When policies go wrong

Under Pressure 16 March 2023

When policies go wrong

There have been some interesting situations where approaches to staff management have backfired on organisations. The advent of social media and how it punctuates our lives has left many organisations struggling to find a way of dealing with challenge.

In the UK, a social media post by presenter Gary Lineker that criticised the Government in stark terms very quickly led to him being asked to step back, boycotts by other presenters and a mess. It ended up with the BBC being forced to apologise for the situation and to let the presenter return to his job while talking of a review to the existing social media policy.

Organisations should look at this case and consider how they would have responded to a member of staff putting out a controversial social media post. Would they have reacted quickly? Is the policy clear? What would classify as controversial? How would it have been approached if the person posting was very senior in the business?

What the situation has highlighted is the need to stress test policies before putting them into place. It is not enough to consult on them. In the same way that you would stress test your crisis response plans you should do it for significant policy changes and introductions.

I have become more focused on the reasons the BBC failed to spot and get ahead of any problem with the policy. I wrote about it here in a recent blog. But knowing your risks and managing them has to be step one in any issues and crisis management. Don’t move on from those issues and thorny problems without understanding any long term impact and what may need to be done to avoid recurrences.

Training Update

There is still time to book on one of Amanda’s training sessions taking place each month until June. If you have training budget to spend before the end of March, why not book on one of the sessions and get ahead of year development for the coming year. There are a few places on the next session Effective Issues Management on 23 March. Email amanda@amandacolemancomms.co.uk to book a space.

Book Launch Update

On 3 March Amanda’s latest book Crisis Communication Strategies was published with some amazing endorsements. The second edition includes new sections on long-running crises, diversity in crisis communication, behavioural communication in a crisis and a range of new case studies. The book will be published in the USA and Canada on 28 March. For more details go to publisher Kogan Page.

In Brief:

• Details of the requirements of the new Protect Duty known as ‘Martyn’s Law’ after Martyn Hett who died in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack have been outlined. Find out what it means to retailers here.

• Creating a contact centre is the subject of a new report from Deloitte which also highlights how AI may be able to help. Read more here.

• Details of the global risks are featured in a report out from the World Economic Forum. It includes a useful graphic showing why ‘polycrisis’ is important to understand at the moment. Find out more here.

• Strategic Magazine included an article in the latest edition exploring long-running crises and what they mean to communication. Find out more here.

• The latest crisis communication case study Testing Times was published at the start of March. It looks at the rise of self appointed experts. If you want to get a copy email amanda@amandacolemancomms.co.uk

• Amanda gave a personal view of the importance of International Women’s Day in a recent blog. Find out more here.

• There is an interesting case study on crisis communication following a ceiling collapse that features in the Malaysia Herald. Find out what happened and how crisis communication could have been improved here.

• There are some helpful reminders about how to approach challenging and complex crisis situations in a recent article in Forbes. It reviews the situation in the world of polycrises. Read more here.

• Thanks to Shawna Bruce for highlighting a case of a cyber attack at Dole Foods demonstrating the importance of social media monitoring. Find out more here.

Diary Dates:

• On 21 March Amanda will be running her popular Producing Engaging Content in the Public Sector for the PRCA. Find out more here.

• Amanda will run her Effective Issues Management training session on 23 March. For a last minute space get in touch at amanda@amandacolemancomms.co.uk

• The April training session from Amanda is on 20 April is focused on techniques for preventing and managing a reputational crisis. Email to book a space.