Until a company is in trouble, often in the midst of a corporate governance challenge, Boards of Directors generally do not appreciate the importance of public relations. Even when they eventually come to that realization, Directors think that they can manage stakeholder perceptions by themselves. Where counsel from PR experts is offered, it is likely to be ignored or accepted begrudgingly. It is only when a Board is mired in a public relations mess, realizing that it is out of its depth that PR experts are called in to salvage the situation.
From my experience as both a governance expert (Board/Secretary and Non-Executive Director in financial services) and PR practitioner respectively over many years, including observing first-hand how different Boards have reacted to crises, the ineffective ones in such situations tend to make some of the following mistakes:
- Failure to carry out a comprehensive stakeholder analysis because they close out PR practitioners from the crisis management process who would otherwise perform the task based on their skills and experience.
- Failure to adapt messages to various stakeholders all of whom have different but complimentary interests.
- Relying on lawyers for “PR advice”. This includes publishing statements that are drafted by their legal practitioners which are usually off-message and hide behind the sub-judice rule or some legal threat. In such instances, PR practitioners are simply called into the room and told to dispatch the statement drafted by lawyers and the Board to internal and external stakeholders, inviting more questions than answers once it is out there.
- Not being proactive in addressing constantly emerging issues concerning the crisis at hand, including assuming that whoever they are up against will play nice.
- Not knowing how to handle interviews or avoiding them altogether. The vast majority of Board Members are not, if ever, appointed to Boards for their communications expertise. Therefore, it is critical that they embrace media training and open themselves up to being guided by PR experts when the situation calls for it.
- Sometimes Boards of Directors think that hunkering down and not dealing with the problem will eventually have it go away. The fact of the matter is that it is critical to get ahead of the speculation and rumour mongering. If you do so, you take charge of the narrative whereas being reactive results in the complete opposite with disastrous consequences.
Dealing with the media is a skill that goes beyond just the God-given ability to speak and think. One must be able to know how to manage the all-powerful media in a 24-hour news cycle that is made all the more difficult by the ever-awake and rough social media. This is the terrain of PR practitioners. They also have an extensive contact list of media practitioners and other key people whom they can engage quickly to manage a story or for useful insights during a crisis
Therefore, Boards need to trust their PR practitioners including allowing them to be in the room when critical matters are discussed and decided upon so that they can render the most optimal advice.
Be the light.
