Crisis management: ‘PR executives should plan for war in time of peace’

The PR unit, whether as a consulting or internal unit, is always the blame centre. Why is it so even when CEO goofs?

There are a couple of reasons such things happen. First, most organisations are satisfied just sitting down and playing the traditional role of PR. But today, PR should play the front-line role. The role of PR practitioner needs to move from drafting press releases to become somebody who would be able to look at where the business is going, identify the challenges in future and proffer solutions and get the organisation ready to deal with the issue. If he plays that role he would be seen differently. People also think that PR is all about protocols. It might be useful but it would be more useful if somebody who works in an oil company, for instance, is able to identify for his organisation who are the people and decision makers on how policies like PIB for instance will go in the Senate. He should be able to get intelligence about a business, analyse the business intelligence and plan for the future, then he has a role, but most people will sit down there and play the traditional role. The traditional role is no longer enough for people to be respected.

There is this perception that PR is more of media relations, what informs this understanding?

It is like when you go fishing and you throw your net into the water. You will catch some fishes, crabs, and fingerlings. Our industry is like that. There are world-class practitioners in Nigeria and there are also quacks. But we believe that as agencies are engaged and they deliver works, the clients will begin to see the difference. It depends on the rigour each agency applies to what they do. It is like doctors, some who will immediately prescribe anagestic to a patient who complaints of headache, while some will take the rigour to ask questions on the headache which could lead them to discover more sickness. The approach we have decided to take is that in each situation do a thorough diagnosis.

It is said that the oil and gas industry do a lot but lack communication, how would you assess the operators’ communication level?

It is important to understand that oil and gas industry is different in the way they approach communication. The reason for that is that they are not dealing with a product that they sell to the general public. Whether it is oil or telecoms company the basic principle that guide effective engagement of stakeholders is the same. In our opinion, the oil and gas industry needs to communicate more. It is obvious that people do not know more about oil and gas industry. If average oil and gas industry communicated better the negative perception would not be as bad as it is. In reality, the industry is doing quite a lot but is not doing enough with communication.

How do you find a balance between waiting for approvals to deal with corporate crisis and emergence of internet, which allows quick spread of the crisis?

The first thing is that the PR practitioners in organisations have to be like generals in the army. What do they do, in times of peace they plan for war. That is the best way to protect your reputation if you understand what crisis is. These things happen suddenly therefore organisations need to have a structure for it and people trained for it. When you plan ahead and you rehearse, when it happens you are ready for it. Pre-planning gives you room to already know what to say without waiting for CEO approval. Crisis eats deep into the reputation capital of the organisation, but it is the amount of preparedness that you have before the crisis that determines how much dent the crisis would have on the reputation.

Is the challenge of not making PR a management function a factor in crisis management?

Making PR a management function only relates to the fact that the head of PR is part of the decision making body. But that is not enough to guarantee success. It is also about the individual skill and competence. Secondly, it is also about how much authority the organisation gives to that individual.

Could you explain the growth of Caritas Communications as it has evolved in the last four years?

We started about four years ago with Caritas Communications, which was primarily focused on oil and gas reputation solutions. But we are evolving to a full blown communication agency and we now have two business units – Caritas Communications, focusing on energy, oil and gas clients, and Caritas Public Relations Agency. Under Caritas Communications unit, there is a business centre called the reputation solutions faculty. This unit is the training arm that focuses on training and skill improvement programmes for oil and gas and for generic communication organisations. Under it there is media training, issues and crisis management.

Apart from developing programmes for solutions for the organisations, the faculty also designs tailor made training programmes for organisations. In the last four years, we have worked for greatest world brands such as Addas Petroleum, MainOne, Honeywell, and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria. The other leg of our business is Caritas PR Limited, which is a full-fledged public relations and subsidiary of Caritas Communications. It is under this company that we provide services to telecoms, public sector and conglomerates that we deal with. In the last two years, we have handled the Honeywell Group and from inception we have handled MainOne. In the public sector, we are doing some work for Nigeria Energy Regulatory Commission.

May we know what is contained in your reputation solutions basket?

We offer strategy consulting. For instance, if a new firm approaches us and told us its business plan and where it wants to go, we can then sit with the client to design a communication programme that will be used to implement the business plan, and in the process some of them do not have existing corporate communication or corporate affairs plan. If they have in-house staff, we will design a training programme to mentor and provide the skills for the staff.

We also provide executive training programme. There are some CEOs and senior staff who are shy when they face journalist’s camera. When this happens they may not stay focused on key messages or be able to manage the interviewers. We also have bouquets for corporate spokespersons. We also deal with corporate crisis. It is a different thing when you are dealing with crisis and how you are focusing the communication and the speed with which you respond, and the areas you focus on. What the public used to judge the organisation is the communications as they hardly know about the operations.