Enrique AlcatDirector of the Programme in Business Management and Communication Management at the Instituto de Empresa, has participated in the 10th edition of the Proa Communication Observatorytogether with twelve other executives. An expert in crisis communication, Alcat explained that, in a crisis, "the important thing is to inform, and to inform in time. You are not obliged to say everything, but what you say must be true. You must never lie.
Alcat stressed that "silence is not profitable in communication. If you don't occupy the space, others will. This happens in the business world, and in political and institutional life. If you are behind the media, the competition or politicians, you are not managing communication well. Many managers, and some politicians, think that the best thing to do is to keep quiet. But this is not the case. What public opinion cannot stand is arrogance and boredom.
The teacher of the IE believes that "if there are no deaths involved, all crises are crises of perception. The important thing is to manage them well. Poor crisis management can lead to the demise of a multinational company, as happened to Arthur Andersen.
"When there is a crisis, companies tend to look for culprits rather than solutions," Alcat said. In the 2005 Windsor building fire in Madrid, "Deloitte was right to focus on its clients and its employees. To the clients, they said: all information is safe. And to the employees: we are not going to fire anyone. So they put themselves in favour of the clients and the employees".
According to Alcat, "the greater the crisis, the greater the transparency. But that requires preparation, have a crisis manualso that you can act quickly. If you take more than two hours to make a decision, you're dead. Social media are very fast, and they reach journalists. You have to be there, you have to be out there. And press conferences without questions are absurd.
Alcat gave Pope Francis as an example of a good communicator: "He is carrying out a very good policy of gestures; of taking off everything that is not essential, of going in an open popemobile, of stopping to kiss a person with a disability... That is communicating. The Pope knows how to connect with people. And he won over the journalists as soon as he was elected, bringing together the 6,000 accredited professionals in Rome during those days. Leaders don't improvise anything.
Regarding social networks, Alcat pointed out that "they are here to stay". According to him, there is a gap between those under 30 years old and those over 45. "The former are perfectly fluent in social networks and the internet, and have abandoned the traditional press; and the latter prefer the traditional media, the paper "Those between 30 and 45, are in two camps". Alcat also stressed the importance of the community manager knowing the company's culture well, in order to make the right decisions.
Finally, he stressed the importance of having a crisis communication manual, knowing it and putting it into practice. And to have two or three managers trained and prepared in case something happens. "The first few hours are crucial, and solutions must be found quickly. And inform the employees themselves.