Category: Perspectives

Risk management is at the top of every corporate agenda, but few organizations have plans in place for coping with crises. In today’s world, that is a risky proposition.

Every crisis has a unique dynamic and set of circumstances. There is almost never a single response or solution when things fall apart. That said, there’s typically one common denominator in every crisis: organizations seldom have even a basic contingency plan in place.

At a time when risk management is at the top of every corporate agenda, lack of preparation for a crisis represents an extreme risk. After all, information technology and social media can destroy in minutes a valuable brand or reputation that has taken years to cultivate. It doesn’t take long for share price and capital markets to reflect—or even amplify—the damage. Not to mention how competitors stand to benefit.

All too often, valuable time is lost to panic and confusion at the outset of a crisis. Instead of responding quickly and firmly, management—especially in large organizations—is often left scrambling to figure out priorities, personnel and processes.

After 15 years on the front lines of crisis management, Navigator has some insights into how organizations and their leaders can develop and deploy custom crisis communications plans.

1. Client Overview
Navigator works closely with the client to better understand:

• Operations
• Typical issues/possible crises
• Key audiences (internal and external)
• Regular and extraordinary communication channels
• Cultural characteristics of the client and its stakeholders (board, executive, employees, shareholders, customers, etc.)

2. Crisis Plan Development

• Identify possible crises
• Identify core communication teams and additional resources needed for each possible type of crisis
• Identify audience
• Identify channels for each audience
• Prepare draft materials

3. Awareness Development

• Meeting with key internal clients on principles of crisis communication
• The session is intended to increase internal cultural awareness of risks associated with handling crises

4. Training

• Communication/message training for key communicators and spokespersons Media training for key spokespersons
• Facilitation of desktop simulation for crisis plan

1. Evaluation

• Team identification and alert Potential impact analysis
• Risk and damages assessment
• Public visibility assessment
• Engagement decisions (whether to communicate proactively or reactively, how broadly, and to which specific audiences under what circumstances, and how)

2. Ongoing Crisis Management

• Identify possible crises
• Identify core communication teams and additional resources needed for each possible type of crisis
• Identify audience
• Identify channels for each audience
• Prepare draft materials

3. Recovery

• Team identification and alert Potential impact analysis
• Review campaign objectives and metrics
• Determine lessons learned and incorporate into an updated response plan
• Convene meeting with internal stakeholders to share insights and close file

As the sophistication of stakeholders has increased and the use of communications technologies has become commonplace, more complex and in-depth programs of research have become critical tools.

The term ‘social licence’ gets batted around a great deal these days, particularly among those involved in developing communications and activation campaigns in support of major projects and initiatives. It refers to the processes by which a company or organization seeks the permission to proceed with a project that affects a wide range of communities and requires their broad-based support.

But how—especially given the range of stakeholders, subgroups, special interests and even individuals who demand to have their voices heard on almost any initiative—is social licence attained? And how can the risks to reputation, brand and budgets be mitigated along the way?

In the last few years, the rise of social media and the creation of single-issue online communities and alliances have added to the public noise around social licence. These factors have successfully stalled projects and driven up their costs significantly.

They have also negatively influenced the political agenda. After all, few politicians have any appetite for championing projects that divide their voter base.

To contain the influence of special interest groups, companies and organizations are increasingly using opinion research
to gauge public opinion and manage stakeholder environments.
Opinion polls that simply determine support for or opposition to a particular initiative are no longer enough. As the sophistication of stakeholders has increased and the use of communications technologies has become commonplace, more complex and in-depth programs of research have become critical tools.

A well-executed program of research focuses on three main objectives:

1. Determining perceived benefits and disadvantages/risks of a project among all identifiable stakeholders, including the population as a whole, local and community residents, interveners, special interest groups, allies and opponents.
2. Measuring the credibility of all stakeholders and the extent to which each can or might influence the public debate.
3. Tracking of messages to ensure all communication is effective—to gauge the influence of detractors’/opponents’ messages and to measure how messages are received by the public and large and targeted segments of the population.

One important aim of research is to identify the likely benefit of a project. Often such benefits are economic, particularly if a project creates long-term or permanent jobs, improves a community’s infrastructure or results in new opportunities for a community or stakeholder to generate revenue.

