Communication in moments of crisis

The added value of SMEs and multimillion pound businesses lies less and less on their products or services instated it is their intangible assets (corporate image and reputation) that are gaining more importance. During a crisis a company has to pay special attention to their intangible assets and protect the organisation, their employees, shareholders and general public.

Experts have identified many types of crisis but all of them have common elements: it is a threat the company, it has the element of surprise and the employees have a short period of time to make decisions. However, it is important that the company affected by the crisis understands the nature of the crisis so their can tackle the problem appropriately and implement the necessary strategies to succeed from the crisis.

Scholars have created several models and theoretical bases for crisis management. In theory most companies should have a crisis management plan establishing basic procedures to follow during a crisis. Getting ready a contingency plans in advance will help the crisis management team and the organisation to be prepare in case of a crisis. It is important that the crisis management team understands all possible crisis that their company or organisation could undergo. The clue is to be calm and prepared.

However, the advances in communication and new media could be an allied or an enemy for an organisation during a crisis management. The major inconveniences are the capacity to magnify a minor problem into something much bigger among the general public. Also the sources of many (not all of course) crises are the rumours created by people in the web through web pages, emails and blogs. The advantages are that the company’s spokesperson or team can communicate in real time how the situation is developing and also they can reach a bigger audience.

The Windsor Tower fire in Madrid in February 2005 turned one of the capital’s skyscrapers into ashes. The international consulting group Deloitte and tree departments of the Garrigues law firm had their offices within the Windsor Tower. They lost important documents and database files that they will never recover. This fire produced an enormous financial lost only within the clients but also the companies and its employees. In this case each company had a contingency plan and back-up centres that help them to start operation in a matter of hours. These companies implemented the crisis management plan successfully however authorities could never determine the cause of the fire.

Also this case is an example of what modern communication can do. This incident happened during Saturday night and lost of pedestrians had the opportunity to take pictures and videos with their mobile phone and home cameras. The Spanish newspaper El Pais gather together the images taken by the general public. The photo gallery is El Incendio del Edificio Windsor visto por los Lectores.

If you want to know more about Crisis Management and read about successful and not so successful crisis management cases you can click of Crisis Management and it will send you to Wikipedia. There you can find a clear explanation of all basic things you need to know of a crisis, theories and real cases.