by Transformation events can be a rebrand, a merger, or a lawsuit – any occurrence that is going to or has the potential to change the trajectory of a firm, for better or for worse. All transformation events require legal, HR and communications functions, and often others, to be aligned with one another in real time before, during and after such events.
Business objectives associated with each transformation event vary, some are planned, others are not. However, some communications objectives associated with transformation never change – to safeguard reputation, assert a leadership position in the market, and instill confidence among partners, investors and clients.
Depending on the nature of the transformation event, one of the departments – HR, legal, business development, etc. – should take the lead and responsibility to see the event (or a response to one) to realization. Other functions need to follow their lead and propose action plans in the context of the lead department.
All of the firm’s functions have one thing in common – to protect the firm, its people, and its profits. Communications – in that sense – at its foundation, is only as strong as the business objectives, strategies and actions associated with protecting and advancing the firm. To that end, businesses sometimes expect a communications strategy to deliver something that the business itself falls short of – which is one of the biggest mistakes a company can make.
Here are a few questions to answer before crafting a communications strategy for a (potential) transformational event:
- What message does this event send to my internal and external stakeholders?
- Is this event going to advance or harm the business or does it have the potential to do both?
- How would it harm or advance it and in both instances, what would my stakeholders think?
- In turn, what would the business strategy and the desired outcome be?
- What should we do to get there?
Once you are confident in your strategy to manage a transformation, it comes down to execution and then communication. One does not come before the other, they need to be closely coordinated and move in parallel.
For example, it is critical that legal, HR and communications work together because each function could have implications, positive or negative, for the other. Siloed problem solving – focusing on a narrow set of problems within the boundaries of a single department – is the enemy of corporate transformation. Problems and crises come in many shapes and forms but, “it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” Challenges associated with transformation events are not all nails.
Once that alignment and collaboration are in place, companies need to consider the following areas of work that will help them protect and advance the firm’s reputation.
- Crisis and issues mapping: Outline issues/crisis situations that require our response and systematically assess these issues.
- Stakeholder assessment: Understand which stakeholders may be impacted by the crisis and how their response may impact the company.
- Government relations strategy: Identify relevant elected officials and government entities who the organization needs to take into consideration in a crisis.
- Media engagement: Create protocols for receiving, assessing and responding to media requests.
- Communications protocols: Repurpose content through various channels to inform various audiences and maintain control of the narrative.
- Crisis taskforce: Create a crisis and issues team to handle the response to and communications about the crisis internally and externally.
- Media training: Focused and tailored media training to manage all media situations.
- Holding statements: Create placeholder responses aligned with and repurposed across a variety of crises and issues.
- Crisis response training: Prepare the leadership team to respond to a crisis and enforce and monitor the implementation of crisis response protocols.
Issues management and crisis communications professionals are in a unique position to facilitate collaboration between internal stakeholders and departments. This is especially the case during high stakes events – strong public relations professionals inherently understand the business world implications of decisions associated with each function within the firm. However, it is critical that a business is confident in its actions and reputation before it begins to work on how to communicate about it.