Should today’s business leaders be prepared for a state of “perma-crisis”? According to local communications expert Andrea Greenhous, recent events such as the CEO of Air Canada addressing the incident at LaGuardia Airport in English only or a disgruntled Kimberly-Clark employee setting fire to a California warehouse suggest the answer is yes. “You just have […]
Already a Subscriber? Log in
Get Instant Access to This Article
Become an Ottawa Business Journal Insider and get immediate access to all of our Insider-only content and much more.
Should today’s business leaders be prepared for a state of “perma-crisis”?
According to local communications expert Andrea Greenhous, recent events such as the CEO of Air Canada addressing the incident at LaGuardia Airport in English only or a disgruntled Kimberly-Clark employee setting fire to a California warehouse suggest the answer is yes.
“You just have to listen to the news every day to understand that there are shocks to the economy, there are increases in cybersecurity (threats) and issues with the climate,” said Greenhous, the CEO of Ottawa-based internal communications firm Vision2Voice. “That means that organizations need to understand that it’s not if, but when.”
Jennifer Stewart, CEO of Ottawa-based communications firm Syntax Strategic, said the phenomenon of “perma-crisis” is not new. “There are constant channels of communication that inundate us with information, much of it grim, which causes us to digest too much information and leads us to the conclusion that we’re in a crisis. The world has always, frankly, been a volatile place.”
Generally speaking, crisis communications is the practice of managing and sharing information during emergencies, public issues or unexpected events.
Stewart and Greenhous agree that today’s leaders should be constantly reviewing their communications plans to be prepared for when a crisis occurs. Particularly since, as Greenhous points out, crises happen when leaders least expect them.
“Leaders used to create a business contingency plan, a crisis communication plan, and then it sat in a binder on a shelf. But sometimes you don’t know what may come your way. Who would have known that someone was going to take a lighter to toilet paper in that warehouse?” she said. “I think the crisis communications plans of today need to be what we’re working on right now and it needs to be practical.”
Without a crisis communications plan, trust erodes and reputations can become fractured, she said.
“Trust and reputation are very hard to re-build … Nobody goes into leadership wanting to be a bad leader, but there are tough decisions to make. (If you aren’t prepared,) you can damage your reputation, the reputation of your organization, and that can hurt investments. It can hurt your ability to attract and retain employees. Employees might feel disheartened and leave,” Greenhous explained.
Traditional “break glass in case of emergency” crisis plans don’t cut it anymore, Stewart said.
“What doesn’t work anymore is a static ‘binder-off-the-shelf’ crisis plan. The most prepared organizations test living playbooks for crisis communications. They scenario-test, they rehearse and they adapt in real-time.”
Whether it’s 1996 or 2026, Stewart said the same core principles should form part of an organization’s crisis management plan: act quickly, communicate clearly and show what you’re doing next.
“But what has changed is the environment in which leaders are operating in. Speed is non-negotiable. Tone matters more than ever. Transparency always wins. And what’s really different is that leaders themselves are the message, not just the brand,” Stewart said.
While organizations need to have a plan if things go south, Greenhous said that many of the important aspects of getting past a crisis happen in day-to-day operations, such as building trust and culture within the workforce.
“You don’t just need a plan. It’s about building a strong culture based on trust, openness, transparency and empathy. That’s really important because when you’re in a crisis, you don’t have time to think. You need to build that automatic muscle where you’re going to trust people to act in the right way.
“We’re all so focused on doing the right thing, building our businesses and making a profit, that when a crisis happens, it takes your eye off the ball … But we want to be able to move forward and get to business. The quicker you can put things behind you, the quicker you can move forward,” Greenhous said.
Employees should be a part of your response, Greenhous said. “They’re basically on the front line. You need to make sure that you let them know first, so that they can be your biggest ally during a crisis. They can be a part of the response, rather than just another victim of the crisis.”
A strong team will find the way out of a crisis more easily, Stewart added. “If you can show accountability, leadership and ethical judgement as a leader, that builds trust in your team and in your brand … Managing a crisis isn’t just about saving face, it’s about ensuring that trust prevails in your brand.”
Crises can look different for every sector and business, but they don’t need to make national headlines to be a problem, Stewart said.
“When people talk about crisis communications, it’s not only when you hit the front page of a newspaper. It can be a trust build-down within your team. Don’t wait to make headlines … Analyze what’s happening in your organization. Accurately and objectively assess any threats to your reputation.”
