Crisis communications

Any company can find itself drawn into a crisis situation: an operational breakdown, financial crisis or the misconduct of one of its employees can lead to a critical confrontation between the public and the issue in question. To what extent this lastingly damages the company and its image will generally depend not on technical resolution of the problem, but on how the public is dealt with.

In crises, emotional factors influence people’s point of view more than do facts, which constitute only a part of their perception. The public develops certain expectations and expects them to be met. The communication of objective fact is no longer enough – whether those expectations are justified or not, they are there, and they have to be addressed.

Where the expectations and attitude of the public and the content communicated by a company diverge, this creates dissonance and discussion becomes increasingly emotional. The result: indignation spreads, the public and the company stop listening to each other, the image crisis deepens and trust is lost. In situations of acute crisis, it is therefore extremely important for companies to communicate in a way that is transparent and credible. The public has to recognise that those responsible are dealing with the problem that has arisen adequately, and that they are taking people’s fears seriously. In crisis situations, external consultants can therefore be extremely important – able to provide a view from the outside and reflect the perspective and expectations of the public.

We help our clients to set up early-warning and crisis communications systems and are there to provide them with advice and operational support in acute crisis situations.

The core tool in our early-warning systems consists of systematic issues management. Through the continuous monitoring of potentially risky subjects, we can identify critical developments early on, and recommend evasive action.

Our preventive work mainly involves the creation of tailored crisis communications systems. These define the company’s basic policy in the face of crises, describe the decision processes should one occur, name a crisis management team, establish responsibilities and define the way the company will communicate. The work is completed with a crisis manual for all employees, containing concrete information on what to do, and a practical crisis exercise.

Should an acute crisis arise, our consultants can apply the necessary measures on an ad-hoc basis and manage communications. Such cases call for fast reaction and prompt, transparent information for the public, employees, customers and business partners. Within this, what you say and what you do has to be consistent, thus conveying credibility. Working together with you, and basing ourselves on our knowledge of your company and our crisis expertise, we define a way to ensure that the crisis is overcome.

Your contact persons for crisis communications:

Heiko Kretschmer
Phone +49 (0) 30 520 00 57-0
h.kretschmer(at)jk-kom.de

Klaus-Peter Johanssen

Phone +49 (0) 30 520 00 57-0

kp.johanssen(at)jk-kom.de