ways to continue to connect with people to ensure they
understand what is happening and what it may mean to them and
to the business. The same problem can exist within an organization
as staff become fatigued with an ongoing crisis. A long-running
crisis gives the communicator the opportunity to be creative and
find ways to continue to develop the conversation and to engage.

In addition, it is essential to consider the resources that are required

for long-term crisis communication. Extra support may be required,
either to boost the team or to have a person responsible for managing
the ongoing crisis issues. For example, if you have had a situation
emerge that leads to a public inquiry it may keep the organization in
crisis communication mode. In such cases, an additional communica-
tor may be recruited to focus on just the public inquiry and any ongo-
ing issues. If there is no possibility of securing extra resources then
careful prioritization of the workload is necessary. Crisis communi-
cation requires significant staffing and resourcing to achieve and
cannot just be added to the workload of an existing team without
stopping other projects or activities.
There is also the requirement to ensure continuity for any long-
running situation. Senior managers and even the CEO may change a
192 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

number of times during a crisis that continues for years. For example,
in the UK the Post Office prosecuted hundreds of sub-postmasters
and mistresses when money went missing but it was subsequently
found to be due to a failing computer system. This issue began in
2000 and it was only in 2022 that convictions were quashed and
a public inquiry was launched.1 The crisis has developed over
two decades and during this time senior managers will have left the
business, so understanding exactly what happened will be an addi-
tional challenge. Ensure that when dealing with any crisis situation
information is logged, reported and captured for both the ongoing
situation and any future re-emergence. It will also assist in learning
the lessons about what happened, why it happened and how things
may need to change in the future.
When new employees join the organization they also need to
understand the situation surrounding the crisis. This can be done by
finding ways to introduce it into any induction programmes and
having clear communication to ensure the business can continue to
function. A long-running crisis does not have to derail an organiza-
tion if there is a plan in place and it is understood by employees.
Communicators can learn to live with an ongoing crisis that is part
of the working day if there is a clear strategy, systems and resources
in place throughout.

Making the decision

There are several elements that must be considered before the CEO
or Gold Commander makes the decision that the organization is
ready to move to recovery. However, there is no simple formula to
decide when recovery should happen, as every crisis is unique and
involves unique factors.
The questions that need to be asked include:
1 What stage is the response at?
2 Are people still coming forward to say they have been directly
adversely affected by the crisis?
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 193

3 Is the crisis under control and not growing or expanding?

4 Is the business able to return to usual operational activity?
5 Is the number of staff involved in the response being scaled back?
6 Are people starting to think about the future rather than dealing
with the present?
7 What is the public mood towards the issue or incident?

There may be other important questions that need to be asked and

the communication staff can consider what these may be based on
the details of the crisis. For example, if you have suffered a data
breach that has left customers vulnerable you will need to be comfort-
able that the full extent of the problem and implications are under-
stood and have been managed before even considering moving
forward. There will be technical details that can help define at what
stage recovery can begin. So as you move away from the immediate
response to the emerging crisis through towards its conclusion, start
to consider what factors would signal the move to recovery.
If we look at each of these questions in turn it may help to under-
stand the mindset and thinking that needs to be in place to consider
the future and when to declare the organization is in recovery mode.

What stage is the response at?

A simple question to gauge what has been done and what activity is
still required. If the bulk of the original plan, and communication
plan, has been achieved then it may be an indicator you are moving
into a new phase and that is likely to be recovery. However, if there
are still a lot of outstanding actions then you may need to delay a
move to recovery and focus more on the continued operational
response.

Are people still coming forward to say they have been directly adversely
affected by the crisis?
If you have identified all those most severely affected and have appro-
priate support in place, then that is a good indicator you may be able
194 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

to move forward. However, if there are still elements that are

unknown or not yet fully identified and these may mean that new
‘victims’ could come forward then you are definitely not ready to
start to consider stepping into the recovery phase. It is worth noting
here that even if you are taking the first steps in the recovery phase
you can halt it and move back to the crisis response if it is required.
The situation can fluctuate, which is why it is important to recognize
you are in pre-recovery rather than the full recovery phase of the
crisis. This may happen when new groups of affected people come
forward. But this can weaken the crisis response so it is more advan-
tageous to delay the decision to move to recovery rather than push
ahead.

Is the crisis under control and not growing or expanding?

This may seem like a very simple question, but it is often problematic
to identify whether the initial situation has stagnated or is continuing
to develop. Work closely with colleagues leading the operational
response to ensure a clear understanding of what has happened, what
is happening and what may happen in the future. If it is felt that the
crisis has levelled out and is not continuing to spread or grow, then it
may be an indicator that you can start to consider the recovery phase.
As mentioned before, don’t be in a rush to push ahead with recovery,
as having to step backwards can be potentially damaging to an
organization’s reputation. Instead, be cautious and delay the move to
recovery if the situation may still deteriorate or expand, and keep the
situation under review.

Is the business able to return to usual operational activity?

The day-to-day business will have been affected during the crisis.
Resources will have been diverted to manage the response and this
can impact on normal activities. The crisis may have had only a minor
impact on the operation of the organization, or it could have severely
impeded the production of items or the provision of services, but
either way it will mean the usual operation has been curtailed. If the
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 195

business is starting to operate as it would have done before the crisis,

with the same output ratios, sales figures and investment opportun-
ities, then it may be time to start discussing the move to recovery.
Again, if there are still significant resources assigned to the crisis
response then you are unlikely to be ready to move to recovery.

Is the number of staff involved in the response being scaled back?

The number of staff working on the crisis and involved in the response
will fluctuate throughout the issue or incident. If you were to chart it
the figures would start low, as people are made aware of the situation
and are starting to implement the crisis plans.
FIGURE 8.1 Example of staffing levels during the lifetime of a crisis

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Incident occurs First day Second day First week Month end Recovery
Comms Frontline Response

It would then grow to the high point when the bulk of the opera-
tional response and activity is required. And then, as the actions of
the crisis plan are completed, fewer members of staff will be needed
to work on the issue. It is often only the CEO and the communication
team who are the last people to be working on the crisis while other
employees go back to ‘normal working’. If the number of employees
involved in the crisis is starting to reduce and the response scaled
back, then a discussion on stepping into recovery may be required.
Don’t be in a rush to move to recovery, as you may find the situation
196 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

changes and staff are reassigned back to the crisis response. The
reduction in staff needs to be sustained over a significant period of
time. What that significant period is very much depends on how long
the crisis has been underway.

Are people starting to think about the future rather than dealing with the
present?
If the business and its departments are starting to think about how
they can build for the future, then you may be moving towards recov-
ery. When people are dealing with the crisis they are very firmly fixed
in the present situation and cannot look up from where they are to
start to consider what will come next. It is the difference between
living day to day and being able to focus on a three- or five-year plan.
If discussions about the longer-term future of the organization are
starting to appear in the daily business, then you may be ready to
discuss the move to recovery. But remember that this cannot be taken
as a factor on its own as people may be rushing to move on to get
some distance between themselves and the crisis. You must consider
this as just one indicator.

What is the public mood towards the issue or incident?

This is a key indicator of when to be able to move from crisis to
recovery. If those affected and the people around them are still deal-
ing with the impact of what has happened, or if the scale of it was so
serious that they are reliving the events that took place, then you are
not ready to start to move to recovery. If an organization starts to
move forward too quickly then they may be accused of being insensi-
tive and failing to understand the impact of what has happened. This
was seen with BP and Tony Hayward during the Deepwater Horizon
disaster mentioned in Chapter 5. Being sensitive to the public conver-
sation and tone about the issue or incident is important as it will
mean you are aware of the prevailing view and will be able to operate
from a position of knowledge. As we have mentioned earlier, having
monitoring in place is critical throughout the lifespan of a crisis. This
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 197

monitoring and feedback from your affected people and stakeholders

will support the consideration of when may be appropriate to move
to recovery.
Even when you may have been able to answer all these questions
positively and from a position of knowledge, you could still decide to
allow more time before declaring a move to recovery. There is no
simple formula, but it would be beneficial to use any community
links and key stakeholders to gauge their views on the time when
moving forward may be appropriate. It will also be important to
discuss this with whoever has been the face and voice of the business
throughout the crisis. They will need to be comfortable that it is the
right time to help the organization move on. If they get it wrong then
you will find there is an additional demand on the crisis communica-
tion response as you have to repair the damage from appearing to
dismiss the situation and move forward.

