International SOS calls for innovation in crisis management

International SOS, the global security and health risk management company, has unveiled a global guide to help organisations navigate the complexities of modern crises.

The paper, Building a Responsive and Effective Crisis Management Programme and an accompanying webcast emphasise the importance of moving beyond traditional crisis response to adopt innovative strategies.

Giles Hill, Global Head of Security Services at International SOS said: "Crises, though inherently disruptive, serve as powerful crucibles for greater resilience and innovation. They expose latent vulnerabilities, sharpen decision-making and compel organisations to think about agility – an essential capability in a volatile world. They are a brutally honest appraisal of an organisation’s strategy and culture.

"Leaders and organisations that embrace crisis as a catalyst – not just as a threat – emerge stronger, with more agile systems, clearer priorities and greater competitive advantage, ensuring their organisations not only survive but thrive in the face of adversity."

Using real-world scenarios and events, the paper demonstrates how, through informed, pragmatic, and adaptable crisis management, organisations can sustain operations and flourish, and how visionary leaders can transform their organisations into resilient entities capable of facing even the most unforeseen challenges. Based on International SOS’ 40 years of experience supporting clients and their employees through crises, the paper provides practical insights into all key aspects of best practice in dealing with today’s crises – from pre-crisis planning and post-crisis demobilisation to the critical roles of perception, strategic communication, and innovation.

Gautier Porot, Group Crisis Management Practice Leader at International SOS, emphasised the importance of the adoption of best practices across the workforce: “We have seen from recent escalations particularly how imperative it is to have robust crisis management and to encompass all eventualities.

"This paper is not just a source of information but a real call to action for all organisations, their leaders and each employee. Only by collaborating and preparing actively can crises be turned into opportunities and ensure sustainability and success.”

Highlights include:

- Pre-crisis planning: Identifying systemic risks, organising resources, and training teams to minimise potential impacts. This includes creating ad hoc teams with specific and complementary skills and developing key documents such as crisis management policies, plans, communication strategies, and guides.

Stacey Conlin, Head of Risk, Cricket Australia said: “When you look at traditional crisis and incident management, it’s often linked to very high risk-based thresholds or impacts. Once an impact hits this level, organisations then convene the crisis management team. With the growing frequency of incidents and crises, early intervention is paramount, and I’ve established and recommended that organisations set up an Early Intervention Impact Assessment team. This means that prior to an incident hitting high impact levels, we gather, assess the facts, risks, impacts, and most of the time, we are able to de-escalate the situation."

- Crisis response: Mobilising teams, controlling the situation, and resolving issues through rapid decision-making and clear communication. The paper outlines the importance of modular and agile response teams tailored to each crisis's specificities.

- Post-crisis demobilisation: Supporting teams, analysing the new ecosystem, and adapting strategies to better cope with future crises. This involves a structured approach to problem-solving, including identifying the desired end state, breaking it down into workstreams, prioritising them, and developing strategic intent and action plans.

Details

The whitepaper can be downloaded at https://www.internationalsos.com/publications/global-crisis-management-paper

Watch the webinar at https://www.internationalsos.com/events/crisis-management-webcast

Nearly half of EMEA businesses have a digital crisis communications plan

Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations and communications firm, has unveiled the findings of its 2015 EMEA Crisis Survey*. In the past 12 months "controversial company developments" were the type of crisis most frequently encountered, with the entry of new and innovative business models into their market the second most experienced cause of crisis.

These were followed by logistical difficulties (third), online/digital failure (fourth), negative social media campaigns (fifth) and regulatory scrutiny (sixth). But when asked about the next six to 12 months, new and innovative business models entering their sector topped the list with the arrival of "disruptive innovators" seen as more likely than any one of the traditional crises experienced in the previous year.

