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To Respond or Not To Respond
As a PR professional, the biggest challenge we face in the early stages of a crisis is convincing management to issue a statement. Management, by nature, is conservative and will always want to be certain that an incident will become a crisis before they issue a statement.
In ambiguous, or slow developing situations, the PR professional will be hard-pressed to come up with sufficient data-points to determine if the incident will become a crisis. Let alone convince management to act.
Unfortunately, the importance of an appropriate response cannot be understated, as both over and under-reactions can negatively impact the company. In the former, if the company goes into full crisis management and communication mode to be ahead of the incident, the company may inadvertently create a crisis where one was not in the making. In the case of the latter, if the company under-reacts and is slow in responding to an incident that eventually becomes a crisis, the company risks being put on the defensive. This is a disadvantageous position as the company’s ability to protect its image and reputation will be greatly diminished (See Diagram 1).
So does a PR professional do when faced with an ambiguous incident?
