Month: May 2020

[Editor’s note: Especially as the world looks towards recovery from the impact of coronavirus, we felt readers would find this guest post from UK crisis communications consultant Amanda Coleman particularly useful.]

Communicating through crisis to recovery

Moving from crisis to recovery is not as simple as it may sound if it is to be done effectively. It requires a lot of careful thought, consideration, and assessment of the current position. Taking the step forward can feel overwhelming particularly when every move is being watched by customers, employees, and the media.

So, are you ready to move into recovery and start that phase of the communication? The business needs to be clear what has been achieved and how it is going to move forward before deciding if the time may be right. It is why completing a recovery communication readiness assessment is important as it will gauge what gaps may exist and whether you should move away from a crisis communication strategy.

In my Recovery Communication Readiness Assessment Guide, I have outlined five areas that need to be considered: organisational capacity, employee capability, leadership, resourcing, and business planning. Within each of these areas there are a whole range of questions that need a positive answer to indicate that you are ready. Completing a readiness assessment will also identify those gaps where the preparations and developments need to take place.

When an organisation is in a crisis response mode it is challenging to be able to look clearly at what has been achieved. Moving away from this position may feel uncomfortable with concern that it will be too soon for the business, employees, or the public.
The assessment process covers five stages: data collection, data analysis, plan review, roadmap development and implementation. When people are facing the considerable pressure of dealing with a crisis having a process will help them keep focused on what needs to be done. Keep calm and logically work through the stages.

Too often businesses want to rush ahead into a recovery phase even if the time is not right either for the business or the public. Moving at the wrong time will be ineffective and potentially damaging to the organisation which is seen to be out of step with the public view or is unable to rebuild the operational business. Take the time now to stop, assess and then decide what the next step should be.

Download the Recovery Communication Readiness Assessment Guide here.

Amanda Coleman is a crisis communication consultant and director of Amanda Coleman Communications Ltd and the author of Crisis Communication Strategies published on 26 May 2020.

It’s not too late to get serious about coronavirus crisis management

So you didn’t have a pandemic plan, or what you thought was a pandemic plan turned out to be more of a ‘serious-but-quick outbreak’ plan rather than something addressing the lengthy battle that the fight against COVID-19 has turned out to be. And of course now that the pandemic is in full swing it’s too late to do put together a plan that will prevent additional impact and see you work through the stages that will lead back to business as usual…right?

If this sounds like your thought process right now, it’s time to change things up.

Whether you were prepared in advance or not (and let’s face it, VERY few were truly prepared for this type of crisis), it’s not too late to make moves that will help save your business, protect your employees, and ensure you can deliver whatever your product may be while science works to defeat the virus itself. If you don’t have a crisis management plan that addresses what you’re doing now, that includes a list of predictable upcoming events and what you’ll do to handle them, and which includes specifics of when and how you’ll stay in communication with important audiences both internal and external, it needs to be a top priority. There’s no sugarcoating that advice. If you do not plan then you are preparing to fail, period.

Information is power, and the good news is that we have significantly more data on what COVID-19 is, how it spreads, what the impact is on our bodies, and even expert models on timelines for future big steps like safely lifting stay at home orders. We also have the benefit of living in an age where technology makes it possible to collaborate at a distance, communicate from the comfort of our homes, and in many cases help customers or clients with minimal or no physical interaction. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed at a time like this, but believe me when I say that putting together a plan – even an informal one – will help give you a real sense of control you may otherwise be lacking, motivate yourself, encourage your employees, and most importantly help ensure your organization is still around when we come out on the other side of this pandemic.

[Erik Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy.]

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management