Crisis communication – why the dustpan and brush no longer works

I attended a conference earlier this week at which the head of corporate communications from a UK police force described the overwhelming media interest in a high profile murder investigation. In particular, she explained how the names and personal details (not necessarily accurate) of two people were communicated by the media within hours of their arrest and then widely circulated by social media. This happened despite the fact that the names were not revealed by the police (and that one of them was never charged with any offence).

The speaker explained how this experience has led to an increased understanding within the Force of the importance of involving communication professionals before an arrest is made in high profile cases. It struck me that this has broader implications for crisis communications at all organisations.

It’s already well understood by PR people that social media has increased the pace and spread of bad news and that this imposes new standards for effective crisis communication. But to what extent has this been recognised by our operational colleagues? Scrambling to react to operational decisions with a communication dustpan and brush was never a very good idea. Today it is an almost impossible task.

The only viable option is for communication people to be involved in the planning of major announcements and to have a real influence over how and when they happen. This is the only approach which offers the opportunity to properly shape how a story plays out and its impact on organisational reputation. Organisations which fail to embrace this reality and continue to view communication as a purely tactical activity are more likely than ever to suffer serious reputational damage.