Crisis Management: be prepared

How often do you read that a crisis is also an opportunity? Here is what we think: a crisis is a crisis. There is no room for deflection or sugarcoating the facts. While many agencies offer crisis management as a niche service, we have made it our core business for 20 years.

 

Our experience in dealing with numerous crises has proven that what we “preach” in theory, works in practice. As a rule, how your company deals with a crisis is more important than what triggered the crisis in the first place. This is why Crisis Communication Training is essential. We advise and guide our clients through all phases of Crisis Management, from prevention to intervention and evaluation.

Problem

A crisis is a threat. At best, to your organisation’s reputation. At worst, to its continued existence. The initial response is critical.

Process

We analyse, advise and act. Our promise to you: customised structures and processes that are fully incorporated in your organisation.

Solution

Crisis manuals are useful, but not when they are relegated to bookshelves. That’s why we provide crisis tools not only on paper but also in digital form to keep you up-to-date and ready to respond wherever you are.

Crisis Prevention: when there is still time to prepare

We create structures and processes will work when a crisis hits. In our experience, this depends not just on having the right organisational structure and procedures (the organisation of the crisis), but also – and especially – on the attitude of the people involved.

We carefully analyse any existing instructions to be followed in the event of a crisis and develop recommendations for action. Working together, we establish a Crisis Management System – tailored to the specific conditions of your organisation. The procedure model we develop can be flexibly adjusted – depending on the size of the company.

We make sure we involve internal stakeholders in the development phase already. We document all elements of the new system in a compact crisis manual. When putting this together, we only produce as much paper as is necessary and work as digitally as possible. You will benefit from our extensive practical experience in Crisis Management and Crisis Communication, as well as the know-how gathered from successfully completing numerous projects with clients.

Overview of services

Crisis Intervention: fast and pragmatic help in the event of an acute crises

Our experienced consultants know exactly how to respond when an incident occurs. In the first few hours our drill is always the same: get situational awareness and compile the available facts. We work closely with you to develop action plans and begin implementing measures immediately. The goal: to get ahead of the situation, quickly.

Depending on your needs, we can act as sparring partners for the management and crisis team, support your communications department answering queries and scripting media releases, provide an external spokesperson or conduct all your crisis communications.

In an emergency we are available for our clients outside of business hours - 24/7.

Overview of services
  • on-call service
  • advice to the crisis management team
  • development of holding statements, language guidelines, press releases, Q&As, etc.
  • external press office/answering media enquiries
  • on-site deployment (external press officer)
  • media and social media monitoring
  • social media and community management
  • preparation of content for press statements and conferences, video messages, staff meetings, etc.

Crisis Evaluation: lessons learned and rebuilding trust

During the acute phase of a crisis, organizations must focus entirely on dealing with the immediate effects. All communication is directed by the crisis management team and must strictly be based on facts. Only later, once the attention of the media and the public has subsided, is there time for damage assessment: What worked during the crisis management? What did not? Which promises were made? Which questions remain unanswered?

Exceptional situations ruthlessly expose the weaknesses of an organisation and its staff. The goal of crisis evaluation is to learn from, and eliminate, these weaknesses. We will support you in optimising your preparations for the next crisis and in rebuilding trust that may have been lost among your stakeholders.

Overview of services