Training for recovery

Once the initial crisis is under control the interest from those within
the business about what has happened can significantly wane.
Employees will be returning to normal activities. This can leave the
organization struggling to keep a focus on effectively managing the
crisis through into recovery. It may also mean the communicators are
the only people still heavily focused on dealing with what has
happened. A vital way to overcome this is to create a recovery phase
of the crisis response plans that is tested in exercises and training. A
recovery communication plan should develop from the crisis and this
plan can be tested in the same way the initial response to a crisis is
exercised. Start by reviewing the plans and what they mean for the
final phase of the crisis. Ensure that the crisis plans the business oper-
ates under run from the first alert right through to re-establishing
normality.
If there is a test or exercise being organized, then build in questions
to test the understanding of the recovery phase. If time allows for it
then arrange a separate training session or exercise just to discuss the
198 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

decision-making process around the move to recovery and to check

the systems are in place to continue to effectively manage the situa-
tion. For example, who will make the decision, how they will decide,
what information should be provided to allow them to make an
informed decision. Don’t lose public confidence in the business by
failing to plan for the recovery phase. Again, if you are unable to run
this test using staff from within the business then consider bringing in
some expert help and advice to stress test the plans. This includes the
crisis communication plan that must be tested. For example, you may
find that the number of communication staff working on the issue
needs to increase in the recovery phase. This can only be ascertained
if you have put the proposed plans for recovery phase working to
the test.
All those involved in the response phase need to understand what
recovery will look and feel like. What are the key aspects of the
scenarios that you have outlined in the planning phase? Looking at
these will help point to how the crisis may be concluded. What will
need to have happened before the situation is seen to be under control
or being effectively managed? Consider each scenario during your
planning. For example, with an IT failure you will know that systems
will have to be up and running again and you must have a clear
understanding of who has been affected and how before you can
consider pushing into a recovery phase. It is important to understand
the nuances and the small signs that point towards recovery and not
just rely on a feeling that normal business has been resumed. Investing
time in the development of plans to think beyond the initial response
is essential to effective crisis management.

The focus of recovery

There are three key elements that are the focus of the recovery phase
of crisis communication: reputation, trust and confidence. All three
will be central to the communication activity that is undertaken once
the crisis has been brought under some form of control. Reputation
must never be the sole aim of crisis communication because it will
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 199

mean poor decisions are made based purely on what is best to protect
the name of the business. During a crisis, decisions should be made
based on what is best for those who have been adversely impacted
as this will be one of the most significant factors that determines
how the business’ response will be judged. Remember the details in
Chapter 6 looking at the support for victims and those affected.
Reputation is built positively when the organization shows empathy
and genuine concern for the people involved. However, when you are
considering the elements of recovery communication then rebuilding
the reputation of the business needs to be part of the aim. Part of it,
but not the whole focus.
Trust and confidence are the key building blocks to encourage
people to view an organization’s reputation positively. People need to
feel that the communication that has taken place throughout the
crisis has been honest, trustworthy and authentic. If any element of
trust has been lost or tested throughout the crisis then ensure you
have identified it and can then look at how it can be rebuilt in the
aftermath of the issue or incident. People, whether customers or service
users, must have confidence in the business both in dealing with the
crisis and being able to move on from it. This is as well as feeling confi-
dent in the authenticity of the communication. All this is built through
effectively implementing the elements of the crisis communication
response that we have discussed up to this point. However, if you
have been unsuccessful in part of the communication the situation is
not lost. The key is to take all the learning throughout the crisis and
ensure you can build a strong recovery communication plan.

TOP TIP

It is advisable to develop a recovery communication plan that will take for-

ward the work that has been underway during the crisis communication
phase. Use the recovery communication plan to consider what elements
undertaken during the crisis need to be continued, what can be ended and
what new work needs to be in place. Use any data and insight from the
crisis to assist in developing the plan and build in a link to the organization’s
business plan and communication strategy.
200 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

When there is no return to normal

It is important to recognize that ‘return to normal’ is an unlikely situ-
ation when dealing with a significant crisis. Whatever the situation
that has happened, or the crisis that you may have been dealing with,
sometimes it will be forever linked with the business. This situation is
also more likely to occur since the arrival of social media, meaning
every issue leaves a digital footprint. It is important to be able to
use the information and learning from the crisis to redefine and
re-establish the business objectives and plans for the organization.
We will review this in the case study later in this chapter.
What matters for those who have been dealing with the situation
is that they need to be comfortable in defining a new normal for the
business. Understanding and working through this can help people
who have been psychologically or emotionally impacted by the events
that have taken place. They will be able to see the events change the
business for the better.
In some cases, the scale of the crisis is so vast that it will change the
way society, or some parts of society, operate. For example, the terror
attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001 were so unbeliev-
able that they changed many aspects of society forever. There were
new ways of working for air travel, new considerations around
politics and foreign policies, and a changed view of how the world
was. While that crisis was on a scale no one had ever anticipated, you
can see the same need to revise the way organizations work and oper-
ate after every crisis. If the business is not looking at what can be
learnt from the situation then it cannot build trust and confidence or
ultimately rebuild reputation. It can also expect to see the same issues
happening again as was seen with the case study of the Canadian
Government departments cyber crisis in Chapter 2. Imagine you are
a small business that provides financial advice and you have a data
breach. You will have to make fundamental changes to the way you
store and manage data in the aftermath of this crisis and this will
become the new normal. Failing to make these changes will signifi-
cantly impact on the reputation of the business.
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 201

The four Rs of long-term recovery

The long-term recovery of the business requires four elements to be
in place: reviewing, rebuilding, resources and re-establishing. Each of
the elements is essential to building strong communication to move
the business forward after a crisis.

Review
Using the data, insight and monitoring that have been in place during
the active phase of the crisis, assess what has worked, where any gaps
are and what the reputation of the business currently is. It may be
worthwhile utilizing some form of reputation tracker to assess against
competitors and recognize the position. All this information will be
essential for you to then create a long-term communication plan to
identify the activity that needs to be in place in recovery. You need to
understand what the impact has been to be able to focus the activity
needed going forward.

FIGURE 8.2 A reputation data tracker working across the business sector

35

30
Reputation points

25

20

15

10

0
First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter
My business Competitor A Competitor B
Competitor C Competitor D Competitor E
202 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Rebuild
The data from the review section will provide the information needed
to focus the plan to rebuild. However, you also need to assess any
previous problems that have occurred, any outstanding issues or
other factors that may impact on reputation. For example, the CEO
may be under the spotlight for some unconnected issue, but this needs
to be understood when you are devising the recovery communication
plan. Be clear what the organization needs to overcome and what it
needs to be recognized for when customers or service users are think-
ing about it. Is this still the same even after the crisis? Does the busi-
ness need to do some work on the values, principles or priorities in
light of what has happened?

Resources
One of the most challenging situations for a communicator leading a
team in dealing with a crisis and then continuing through to manag-
ing the aftermath is the impact on resources. As we have discussed
earlier, crisis communication demands a speedy response, which
needs people to be trained and ready. Some of the staffing required
may come from other areas of the business or from outside of the
business if you have used contractors. The use of all these people will
be finite due to the requirements of the sections that they may have
been taken from or because of the impact on the budget if they are
being brought in from agencies. The communication team is likely to
end up in a position where they are simultaneously dealing with the
aftermath of the crisis, looking at the recovery phase and needing to
be returning to usual communication activity, and all this will have to
be done with the same number of staff in place as before the crisis
occurred. Assess the communication staffing levels required and
prepare details of the number of additional staff that may be required
in the coming weeks and months. Alongside the staffing you may
want to request funding for a reputation tracking system if that does
not already exist, as this will assist in the understanding of the impact
of activity on rebuilding reputation.
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 203

Re-establish
The focus of recovery communication should be on re-establishing
the brand, organization or company. This will require close working
with the CEO and senior management team to support a review
of the business objectives, policies and procedures to ensure issues
identified from the crisis are considered. Review the organization’s
communication strategy to retain what is required and enhance it
based on the learning and experience. This also needs the input of
stakeholders who will be able to act as critical friends and offer
advice about the way forward. If you have established victim support,
then it is advisable to involve them in the future development of the
business if at all possible. More developed and evolved businesses
may be able to find a way to involve customers or service users at this
stage as well. The key is to re-establish the business within society
and ensure it is not isolated or marginalized due to the crisis. But be
careful not to see re-establishing the business as purely a reputation
management issue because that will lead to surface changes but no
substance. It means that moving forward will lack a solid basis.

