Tradewind Strategies - International Crisis Community

Every crisis is unique, particularly when it crosses borders or involves multiple countries. Numerous time zones between the crisis and corporate headquarters do not work to your advantage. Speed of response is critical. Options for response diminish with time. The less influence you have over the early hours of a crisis, the less likely you are to regain control. It is crucial that control is asserted in real time – something that becomes increasingly difficult in global markets that may be half a world away. Experts such as Tradewind Strategies can help your crisis team navigate the unfamiliar waters of international media during a crisis.

There is no substitute for advance crisis planning. Often the act of planning proves more valuable than the plan itself, since it illustrates and shapes how key team players will work together. A successful crisis communications plan should be flexible enough to adapt to international markets’ distinct challenges. Your plan should be tested: an untested plan is an unworkable plan.

Crisis communications is a three-phase process: Prevention, Preparation, Recovery and Rebuilding. Your international planning should include all of these three phases.

Pay attention to your stakeholders – interested groups will differ by international markets. In some countries, for example, trade unions or consumer groups are important stakeholders. In other countries this is not the case.

A flexible crisis communications plan for international markets should cover a number of items:

Identify possible crisis scenarios. Today’s global uncertainties have unleashed a variety of new and frightful crises - make sure you consider all possibilities.

Identify stakeholders. While these interested parties will vary by market, there are commonalities that allow for advance planning.

Spell out the players on your crisis team. Outside experts can play a crucial role in providing onsite or remote management on behalf of the crisis team.

Delineate who may speak on behalf of the company. The fewer approved spokespeople, the better.

Develop key messages, potential Q&A, press statements. These should be specific for each crisis scenario. Advance preparation will accelerate your speed of response.

Identify responsibilities, approvals, chain-of-command. Don’t wait for a crisis to determine who has authority of communications approval, which will slow you down.

List communications vehicles for each market and each scenario. Don’t overlook new media such as blogs, for example. If you don’t respond to all aspects of a crisis across the full range of media, regaining control over that crisis could prove to be impossible.

Build a post-mortem review into each plan. After you have weathered the storm and the crisis has passed, what did you learn? What went right, what went wrong? Use each crisis as an opportunity to improve your overall crisis communications planning – one thing is certain, surviving a crisis only ensures that there will be more in the future.