I've got Issues...

Welcome back to?Storytelling by Sean. I plan to use this newsletter to tell some interesting tales from my 30 years in journalism and communications, and I always welcome your feedback.

I'll never forget the phone call.

A well-respected reporter called me out of the blue one morning, asking about news they had discovered about my company through their vast network of sources. Did we have a comment? The subject matter (which, for a variety of reasons, I won't get into here) wasn't anything I was previously aware of. Left unchecked and untested, the facts sounded downright explosive, especially if played out in the press. And wouldn't you know it -- the deadline for a response was later that day!

When you're working in communications (especially external-facing comms), Issues Management is perhaps one of the most important parts of the role. That means wearing what I call your "reputation risk hat" 24/7, knowing that an issue could arise at any moment and, more importantly, being fully prepared to put everything else on your desk aside to deal with it. Needless to say, this reporter had just smacked the reputation risk hat right off my head, and I needed to get to work immediately.

Even before I began the investigation, I could picture the damning headline in my mind: an article printed in big, bold letters on the front page of a newspaper which was spinning in place for some reason, in the way one may envision the 1929 stock market crash or "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." My imagination even flashed forward to a moment where I was being forced to hold a press conference; cameras and microphones shoved in my face as I tried in vain to stop the incoming flood of questions.

I snapped out of the dream sequence long enough to go back to our intake process; a thorough set of steps that included contacting all of the necessary stakeholders, getting answers where necessary and drafting potential holding statements for a variety of outcomes. Thankfully, I wrangled a teammate to help out (two heads are always better than one, especially when you have lots to tackle in a short period of time), and we began stress-testing the issue at hand.

Soon, one of us (not me... or else I probably would have excluded the whole "teammate" part from this story) came up with a very reasonable question: "Is it possible that the reporter has identified the wrong company?" Indeed, we found out that's exactly what happened: the reason this whole issue wasn't even on our radar was because it was something happening to a different company, and we weren't even remotely involved!

Hooray for us! The other company; not so much.

Once I'd confirmed the facts, I happily informed the reporter this wasn't something we could comment on (and on background, I was able to explain they were barking up the wrong tree). It helped the news outlet with their reporting -- no decent reporter wants to write something that's patently false -- and more importantly, it saved me from dealing with some nasty headlines and imaginary hostile press conferences.

Early in my career, Issues Management had been explained to me as "We want to know about the issue before a reporter ever picks up the phone to call us about it." That's definitely part of it. But even more than that, you need to help drive alignment within your function and your company so that when the issue first becomes apparent, you're all on the same basic page; ready to spring into action, armed with the right strategies and processes to manage through. And by the way, the whole realm of reputation management isn't just an exercise for dealing with the press, but can (and often times does) include customers, employees, partners, suppliers, investors, governments and other critical stakeholders.

Coming up the right formula for Issues Management doesn't happen by accident. I've been lucky enough to work with some of the very best folks in this realm, and as they would likely tell you... it requires constant planning, testing and open, transparent discussions to ensure your strategies will hold up to all sorts of scrutiny. You truly never take your reputation risk hat off.

You Can Go Home Again!

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting up with my former colleagues at Manulife as we raised a glass of the bubbly to say farewell to their head of internal communications, the incredibly-talented Sabrina Bhangoo.

In fact, this entire group is a dream team of communicators, hard-working and incredibly creative. Their work in driving comms, particularly through the pandemic, has been nothing short of excellent.

Although I moved on to a great new opportunity earlier this year, it was wonderful to share some laughs and to catch up with these friends and former colleagues again in person.

If you enjoyed reading this edition of?Storytelling by Sean, please encourage your friends and colleagues to subscribe. If you have any feedback, please drop me a note on LinkedIn, on Twitter @seanbpasternak, or via [email protected].