Debriefs and reviews

In Chapter 1, when we were outlining the work that was required
ahead of any crisis, there was a significant focus placed on learning
and training. This is the same at the conclusion of a crisis to ensure
that you take the maximum amount from the experience. As a busi-
ness you must be clear that you have mitigated any risks of the
situation reoccurring in the future, and this should be done through
a structured debriefing system. There are two stages to debriefing
a situation. The first is done within a week or so of the incident
concluding and should look at what worked well, what could be
improved and any feedback that was received. Each area or depart-
ment involved in the response should undertake this, and it can then
inform a formal debrief.
204 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

The second stage is more detailed. It is recommended to bring in a

facilitator to run a formal debrief event either for a day or a half day,
involving the main leaders responsible for the response. Choose
someone who has previous experience of undertaking this sort of
facilitation role to ensure you get the most you can from the invest-
ment of time. This debrief will be a detailed look at the themes that
may have come out in each of the quick debriefs that have taken
place, and will identify what activity and work should be undertaken
post-crisis and recovery. Any urgent actions should be noted and
implemented as quickly as possible. It is possible to undertake this
work while recovery is still underway, but it should not be carried out
too quickly following the conclusion of the crisis phase of the inci-
dent or issue. The aim of the work is to ensure the crisis plans, includ-
ing the crisis communication plan and the consequence management
plan, are all updated with the learning from the response. This will
refine and improve the plans for the future.
Once all the debrief work has been undertaken there may be a
requirement to run a review to track the progress of any actions that
have been identified. The public, affected individuals, stakeholders or
shareholders may all want to know this information, to see that
lessons have been learnt and to see the development of the business.
Remember though to avoid the use of the phrase ‘we have learnt the
lessons’ or similar in your communication as it has become overused
and lacks any real meaning. It has no authenticity or honesty.
The debrief work and checking on the progress of actions post-
incident could be linked to the existing risk management process that
is in place but may be run separately and reported to the CEO or
senior management team member. The crisis will have been a realistic
test of the existing plans and there are always aspects that can be
improved and learning to be gathered. Ensure you dedicate time and
resources to gathering the learning and ensuring that you can
strengthen the business processes, risk management and crisis prepa-
rations. The crisis will have been a significant challenge to the organ-
ization, and managing it, working towards recovery and rebuilding
for the future brings extensive learning opportunities. Don’t feel that
the need to review and develop the crisis communication response is
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 205

a signal that there was anything wrong or flawed with the action that
was taken. It is merely a way of ensuring that you can improve and
develop further.

CASE STUDY
Alton Towers

On 2 June 2015, there was an accident on The Smiler rollercoaster at the Alton
Towers theme park in Staffordshire, UK. A train on the rollercoaster collided with
a stationary, empty train, leaving 11 people needing medical treatment with five
seriously injured. The most serious injuries led to two people requiring partial leg
amputations in the weeks after the collision.
The response from the CEO of Merlin, who are the owners of Alton Towers, was
swift and decisive. Media interviews were undertaken quickly and the company
gave an apology as well as focusing on sympathy for the victims, with a recogni-
tion that the incident was ongoing, and speculation was to be avoided. A decision
to close the theme park was taken quickly while the investigation was carried out.
The ride itself wasn’t reopened until March 2016, some 10 months later.
At the time of the incident, as well as providing interviews, the company
website had its home page changed and its Facebook page was also updated to
provide information in a timely way. The company also avoided any attempt to
fight against a health and safety prosecution and moved to provide a settlement
to the victims.2

Learning

The approach was clear and decisive, which showed it was in control of the
situation and working with emergency services when the incident happened.
The CEO at the time, Nick Varney, was visible in all the media interviews and
always maintained a focus on the victims.3 His comments focused on the sympathy
for those who had been affected rather than any reputational issues for the
company.
In one media interview, when asked about the effect on the share price of the
company, he made it clear that it was not focused on that in the aftermath of the
incident. A crisis of this nature, size and scale was always going to take some time
to recover from. Alton Towers’ management appeared to realize that it would
need to accept a short-term financial and reputational impact but that with careful
management and appropriate decision making it could recover. Figures appear
to show that from a visitor number of 2.58 million in 2014 the numbers reduced
206 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

to below 2 million during 2015 and 2016. By 2018 they had increased to
2.1 million, showing a move back towards the pre-incident attendance figures.4

Key learning points

● Follow the guidance in the previous chapters of this book: focus on victims,
put a structure in place, act quickly and be visible.
● Remember that recovery time will vary depending on the nature and scale of
the crisis so don’t rush things.
● Take time before visibly moving forward; in the case of Alton Towers,
reopening the theme park had to be done with sensitivity.
● To secure the long-term future of the business you may need to accept a
short-term impact on profit or share prices.
● Be clear about the priorities for the future based on an acceptance of the
business’ position post-incident.

CASE STUDY
Peloton face financial challenges

During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and its restrictions on groups meeting in
public, the exercise equipment company Peloton benefitted – it experienced a
440 per cent increase in sales, as people started exercising in their own homes
instead of going to the gym.
However, that dropped by 76 per cent in 2021 as people started returning to
their previous exercise regimes, and Peloton’s sales in the first quarter were at
their lowest in terms of growth, at 161,000 new users.5
In early 2022, a series of reputational issues put the business in the news
headlines for even less positive reasons. A character in the Showtime TV pro-
gramme Billions was shown suffering a heart attack while using the company’s
equipment. This came just a month after a similar scene in the programme And
Just Like That. The similarity of the scenes was said to be a coincidence.6 Ahead of
the Billions screening Peloton tweeted that it had not given permission for the IP
or equipment to be used. This was followed by an attempt to focus on the health
benefits of exercise.7
There were then plans to reduce or halt the production of equipment, which
were revealed following a leaked internal presentation from then CEO John Foley.8
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 207

Other claims surfaced at the same time saying the Tread+ would not be produced
in the 2022 fiscal year, and that there would be job losses and closure of show-
rooms. An additional charge of $250 for delivery and set up of the equipment was
introduced, a cost that had previously been included in the price.9
By the quarter ending in August 2022 the company had losses of $1.2 billion
and there was a series of changes announced in an attempt to cut costs.10 The
focus was on cost-cutting, redundancies and outsourcing of production and
delivery to realign the budget. There was also an agreement to start selling the
equipment through Amazon in the US. It was a move away from selling only
through Peloton’s own website and showrooms.11 Peloton was one of the compa-
nies that benefitted during the Covid-19 crisis only to struggle once restrictions
had been eased.12

Key learning points

● Be prepared for crises to grow and develop or for more problems to occur
that put the business under pressure. Communication strategies need to take
account of all the issues that are being faced, those that occurr from within
the business as well as those caused by unrelated external factors such as TV
programmes.
● Avoid using language that is confusing or is difficult to understand. Business
language is fine for business publications but when speaking to customers it
needs to be easy to understand. Take care with the language that you use and
check it is appropriate for the audience being addressed.
● Communicate changes clearly and in context. The business changes that
Peloton was making should have been clearly explained, as part of a proactive
communication strategy. There needs to be a defined narrative about the
progress and development of the business. This can help to build trust and
confidence in the approach and management.
● Bring marketing, PR and crisis communication together in the long-term
development of communication. Peloton could have looked for other product
placement opportunities that would challenge those depicted in the
programmes mentioned. Identifying opportunities for the future marketing of
Peloton should be part of a long-term crisis and then recovery communication
strategy. Even if a business is not struggling commercially the perception that
it is can be easily created and this can happen at any point in the future.
Long-term plans are essential to rebuild confidence for a strong recovery.
208 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Conclusion
Dealing with the crisis is the first priority but when the situation is
under control it can signal a move to the recovery phase. Don’t rush
into this phase as it can take some time to feel able to move forward.
Deciding when to move to recovery is key and it requires careful
thought and discussion. Above all remember the affected people and
the emotional impact of the crisis and its aftermath.
Training needs to be in place for all aspects of the crisis manage-
ment plan and this includes dealing with the recovery. This is an area
that is often neglected in favour of preparing for the first hours of the
crisis but it must happen. Ensure the training and exercise plans
include a focus on deciding when to move to recovery and what that
actually means for the business. The recovery phase can be more
complex and demanding than any other point during the crisis. A
long-running crisis can put a significant amount of pressure on the
communication and the team responsible for it. Such situations
require more innovation, engagement and creativity as the focus
continues over many months or years.
Reputation, trust and confidence are central to recovery communi-
cation. If you have implemented an effective crisis communication
plan in the initial stages you can build on this through the recovery
phase. Consider developing the strategy so that you have a crisis
recovery communication plan. However, if things have not gone well
for any reason, you can still turn things around if you have invested
in understanding the elements of the recovery.
Be prepared that in some cases the situation that has arrived and
challenged the business can fundamentally change the way it oper-
ates. It may be necessary to redesign parts of the business or to
develop its operation. This is not something to fear, as, approached
in a positive way, it can strengthen the business.
Finally, remember the four aspects of the recovery phase: review,
rebuild, resources and re-establish. All these can keep the focus on
what is required for the final phase of the crisis communication strat-
egy. After that it is about debriefing and learning, and that is a sign of
a healthy organization that is building for the future.
 STEPPING ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 209

