Appleton Greene – Lightening Strikes
Appleton Greene – A crisis can strike any company anytime, anywhere. You have heard of many crisis incidents over the years such as Tylenol, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Volkswagen emissions scandal, and most recently, the United Airlines public relations crisis regarding the practice of overbooking flights. In today’s connected world where just about everyone can go Live at any time, the speed of a crisis and the resulting backlash is as fast as the Internet. The key to survival is advanced planning. Does your company know its potential crisis points? Have you planned for how you would handle them? Crisis management is different than Risk Management, which seeks to simply identify risk and develop mitigation strategies. Crisis Management looks at handling a potential crisis scenario along an entire continuum from before the crisis happens all the way through to remediation. An outside consultant can help you take an objective look at your business processes to identify potential crisis scenarios and their likelihood of occurrence. Click the link to find out more about protecting your business, your brand, and your bottom line. Appleton Greene
Positive Reputation
Companies work very hard to build a positive reputation, but those years of hard work can disappear in an instant in the face of a crisis. All public facing information about a company contributes to its brand, and the brand is essentially a company’s reputation. Do you know what is on the Internet about your business? Do you know what people are saying about your brand? Reputation management is an essential part of doing business that requires a company to be proactive. From small things such as replying to a customer complaint, to large crisis events like an accident, and everything in between, there are plenty of operational points at which a company’s reputation can be impacted either positively or negatively. It doesn’t matter whether you company is small, medium or large. Every company has risks that can potentially threaten the company’s very existence if not managed properly. Identifying potential crisis points and establishing and training a crisis management team are essential elements for ensuring your business is prepared. Leverage a consultant with extensive crisis management experience to ensure your company is doing all it can to protect its reputation now and in the future. Click the link to learn more about how we can help you prepare for the ‘what ifs.” Appleton Greene
Company Resilience
Is your company resilient? An organization is resilient when it can quickly adapt to situations while maintaining operations and safeguarding employees, physical assets and overall brand reputation. Resiliency is more than just recovering from a crisis, because it takes measures to mitigate potential issues and develop strategies to ensure continuing operations, information dissemination, protection of assets, and adjustment of procedures as necessary in the face of adversity. Resiliency takes a commitment to evaluating risk and proactively addressing it. It also takes a commitment to thoroughly investigating failures and adjusting policies and procedures as necessary to prevent future issues. Most importantly, it requires a commitment to leadership and transparency in times of adversity when the first instinct is to hunker down and hide. All organizations experience adversity at some point, so it is critical for be prepared for both the good times and the difficult times. Resiliency is tightly aligned with business strategy and requires a holistic approach to crisis management by thinking about the potential worst case scenarios and preparing for them in advance. Let our experienced consultant help your company increase its organizational resiliency by preparing for the unknowns. Appleton Greene
Be Proactive
Don’t be the company that says, “If only we had…” Be the company that says, “We know exactly what to do.” Clearly examining potential worst case scenarios and the second and third-order effects of actions equips an organization with valuable foresight rather than hindsight. Proactive organizations drive change and messages rather than simply react to events happening around them. Seeking out potential areas of adversity allows a company to possible avoid the adversity all together, or at least minimize the impact it can have. Most importantly, the process of proactively examining operations empowers employees to speak up about potential issues they see at their level that may not be visible to anyone else. This allows the company to refine and improve processes before something happens, rather than after. Take a proactive approach to evaluating potential risk in your company and creating a strategy for managing those risks using foresight to protect your business, your brand, and your bottom line. Appleton Greene
Credibility
Is your company’s credibility rock solid, or do you have a Say-Do gap? In today’s socially connected world, your customers, stakeholders, and even perfect strangers will not hesitate to call you out on inconsistencies between what you say and what you do. Cracker Barrel quickly learned that lesson when it fired Brad’s wife, and United experienced the same lesson when it forcibly removed a paying passenger from a plane. In today’s communications environment, internal communications can quickly become external, external become internal, and anyone with a smart phone can broadcast your company business at the speed of the Internet. Integrated communications planning ensures all company actions, words and images align to avoid inconsistencies between what your organization says and what it does. Our expert consultant can help you align your organizational communications to eliminate gaps and ensure consistent messaging. Click to learn more and take the steps to protect your company’s credibility. Appleton Greene
Communication Environments
Though a business may have many departments, today’s business and communications environments demand that those departments not operate as independent silos within the company. A Strategic Communication Plan that involves all departments within the business is essential to ensure the company can speak rapidly and with one consistent message in times of crisis. If something happens in your company, do your employees know who to call? Do you have a designated Crisis Action Team? Do you have a media-trained company spokesperson? These are just a few of the critical elements that are part of successful crisis management. The time to put these things in place is not when a crisis happens. Your crisis plan should be developed and on the shelf long before a significant event may happen, as well as reviewed and updated on a regular basis. Our experienced consultant can provide a fresh, outside perspective on your company’s potential crisis points and help you prepare a customized plan for your organization. Appleton Greene
Identification Through Empowerment
Is your company empowering its leaders and employees to identify and manage risk? Company culture plays a significant role in crisis management. Do your employees feel they can speak up if they see an issue? Many crises can be avoided if employees feel empowered to speak or take action. Just ask Pepsi. Surely they could have avoided their most recent public relations nightmare over the Kendall Jenner ad if someone within the creative process had felt empowered to speak up about how the ad would resonate with consumers. An open culture where discussion and dissent are encouraged rather than stifled will allow your company to identify and manage issues long before they can play out in the public eye. Let our expert consultant help you build a culture that reinforces values and empowers employees as guardians of the company’s reputation. Click to learn more about protecting your business, your brand, and your bottom line. Appleton Greene
