There’s no denying it. Social media, the real-time news cycle and mobile technology have changed the landscape for crisis management. These changes include: heightened stakeholder expectations of two-way communication and transparency in a crisis; amplifying the speed at which organizations need to be prepared to respond and communicate in a crisis; the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult for you to get ahead of the story and position your organization as the narrative of its own crisis.
But whether we like it or not, these are today’s crisis realities and successful crisis management depends on your team’s ability to manage these real-time challenges that the digital landscape presents, while simultaneously managing the actual crisis in real-time.
The big question…
If these are today’s crisis realities, how can you arm your team with the skills, mindset and tools to make these realities and challenges work for your organization rather than against it? In other words, what is the secret to successful crisis management in this 21st century?
This is the topic of my TEDx Talk, which I delivered in LA earlier this year. Within this 18 minute presentation, I discuss the impacts that the digital landscape have on crisis management and I provide THE secret to successful crisis management in this 21st century.
With that said, I won’t make you wait any longer! Here is the secret to successful crisis management in the 21st century:
A little about TEDx and a huge thanks to the City of LA
As you may or may not know, TEDx Talks are meant to by inspirational presentations that last no longer than 18 minutes. They’re suppose to educate, inspire and motivate their audience. I can only hope that I did the TED name justice in my presentation, and I’d like to thank my colleagues and friends at the City of LA’s Emergency Management Department for offering me the opportunity to take part in their outstanding event. They really went above and beyond in all aspects of this conference and I couldn’t have been more honored to share the day with them!
Read: Behind-The-Scenes Look At How To Deliver a TEDx Talk
TED is all about sharing ideas, provoking thought and inspiring action. With that said, I’d love to hear your thoughts on my presentation and what you think it takes today to successfully manage a crisis. Feel free to email me your thoughts and experiences, or share them in the comments section below.
I can’t wait to hear from you!
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Shawn says
Very insightful Melissa.
Melissa Agnes says
Thank you, Shawn!
Jacob Firuta says
Hi Melissa, great talk!
The company I work for (LiveChat) was recently hit by a DDoS attack, which is a huge disaster for any software business such as us. We had the defenses prepared before the attack, so the crisis wasn’t as bad as in your Anthem example, but we still had a fair bit of angry customers coming our way.
I’m wondering if you could share some ideas on how we can make such attacks less painful for customers in the future. How a software company can replicate what the Mountain View PD did and prepare the customers for potential problems in the future?
I wrote a case study of the whole situation, which can give you a better idea of the methods we already use: http://www.livechatinc.com/blog/crisis-management/
It helped us get through the DDoS, but I’d love to learn what else we can do in such situations.
Best,
Jacob
Melissa Agnes says
Hi Jacob,
Great question and nice article! It seems as though you and your team did a good job. Was there any lasting impact on the brand’s reputation afterwards?
In the case of Mountain View PD, they work proactively everyday and their focus is relationship building, trust-building and strong communications. This can work for your organization as well. Basically, it’s hard to get upset with an organization you love and trust. You can be annoyed, but if something happens that’s beyond their control and they’re handling it well with regular, informative and compassionate communications – and you know they’re working hard on their end to right the wrong… this is the ideal position you want to find yourself in in a crisis. In order to get there, it requires great effort, every single day.
I hope this helps. Keep up the great work!
Best,
Melissa
Jacob Firuta says
Thanks for the quick reply Melissa!
The reputation didn’t suffer, we had a fair share of customers cheering on us to quickly solve the problem. But there was still a group of customers who got frustrated because their businesses suffered (we are a B2B company).
Maybe we didn’t convince those customers just yet when it comes to relationship and trust building? I think we need to double our efforts to reach out to to those customers every day so that when the next attack comes (and it most certainly will) they will come to our support not just to let us know that something’s up but also to wish us luck in dealing with it.
Best,
Jacob
Melissa Agnes says
There’s a fine line between being annoying, as well. So be careful about bombarding customers. You want to focus on providing them with value, great reliable service and excellent customer care.
However, you also have to come to terms with the fact that, no matter how much they love you, if an attack on you means loss of website (and therefore potential loss of reputation and/or revenue) for them, they will probably still be annoyed if and when it happens. But there’s a difference between honest and understandable annoyance, and losing a customer.
Good luck!
Jacob Firuta says
We will definitely keep that in mind.
Thank you for all the advice!
Best,
Jacob