Notes
1 K Peachey. Post Office scandal: What the Horizon saga is all about, BBC News
Business, 22 March 2022. [Link]/news/business-56718036 (archived
at [Link]/L8XC-AP5F)
2 A Monaghan. Alton Towers visitor numbers still down since Smiler crash,
Guardian, 29 September 2016. [Link]/business/2016/sep/29/
merlin-entertainments-alton-towers-visitor-numbers-still-down-smiler-crash
(archived at [Link]/K83F-W5S9)
3 J Harrington. Merlin CEO Nick Varney fronts response to Alton Towers crash,
PR Week, 4 June 2015. [Link]/article/1350007/merlin-ceo-nick-
varney-fronts-response-alton-towers-crash (archived at [Link]/TZ8N-L39N)
4 Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and The Economics Practice at
AECOM. Global Attractions Attendance Report, 2018. [Link]/
wp-content/uploads/2019/05/[Link] (archived at
[Link]/AGW6-K36M)
5 B Stieglitz. More bad PR for Peloton! Billions character ‘Wags’ suffers heart
attack after spin class in Season 6 premiere – following death of Mr. Big in Sex
and City reboot, Mail Online, 24 January 2022. [Link]/news/
article-10433761/Pelotons-brand-gets-slammed-unfavorable-portrayal-
[Link] (archived at [Link]/JA67-N4YF)
6 J Jacobs. Another Peloton Heart Attack on TV? ‘Billions’ says it’s a
coincidence, New York Times, 21 January 2022. [Link]/2022/01/
21/arts/television/[Link] (archived at [Link]/
3URF-N9HB)
7 S Hamedy. ‘A ‘Billions’ character had a heart attack post-Peloton ride. Peloton
is not happy about it, NBC News, 24 January 2022. [Link]/
pop-culture/tv/billions-character-heart-attack-post-peloton-ride-rcna13296
(archived at [Link]/RA37-HA99)
8 L Thomas. Peloton to pause production of its Bikes, treadmills as demand
wanes, CNBC, 20 January 2022. [Link]/2022/01/20/peloton-to-
[Link] (archived at
[Link]/BX2R-SQ5T)
9 J Valinsky. Peloton is hiking prices because of inflation, CNN Business,
18 January 2022. [Link]/2022/01/18/business/peloton-price-
increase-inflation/[Link] (archived at [Link]/X6DA-MUT4)
10 The Guardian. Peloton shares plummet after quarterly losses top $1.2bn,
25 August 2022. [Link]/business/2022/aug/25/peloton-losses-
shares-plummet (archived at [Link]/5CS6-25TG)
210 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

11 T Ryan. Peloton looks to get back in shape by selling on Amazon, Retail Wire,
1 September 2022. [Link]/discussion/peloton-looks-to-get-back-
in-shape-by-selling-on-amazon/ (archived at [Link]/CU5D-LJQ3)
12 R Vlastelica. Peloton and Zoom show more pain for Covid trade, Bloomberg
UK, 29 August 2022. [Link]/news/articles/2022-08-29/
peloton-and-zoom-show-covid-trade-can-t-find-a-floor-tech-watch (archived at
[Link]/L6YX-MY8D)
 9

So, what happens next?

Dealing with a crisis can be daunting and you can put it to the back
of your mind in the hope it may never happen. Hopefully, it won’t
ever happen but if it does you need to be ready and able to respond
to it. As a professional communicator it must be part of your skills
and knowledge to be able to cope with a crisis and as a business
leader it is your responsibility to ensure the organization is ready to
respond across all sections. Getting ready now will put you in the
best position possible to be able to spot a crisis before it happens,
respond quickly when it is underway and bring the organization
safely through it.
The key to managing a crisis is to have done the preparation work
and to deal with it in bite-sized chunks. If you attempt to implement
the whole of this book single-handedly in one go you are unlikely to
succeed. Take it a step at a time to build a successful crisis communi-
cation response. Develop a roadmap that will track your progress to
ensuring you are crisis ready. This roadmap should be something for
the whole of the business and not just the communication team.
However, communicators can play a key role in developing the road-
map and tracking the progress. Implementing a crisis management
approach into the culture of the business takes time. Taking things a
step at a time and really embedding the attitude and behaviour into
the culture will achieve the best results. This is an investment of time
to build a stronger, more resilient business.
There has been a lot of discussion about processes, plans and
procedures for dealing with a crisis and they are all important. In
212 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

fact, they are vital to ensure your readiness for the possibility of a
critical situation that may develop into a full-blown crisis. But what
is more important than all those things to the success of the response
is to deal appropriately, sensitively and professionally with the people
who are caught up in the crisis. It doesn’t matter whether they are the
employees who have had to respond to the situation or the people
who were the most affected, how the business treats them will be a
significant factor in the perceived success of managing the crisis.
Traditional approaches to crisis communication have focused too
heavily on processes and reputation at the expense of the people
affected. Strategies are written from the sole perspective of protecting
the organization when they should look outwards and start from the
perspective of the people caught up in the crisis. They should focus
on gathering a diversity of thoughts and using inclusive language.
This can be seen in many of the crisis situations and some of the case
studies that are outlined in this book. We should never lose sight of
the fact that all communication is fundamentally about people and a
conversation, and crisis communication is no different. People are the
recipients of the communication and they will also be caught up in
the crisis. Changing the way you consider crisis communication and
its aims will build a more effective strategy and approach. Consider
what crisis communication means to you, your communication
colleagues, senior leaders and the organization as a whole. If you
understand what their views and opinions are before an issue emerges
then you will know how much work is required to change the perspec-
tive away from reputation management and towards a people-centred
response.
Throughout this book there have been key learning points, top tips
and examples of how to prepare, manage and recover from a crisis.
If you are struggling for time to develop your crisis communication
strategy and plans, then just try to take some of the main elements
from the points within this book and put them in place. The key is to
have some form of outline in place even if you haven’t been able to
develop a fully formed plan. But I would recommend ensuring you
have the strategy in place as soon as you possibly can. Ask for the
 SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 213

time and support needed to write or revise the plan and to detail
what is required to ensure readiness.
When you put this book down, make sure that you start to review
what needs to be in place wherever you work or whoever you work
for. A crisis could emerge tonight or tomorrow or in a couple of days’
time and you need to be ready. There are no second chances in the
world of crisis communication. Of course, if you want to have more
peace of mind then make sure you have planned and prepared, includ-
ing testing your plans. There is more on maintaining readiness later
in this chapter.

