The summer holidays are over and if your organisation managed a smooth, successful summer then you can breathe a sigh of relief, as you’ve managed to avoid getting caught up in ‘silly season’ for another year. But are you prepared if the spotlight shines on you next time?
With many senior leadership team members on holiday, parliament in recess and the media traditionally inclined to publish more frivolous stories, the summer can be a risky time for the reputations of some organisations, as NatWest learnt the hard way.
Media veteran Nigel Farage took advantage of the slower news agenda to generate hours of airtime discussion and hundreds of column inches around the closure of his Coutts bank account, reportedly following concerns about the reputational risk that his political views posed for the bank.
As a result, NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose’s career was forced to an abrupt end after 31 years with the bank.
This summer’s ‘silly season’ ended at the end of August when the government told more than a hundred schools in England to shut buildings that contained reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), an issue which dominated the headlines for days.
Whatever the time of year, the TALA crisis management team, spanning key geographies, is always available to help our clients predict, prepare for and manage any issue that affects their reputation. Indeed, we have supported several clients finding themselves in sudden need of help, including as a result of a protest, a product recall and site closures.
Our four-step approach will help you to assess the risks, plan for a whole range of scenarios and give you and your colleagues the confidence to respond appropriately on behalf of your organisation.
We recently ran crisis preparedness training for a client who invested time in focussing on cybercrime, malicious product tampering and employee action scenarios through their existing plans to test the pressure points and make improvements.
In addition to the expertise of our highly experienced consultants, we also offer CRISIS NAVIGATOR, a cloud-based crisis management app that lets you manage crisis situations holistically and virtually using just your laptop, tablet or phone: https://info.crisis-nav.com/
It gives you access to your crisis plan, escalation procedures, alerting functions, statements and more. It also features rapid, simultaneous communication within your Crisis Management Team, whether working from home, office or any other remote location.
