Every organization is
susceptible to going through crisis and often times during such a phase,
everyone thinks Public Relations people have to control the situation to uphold
the organization’s integrity. We think of external stakeholder communications,
press conferences, media monitoring etc. but ponder on this, do most people
ever consider thorough communication within the organization?
Many are times when a
conclusion will be made that the staff briefing and emails sent to employees on
the intranet email listing is enough. The important idea that employees are the
main internal stakeholders doing the daily manual work, which raises the
organization to success, seems to elude the Communications Departments. Exhaustive
communication and updates should be done at all times to ensure that the staff
is at par (in terms of crisis main details) with the rest of the other
stakeholders.
This is because employees
are ambassadors of the organization everywhere they go. They represent the
organization regardless of their office rank, if they are known to be a part of
an organization; they are among the first people to be interviewed by random
individuals of the public. If such happens and the employee is not well
equipped with accurate information, then there is a cause for concern. This is
because employee communications about the organization to outsiders can
significantly affect the organization’s reputation and effectiveness hence
precise information has to be communicated to the staff to arm them with the
shield of truth for the benefit of the organization.
However, not all
information has to be disclosed to employees as some may act as internal
activists during crisis. This can only create untimely issues for the
organization. Therefore, concise and precise briefings have to be conducted to
keep the staff updated. This will make them feel like a part of the
organization, that they have been thought off and are being considered as
victims as well. The employees will return the ethical gesture by being true to
their organization, if not, their conscience will convict them.
Finally,
leadership-employee relations will be strengthened. When employees trust their leadership,
there is an aura of tranquility during trying times of crisis. Work becomes
almost as normal knowing that the leaders are steering the organization in the
right direction. Good internal communications does play an important role in
crisis management within the ambassadors of the organization, who have the
ability to uphold the organization’s reputation and improve effectiveness
amidst catastrophic situations. Consequently, internal communications is
undeniably significant to public relations because if it is not fully
monitored, the work that Public Relations people do during crisis will not bear
fruit if employees decide to represent the organization in a destructive
manner.