The five Ps of crisis communication

There are five Ps to remember in developing your crisis communica-
tion strategy:
● People
● Plan
● Prepare
● Process
● Purpose

People
Remembering the people affected by the crisis is the most important
element to take your crisis communication from being just enough to
being effective. Most crisis plans and systems are developed without
considering the requirements of the employees who are delivering the
practical response, and the people caught up in the crisis. Customers,
service users and, in the most serious cases, victims and affected
people and their families, should be at the heart of the response.
Remembering the people involved in the crisis will be fundamental to
how people view and assess the business’ response. Considering the
needs of people cannot be underestimated; it is beneficial to the
people involved and to the whole business.
214 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Building employees into the communication response is also essen-

tial. They should not learn about the situation from anywhere but the
company they work for. Getting internal communication right is as
important as, if not more important than, any external media work.
Ensure you have considered how the internal communication
response will work alongside the external communication activity,
particularly when considering narrative, key messages and timings.
Any failure to communicate internally could easily be played out on
social media, with staff and their friends and families commenting on
the situation. Remembering to communicate with internal staff will
also help when considering the wellbeing support that is required.
Consider the welfare and wellbeing support the business has access
to and identify how it can be used to help those who may be affected
by what they have to deal with.
Mental health and wellbeing within communication and PR is
much written about. It is recognized that PR is a stressful profession
for people working in it day after day, and this pressure will increase
during a crisis. This has to be acknowledged, and support built in, not
just for those staff dealing directly with the crisis but for those who
may be indirectly involved but affected. Communicators will learn
more about the implications of the crisis than many other depart-
ments. They must have a clear picture of what has happened to
inform communication and that can mean being aware of complex,
difficult or upsetting information. The phrase ‘It is OK to not be OK’
is often used, and that is the case, but we don’t have to accept that
people will suffer without help and support. Build a wellbeing
approach that can be tailored to individual affected staff, teams and
the wider organization when needed.
For many years crisis responses have been delivered to people
without a thought for the impact on those who are affected – the
victims, as we have called them. If we look at the response from the
CEO after the Alton Towers accident mentioned in Chapter 8, then
we can see the importance of the humanity of the response. It doesn’t
matter whether it is an operational or reputational crisis, the way
people are supported will be in the spotlight. Don’t just prioritize it
because it will lead to a more effective response – do it because it is
 SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 215

the right thing to do morally and ethically. Showing you care about
those caught up in the crisis, without accepting any liability for the
situation, is important. Authenticity remains essential in all aspects of
the people elements of the response. It is about more than following
a formula; it is about being genuine and understanding the views of
those caught up in the situation. This is why crisis communication
plans and activities should be tailored to the organization. An ‘off the
shelf’ crisis communication plan will not be as effective.
Finally, the people who are stakeholders or who are identified
within the consequence management activity and any impact assess-
ment must also be considered. Remember the ripple effect and the
importance of working out who to contact, with what and when.
Identify who is most affected and then work outwards, being careful
to cover all those caught up in the incident. Be aware of the diversity
of people and what this may mean to the communication approach.
Detail how they will be updated and who will update them. Ensure
there are open lines of communication between them and the busi-
ness throughout the incident and into recovery. This will help manage
the impact and ensure consistency in messaging. This may sound
resource intensive but, as outlined in Chapter 6, there is a lot of pre-
paratory work that can be undertaken as part of planning for a crisis.
Working to support the people affected by a crisis is not something
that will stop when the initial situation is resolved. It will continue
right through to the recovery phase and then beyond at all those trig-
ger points mentioned in Chapter 8. You will need to consider the
people affected by what has happened today, tomorrow and for
some time to come. In the cases of organizations such as BP and
Alton Towers they will always need to be aware of the key dates and
issues that will bring the events they had to deal with back into the
spotlight.

Plan
Having the right plan in place is critical; it needs to be developed so
it is bespoke to the organization. It is the foundation for all the
communication work that will follow, however long that is going to
216 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

take to complete. All organizations are different and have their own
issues, culture and background, and while you can learn from others
you must make sure that it fits the business. It must have the business
in mind and be linked to the existing risk management system. As we
have stated, speed is a huge challenge to the crisis response and being
able to quickly put a plan in place will put the business in a proactive
position. Remember that a crisis requires action to be taken and the
business must be seen to be actively dealing with what has happened.
This action must also be clearly outlined in the crisis communication
narrative. There is no place for a passive approach when responding
to a crisis and hoping to deal with it effectively.
In Chapter 1 we went through what to include in a crisis commu-
nication strategy and how to approach it and ensure it is linked to the
operational response plan. Put some time aside to ensure that you
know the organization’s approach to business continuity and crisis
management. Having the right plan is something that can’t be devel-
oped in isolation. Use the support in this book to develop a crisis
communication strategy. But remember that it doesn’t stop with this
being developed; you have to share it across the business so that
people know what it means and how it will be implemented. Plans
are only as good as the people who will put them in place and their
understanding of the response. Training and support as well as
communication about the plan are all essential to embed it within the
business. As organizations are dynamic and people come and go all
the time it is a training and education plan that will need to be in
place throughout the year and at key points in the lifetime of an
employee, for example when they start, when they get promoted, etc.
Developing simple checklists that people can pick up at short
notice to guide them in what they need to do can save valuable time.
Create them as part of, or alongside, your plan. Keep them as stand-
alone information sheets that can be handed out to whoever has to
perform the role that is outlined in the sheet. The key is to have a plan
and supporting documentation that can be picked up and used by
communicators and non-communicators alike the moment a crisis
occurs. It should also be simple enough for communicators from
outside the organization to understand and act upon, as they may be
 SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 217

brought in to support as additional resources. Remember to consider

the use of language within the crisis communication to ensure it is
clear and accessible as well as being inclusive and sensitive to those
affected by what has happened. The plan and associated documents
will come together as your crisis communication strategy and approach.

Prepare
Writing the plan isn’t the end of the crisis response approach. A plan
on its own is a theoretical analysis of what the business considers will
be effective communication in managing the crisis. But that is just
half of the story. Plans must be scrutinized, analysed, assessed and
above all tested. It is the testing through exercises and crisis simula-
tions that will turn a theoretical plan into a practical document ensur-
ing confidence in readiness. If you have a plan, make sure you create
the framework to pull it apart and rebuild it stronger and better for
the moment it has to be used.
Training people to use the plan is the second phase of preparing
the approach to crisis management. Anyone involved must have been
provided with training through the testing and exercising process or
as a stand-alone training session. If possible, make it part of job
descriptions and continuous professional development for people
across the business, particularly if they are in a management position
and are likely to be leading sections of the crisis response. You can
also provide training by asking those who have had first-hand experi-
ence of managing a crisis to come into the organization and share
their learning and insights. Real-life experiences can provide a focus
for what to review or develop, or how to stress-test a plan. Consider
bringing in a crisis management expert from outside the business to
help with this training element. Crisis management and crisis commu-
nication consultants can bring expertise and experience that will be
able to stress-test the plan and the people who will lead it. They can
provide bespoke training and support to assist the business in its
development. This is important because the aim is to have a plan that
is ready to be used and can provide a solid response but can also be
added to in a crisis.
218 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

A key role within the crisis response is that of the CEO or leader
within the business, who is likely to be the person who will be used
for media interviews and who will be fundamental to the communi-
cation to employees. They may not do interviews at the start of the
crisis but at some point they will have to be accountable to people as
the head of the organization. The CEO and the senior management
team may feel that they are ready and do not need any assistance but
we can all benefit from additional training and support. So use your
influencing skills to encourage them to be part of crisis response
training, and crisis communication training specifically. It is always
beneficial to have a number of senior managers or leaders within the
business who have been media trained and are ready to deal with the
pressures of media interviews during a crisis. Often leaders will
appear to have seen and done a lot but, as we know, a crisis will be a
one-off that many will never have faced or experienced. Leaders
being seen to accept training will send a positive message to the rest
of the business, who will also need to factor time into developing and
preparing for a crisis. After all, leaders are role models to employees
and have a responsibility to ensure the business is in a state of readi-
ness to manage a crisis from top to bottom.

Process
Putting the right structure in place is important and goes beyond the
roles and responsibilities that are outlined in the crisis communica-
tion plan. Chapter 3 considered the way those organizations who
carry a lot of risk and face regular crises manage and communicate
about them. Remember the structure does not have to mirror the
usual business processes that operate within the organization, as this
is a time of exceptional circumstances. Provided people know the
plan and how it works then the structure can be implemented just for
the crisis management and recovery phase. Success will come from
having a structure that works for the way the business operates but
that can be implemented swiftly in response to the emerging crisis.
The process must be developed ahead of any crisis occurring. It
requires a clear approach to managing risk operating within the
 SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 219

organization. Know the risks that exist and the ones the business may
face and ensure these are kept regularly updated. It is everyone’s
responsibility to identify risks and make senior staff aware of them.
The risk management process is your precursor to any crisis manage-
ment work, as without it you cannot look at scenarios and develop
appropriate and relevant testing. Investing time in the risk assessment
and risk management processes can help to identify a crisis in its
early stages and to mitigate the impact of it. This same risk manage-
ment process can also prevent a crisis occurring as mitigation is put
in place at an early stage limiting the impact of the issue and ensuring
the business can get a grip of the situation.
It may feel like developing the process is not the responsibility of
communication staff, and you would be right. Communicators
cannot make this happen on their own, but they can play a key role
as a catalyst to get the business in a state of readiness to deal with any
form of crisis. They can ask the challenging questions, they can point
the leadership to the actions being undertaken by others and they can
highlight the impact to businesses that get it wrong. For additional
support, learn from others and bring people in who can assist in
developing the approach across the business. However, developing
the risk management processes within communication itself is the
responsibility of the communication lead. The professional commu-
nicator should be able to spot the signs of a potential crisis or critical
incident and to share their concerns with the business so that mitiga-
tion can be put in place. Ensure you have an effective risk manage-
ment system in place within your communication team.

