It is omnipresent: For weeks the Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has been dominating the public agenda. In this context, in recent weeks the communications market has been shaped through diverse providers and players in the field of crisis communications that have come forward, for example by giving five good tips for an appropriate crisis communication. They seek to position themselves as experts for the communicative handling of the Corona Pandemic.
At first glance, a few simple tips sound promising. But with regard to the internal and external communication of such sensitive and critical topics it becomes evident, how particular the challenges and communication structures are for every single business.
Communication leading strategically orchestrated crisis management
Five tips or pieces of advice are not helpful in a situation such as this. Instead, a strategic communications approach is needed that connects all of the involved players and orchestrates their actions: organised measures that are based on decades of experience in the area of crisis management as well as crisis prevention, strategic issues management and crisis communication. In acute crisis situations it is essential to inform all employees transparently and continuously and to safeguard them. Nevertheless, business continuity has to be maintained at all times. At the centre of every communication measure lies therefore the ongoing and rational assessment of the (potential) risks for employees, but also for the continued existence of the company.
Above all, this relates to building trust and credibility with all relevant stakeholders through forward-looking and preventive measures as well as an active communication approach, to increase the room for manoeuvre for companies and to guarantee their entrepreneurial capacity to act at all times. At the same time it is important to act both decisively and prudently, to repress further spreading of the virus and to fulfill the responsibility of ensuring people's health.
Immediate-action programme for communication
For this purpose, we have developed an immediate-action program together with our team of experienced communication experts as well as operational crisis managers from our strategic partner, Result Group. It includes:
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the efficient analysis of crisis prevention measures as well as communication structures that have already been put into place
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the detection of non-existent prevention structures
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the immediate implementation and efficient management of a crisis unit
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the establishment of conventions of speech for all internal and external stakeholders
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the ongoing monitoring of the acute situation across all channels and the immediate detection of critical potentials and possible intervening measures
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24/7 on-call service and consultancy
We support you quickly and straightforwardly with regard to crisis prevention and crisis communication. At the same time, together with our partners we provide competent crisis management from a single source - and not just since yesterday.
Our external Corona taskforce can be reached at all times through crisis@orcavanloon.de and assists you 24/7 under +49 (0)40 6963 855 80 with solutions and concrete support.
About the Corona task force
Cornelia Lindberg is an Associate Partner at ORCA van Loon Communications. Apart from corporate communications her special expertise lies in supporting crisis communication clients. She was press officer at Airbus in Hamburg, where she supported amongst other things the crisis communication around the A380. Further, she led the unit “Corporate & Public” at fischerappelt and today teaches “Issues and Crisis Management” as a lecturer at the European Media and Business Academy.
Axel Wochinger, Director and Authorised Officer at Result Group GmbH, served as an officer in the Austrian Armed Forces for twelve years. As a senior leader, during his time of service he was responsible for the development of specialist trainings and the planning and leading of operations in the area of property, event and personal protection. His deployments led him to crisis regions such as Kosovo, Bosnia and Syria. After his military service he developed security concepts and risk assessments for big infrastructure projects in Central Asia.
Hendrik Schulze van Loon, Managing Partner at ORCA van Loon Communications, has long-lasting experience in the strategic communications consulting of companies and organisations. He consults medium-sized businesses and large corporations with regard to issues concerning corporate and change communications. Here, his focus lies on crisis communications and he is specialised in situations that are critical to success.
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