When disaster strikes, your employees can be the best friend you’ve got. So why do so many organisations make things worse by ignoring the people who work for them?
When an oil pipeline blows, a chemical plant leaks or a plane crashes what happens to senior managers? They get locked away with lawyers and the team fixing the crisis. Speaking to employees all too often comes a poor second or even third on the list of leaders’ priorities after fending off the media and appeasing regulators.
But experience shows that neglecting staff communications isn’t just risky; ignore them and you’re adding to your troubles.
Every one of your workers has to face the barrage of questions from their family and their community. Silence on the part of their employer puts them in a difficult position. When they can’t explain how the company sees it they are bound to conclude that the situation is indefensible.
Which, from a crisis PR perspective in madness.
Research a few years ago by MORI concluded that employees are the most potent drivers of your reputation. If we know someone who worked for a particular organisation, their opinions will outweigh what we read or see in the media by a considerable factor. If your workers think something is not quite right it’s going to have a massive impact on other stakeholders – the stakeholders you need to work with to resolve the crisis.
Yet safeguarding your reputation isn’t the only reason why you should worry about communicating internally when problems hit your company.
Most people want to believe that their employer is essentially doing the right thing. But when your name is damaged by allegations of environmental insensitivity, complicity in human rights abuses and corporate dishonesty; workers are left wondering why they are sticking around or bothering to make an effort in their daily jobs.
Mass exits or unexpected drops in performance are avoidable if a few simple steps are taken to share the message internally and to ask colleagues for their support during difficult times.
Step 1 – Make the effort to communicate internally at the same time (if not before) as externally. Regulatory reasons or the unpredictability of a situation can make it difficult to communicate in a timely manner, but that’s no reason for silence or lengthy delays which employees will interpret with suspicion.
Step 2 – Remember that employees are your best advocates and give them the tools to speak up for you. Issuing bland statements internally doesn’t inspire much loyalty; employees need credible explanations and arguments to take out to their community. Think about producing detailed internal briefing sheets which explain what is happening, the reasons behind it and the steps you are taking to fix things.
Step 3 – People trust people – give them a chance to talk it over with a senior leader. Although top managers get trapped at Head Office, an investment in staff communications will be repaid in loyalty, commitment and advocacy. It’s not a job for line managers – people like to hear from the most expert person, so giving access to the leadership team is important.
Step 4 – Listen to what they are telling you. It’s more than a courtesy; employees commonly hear things long before official channels pick up changes in public opinion. Provide on-line tools for people to report intelligence and review the feedback continually.
Step 5 – When the dust has settled, make time to heal continuing concerns. Consider asking employees what went wrong and how to avoid the problem next time around. Or ask staff what they see as the enduring strengths of the organisation as a prelude to rebuilding and strengthening trust.
Mini Biog
Liam FitzPatrick heads up Bell Pottinger’s Change and Internal Communications Practice, drawing on his experience working in-house and in consultancy. He has worked in civil engineering, energy, manufacturing and transportation as well as telecoms and financial services. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and is accredited by the CIPR as a trainer.
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