Purpose
An honest and authentic approach to crisis communication means
remembering the purpose and values of the business. The purpose is
what the business is established to do, to deliver or to make. If you
try to be something you are not when dealing with a crisis, it will be
found out very quickly and will have a detrimental impact on percep-
tions of your response. Remember, authenticity is key, whether that is
for the individuals leading the response, the CEO and the company
220 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

spokesperson or the organization itself. Never try to create a picture

of the organization that is not accurate and does not withstand scru-
tiny. Build the organization’s purpose and philosophy into how you
deliver the other four Ps of crisis communication.
Make sure you know what the situations mean to the people, plan
and process that you are putting in place. Also, keep an open mind
about how the purpose and philosophy of the business may need to
develop and adapt, particularly when considering the response to a
crisis and the feedback that was received. Learning from the recovery
and the reviews of the crisis is important, and the business should be
open to conducting some self-analysis when concluding a crisis.

The five Ps are all important to the totality of the communication

including external, internal and stakeholder communication. External
communication includes all forms of media, social media and direct
communication as well as community liaison. Internal communica-
tion must always be at the forefront of considerations when a crisis
emerges, particularly working with the employees leading on wellbe-
ing and welfare support. But you must also remember to include
stakeholders within the crisis communication plan so that they learn
about what is happening first-hand from the business. They can also
support you and create a mutually beneficial relationship. Of course,
a strong working relationship with stakeholders should exist before
any crisis happens and should continue long after the recovery has
concluded. If you have a good operation in place to deliver commu-
nication as a business element of the organization this will assist
greatly when you are under pressure dealing with a crisis. These
elements such as stakeholder engagement mapping, channel strate-
gies and even content strategies mean the crisis communication
response has foundations it can utilize.

Maintaining readiness
Putting it simply, there should be an organizational priority that
looks at the readiness to deal with a critical incident or a crisis.
Operational plans for the business should mention the importance
 SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 221

of being match fit and ready to face any critical issue or crisis to
ensure the appropriate planning and training takes place. Making
crisis response part of the organization’s DNA and its business
processes is the only way to be sure you are in a position to manage
whatever the future brings. If you already have this in place, then
great news – you are on the road to effective crisis communication.
But if you don’t then you need to make it happen.
Start by making sure the senior leaders and CEO are aware of the
benefits of effective crisis communication and that they understand
the risks from being ill-prepared. Case studies can assist in explaining
what has happened in other organizations and where things have
been beneficial or harmful to a business. The two elements go together.
Show the positives of preparing for a crisis as well as opening their
eyes to what could happen if things go wrong. In the case studies
featured in this book you can see both the financial and reputational
damage that can come from the crisis response. Done well, it can
ensure there is a future for the business, but if it is done badly then it
can mean a drop in share prices or a reduction in sales.
Remember to focus the discussion about crisis communication and
the crisis response on what matters to the business, whether that is
the bottom-line financial situation, shareholders’ views or customer
satisfaction rates. If you know what the organization values and how
it measures operational success, whether it is finances, reputation or
customer satisfaction, then you can frame the conversation to ensure
you highlight the benefits of effective crisis communication.

Bottom up
If you are concerned about where to start, work from the basics and
build upwards. If you are new to crisis communication, then you
cannot expect to achieve everything overnight. Start by putting some
basics in place, such as writing a crisis communication plan, and then
be clear on the milestones that are required to build upon this as you
progress. This is the roadmap that was mentioned earlier. Everyone
must start somewhere in developing the crisis communication strat-
egy and approach for the business.
222 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Whenever a crisis occurs within another organization or business,

take the time to review the communication that is put in place. Look
at what that organization does and says. Consider how it deals with
queries through social media. Review what information is provided
on the company website and how this may change or be approached
in different ways in different countries. Assess the media interviews
undertaken by the CEO. Look at how quickly they were done, and
what was said within the interview. Consider the narrative that is
given on social media, to the media and provided in any other formats.
All this can help you to recognize good practice and when a company
may be slow or ineffective in the response.
Never be afraid to seek help. Few communicators will have direct
experience of managing a crisis and getting support can allow you to
tap into the learning and experiences of others. There are many crisis
communications conferences and workshops around the world that
can help provide an insight into how many situations have been
approached. There are also specialist crisis communication consult-
ants who can support the development of plans and any exercising
and training, as well as assisting in considering the road to recovery.
You may also want to speak to other organizations that you work
with to look at their plans and see how they may support your work
to develop crisis communication plans.
But remember that with all this learning and experience you can
access there is no simple equation for effective crisis communication.
You have to look at the specifics of the situation, the details of the
organization and its purpose, and the communication that takes
place day to day. All those elements will have an influence on how
you approach and deliver crisis communication. You must have a
bespoke plan in place: your plan and a plan for the business you are
supporting. Put that time in your diary to start to consider and review
the current situation and identify the work that needs to be done.
Find the gaps and then find ways to fill them.
 SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 223

Do it now
Finally, there are five key things that you need to go and do now
before you forget the details of this book and continue with your
day-to-day work demands:
1 Ensure you know the organization’s plans for dealing with a
crisis and what your crisis communication plan looks like. Check
they are up to date.
2 Take the key learning points and top tips within the book and
look at them within existing plans so that you can see what may
need to change.
3 Assess the risks that you may face and ask to see the risk manage-
ment plans for the business, including any testing and exercise
regimes.
4 Consider what training you may need to put in place or what
support you may need to make things happen.
5 Prepare now and don’t ignore crisis communication because you
never know when a crisis will be upon you.

Conclusion
Developing a crisis communication plan that is ready to implement
the moment something happens can feel overwhelming. Take some
time to think things through and to ensure you understand the exist-
ing systems and processes. If there are existing crisis communication
plans then consider whether they are up to date and would be ready
to use. Do they mention the affected people? If they are not built
around the people that will be affected, both public and staff, then
they need to be immediately overhauled. Break down the thinking
into five areas: people, plan, process, preparation and the purpose of
the business. But above all keep the affected people in your mind as
you are revising and rewriting the plans.
Create a roadmap that will allow you to take the steps to move
forward towards developing an effective crisis communication
strategy. Revise the existing plans or rewrite from your understand-
224 CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

ing of crisis communication and the business. Know what the mile-
stones are that you need to reach to put the new or revised plan into
place and be ready to act. Consider also how you will keep things up
to date. This roadmap can become part of the annual business plan-
ning process and the communication objectives for the year.
Once the new plan is in place then the hard work begins of educat-
ing, training and exercising it. Involve employees in the crisis commu-
nication plan development and in the testing of it so that they can
understand what it means for them and how they can support it. It is
more likely they will remember what to do when a crisis emerges if
they have had practical experience of what it means to them. The
more scenario testing and exercising you can do the more likely they
are to be ready to act. Education and communication about the plan
are good but real experience in an exercise is much better. Leaders
and managers must see the role they have to play in the crisis commu-
nication response. But don’t neglect the education of frontline staff in
what will happen because they are the interface with the public.
Remember the importance of giving staff a list of customer check-
points, where those are and the roles that are responsible for manag-
ing them. This will be invaluable when you need to respond quickly
and alert them so that they can give an accurate and informed
response to the public.
Finally, take the lessons, guidance and advice from this book and
look at what you can take forward to implement. But don’t let the
learning end there; keep learning from what happens. Look at crises
when they emerge and assess the communication response that is put
in place. Identify what the priority is for the organization as outlined
in its response. Consider who is the spokesperson – how do they
look, what do they say and does it build confidence in both the
response and the organization? Above all, remember you are not
alone in trying to be ready to manage a crisis; there is expert help and
advice available. Consider who may be able to help you from within
the sector where you are working, from those who appear to have an
effective crisis communication approach and from people who have
communicated through a crisis. Remember to call on help from
others as required as you move along the roadmap to implement an
effective crisis communication strategy.
 INDEX

The index is filed in alphabetical, word-by-word order. Acronyms are filed as presented;
numbers are filed as spelt out.