Cookie Cutter Plans
Has your company been offered a cookie cutter crisis management plan? If it has, just say no! There is no cookie cutter approach to responsible Crisis Management. Every company is vulnerable to potential crises that could harm people or damage property, seriously impact business operations, damage the company’s reputation, impact the company’s revenue stream, or threaten the company’s very existence. The potential crises vary greatly for each business, and even businesses in the same industry face different threats depending on their processes. Every company must identify and understand the unique risks associated with its business and plan mitigation strategies into daily business processes. By doing this, a company can often prevent a crisis from happening or prepare to effectively deal with a crisis and prevent damage to its reputation. Companies often get so focused on business performance and day-to-day operations that they forget to plan for possible contingencies and second and third-order effects, or worse yet, can’t see where their vulnerabilities are. This is where an expert consultant can bring an outside view and fresh perspective on potential crisis scenarios. Click for more information of how our expert consultant can help you plan for your worst-case scenarios. Appleton Greene
Crisis Insurance
Insurance is a critical necessity for any business. There isn’t a business out there that would operate without it. What if I told you you could get insurance for your company’s reputation? Would you believe me? In a way, you can! The best insurance for a company’s reputation and brand is a good Crisis Management process and plan. You say you do Risk Management? That’s not enough! Identifying risk and putting mitigation measure in place is good, but what if your mitigation strategy fails. Companies are often lulled into a false sense of security by risk management and end up being totally unprepared when an incident happens. Crisis Management is different than Risk Management, in that it creates a continuum to handle a crisis from before it happens all the way through to remediation and clean-up. Instead of hoping something won’t happen, let our expert consultant help you plan for the possibility that it could happen. Click to see how you can make sure your company is prepared. Appleton Greene
Failing To Plan
Companies don’t plan to fail. They simply fail to plan. Sure they plan their strategic business goals with a vision and roadmap for business operations, but what about contingencies? What if things don’t go as planned? Strategic planning is a continuous, evolving process that is essential to long-term growth and viability. As the business landscape changes over time, the strategic plan must also change and take into account possible contingencies. Contingency planning in the form of Crisis Management is crucial for making sure your company is ready for the “what ifs”. Our expert consultant can help you identify possible contingencies, rate them on severity and likelihood, and put plans in place to deal with them before they ever happen. Preparation is the key to success, and our expert can help make sure your company is equipped for any contingency. Click to start your preparation journey. Appleton Greene
Crisis Sustainability
Your company runs like a well oiled machine. Profits look good, the business is growing, and your company has a solid reputation in the industry. Years of hard work are paying off. What if I told you that could all be lost in an instant? Would you believe me? A single incident handled incorrectly could develop into a full-blown crisis that threatens the very future of your company. Plenty of companies have faded into the sunset under these circumstances. Sometimes a crisis is a crisis from the very start such as a natural disaster or serious accident, but more often than not, crises develop from incidents that aren’t managed correctly. For instance, if United had managed the incident related to overbooking flights properly, it likely would not have developed into a public relations crisis for the company causing significant loss in confidence, reputation, and revenue. Having the proper procedures in place to deal with an incident can prevent a crisis. Does your company have procedures in place? Do employees know who to call or what to do? Is there an established notification chain? If any of these questions caused you to pause and wonder, then let our expert consultant help you make sure your company is prepared to handle potential incident scenarios. Click to learn more about how to develop your Crisis Management plan and protect all that you’ve worked for. Appleton Greene
Media Friend Or Foe
Is the media your friend or foe? Can you even identify the media anymore? In today’s communication landscape, the smart phone has put the power of the press in each person’s hand. Now, anyone can be a journalist. Social media and live video streaming have given every person the ability to broadcast events, air grievances, and run smear campaigns. Whether you love it or hate it, this media landscape is here to stay and developing new communication methods every day. The speed of lies, condemnation and shame are as fast as the Internet now. Is your company prepared to deal with a social media crisis? Whether the information relayed is factual or not doesn’t matter, because perception is reality. The longer something spins unanswered within the social media channels, the more distorted it can become. Your company must have a plan for monitoring and addressing social chatter about your brand. With the speed of information today, the ability to react quickly is crucial to not only success, but survival. Let our expert consultant help you develop a solid reputation management plan for your company that monitors and responds to social mentions of your brand as part of your overall Crisis Management strategy. Click to learn more so your company isn’t caught off guard by chatter. Appleton Greene
Ms Roberts is an approved Executive Consultant at Appleton Greene and she has experience in management, marketing and globalization. She has achieved a Master of Science Degree in Strategic Planning and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She has industry experience within the following sectors: Government; Healthcare; Non-Profit & Charities; Media & Marketing and Manufacturing. She has had commercial experience within the following countries: United States of America, or more specifically within the following cities: Jacksonville FL; Washington DC; Atlanta GA; Charlotte NC and San Antonio TX. Her personal achievements include: created strategic communications plans; managed crisis situations and communications; facilitated leadership development; facilitated team building and created and managed marketing plans. Her service skills incorporate: strategic communications; brand marketing; crisis management; leadership development and risk assessment.
For More Information
Client Telephone Conference (CTC)
If you have any questions or if you would like to arrange a Client Telephone Conference (CTC) to discuss this particular Unique Consulting Service Proposition (UCSP) in more detail, please CLICK HERE.
Appleton Greene & Co CLICK HERE.