Living with crisis

Under Pressure Christmas 2020 Edition

The festive season is on us and this is a special bumper edition of Under Pressure to share some reading, ideas and thoughts to take you through to 2021. I want to thank you for being part of my 2020 experience in a positive way and supporting me. I hope that you have found items of interest and that may help you in your own crisis, risk, resilience and recovery communication.

I look forward to sharing things with you in 2021. Have a safe and enjoyable Christmas however you are celebrating.

Best wishes

Amanda

Living with crisis

By the time you read this I hope that I may have been able to publish my latest crisis communication report. This time I have taken learning from 2020 and looked at what it means to communicators who are facing another challenging year ahead. I have had some help in thinking about the past, present and future, with a number of crisis communication experts from across the world who have given me their thoughts.

There will be interesting ideas and thoughts, together with some practical recommendations for how you can improve your crisis and risk communication skills in the coming months.

Watch my LinkedIn Page and the @amandacomms Twitter feed for when the report is available.

Continued threat of terrorism

The crime and justice research organisation Crest Advisory has recently published a report looking at the threat of terrorism. There are findings including that extremism is a continued threat, it has become more fluid and is facilitated through social media, progress is slow from the Government, the police role is confused and the lack of neighbourhood policing is an increasing threat.

I have written a lot about the importance of communication within tackling both terrorism and extremism so the study presents more challenges to the work that needs to take place. The focus on the pandemic during 2020 also threatens to shift our attention away from this ongoing threat.

I would recommend reading the report or at least the executive summary here.

Emergency List 2021

The International Rescue Committee have released their watch list of emergencies in 2021. Conflict, climate change and Covid-19 have all had an impact on the countries that are featured in the watch list. Read about the details here.

EU Exit

For anyone in the UK the discussions and negotiations about Brexit have become a central consideration. As I write this there is no definitive outcome but what we need to ensure is that there is no disruption to the effective management of crises. We have seen during this year and the spread of Covid-19 that crises do not respect borders.

One of the most positive things I have experienced is how the communication industry has come together across the world. Information has been shared, advice has been given and people have been helping each other. Being able to operate quickly across the world is essential to crisis management. We will have to see what happens and the impact it has in the coming months.

Data and crisis management

The EU funded In-Prep project has written about the importance of how data is managed in crisis management. The project is being undertaken by Trilateral Research and the article highlights key areas of consideration including ensuring there is no increase in inequality due to the use of data. You can read more here Using data to enhance collaborative crisis management - Trilateral Research

2020 - nine months in the life of a crisis communication consultancy

I have published an infographic outlining the work Amanda Coleman Communication Ltd has been doing since it was established at the end of March 2020. You can see the details here.

In Brief

• New Year brings new challenges but I have developed a package of support to help you review, refresh and be ready for the year ahead. Find out more here.

• I recently took part in a webinar discussion with the PRCA Crisis Communication group. The group chair Chris Calland and I talked through many things including setting up my consultancy, the inspiration for my crisis communication book, and Covid-19. You can watch the interview here.

• There is some interesting research being done in the University of Nevada about Covid-19 and crisis communication. You can read an interview with the researcher undertaking the study here.

• Chicago Police Department are now publishing a public trust and sentiment dashboard. It will be interesting to see how this is received and what it means for other public services. Find out more here.

• You can still read my December crisis communication case study Testing Times. It is on the Amanda Coleman Communication LinkedIn page. Read it here.

Merry Christmas from me and Amanda Coleman Communications Ltd