Abbott, Greg 135 Canada Revenue Agency 52–53

active engagement 90–91 candour, duty of 156–57
Acts of Congress 74 case studies 77, 129, 221
affected people (victim) support 65–66, 75, central communication approach 97, 101
151–61, 179, 184, 193–94, 203, CEOs 23, 24, 42, 48–49, 58, 81, 98,
213–15 116–17, 218, 221
agencies (communications companies) 17, compassion 119–20
21, 22, 23–24, 217, 222 and culture 20
alert systems 58–60, 94, 132, 182 social media 123
see also initial response visibility of 98, 120, 132, 133, 205, 206
Alton Towers 119, 205–06, 214, 215 see also Hayward, Tony; Hebblethwaite,
Amazon 207 Peter; Malik, Arshad; Munoz,
AMEC 18, 107 Oscar
apologies 40, 83, 121, 122, 125, 136, 157, channels 99–103
163–64, 205 see also blogs
Ardern, Jacinda 119, 134–35 Chartered Institute of Public Relations 72
Arredondo, Pedro (police chief) 130, 136 checklists 8–11, 25, 60, 94, 132–34,
attentiveness 159 162–63, 177–78, 216
see also listening chemical handling sector 21
authenticity 106, 119–20, 125, 137, 164, Citizen’s Advice Bureau 153
199, 215, 219–20 Civil Contingencies Act 74
COBR 27
back-up systems 8 Code of Practice for Victims of Crime
backgrounds (backdrops) 124 159–60
banking systems failures 59, 61, 175, 179 collective approach (collaboration) 77,
Barcelona Principles 107–08 160–61
Black Lives Matter movement 83 College of Policing 76
blame 52, 53, 77 command and control approach 70, 72–73
blogs 10, 101 communication leaders (lead
BP 130, 196, 215 communicators) 14, 51–52, 61,
brand re-establishment 203 78, 126
brand values (organizational values) 109, communication team (communicators)
118, 163, 221 46–53, 57, 71, 81, 97–98, 101,
briefings 73, 94, 100, 101, 106, 133, 161 123, 182–83, 202, 219
Bronze Commanders 73 supporting spokespeople 128–30
business context 42, 78 community engagement 91, 141–67,
business continuity 28, 50, 59, 68, 191–92, 174–75
216 compassion 119–20, 134–35, 136, 184
business planning 196, 199, 224 computers 18–19
passwords for 52
Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms 27 systems failures (outages) 9, 59, 179,
calmness 58, 86, 173 192
226 INDEX

consequence management 74–75, 79, 84, emotion 58, 125, 137

133, 149–51, 162–63, 177 emotional awareness 2, 77, 119–20, 169,
consistency 24, 79–80, 103, 118, 184 171, 173, 178, 185, 188–89
consultation 13, 85, 190 empathy 58, 110, 119, 124, 131, 136, 153,
continuous professional development 51, 184, 199
68, 126, 173, 217 employee engagement 46, 62, 89–113, 214
Covid-19 pandemic 13, 24, 35, 59, 89, 128, see also key employees; resourcing
147, 148, 206, 207 (staffing)
creativity 3, 10, 11, 26, 191, 208 employee engagement leads 97–98, 105–06
credential stuffing 52 employee recognition 104, 178–79
crisis, defined 34–36 employee segmentation (mapping) 100,
crisis communication plans 3–31, 61–62, 102, 105
79, 93, 96–97, 99, 215–17 ethics 80, 120–21, 125, 137, 169–70, 215
crisis communications agencies evaluation 18–19, 106–08, 222
(companies) 17, 21, 22, 23–24, see also debriefing; review processes
217, 222 executive team (top team) 20, 41, 47, 50,
see also specialist crisis communications 99, 125–26, 127, 161
advisers see also CEOs
critical incidents 35–36, 46, 58–59 expectation management 28, 123–24
culture 148–49 extreme weather 2, 27–28, 34
organizational 20, 71, 95, 131 eye of the storm phase 12, 13, 18
customer analysis 94, 143–45
cyberattacks 5, 52–53, 175 face-to-face communication 74, 100, 120
Facebook 26, 134, 183, 205
data breaches 52–53, 145–46, 193, 200 facilitators 204
debriefing 2, 71, 76–77, 93, 96, 133, fake news 39, 66, 67, 81–82
179–80, 203–05 family liaison officers 75
see also evaluation; review processes family support 75, 80, 120–21, 130–31, 136,
decision making 11, 26, 61, 70, 80, 192–97 142, 151–61, 183–84, 213, 214
decisiveness 84–85, 118–19, 135, 136, 205 Farooqi, Arif Iqbal 183–84
Deepwater Horizon crisis (BP) 130, 196, 215 Ferrero 164–65
defensiveness 2, 84 first impressions 124
deputy communication leaders 14 first statements (initial statements) 9, 15,
deputy spokespeople 128 63, 65–66, 134–35, 183
desk-based testing 21, 22 first 24 hours response 9–10, 12–13,
see also tabletop exercises 57–61, 62, 132–33
digital helplines 11 see also initial response
disinformation 67
dismissiveness 85, 197 flexibility 5–6, 11, 86
diversity 24, 83, 85, 146, 147, 148, 212, flood risk 174
215 focus 190–91
diversity leads 149 focus groups 24, 25, 107
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act Foley, John 206
(2004) 159 food production sector 21, 153, 174–75,
duty of candour 156–57 181
duty of care 98–99, 169–70
duty rotas 127–28 ‘gagging’ affected people 155
gap analysis 20, 66, 81, 182, 201
early alerts 58–60, 94, 132, 182 Gjørv report 2, 25–27
see also initial response Gold Commanders 14, 72–73, 192
emails 40, 100, 101, 108 ‘golden hour’ 60
Emergency Planning Society 73 governance 11, 70
emergency services 2, 21, 58–59, 67–68, Government of Canada Key Service 52–53
72–77, 79, 205 grab bags 8–9, 61
 INDEX 227

Hayward, Tony 130, 196 language (wording) 53, 85, 92–95, 125,
Health Security Agency 164 130, 136, 148
heat maps 151, 152 clarity of 28, 53, 207, 217
Hebblethwaite, Peter 110, 111 see also tone
helplines 11, 15, 176, 178 lead communicators (communication
HMV 38 leaders) 14, 51–52, 61, 78, 126
holding statements 8 leadership 27, 98–99, 109, 115–39, 184,
honesty 60, 85, 103, 111, 123–24, 157, 218
161, 199 see also executive team (top team);
HR function 41, 97, 98, 99, 105, 188 managers
humanity 58, 119–20, 121, 124, 134–35, legal function 34, 129, 165
136, 214 legislation 6–7, 77–78
humour 163 listening 75, 97, 106, 109, 119, 159
see also consultation
image management, leadership 124–25 logging (information logs) 9, 63, 64, 129
impact analysis (risk impact analysis) 79, London Bridge terrorist attack 37
108, 145–46, 151, 170–72 long-running crises 107, 189–92, 208
inclusivity 13, 24, 104, 146–49, 190, 212,
217 Malik, Arshad 183
induction programmes 192 managers 33, 170
influencing skills 47, 51, 78, 126, 129, 218 briefing of 73, 94, 100, 101, 106, 133,
information logs 9, 63, 64, 192 161
information management 22, 61, 99, 136, manufacturing sector 43, 94, 174–75
147–48, 151, 165, 181, 184 marketing function 7, 144–45, 207
initial response 8–9 media interviews 123, 124, 132, 155–56,
see also early alerts; first 24 hours 205, 222
response media monitoring 9, 18, 49–50, 82, 121
initial statements (first statements) 9, 15, media monitoring leads 15
63, 65–66, 134–35, 183 media operating advice leaflets 155–56
inquests 75, 121, 180 media updates 10
inquiries 3, 74, 75, 106, 180, 191, 192 meetings 46–47, 73, 78–79, 133
Insolvency Service 110 affected people 155
integrated evaluation framework 18 consequence management 150–51
internal communication 102, 105, 107, milestones 107, 221, 224
112, 177, 178, 214, 220 military services 21, 27, 58–59, 67–71,
see also employee engagement; employee 76, 79
segmentation (mapping); misinformation 66
employee recognition mission 7–8
internal communication leads 14, 176 mixed messaging 44, 136
internal social networks (discussions) 100, mobile technology 8, 59
101 mood monitoring (public opinion) 121,
International Association for the 191, 196–97
Measurement and Evaluation of MOSAIC 144–45
Communication (AMEC) 18, 107 motivational skills 117–18
intersectionality 149 Munoz, Oscar 40–41
intranet 100, 101, 108
investigations 73, 74, 111, 164, 180, 181, narrative 2–4, 66, 79–80, 81, 94, 95,
184, 205 102–06
NATO 70–71
Jenner, Kendall 83 natural disasters 34
see also flood risk; 2004 tsunami
key employees 95, 120, 127, 179 negative communication 43, 49, 53, 77, 84,
KFC 163–64 94, 130
Kinder Egg 164–65 New Zealand terror attack 119, 134–35
228 INDEX

