What are some proactive ways to identify potential crisis?
It is important to note that in the communications practice, although the terms issues management and crisis management relate to problem-solving and are useful in reputation management and building public perception of a business, corporate organization or entity, they differ one from another. Issues management differs from crisis management in terms of scope, impact and reach. To handle a potential crisis effectively will demand that you identify issues early. Read our previous article on the difference between issues management and crisis management to understand both terms better. Click here.
In an article by Sola Abulu, our principal consultant, she states that “an issue can be defined as an important topic or problem, while a crisis is a sudden and unplanned event that results in the instability of a business, brand or organization. It can be caused by internal or external factors.”
Institute for Public Relations defines Issues Management in this article as seen below:
“Issues management is an anticipatory, strategic management process that helps organizations detect and respond appropriately to emerging trends or changes in the socio-political environment. These trends or changes may then crystallize into an “issue,” which is a situation that evokes the attention and concern of influential organizational publics and stakeholders. At its best, issues management is stewardship for building, maintaining and repairing relationships with stakeholders and stakeseekers (Heath, 2002).:”
In building and managing a brand’s reputation, it is best practice to be proactive with issues in order to avoid a crisis which is usually very harmful to the growth of any brand. A brand is experiencing a crisis when negative sentiments are escalated by media outlets/blogs and major external stakeholders like regulatory bodies and the general public develop an interest in the story.
How to proactively identify issues
- An issue/crisis communication team should be in place. For corporate organizations, this team needs to have employees who understand how to communicate and evoke emotions of care and concern. A crisis communication team cannot have individuals without an understanding strategic communication and the ability to craft compelling messaging that can deescalate the sentiment.
- Scenario planning: This team should be able to plan out different scenarios based on the unique nature of the business. This helps the organization or business respond appropriately and not reactionary.
- It is important to adopt the issues identification and management framework in planning to proactively identify and resolve issues that the business or organization may encounter.
- Actively monitoring the organizational and business operations is useful to identify potential issues on time. This can be done by paying attention to the employee voice and dissatisfactions in a bid to address them accordingly.
- To proactively resolve an issue requires beyond an understanding of the business but an ability to identify the key drivers of the issue, understand their concerns and ensure a resolution.
No business or organization is excited about an issue or crisis. Many times, issues tend to take communications professionals unaware which often results in a reactionary approach to resolving and de-escalating. On the other hand, being proactive helps in crafting a more suitable message that will not evoke anger and bad emotions among the interested stakeholders. To be proactive in handling issues is to plan strategies for resolution ahead of them.
Learn how to de-escalate and sustainably manage and resolve complex issues and crisis for the benefit of the organization or brand you work with. Enrol here to be a part of the 2nd cohort of our issues, crisis and reputation management course.
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Sola Abulu & Associates is a strategy and communications consulting and training firm committed to enabling businesses, brands and organizations to achieve their objectives through strategic communications, organizational effectiveness and reputation risk management
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