SILENCE IS COSTLY… AND KILLS

The 5 most common mistakes in crisis communication

December 11, 2020 was a day that Juan Carlos will never forget. He had to stoically endure claims and shouts of countless passengers who were stationed in front of one of the Interjet counters at Terminal 1 of the Mexico City International Airport. He only limited himself to saying that this or that flight was canceled. Neither Juan Carlos, nor anyone at the airline, could inform what was really going on. They had no further information. What Juan Carlos also didn´t know is that days later he would lose his job.

It was the chronicle of a death foretold…

Interjet represents the sum of many crises. From one day to another, it canceled flights and suspended operations. Its unionized employees broke out on a strike, which has already been ratified by the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board, which also authorized the request for a precautionary seizure of the company’s assets to ensure the payment of wages. It has lawsuits from Airports and Auxiliary Services (ASA) and other providers, as well as a complaint for tax fraud. The acquisition of the airline by HBC International has only generated more speculation about the future of the company. Its majority shareholder, Alejandro del Valle, refused to sell the airline to a group of investors who promised to cover all the labor liabilities, in addition to the debts with the Treasury.

So far it is not known whether it will resume flights, pay debtors, restart negotiations with investors, reach an agreement with its employees or finally declare bankruptcy.

Interjet had all kind of problems for a long time but remained silent. Its silence allowed others to build its story through repeated strike threats, bankruptcy rumors, speculation about its acquisition and its future plans, and even fake news (Remember #LadyBomba?). The mismanagement of its corporate communication further worsened the crisis in which the company is plunged.

The silence of a company is not a good advisor. In a crisis, or in all of those that a company like Interjet can face at the same time, three guiding communication principles must prevail: 1) what happened?; 2) what is it doing to fix the problem?; and 3) what corrective actions will take so that it does not happen again?

Communicating is to take action, and in like interjet crisis, it can mean the difference between resume operations or plummeting.

None crisis is the same, but we can learn from all of them. The surprising thing is that the same errors in their management prevails on all of them. We present the 5 most common:

1. Lack of prevention. – Without a plan and basic action guidelines in a crisis, the company will be severely affected, both in its operations and in its image and reputation. Improvisation is not worth it. Crisis prevention plans are part of today’s corporate culture. They serve as a guide for any type of eventuality. Updating the crisis manual, training the Crisis Committee, and conducting drills should be part of the company’s annual strategic planning.

2. Uncoordination of the Crisis Committee. – In a crisis, many areas of the company may be involved -CEO, Human Resources, Legal, Communication, Marketing, etc.- and there must be coordination between them. That is why the importance of forming a Crisis Committee that develops the strategy, coordinates all actions, and appoints the spokesperson.

3. Erratic communication. – If the areas directly in charge of solving the crisis are not in permanent communication with the Crisis Committee, it will be difficult to obtain information in time to process and disseminate. Besides, if there is no coordination in the Crisis Committee, the information will not be complete and will not flow adequately to its audiences.

4. Neglecting key audiences. – It is very common to see in a crisis that the company focuses on one of its audiences and neglects others. It is not enough to put out the fire and inform the media about it. It is necessary that during the damage control process, there is coordination and cooperation with the authorities; transparent information with customers, suppliers and investors; and employees must be informed about what is really going on in order to avoid rumors and information leaks. In a crisis, all key audiences are important, and all must be informed.

5. Not listening. – Many crisis warn. Detecting the warning signs early can prevent any eventuality of a company from turning into a crisis. That is why it is very important to permanently monitor the information that is generated about our company or the economic sector to which it belongs in the media, social media and other channels. If the crisis has already broken out, and a plan is being implemented, monitoring will allow evaluating its course, verifying that the actions carried out are working as planned, or rectifying the strategy.

Laissez faire, laissez passer…  

As this French expression says, the worst communication strategy a company can have is to do nothing and let it pass through. It let others build its story … and destroy it.