Patrick Nathan, Strategic Risk Anticipation, Risk Management, Crisis Management & Crisis Communications, Deloitte
8th GLOBAL HR EXCELLENCE event, Investing in the development of human capital means investing in the long term growth of your organisation. 21st – 24th October 2019, Singapore
1. How do you engage your staff?
Messages to staff from the CEO are all well and good. Town Halls are great. But, you need to enlist the support of all your senior management to cascade messages of reassurance to all staff, down to your people at the worksites. To do this, you need to have a well-thought-through set of talking points and an even better set of Q&As that seek to anticipate the concerns of staff at different levels of the organisation and at the different business units they work in. Remember, this is an exercise that not merely attempts to shore up morale, but which also empowers them to deal reasonably and assuredly with questions that will inevitably come from friends and families. Remember, they are always your best advocates. Also, consider placing some of these messages from the CEO and senior management on selected digital and social media platforms to demonstrate to customers that you care and are serious about setting things right.
2. How do you take the issue head-on?
These dialogues must address the core issues around the crisis. Crises become even more difficult to manage when they involve staff in the first instance. For example, when staff are directly to blame for the incident. They will watch very carefully at how senior management is dealing with it. Will investigations stop at only finding complicity at the level of rank and file? Will it include middle and senior management? Where does the buck stop? The management of such crises gets more complex when external stakeholders get involved. Separately, have senior management speak to the media. Publicly taking responsibility, demonstrating accountability, explaining the root causes and committing to a timeline for rectification and repair will boost morale.
3. What values would be most critical?
Be considerate. When errant staff need to be disciplined, everyone else will be watching how the company is dealing with it. If remorse is shown, will some compassion follow? You would need to follow your internal processes quite strictly. Staff may need to be dismissed. The union must be engaged throughout the entire process. They are an incredibly important partner when it comes to looking after affected staff and their families. This takes on a whole new dimension when there are injuries sustained by staff and customers. The crisis can take months or years to reconcile. This is where everyone will be watching to see how well you are working with staff, customers and their families and how sustained your efforts are in bringing the crisis to a close. Specially assigned liaison staff and care counsellors would need to be committed. Senior management will want to visit the injured at hospitals (and pay their respects at wakes and funerals). Don’t be crass with media coverage. Pay very close attention to the letters you draft as expressions of care and concern to all those affected.
Be tireless. Communicating to staff around a major crisis does not end with one Town Hall. The news cycle can often be protracted. Internal investigations followed by external investigations followed by court cases that will certainly appear in the press. So, communications to staff would need to be constant and focussed. They should be the first to be told rather than reading it from the media. Social media also bears close watching. There will inevitably be various versions of the truth circulating across different platforms. You need to be actively monitoring these, not just to discern perception gaps and selectively address these on social media, but more so to inform staff about what is being said and what the truth is about various allegations and assertions. Remember, they are your best advocates.
4. What would we need to be careful about?
Your profile. During, and in the immediate aftermath of, a crisis, be sure you set the right mood internally and externally in all your engagements and on all your platforms. A sombre, contemplative mood should prevail. Corporate departments and business units should put off to another time announcements and events that would be obviously construed as inappropriate or misdirected. When the incident has led to harm and injury, in particular, set a solemn tone on all your public advertising, and digital and social media platforms. Assist staff with voluntary contributions and activities to help affected employees and customers.
Media Campaigns. This would be okay the first time a crisis has struck. It can certainly help morale and change public perception. It can be particularly effective when staff are part of your public relations campaign. But I daresay, you can only do this once. The next time a crisis hits, your customers will be baying for blood. A much more effective effort may revolve around campaigns that profile who amongst middle and senior management are responsible for specific areas of the business!
Interested in the event? Can it help you?
For registration pricing and multiple attendee discounts, please contact:
Shahlini
[email protected]
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
