According to McDowell and Judin, transparency is key, and this, coupled with ongoing communication with stakeholders and the media, will ensure that in the inevitable times of crisis that most large corporates face, a certain amount of goodwill toward the company will still exist, allowing it to ride out the storm.
Says McDowell, "The worst thing to do in a crisis is to batten down the hatches and to cut off all communications with the outside world. This leads to speculation and rumour-mongering which is often more damaging than the crisis itself. Through honest and open communication with all parties, companies can often resolve these issues with minimal long-term damage."
"Access to a professional communications team, be it in-house or a consultancy, is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. Management must ensure that a budget is in place for communications, even if the company has to cut costs in other areas to accomplish this. A strategic communications campaign could be supported for the cost of a company's boardroom lunches for the year," she adds.
McDowell and Judin recommend that a company's legal and accounting advisors work jointly with its communications team, and that "spin doctoring" be avoided at all costs.
Says Judin, "Historically, legal, accounting and communications input has been very fragmented, each with its own agenda, However, in today's climate, only an integrated approach which includes all three will ensure a company's reputation remains intact. In fact, legal and accounting firms would be failing in their duties if they did not seek the input of communications specialists."
A company that consistently and honestly communicates with all its stakeholders and the public is also less likely to fall foul of fraud, says McDowell. "Where there is a culture of communication, there is a reduced risk of corruption. An additional spin-off is that transparency means good business, because it is increasingly what shareholders and investors are looking for - it is their guarantee of business excellence."
Judin continues, "I would anticipate that all of those involved in risk in the very near future could consider a company's risk on the basis of the normal criteria plus its communications strategy. It could become an important and integral part of risk overall," he adds.
With more and more companies being asked to validate their results on a continuous basis, regular communication to all stakeholders is the only option.
But for those companies who have not communicated frequently and openly to date, what should they do?
McDowell suggests the following, "Call in a communications expert, get some good opinion and do a communications audit within your firm. Put a short term campaign together which will change the communication channels within the company and to its external stakeholders. Implement that campaign and check the results a few months later. You will be pleasantly surprised at the reaction from your stakeholders and pleased that you have started a change within your organisation, " she concludes.
This kind of evaluation is also perfect in order to evaluate the performance of your communications team - internally and externally - of course.
