Copy of workshop presentation For more information, please contact admin@mepra.org

1. MEPRA
Issues and Crisis Management
December 5, 2013
Issues and Crisis Management
Mike Regester
Regester Larkin

2. Reputation Matters
• Linked to Trust, which is broken if there is a
– Gap between what you say and what you do
– Gap between their expectations and your performance

3. What is reputation management?
•
Managing the gap between performance and expectations
•
Or more simply: improving performance and communication

4. Issues v Crises
crisis/incident
issues
Speed
Fast-moving
Space and time
Surfacing
Suddenly
Gradually
Scrutiny
Immediate / intense
Sporadic
Structure
Rigid / formulaic
Fluid
Stance
Reactive
Proactive

5. Manage issues to prevent a crisis
Origin
Mediation/Amplification
Organisation
Opportunity to Influence
Resolution
Difficult to Influence
Formal
Constraints
Pressure
Period of Increasing Awareness
Media
Coverage
Potential
Issue Management
Early Issue Identification
Emerging
Current
Development
Crisis
Dormant

6. Where do issues come from?
•
Poor financial performance
•
Poor ‘corporate’ governance
•
Business and society (macro issues: global warming; child labour; fair trade
etc)
•
Business and communities/consumers/partners (micro issues: employment
practices; product contamination; food scares)

10. What’s different these days?
•
•
•
•
•
Erosion of authority / decline in trust
– Trust in established institutions like government and the media remains
shaky
– Business suffering from rash of scandals
– NGOs becoming most trusted institutions
Growth in anti-business activism and consumer concern with “what lies
behind the label”
Growth in victim and litigation culture
Greater scrutiny and expectations of transparency / governance
24/7 media, the Internet and USA generated content

11. Twitter
Twitter is a 'connector' that has a short lifespan but high viral
power
Your mum or the bloke in the pub probably won't care about it
But journalists and bloggers do - they are on there and listening
in
David Bowen,FT
October 2009

12. In a nutshell, social media…
•
•
•
•
•
•
can be the trigger
can escalate a crisis
unstructured, so can complicate crisis management
creates new circles of trust and credibility
requires up-skilling and different resources
can be an asset
But…
• principles of good crisis management still apply
• should not distract from overall strategy and objectives
• still think audience first – message & medium second
• credibility is still important (but the rules are different)
• social media connects, but news media still has power to
disseminate to masses

13. How do you manage issues?
7. Evaluate
6. Implement
5. Plan
4. Prioritise
3. Understand
3. Understand
2. Identify
1. Monitor

14. Political
Step 1 - Monitoring
Economic
Societal
Technological
shareholders
Legislative/Regulatory
NGO activity
contractors
Environmental
government
ethics
customers
risk/liability
business partners
employees
media
local communities
Internet
values and
lifestyles
investment
community
public policy
trade unions
international
environment
academics
supply chain
business
environment
competitor
activity

15. Big Brother
Luke Johnson
Chairman Ch 4
BBC Radio 4 – January 2007

16. Step 2 – identifying relevant issues
•
•
Identify issues that have the potential to impact on the company
– Are they gaining support / interest?
Assess the type of issue
– Is it media friendly?
– Where is it in the lifecycle?
– Are there links to other issues?
– Are there any new, emerging patterns forming?

17. Step 3 – understanding issues
•
•
Analyse the most important issues in detail
– Is there a gap between performance and expectation? (Perception
is reality)
– Do we understand the context, current status, likely developments,
potential scale and scope, triggers and escalators?
– Which stakeholders can influence the issue and / or which can
influence our reputation and performance?
Identify an issue owner and establish a team ensuring all the right
people are at the table including Operations, Legal, and
Communications

18. Step 4 – prioritising issues
Active attention &
preparation
Med
Periodic
assessment
Continuous
monitoring
Active attention &
preparation
Low
Periodic
assessment
Periodic
assessment
Continuous
monitoring
High
Potential Impact
on reputation
Proactively
managed
Continuous
monitoring
Low
Med
Likelihood of Occurrence
High

19. Step 5 – planning
•
•
Develop a plan for each issue that:
– Sets clear objectives
– Creates a strategic corporate response and defines key messages
– Identifies the resources needed
– Describes specific operational actions
– Defines communication strategies to be taken – by who, how, when and
with whom
– Has clear evaluation measures
The issue plan should be aligned to the business plan and key operating
principles and values

20. Think from the outside in
Who are your stakeholders?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Governments
Regulators
The local community
Customers and consumers
Activists
And don’t forget employees
•
•
•
•
What are they concerned about?
What is on their agenda?
What do they want to hear?
What do they want to see?

