Crisis & Incident Communication

What is it?

Crisis, or 'Incident' Communication (as it's increasingly known), is the practice whereby an organisation attempts to communicate relevant and appropriate information to its stakeholders in response to an incident. The move away from 'Crisis' Communication toward 'Incident' Communication is a result of the recognition that not every incident need evolve into a crisis.

Any incident could present a threat to an organisation's future, and have implications for an organisation and its stakeholders. Should the Corporate Reputation (public or private sector), or the perception of the organisation's Brand(s) become tarnished it can lead to sizeable financial loss. Some instances lead to litigation, prosecution, or resignations by senior organisational officers. On occassion the perceptional damage is so significant, the organisation simply never recovers.

Communication Risk

There are many examples where the inappropraite communication of poor or incorrect information to stakeholders and the media has caused damage equal to or greater than the incident itself. The act of speaking with or conveying information to the media, and communicating with Stakeholders, can be an additional risk in and of itself. In many instances the primary culprit behind often highly damaging communication is one of the organisations own senior officers (typically the CEO).

Why Epiphany?

Epiphany leads the field in crisis and incident communication thinking. Crisis Communication entails far more than responding to an incident by placing a PR person or spokesperson in front of the media to manage off initial media interest (doing this can be very short sighted). We deliver comprehensive support, preferably before, and immediately after an incident, designed to reduce risk by reaching stakeholders faster and far more effectively:

• Threat Compliance: Whether using Integrated Resilience or separate Risk Management, Business Continuity Management, and Crisis Management disciplines, our Crisis Communication support integrates into and enhances your existing threat management framework.
• Proactive Response: The most effective Crisis Communication programs have a proactive facet, identifying key threats and preparing communication protocols and tools in response to identifiable potential risks.
• Communication Strategy: Governs the type of response an organisation should give by taking account of multiple situational factors. It helps set the context to apply the optimum organisational response.
• Mapping to Stakeholders: Stakeholders can be highly distributed with diverse interests. Reaching each group with the right information using the right medium as part of a coordinated strategy is vital for strong stakeholder communication and for shaping perceptions.
• Experience: As an organisation with a significant Organisational Resilience consulting division, it stands to reason that we get more exposure than most to Crisis/Incident media situations. We employ some of the leading Communication and Continuity professionals in the World (many of whom hold significant industry accolades). Our experience and research have led to breakthroughs in the way brand and reputation risk is managed.

If you represent an organisation facing a crisis, or are a risk, business continuity, or crisis management professional tasked with developing threat management plans, and would like to discuss the service we provide, then please contact us.