Klenk & Hoursch 1

Speed Café Speakers: Uwe Wache, Tobias Müller

Frankfurt, October 17, 2013

SPEED CAFE

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Uwe Wache,

Managing Partner

Speakers

Tobias Müller,

Director

Klenk & Hoursch 3

Our company

– Agency is among the TOP 10 crisis

communication specialists in Germany

(Pfeffer PR ranking, as of April 2013)

– Extensive experience in the implementation

of online platforms / own Klenk & Hoursch-

based tool for online crisis management

– Extensive expertise in crisis communication in

the social media environment

– Numerous clients in the field of DAX-30 and

Fortune 500

– Crisis prevention and crisis management

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Practical experience shows:

The main barriers that stand in the way of effective crisis communication are

very similar in most companies and organizations!

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Barriers / Definitions

Lack of Experience: Many companies have not yet experienced a major crisis. They are lacking experience.

Therefore, they underestimate the issue.

Lack of Management Commitment: The Board’s agenda does not include crisis communications. They focus on

growth, market share and profit. Especially crisis prevention does show a low priority – it is not comfortable to talk

about one’s own weaknesses.

Costs / Insufficient Resources: Processes, counseling, workshops and trainings do cost money. Money for

which there is no immediate return on investment. Therefore, the issue remains chronically under-exposed.

Lack of Processes: There’s a lack of clear policies, guidelines, alarm procedures, decision-making and approval

processes.

Lack of Exchange across Departments: Successful crisis communications require a smooth and trustworthy

cooperation across the company’s different departments and disciplines. This, however, often does not work.

Legal Aspects: Crisis prevention and scenario planning often is restricted by legal experts. They often have a very

restrictive understanding of what should and can be documented within the company.

Lack of Awareness of the Issue in the Company: Often companies lack a basic understanding of the issue’s

importance. The issue is not on the agenda because it is not being adequately perceived as such.

Lack of Market Transparency: Companies that do not want to build internal resources can hire specialists.

However, there are not many of these and the market is not very transparent.

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88 participants

– Participants of the SCM

conference (25)

– Communication Managers / Crisis

experts in Germany (27)

– International Communication

Managers / Crisis experts (36)

Poll: What in your view are the main barriers to

efficiency in crisis communication?

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SCM-Conference Participants (25)

0

4

0 0 1 1

4 3

2

7 8

5 5

18

11 10

14 13

11 11

14

4

7

10 8

1

5

8

4

1 2

0 0

5

10

15

20

Do not agree

Rather not agree

Rather agree

Fully agree

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– Lack of experience in dealing with crises is

the main barrier to effective crisis

communication (rather agree / fully agree:

92% )

– Established processes are missing (rather

agree / fully agree: 79%)

– Lack of exchange across departments (rather

agree / fully agree: 75%)

– Costs / insufficient resources (rather agree /

fully agree: 67%)

SCM-Conference Participants: 4 Main Barriers

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Communication Managers / Crisis experts (27)

in Germany

0 1

0 2

0 2

3 4 4

11

15

4

7

13

9

14

11

8 8

12 14

11 10

8

12

7

4

9

6

1

5

1

0

5

10

15

20

Not agree

Rather not agree

Rather agree

Fully agree

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Similarities / Differences

Results are close to those of the SCM-

Conference participants

Lack of experience (85% agreement), missing

processes (78%) and too little knowledge

sharing across departments (74%) are perceived

as the main barriers to effective crisis

communication

Differences:

Lack of awareness / lack of basic understanding

are ranked higher (56% agreement)

Costs / insufficient resources are ranked lower

(44% agreement)

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Communications Manager / Crisis Experts (36)

International

2 2 1 1 1

4

1

13

4 2

7

2

5

8 6

13 12

17 15

18

14

11

17

9

18

15 13

15 16

13 12

1

0

5

10

15

20

Do not agree

Rather not agree

Rather agree

Fully agree

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Similarities / Differences

Evaluation significantly more critical than in

Germany

More barriers are perceived as relevant:

Missing processes (89% agreement), lack of

commitment of GF (89%), experience deficits

(83%), insufficient exchange (81%), lack of

awareness / lack of basic understanding (81%)

and cost / insufficient resources (78%)

Differences with the results in Germany:

Specifically the commitment of the board, legal

aspects, cost / lack of proper resources and

lack of awareness / understanding of basic

rated significantly more critical than in Germany

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The Task

What can be done to effectively reduce the critical barriers that

stand in the way of efficient crisis communication in companies

and / or organizations?

Objective: Development of three core ideas.

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1. Lack of experience: Many companies have experienced no major crisis . They lack

experience . Therefore, they underestimate the subject. With which communication

measures this gap can be reduced?

2. Lack of commitment of management: crisis communication is not on the agenda of

the Board. There is growth, market share, profit. Crisis prevention has low priority –

who wants to talk about weaknesses. How do you put the issue on the agenda of the

board?

3. Lack of processes: the lack of clear guidelines, alarm procedures, decision-making

and approval processes. How can this best be developed and made mandatory in the

organization ?

4. Insufficient exchange across departments: Successful crisis communication

depends on smooth and trusting cooperation between the various divisions and

disciplines. This often does not work. How to sensitize the relevant internal decision

makers to more cooperation (e.g., communication, risk management, corporate

security, legal, etc.)?

More in Detail Speed Café

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Group 1: Remove the lack of experience

1. Perform a full exercise / crisis simulation with a defined crisis team to close

the experience gap and improve performance / gain new insights.

2. Establishment of interdisciplinary rounds / expert circles in order to get a

broader view to think through scenarios and combine partial experience.

3. Install media monitoring (preventive) to permanently deal with potentially

difficult issues and to build sensitivity and experience / expertise in the

organisation.

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Group 2: Eliminate missing Commitment

1. Research on comparable crises at competitors to make the damage

potential of crises more "touchable” for the management / the board: What

happened? What damage was caused? What if it had happened to us?

What could happen to us?

2. Development of an internal "sales strategy": Who in the company also has

an interest in better crisis preparedness? What alliances can be built to

become more persuasive?

3. Development of a concrete plan of action: What should be done? What

would it cost? Who would would be in charge? What overarching goal do

we want to achieve?

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Group 3: Reduce the deficit process

1. Establishment of a working group of executives and corporate

communications specialists to define the structure of crisis communication.

2. Development of a training concept for all relevant areas, to increase

sensitivity and boost process reliability.

3. Development of a toolbox / instructions for the internal and external

communications for crisis situations and conducting simulation / alarm

exercise to test toolbox / instructions for practicality.

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Group 4: Fix lack of Exchange

1. Provide crisis communication with clear structures, roles and responsibilities

and get approval from the board to ensure liability.

2. Development of a concept that outlines the cost of improved prevention and

budget distribution among the involved departments (e.g. communication,

corporate security, risk management, business continuity etc.).

3. Development of guidelines with respect to relevance and value of crisis

prevention and active presence in the context of comprehensive

"readiness". Establishment of a functioning early alert system for the

involved divisions to ensure fast initial response.

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