Disruptive innovation is clearly a focus of attention for business leaders with:

• Nearly three quarters (73%) seeing new market entrants or innovative business models in the last three years that could threaten success
• A fifth (21%) experiencing a crisis relating to new or innovative business model in the last year

Other findings include:

• The threat of crisis is at its highest since 2009, with 49% of business leaders having experienced a crisis at their current company.
• Political risk continues to be both the source of as well as an 'amplifier' during a crisis, with 25% of businesses having encountered a crisis resulting either from intense regulatory or political scrutiny. Once in a crisis governments and regulators are the most feared actors.
• Businesses are becoming increasingly vigilant of digital challenges – be they in form of new media campaigns or data security. Forty-nine percent of businesses have a digital crisis communications plan – up 10 points from 2013 – and one in five businesses has been in crisis due to an online or digital security failure.

Jeremy Galbraith, Burson-Marsteller's CEO for Europe, Middle-East, Africa and Global Chief Strategy Officer, said: "The findings of our survey emphasise we are living through a particularly disruptive era with communicators facing a perfect storm of challenges. The upturn in the global economy has seen new brands enter old markets and small innovators rapidly expand, challenging traditional brands and industries.

"At the same time, the online revolution means cyber hackers can access data and armchair campaigners, so-called 'clicktivists,' can protest from their living rooms. And this is all set against a backdrop of a massive erosion in the trust the public places on the words and actions of big business.

"Communicators need to remember the four Ps: Purpose, Plan, Predict, Pioneer. That is, Purpose should guide business, Plan how to handle a crisis in 'peacetime,' Predict and monitor the trends in your market and Pioneer by being innovative and bold."

*Burson-Marsteller began its bi-annual crisis survey in 2009. Penn Schoen Berland conducted a total of 426 online interviews in Europe, Middle East and Africa, amongst business-decision makers in August 2015. Business-decision makers are defined as respondents who:

Are aged 25 or over
Are full-time or self-employed/business owner
Have final or significant decision-making power in their business
Have business decision-making authority for at least a department if not their organisation as a whole
In each country, the sample was evenly split between respondents from large enterprise businesses and from SME businesses.

posted from Bloggeroid

Workshops in Singapore and Hong Kong to discuss social media crisis management

Pacific Conferences has organised a two-day practical workshop on Crisis & Social Media in Singapore and Hong Kong to help companies deal with the increasing number of social media crises that are occurring today.

Companies tend to make several mistakes when dealing with social media crises, says Phillip Raskin, Managing Director of Spectrum Communications and former MD of Burson-Marsteller Korea, who will be conducting the workshop. 

"The most common mistake is not understanding soon enough whether they've got a serious problem. It's natural – companies are full of people, and people are busy, especially in today's organisations, and there is so much information going back and forth and so much to keep track of. 

"So there's often an element of 'hoping it will go away' or at least hoping the issue will not grow any further which sometimes results in a delayed reaction, and therefore more trouble down the road.

"Another is trying to solve the issue on 'your terms' versus the terms of what's happening. You see some brands and especially more civic/ governmental organisations do that sometimes, especially if they're more accustomed to controlling the conversation. That's usually where an issue gets brought up on a Facebook page or a tweet and the response comes out something like 'we don't want you to talk about that', and usually then the reaction becomes worse than the initial issue. 

"Part of this is being realistic about your situation and where you sit – the Internet almost always supports Goliath over David and companies are increasingly having their operations and business practices  called into question. So understand yourself and your potential vulnerabilities from an outside, dispassionate perspective, and be ready to work with that. In essence, work with the real world and not the world you want it to be.

"Finally, you need to have a defined social media team – and that doesn't mean you hire a bunch of interns because they're 'digital natives'. You need a mix of people with crisis experience, company knowledge, authority and perspective. You need that team to have guidelines and an understanding of key issues and appropriate responses, and you need them to be empowered to act," he said.

Raskin stressed that things have changed with social media. "This is not like it used to be, where every press release and statement gets vetted by the board or an extended family of suddenly interested parties from every department. It has to be a framework for responding, with clear escalation points and clear actions and responsibilities, that can be enacted while that board or C-suite group is discussing things. Otherwise, everything will get stuck in committee and you'll be getting killed online for hours or days before you can fire back a single tweet."

The Singapore session will be 21 to 22 August and the Hong Kong session on 28 to 29 August 2014. Each session will go through case studies and hands-on exercises, social media monitoring techniques, anticipating potential crises, action plans, messaging strategies and rebuilding trust post-crisis.

The full programme can be found here.