Crisis communication – need of the hour

In today’s dynamic environment, every organisation or individual is prone to crisis and they must be anticipated. Timely response to a situation will certainly help building your brand’s image otherwise kill its credibility, especially in today’s digital world where a viral news runs at the speed of light with no boundaries attached to it.

Corporate needs to be prepared with its crisis communication strategy well in advance to handle any critical situation timely and efficiently with all available sources.

In case it goes out of hand then try to manage it rather then putting energy in covering it up, it will only become bad to worst. It is a time to be agile, proactive, transparent, accessible, accountable and be ahead.

Acknowledge the situation, prepare the  communication strategy, gather all relevant facts and figures, put systems in place and be ready to respond.

Do not hesitate in apologizing, half of the crisis can be mitigated by admitting mistake; be humble ; this will eventually showcase you as a responsible corporate citizen and gives you a grace time for action.

Design a team who are full hands on situation, do not hesitate to appoint external professional experts and take guidance from them, believe in them as they are specialized in managing it, like a surgeon at the OT. Keep a close eye on the situation with a real time monitoring in place. Never let team be rude with people who either are the victim of it or reporting on the ground, it will eventually give a fossil to fire.

Allow crisis team to take charge, have faith in them; listen to their suggestion and feedback; be ready with the communication strategy have internal protocols to manage the situation. Keep updating all the stakeholders including the employees as this will help prevent spreading the rumours.

Lets be out and take the lead.