During a crisis a passive attitude, in the world of today, will not be tolerated. A proactive attitude and the establishing of correct priorities are required. Direct and honest communication is required. Each mistake will be punished at once. The domestic workers may well be a ‘best friend’ at present, but may just as easily become hostile towards the organisation whenever mistakes are made. And what if the organisation is entirely at the mercy of the press that has ‘tasted blood’? Successful crisis management is highly dependable on excellent communication. Communication is a Crisis team’s key task.

Internal communication
Employees form an organisation’s identity, but they are the heart and soal as well. Is it important to establish clear and transparent communication in the business as usual (and just how many times does it go wrong then and there), how much more on edge must communication be during a crisis. To timely provide employees with information on developments, the state of affairs and actions planned, is essential They depend on the crisis management for their information. If, for this, they must rely on the media or other sources, they will surely be lost literally and figuratively. If they feel ‘lost’, it will turn itself against the organisation, in spite of their records of service for years and years.Do not overlook the ‘unseen’ employees: sick personnel at home, hired personnel or personnel sent on secondment. They have the full right to be informed; it is the organisation’s obligation to bring the information to them, not the other way around. In a situation where mistakes may lead to fatal results, the crisis team must be extremely careful, in spite of the pressure under which it has to perform.

External communication
To a limited extent, the same as for personnel counts for the remaining stakeholders and shareholders. For them the obligation to inform also counts, be it on other aspects. They will demand to be informed in time and truthfully. Communicating externally, the crisis team will be having to do with a multitude of target groups, each of these requiring a different approach. Therefore, it should, preferably beforehand, be determind which these parties are and how these can be reached during a crisis situation. If this is to be considered during a crisis, it is often too late and precious time will be lost.

Media management
The press will not keep you waiting and makes a living of news value. Therefore, speak to the press at once. The ideal spokesperson is polite, patient, reliable and well-informed.The spokesperson has an important task in reducing calamity consequences. After all, these might largely consist of reputation damage. This can be reduced by effectively performing before the press. The risk of harming is great though. Whenever performance is poor, incorrect information is given or the spokesperson appears to be unreliable, the organisation will degenerate into a prey to the press. The pressure will be high, the most important condition for the spokesperson is to be well prepaired!