Crisis Communications WebinarTuesday 30th July, 2019Tim Archer and Simon Petie

Managing a Crisis

Incident and Crisis

Management

Business Continuity

Emergency

Management

Crisis Ready Looks Like:

Consequence

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World Economic Forum – 2019 Global Risks Report

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Global Threats - 2019

Travel Industry Crisis Challenges – What we have learnt

Travel Operators require depth in capability

Geographically dispersed teams

You will not always be able to ‘Own the problem’

Liaison with government / foreign organisations

Specific location challenges

Language

Culture

Distance

Time zone

A Crisis Ready Framework looks like:

Tour Operator

Resilience Policy and Framework

Tour Operator

Crisis Management Plan

Incident Response Plans / Standard

Operating Procedures

Communications Response Plan

IT DRP

Travel Organisation – Crisis

Management Team

Tour Leaders / “On-the-ground”

ResponseLocal Emergency Services

- Police

- Fire

- Ambulance

- Medical Facilities

DFAT (Post)

Government Liaison

- DFAT (Australia)

Communications Team / External

Support

IT Response Team

Travel Organisation – Executive

Leadership and Board

Implementing and Building Resilience

Culture Training

Validation Maintain

Key success factors: pre-incident

Tools and

processes

Training

and exercisingRoles and

responsibilities

Key success factors: during an incident

Communication DelegationInformation

Common reasons crisis

communicationsfails

Communications

Crisis Communication Plan

poor quality

doesn’t exist

Knowledge locked inside heads

Communication team not trained or exercised

1. Lack of preparation

2. Pressure

Major spike in:

a) physical workload

b) expectation

c) pressure

Events overtake ability to respond

Reasons communications can fail in a crisis

Lack of preparation + pressure =

3. Lack of communication strategy

Trenches v Helicopter

Tactical v Strategic

Micro v Macro

Reactive v Proactive

4. Speed (or lack of)

Too slow

Too fast

5. Key stakeholders get forgotten

Communication response often limited to:

a) Media

b) Social Media

c) Customers

d) Shareholders

e) Staff

5. Key stakeholders get forgotten

Forgotten stakeholders often include:

a) Regulators

b) Sponsors

c) Partners

d) Influencers (champions & detractors)

e) Emergency services

f) Ministers

Strategy before tactics

Assess Stabilise Remedy

5 questions to help

determine the right

communications

strategy

Holding statement

Key messages

FAQs

Media release

Hub & Spoke

tactics

Strategy before tactics

Assess Stabilise Remedy

5 questions to help

determine the right

communications

strategy

Holding statement

Key messages

FAQs

Media release

Hub & Spoke

tactics

Strategy before tactics

Assess Stabilise Remedy

5 questions to help

determine the right

communications

strategy

Holding statement

Key messages

FAQs

Media release

Tactics

(hub & spoke)

Strategy before tactics

5 key questions to determine communication strategy

1. Do we own it?

2. Who are our most critically impacted stakeholders?

3. What are the story ingredients?

4. Who is our spokesperson?

5. What are the strategic objectives?

The perfect spokesperson

The perfect spokesperson

FATT

Factual

Accurate

Transparent

Truthful

CC’s

Calm

In Control

Consistent

Confident

EMPATHETIC

Stakeholder mapping

Board

Employees

Key partners

Customers

Suppliers

Investors

Neighbours

Unions

Government

Regulators

Industry groups

Consumer groups

Crisis Communications Team

Communication roles in a crisis

Head of Communications (sits on CMT)

Media / PR

Internal communication

Social media

Website / digital

Stakeholder relations

Marketing

Or………

Communications team = 1 person

Put your communications people in

your inner circle of trust and information

Finally

Questions