Crisis communication is neither the hero nor the saviour in the management of a crisis

Contemporary crisis management is not only skill and experience underpinned by research and academic literature; it also comprises many disciplines.?

Communication is just one, albeit evident, aspect of crisis management.?

That is, a failure to effectively prepare for, resource, respond, lead and manage a crisis will not be saved by stellar crisis communications.?

Moreover, crisis communication does not replace all the other disciplines, expertise and knowledge.?

In other words, grand speeches delivered by rehearsed presenters seeking to control the narrative and manipulate an audience is no substitute for getting countless other things done.?

Expertise, tactics, education and preparations within crisis communications have been dominated by former media individuals.?

First, it was producers, publishers and network insiders that shared secrets of the trade.?

Then came the marketers, spin doctors and manipulators of messages, emotions that served to distract and divert.?

Next came the social media ‘influencers.?

Those that now held the new knowledge of how to monitor, manipulate, publish and measure audience response to select messaging, including disinformation.?

Across all these phases have been the ‘interview’ and journalistic advisors.?

That is, how to go toe-to-toe with media professionals if required.?

CEO’s, politicians, marketing/legal departments and boards have flocked to these ‘services’ in large numbers.?

But who is doing the work that identifies, responds, leads and manages a crisis??

Rarely is it the ones in front of the camera.

More concerningly, and more obvious of late, those in front of the camera, creating the message, manipulating the narrative and seeking to deflect, have had little input, consultation with the doers, or comprehension of what is required to be done.?

Talk first, do last.?

This is not crisis management.?

This is form before substance.?

This is a recipe for disaster at a later date.?

Risk communications is yet another distinct discipline and process concealed within crisis management and crisis communications.?

Effective, risk-informed and scientific methods are routinely lacking in crisis communications too.?

Numbers, metrics, charts, percentages, and other proxies are not risk communication, unless constructed by professionals, remain verifiable and reliable in addition to being founded on professional and academic standards.?

A well-delivered speech, repeated daily, is not risk or crisis communications without all the other crisis, risk, security, management and scientific supporting factors.?

It is not a master class.

More often than not, it is a disaster class.?

While crisis communications, poorly delivered, can undermine or destroy effective crisis management, it is neither the hero nor saviour.?

Conversely, seemingly masterful communications instead of effective management and execution will not resolve the crisis nor compensate for systemic risks and failures.?

Moreover, it may actually provide false hope, obfuscate significant risk and delay greater harm that stakeholders were disarmingly unprepared for due to false messaging.?

2020 and 2021 have provided an abundance of both.

However, neither are distinctly identifiable, immediately apparent or as yet fully revealed.?

Tony Ridley, MSc CSyP MSyl M.ISRM

Security, risk and management sciences