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Overview

Do you lie awake at night thinking about issues that can go bad? It’s certainly the lot of many CEOs, corporate affairs folk, and others in the C-suite.

For a decade and a half I’ve been helping with the solution.

There is no doubt that thoughtful planning and then regular rehearsals are the best cure for crisis prevention, and poor sleep. In this article I’ll deal with both:

  • The planning
  • The researsal

Planning

Everyone understands the need for a strategy for issues that might go south, be it a potential media exposé, a negative social media campaign, or a fraud: do we go high profile or low profile, reactive or proactive, aggressive or empathetic or both; do we keep quiet and hope, or confess; which stakeholders matter?

Designing a strategy on paper is relatively easy – it takes experience and collaboration. In our experience, it’s what happens next that matters.

There are six fail-points that need consideration:

1. Board and management unity

When the going gets tough, some people want to second-guess the strategy. Timid decisions are made when the pressure is intense.

For instance:

  • If there is negative media we can often only move the needle from ‘very bad’ to ‘less bad’, but it’s still bad. Some people will see that as success, others see failure and might argue for a change in approach. This happened with one high profile client last year. Timidity, when the pressure come on, almost always creates a poorer outcome.
  • In another case this year, board and CEO argument led to complete inaction. Eventually the CEO and most of the board were removed.
  • In another case, the agreed strategy was openness, and the lawyers argued ‘say nothing’ for fear that comments would prejudice litigation. It was a PR disaster!
  • In yet another earlier case, the marketers argued ‘keep quiet’ for fear of brand damage.

Each of these examples are relatively common, and a lot of corporate affairs folk will identify with the problems they create. All are now exacerbated by fear of social media.

When there’s disunity, almost always the default position is to cater for the weakest link, and almost always with poor results. Most of our clients stay the course, or adjust for good reasons.

2. Key messages

The next fail-point is wrong messaging. How often do we see this in politics, where a comment is impulsive (the danger of Twitter) or the consequences of a particular phrase are poorly considered? Good messaging is not spinning, it is a necessity particularly when opposing arguments are intense or complex.

For instance:

  • A common example is the wording of an apology. In a recent case, ‘sorry’ in a poorly phrased sentence sounded gratuitous, when it was completely genuine (the word ‘sorry’ is now so over-used it can backfire).
  • In another case, and this is really common, the CEO went off-message in response to intense questioning.

The best intentions can come unstuck if the messaging is wrong – a good strategy can turn bad on one tweet or during one interview.

3. Spokespeople

A good spokesperson, when an issue goes bad, can mean the difference between success and failure. There can be enormous pressure on a spokesperson to navigate towards an outcome:

  • Most staff don’t realise that nervousness is the lot of most spokespeople, and mostly it doesn’t show.
  • A lot of spokespeople struggle to remember their messages.
  • Many spokespeople, under pressure, forget the nuances of compassion or empathy.
  • Seemingly trivial things can become important (unfortunately) like inappropriate clothing or a hair style.

Think of a really good spokesperson, and then a really bad one – chances are both are well intentioned.

4. Simplicity

This is a common one. When an issue goes south, the tendency is the try and execute a sophisticated, multifaceted strategy across a variety of stakeholders. But failure normally occurs in one of two areas – media or social media. The lesson is, get the basics right.

5. Nimbleness

Often the first person to comment on any day will own that day’s debate. And the overall debate is won day-by-day.

As well, nimbleness means the ability to adjust the strategy to changing circumstances. It happens all the time. If you opponents introduce a new argument, you have to quickly consider and respond.

6. Resourcing

How many times have you heard either, “We can’t afford it”, or “We haven’t got time”. Almost by definition, issues that go bad are under-resourced. In a recent case the issue that became public lasted two weeks, the recovery process took ten months.

The Rehearsal

Desktop

The way to stress-test all of the above is the rehearsal – commonly called a desktop exercise. A scenario is enacted, with surprise twists and turns to stress-test the participants. We’ve done them in almost every sector from mining and manufacturing companies, and the food industry, across the range of sectors to small NGOs.

We can quickly expose differences within boards and management – the underlying tensions that often aren’t discussed.

We’ve prepared and executed desktop exercises that last a day and for 90 minutes – the complexity depends on the issues and the risk.

And the frequency of rehearsals varies; clearly an airline practices more than a restaurant.

I think the least prepared sectors are some schools, and entertainment venues (in Australia, Dreamworld was a recent example). Both have major potential issues and typically are under-prepared.

A desktop exercise is best executed by stress-testing at least two scenarios – say a sex abuse scandal and a catastrophic incident (a fatality or a fire). It requires all the critical people to be in the room. A good desktop exercise is both informative and exciting.