Northern Powergrid 27 product failures 37, 49, 91, 94, 161,

Northumberland County Council 27 164–65, 175, 189
Norway 2, 25–27 professional development 51, 68, 126, 173,
noticeboards 101 217
promotional response 103
Ofgem 27 propaganda 67
openness 85, 104, 111, 156–57, 160, 161, pseudo-journalists 22–23
220 psychological support 131, 170, 171–74,
operational crises 5, 18, 21, 36–37, 57–87, 175–76, 178, 200
103, 194 public assistance 15, 21, 24
see also natural disasters public confidence 63, 84, 151, 198, 207
operational leads 9, 10, 61 public inquiries 3, 74, 75, 106, 180, 191, 192
organizational culture 20, 71, 95, 131 public opinion (mood monitoring) 121,
organizational impact 108 191, 196–97
organizational mission 7–8 purpose 219–20
organizational re-establishment 203
organizational strategy 6–7, 48, 51 qualitative data 107
organizational values 109, 118, 163, 221 quantitative data 107
organizational vision 7–8, 118
Oslo bombing response 2, 25 ransomware attacks 5
out-of-hours cover 52 recognition 104, 178–79
outcomes 108 recovery (re-establishing) phase 10–11,
outputs 108 13–14, 18, 82, 96, 106, 178–80,
outtakes 108 187–210
Oxfam 84–85, 121 relationship building 91, 125, 158, 160–61
reputation 80, 198–99
P&O 110–11 reputation trackers 121, 201
Pakistan International Airlines 183–84 reputational crises 5, 35, 37–41, 43, 49, 50,
passive engagement 90 104, 146
passwords 18, 52 resignations 131–32
Peloton 206–07 resilience building 20, 28, 122, 129–30,
people impact 35, 213–15 171–75, 189–90
see also employee engagement; family resourcing (staffing) 10, 12–13, 17, 62–63,
support; victim support (affected 191, 195–96, 202
people) support response times 44, 59–60, 82, 83–84
Pepsi 34, 83–85 responsibility 122–23, 132
planning 3–31, 61–62, 79, 93, 96–97, 99, review processes 11, 24–25, 43, 133–34,
215–17 179–80, 190, 201, 202, 222
business 196, 199, 224 see also debriefing; evaluation
business continuity 28, 50, 59, 68, 216 risk impact analysis 79, 108, 145–46, 151,
pre-risk 46 170–72
police chief, Uvalde (Arredondo, Pedro) risk management 15, 35, 41–47, 49, 116,
130, 136 218–19
positivity 117–18, 130, 134 risk management meetings 46–47
Post Office 192 risk managers 33
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 171 risk mitigation 43, 44, 46, 93
PR leads (function) 129, 207, 214 risk registers 15, 54
pre-recovery phase 13, 194 risk reviews 43
pre-risk plans 46 Robb Elementary School (Uvalde) shooting
prioritization 123 130, 135–37
priority channels 16, 27 role fit 8, 10, 11–15, 17, 23, 69, 74, 78,
procedures (processes) 3, 20, 41–47, 50, 79, 97
69–70 see also operational leads; spokespeople
 INDEX 229

role-playing exercises 21 tabletop exercises 21, 22

role profiles 14–15 see also desk-based testing
rolling information logs 9, 63, 64, 192 tactical advisers 49, 75–76, 77, 78, 123,
129, 130
scale of crisis 200 technology 8–9, 18–19, 24, 26, 59
scenario testing 4, 15, 19–27, 28, 46, see also computers; intranet; social
73–74, 102, 197–98 networks (discussions); systems
sign-off processes 11, 23 outages (failures); telephone
Silver Commanders 73 helplines
skills 36, 39, 50–52, 58, 78, 126, 154 telephone helplines 11, 15, 176, 178
influencing 47, 129, 218 template statements 65
listening 75, 97, 106, 109, 119, 159 terrorist attacks 25–27, 34, 37, 72–77,
motivational 117–18 119–20, 134–35, 174, 200
SMART objectives 106–07 Thomas Cook 121
social media 10, 16, 18–19, 23, 25–26, 28, time management 123
38–41, 59–60, 81–82, 165 tone 103–04, 196
CEOs 123 top team (executive team) 20, 41, 47, 50,
employee use of 94, 95 99, 125–26, 127, 161
monitoring of 9, 18, 43, 49–50, 52, 82, see also CEOs
121 training 68–69, 85, 125–27, 136, 153, 173,
social media monitoring leads 15 175, 197–98, 216, 217
social networks (discussions) 100, 101 see also professional development
specialist crisis communications advisers 127 transportation sector 21, 110
speculation 183, 184 Tread+ 206–07
spokespeople 9, 10, 14, 23, 81, 126–30 trigger points 18, 109, 159, 179, 180–81
staff wellbeing leads 14–15, 98 trust 115, 165, 199, 207
staffing (resourcing) 10, 12–13, 17, 62–63, tsunami (2004) 34, 35
191, 195–96, 202 TV interviews 124
stakeholder complaints 44 20-minute window 60, 65
stakeholder engagement (management) 10, Twitter 26, 38, 52, 183
16, 19, 111, 132, 161–62, 197, 2004 tsunami 34, 35
215, 220
operational crises 61–62, 66 United Airlines 40–41
scenario testing 23–24 United Kingdom (UK) 73, 110, 148,
stakeholder mapping 15, 16, 142, 143, 156–57, 171
144, 162 Civil Contingencies Act 74
statements College of Policing 76
first (initial) 9, 15, 63, 65–66, 134–35, Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims
183 Act (2004) 159
holding 8 Health Security Agency 164
statistics 145, 181 London Bridge terrorist attack 37
Storm Arwen 2, 27 Post Office 192
strategic positioning 51 Storm Arwen 2, 27
strategy 4, 5, 6–19, 29, 67, 190, 207, 212–13 Victims Commissioner 159–60
organizational 48 United States
suicide 172 Acts of Congress 74
support services 70–71, 131, 169–86 terror attacks 200
family 75, 80, 120–21, 130–31, 136, USB sticks 8
142, 151–61, 213, 214 Utøya massacre 2, 25–27
systems 3, 8, 11–15, 20, 41–47, 50, 80, 94, Uvalde police chief (Arredondo, Pedro)
136 130, 136
systems outages (failures) 9, 59, 179, 192, Uvalde school shooting (Robb Elementary
198 School) 130, 135–37
230 INDEX

values, organizational 109, 118, 163, 221 war rooms 79, 81, 132, 188
Varney, Nick (CEO, Alton Towers) 119, websites 18, 27, 44, 165, 183, 205, 207,
205–06 222
victim blaming 52, 53 wellbeing checklist 177–78
victim liaison 153, 158 wellbeing communicators 170
Victim Support 153 wellbeing coordinators 170, 182
victim support (affected people support) wellbeing leads (welfare leads) 14–15, 98,
65–66, 75, 151–61, 179, 184, 176
193–94, 203, 205–06, 213–15 wellbeing management 14–15, 98–99, 109,
Victims Commissioner 159–60 131–32, 169–86, 214
video messages 100, 110 wellbeing monitoring 173–74
virtual grab bags 8–9 wording (language) 53, 85, 92–95, 125,
virtual meetings 78–79, 150 130, 136, 148
visibility 98, 120, 132, 133, 205, 206 clarity of 28, 53, 207, 217
vision, organizational 7–8, 118 see also tone
visits 133