Don’t put damage control ahead of disclosure

It’s almost inevitable that, at some point, your business or organisation will find itself in the public spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

How you respond will shape lasting impressions of you and your brand.

It’s likely you’ll need to speak publicly – and soon. But there are probably some crucial internal audiences who need to hear the news first.

Scrambling to “control the narrative” can prove disastrous if you’ve left key people out of the communication loop.

Anyone who has a direct stake in the situation needs to hear from you, even if it’s news they won’t welcome.

That might mean people directly impacted, regulators, partners, unions, contractors, community leaders and more.

Neglect that step and you’ll pay for it with your reputation.

Just ask Optus, still taking a prolonged hammering over the infamous 000 failure in September. The telco reportedly held 11 crisis meetings over many hours before eventually telling the regulator and government that the outage had resulted in deaths.

The poor crisis response of that business has become its brand. That’s a dreadful outcome for everyone involved.

Remember, in the toughest of times, communicate clearly and early with those directly involved.