In most instances, both qualitative and quantitative research is essential to gaining a clear understanding of a project’s benefits and drawbacks.

Quantitative research isolates key benefits, as well as what drives support and opposition. Subsequent analysis not only reveals what influences positions, it identifies the arguments or messages that defuse opposition and build support.

Qualitative research—including focus groups, citizen panels or one-on-one in-depth interviews—uncovers the nuances of benefits and opposition, the caveats associated with support, and how benefits are articulated or described.

In Navigator’s experience, social licence is only achieved when project advocates can demonstrate that their position is reasonable, can make it comprehensible to the public and stakeholder groups, and can effectively neutralize or undercut opponents’ views. Organizations and companies must understand who speaks with authority and credibility—both for and against a project—to calibrate messages and then find the right spokesperson to deliver them.

Finally, campaigns need follow-up. Campaigns that fail to track and measure opinion over the longer term often fail to take into account issues or viewpoints as they emerge and recede. Responding to public hearings, local debates and social media campaigns that influence public thinking requires flexibility.

Research tracking should be done in tandem with effective media and social media monitoring programs to isolate the specific messages or combination of messages that are influencing opinion among key segments.

Well-designed and effectively executed programs of research can be essential to the success of protracted and challenging projects. If knowledge is power, then knowing and understanding the full gamut of opinions is essential to attaining social licence.

Whether you are calibrating a campaign, developing messages or assessing related risks, geographic and cultural nuance is an essential consideration. Nowhere is this more true than in Western Canada.

For many Canadians, the vast geographic space between the Canadian Shield and the Rocky Mountains is frequently—and inaccurately—lumped together as ‘The West.’
On the surface, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta share some important characteristics: affinity for First Nations’ culture, spectacular Prairie landscapes, big skies, abundant wheat, a passion for perogies, a love of curling and a predilection for hotels with indoor waterslides. And they all experience extreme weather—from bitter cold to blistering heat.
Beneath those similarities, however, life in each of these provinces is distinct. For example, in the winter, Calgarians, with their milder weather and proximity to the mountains, are always off skiing and hiking. It seems everyone has a dashing array of sporty clothes and an SUV with a roof rack. In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where the Prairie winds howl, the only reason to go outside after Labour Day is because you forgot to plug in your car (or, if you live in Winnipeg, maybe to attend a Jets game).
In Saskatchewan, few people are more than one generation away from the family farm. While the rise of the potash and energy industries in the province has led to a more diversified economy and the first growth in its population in many years, the province and its residents still identify themselves with farming.

Alberta’s identity, by contrast, is framed by its role as an international oil and gas producer with strong, direct links to the United States. Even as world oil prices have slumped over the last year, it continues to attract an eclectic mix of domestic migration and international immigration. It is also driven by a resolute work ethic. People get up early (7:30 meetings are the norm), show up on time for dinner parties and pursue well-paying jobs at company headquarters. Saskatoon has PotashCorp and Winnipeg has Investors Group, but Alberta is the place for unabashedly, upwardly mobile corporate types who shop at the only Nordstrom’s west of the Ottawa River.
In Calgary, the houses are big and new and there are strip malls galore to cater to them. Calgarians also tend to drive everywhere—trucks and SUVs seem obligatory.
In Winnipeg, homeowners are more inclined to renovate old houses built in the glory days of the railway, whereas urban in-fills dominate Calgary.While the biggest news (outside of hockey) to hit the ‘Peg in recent years was the arrival of IKEA, the city continues to strongly support small businesses and fosters a robust culture of independent entrepreneurship.
That support is based on an economy that is less prone to the booms and busts that tend to characterize the commodity-based economies of Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Ever since the days of the fur trade, Manitoba, with its location at the centre of the continent, has been a transportation hub. That, along with insurance, manufacturing and other industries, gives it a calmer vibe. That is reflected in the signs erected by the provincial government to sell its infrastructure spending program. ‘Steady growth, good jobs.’ Nothing flashy, but Manitobans remain fiercely proud of their communities.