21. Engage for a reason
•
What is our vision?
•
What are our objectives?
•
Why are we doing this?
•
Who are we engaging?
•
What will success look like?

22. Prioritise your stakeholders
HIGH
STAKEHOLDER
CONCERN
Very concerned
but not critical
Important and
very concerned
NOT
CRITICAL TO
OUR SUCCESS
HIGHLY
CRITICAL TO
OUR SUCCESS
Not critical and
Important but not
very concerned
not concerned
LOW
STAKEHOLDER
CONCERN

23. Where to focus attention
Hardcore
adversaries
80%
+
Unconditional
advocates
FOCUS RESOURCES ON
WINNING THE BATTLE FOR
THE MIDDLE GROUND
10% you are
highly unlikely
to influence
10% you are
unlikely to need
To influence

24. Steps 6 and 7 – implementing and evaluating
•
Implement:
– Implement the action plan
– Communicate effectively with stakeholders
•
Evaluate:
– Assess the results
– Evaluate success against the pre-agreed measurement criteria to
determine next steps and strategy
– Learn from successes, failures and mistakes
– Review the plan

25. Crisis v Issues
crisis/incident
issues
Speed
Fast-moving
Space and time
Surfacing
Suddenly
Gradually
Scrutiny
Immediate / intense
Sporadic
Stance
Reactive
Proactive
Structure
Rigid / formulaic
Fluid

26. Crisis preparedness process
procedures
audit
Culture
simulation
training

27. Crisis management =
people and process
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Clear ownership and governance (team roles and responsibilities)
Risk assessment / scenario planning / risk register
Procedures and tools (manual; key contacts)
Simple incident categorisation, alert and escalation criteria
Competent, confident staff (coach and test)
Compliance
Part of your culture

28. Admin/
Log-keeper
Team Leader
Comms
External
stakeholders
HR
Finance
Legal
Operations
and SMEs
RRT
Leader
Relative
Response
Team
MRT
Leader
Media
Response
Team
Writer
Monitoring
Spokesperson
A tried-and-tested
crisis team set up

29. Common pitfalls
Lack of effective communication –
ensure regular briefing times, participants and formats
Unclear allocation of tasks and responsibilities, duplication of work –
assign RACI, review and update regularly
Leadership getting caught in the detail –
maintain sight of overarching strategy, delegate and follow up on detail
Forgetting the external perspective –
understand stakeholder perceptions as well as internal facts when making judgements and
decisions
Internal politics and personal ambitions influencing strategy –
focus on key stakeholders and doing the right thing for the right reasons

30. The Messages!
1)
2)
3)
All the Ws (almost!)
People
Environment
Asset
• Care & Concern
• Control
4)
Money (tomorrow)
Truthful
• Commitment
Irrefutable
Relevant = audience!

31. Crisis communication
some best practice considerations:
• Do the right thing ... and be seen to do the right thing
– Scenario planning and preparation (worst case)
– Relevant, well rehearsed procedures and people, including
partners, authorities and agencies
– Safety culture
• Credible source of information
– Range of appropriate, dedicated confident/competent
spokespeople (senior/SMEs/local voice)
– Proactive, transparent and accessible (esp vis social media) –
internally and externally
– People-focused messaging with robust Q&A
• Stakeholder relationships forged in peace time
– 3rd party advocates

32. Leadership
Team
Leading a crisis management team
Global crisis structure
Leading an organisation in crisis
Escalation model – country, region,
Very different from ‘peacetime’
leadership
The figurehead role
group or country, business, group
Not named individuals but functions
Mandate to make decisions; know
powers/limitations
Crisis team is strategic – reputation,
bottom line, license to operate - nb:
supply chain!
Practice