There are a series of strategies and methodologies for creating powerful stories that achieve the objectives pursued, from the linguistic, focusing 100% on the quality of the message, its conceptualisation and who is the spokesperson, to managing details so minimal that they even have to do with neuroscience. However, given the current uncertain and changing context, it is no longer enough just to have good communication strategies: we must be prepared, without being alarmist (to paraphrase the European Commission), for all scenarios and possible crises.
During the last few months we have been talking and debating internally at PROA Comunicación about this question: How should companies prepare themselves to face a crisis? Can we anticipate them? What are the most appropriate tools to overcome a crisis?
The solutions and strategies will obviously depend on the type of crisis, the degree of involvement of the top management of the organisations, the reason that triggers it (internal or external), the audiences involved, the solutions that exist to close it and consider it overcome. What is clear is that there are no magic recipes and that the possible public exposure, no matter how prepared we are, will be the result.
In the following interview, Yago de la Cierva, Director of Crisis Communication at PROA Comunicación and Senior Lecturer at IESE Business School, analyses the role that Communication plays in crisis situations and recommends a series of steps to be better prepared: analyse the likely and unlikely scenarios, be clear about who leads and their responsibilities, who executes and how, and who acts as spokesperson and what they say.
To read the interview click here Six lessons from a crisis: how to act and what to communicate
These may seem like common sense actions, but experience shows that in times of crisis, organisations and their leaders often forget these simple steps and tips. That is why it is essential to have the right advice, one that allows us to look beyond and leads us to think and act in a decisive way, with clear, direct and simple rationale and messages.
Yago de la Cierva also reflects on the latter, related to messages, in another interview. On this occasion, he points out, for example, that "the only thing that can be done, in my opinion, against a partial account is total transparency".
To read the interview click here Reflections on communication by Luis Valls-Taberner
And here we are confronted with a central issue: in a polarised climate, a crisis has an even more uncertain ending. Faced with this, communication within organisations plays a fundamental role. And at PROA Comunicación we have the necessary experience to strategically advise companies and their managers on how to navigate complex situations.