“Working strategically with governments on R&D and other initiatives is another way to mitigate and manage related risk.

The very best movie plots are the ones driven by the excruciating tension that comes when characters take risks—calculated or otherwise—and then struggle to overcome them…

The Matrix

1995 – Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne
Morpheus: “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”

Wall street

1987 – Michael Douglas
Gordon Gekko: “I don’t throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought.”

Heat

1995 – Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro
Neil McCauley: “He knew the risks, he didn’t have to be there. It rains… you get wet.”

Dirty Harry

1971 – Clint Eastwood
Harry Callahan: “I know what you’re thinking: ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do you, punk?”

Arbitrage

2012 – Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon
Syd Felder: “What’s baffling to me, despite your sentimental history together, is why you would put your family’s future in this kid’s hands.”
Robert Miller: “He’s not like us.”
Syd Felder: “Is that a good thing?”

Casino Royale

2006 – Judi Dench
M: “I knew it was too early to promote you.”
James Bond: “Well, I understand double 0’s have a very short life expectancy… so your mistake will be short-lived.”

Risky Business

1983 – Tom Cruise
Miles: “Joel, you wanna know something? Every now and then say, ‘What the f***.’ ‘What the f***’ gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future.”

Literary Risk-takers We Love

Our collective fascination with characters who encounter—and sometime even provoke—risk, is deeply ingrained. Through the ages, there remains something compelling about stories that detail the travails and tribulations of others. Maybe it’s because we all know that truth is always stranger than even the best fiction. A random walk through the evidence:

ROMEO & JULIET

1595 – William Shakespeare
An emotional steeplechase of family beef, possessive cousins, enabling nursemaids, and a meddling Friar. It was a risky proposition from the start, but who has ever been able to talk sense to a teenager?

Jack and the Beanstalk

Old English Fairytale
Jack buys some magic beans, shinnies up the stalk, sneaks into a giant’s castle in the sky, and steals his treasure. He repeats this high-risk strategy three times, nabbing gold coins, a goose that lays golden eggs and, finally, a harp that plays itself. Today, he’d definitely be running a private equity fund.

Alice in Wonderland

1865 – Lewis Carroll
For a proper Victorian maiden in a pinafore, Alice is actually a modern bad-ass. Her adventure is fraught with risk and danger from the start: the beastly Duchess, the Cheshire Cat, the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare and, of course, the Red Queen. Every decent tea party has a Dormouse who needs to be stuffed into a teapot (you know who you are). And who among us hasn’t treaded water in a pool of tears at some point in our adult lives? Conversation with a mouse, optional.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

1997 – J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter is a beleaguered orphan who slowly comes to terms with his special powers only to be confronted with a wily nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and his assorted henchpersons. Is there a greater bore than an aspiring immortal?

The Hobbit

1937 – J.R.R. Tolkien
Mild-mannered hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, reluctantly braves wizards, wolves, trolls, dwarves, elves, goblins and Gollum to settle a score with an irritable dragon (is there any other kind?), gain riches and snag a golden ring that is the obsession of a deeply disturbed cave-dweller with a penchant for riddles. For most of us, it’s just another day at the office…

Shareholder pressure has made the recruitment of corporate directors a more transparent process. In many cases, that means turning to professional search firms when it’s time to recruit a new director. Paul Stanley, Senior and Managing Partner, and Sal Badali, Partner at Odgers Berndtsen in Toronto share their views:

P.S. “It’s important to differentiate between private and public sector boards. In the public sector, mandates dictate greater transparency, greater balance and mandated diversity. They also have a list of other criteria, including regional representation in many cases. That means they invariably require outside advice in recruiting directors.”

S.B. “When they start a search process, many boards are strategic and issue-driven. They collectively anticipate what sort of issues the board is likely to face going forward. Then they look for someone who has direct or related experience.”

P.S. “There’s a growing understanding that a truly diverse board is going to be more than just the traditional pool. And that makes for better corporate decisions.”

S.B. “It all comes back to risk management—even indirectly. A strong, diverse board that has different personality types and solid credentials is going to do a better job of anticipating challenges, protecting the reputation and the brand. The real risk these days is not taking care of all that proactively.”