Blog – Page 3 of 5 – PM Risk-Crisis-Change

October 5th • Release date of our new book on crisis handling

Update March 2018: there is a lot more to find on our blog about this book, check out this post about our book launch event in Brussels (in Dutch, with aftermovie!) and this interesting book review by Manu Steens from the Flemish Government.

2 authors • 4 chapters • 20 euros • 30 days • 100 pages

Hugo and myself started writing this book on July 21st, as hinted in our holiday reading recommendations blog post. Full of inspiration with new insights about neuroscience and agile performance, we wrote about integrating new thinking and additional tools into our existing crisis methodologies and principles. Our book exists due to the many tireless efforts of Lieve Dhaene, Communications Director of Belgiums largest health care federation: Zorgnet-Icuro. We had long discussions on various topics related to crisis preparedness: Where do organisations actually stand today? How to cope with the difference in capacity between a big hospital and a small care center? How to obtain specific crisis competences? How to deal with the impact of the federal financial cut downs in health care, hindering growth of organizational resilience?

Order the book here.

Holiday reading recommendations from us at PM

Aaah, holidays are upon us! Some of the lucky few are already enjoying some time off recharging those exhausted batteries. Others, like us, look forward to those precious days of resting, reflecting and reading. If you’re still debating what to read poolside or in the plane, have a look at what our team will be devouring during PM’s traditional summer vacation.

Oh, next to reading, we’re writing as well! Hugo and myself are putting together a book on integrated crisis management. Register your e-mail address here so I can keep you in the loop.

But for now, back to the reading.

Free will and neuroscience
Hugo plans on exploring our human brains and minds by reading a publication of the Dutch neuroscientist Victor Lamme: ‘De vrije wil bestaat niet – over wie echt baas is in ons brein’. The publication is not yet translated to English but the title could read something like this: ‘There is no free will – who’s really in charge of our brain’. Hugo was triggered by an article on Victor Lamme in ‘De Morgen’. The book gives answers to current questions such as why are right wing parties popular again? and how it is possible Donald Trump won the USA 2016 elections? These topics from a neuroscientific point of view intrigue Hugo endlessly.

Trello as a supporting tool for crisis management: article in magazine for emergency managers

You might have heard about Trello as a useful tool to manage projects and teams, but did you know it has equally proved useful for a different purpose in Belgium’s emergency management circles?

Crisis Communications Masterclass : strategy & perception analysis (October 2017)

On October 24 and October 25, 2017, PM organizes a two-day Crisis Communications Masterclass (in Dutch!) in hotel Park Inn by Radisson Brussels (near Brussels South railway station). During this highly practical training, we elaborate on two critical components of effective crisis communications: strategy and perception analysis.

[English version — klik hier voor Nederlandstalige tekst]

Participants will learn scientifically supported methodologies, practical applications and the newest insights. However, we emphasize practically applying the methodologies during simulated crisis situations. Therefore the number of participants for the trainings is limited, as there’s place for 12 participants per day at most. We aim for participants with the following motivation:

Interested in integrated crisis management with a focus on crisis communications;
Willing to actively participate in simulated crisis situations;
Willing to read a couple of papers and articles before the training;
Interested in different sectors and types of organizations.

With this initiative, PM meets a popular demand for trainings on two critical topics that often cause ineffective crisis communications: lack of strategy in thinking and acting on the one hand, and building and interpreting a perception analysis on the other hand. To practise the matters learned during the training, we provide the opportunity to partake in an optional remote exercise. Participants will be asked to perform a series of crisis communications tasks, followed by a hot debrief and evaluation by de teachers via video conference call. Participants are free to choose for which day(s) they would like to enroll.

Communiceren na een datalek [Dutch]

Enige tijd geleden leerden we de basis van GDPR tijdens een evenement dat onder andere door Dull Consulting uit Kortrijk werd georganiseerd. Kort erna merkten zij – terecht – op dat iedereen momenteel volop bezig is met het voorbereiden op de komst van GDPR. Vrijwel niemand staat stil bij wat bedrijven moeten en kunnen doen wanneer ze, ondanks al hun voorbereidend werk, toch met een datalek worden geconfronteerd.

Bedrijven of organisaties die persoonsdata verwerken (d.w.z. verzamelen, bijhouden, verkopen, laten verwerken door derden, etc.) moeten kunnen aantonen dat zij alle nodige maatregelen hebben genomen om deze data te beschermen. Logisch. Maar wat nu wanneer het fout loopt en er sprake is van een datalek? Aan wie moet wat worden gemeld? Moet dit binnen een bepaalde periode gebeuren? Mag iedereen dit melden? Hoe communiceer je naar de betrokkenen?

Symposium: Crisis in kleine en grote zorgorganisaties [Dutch]

Voor elke zorgvoorziening dreigt vroeg of laat een grote of kleine crisis: een brand, een zware medische fout, een ontevreden familielid dat naar de pers stapt, ontoelaatbaar gedrag op sociale media van personeelsleden, een persoon met dementie of met GGZ-problemen die ontsnapt… Het is niet de vraag of het gebeurt, maar veeleer wanneer het gebeurt.

Je kan maar beter voorbereid zijn en de knepen van het vak kennen om de juiste dingen te doen (en de dingen juist te doen) wanneer je midden in een crisis staat. Wanneer je – gewapend met de nodige theoretische kennis, nood- en communicatieplannen én een aantal oefeningen achter de kiezen – adequaat handelt en communiceert tijdens een crisis, positioneer je je voorziening als een slagkrachtige en geloofwaardige organisatie.

Op dit symposium, georganiseerd door Zorgnet-Icuro en PM Risk-Crisis-Change, bekijken we crisismanagement en –communicatie in zorgvoorzieningen vanuit een brede scope. Concreet komen de drie grote elementen aan bod die bij elk proces van crisisbeheersing komen kijken: noodplanning, strategische coördinatie/beleid en crisiscommunicatie. Bij een goede crisisbeheersing spelen de verantwoordelijken en de processen van de drie domeinen perfect op elkaar in.

Do these 3 crisis communications questions sound familiar?

In april 2017, we (Tim and Robbert) gave a guest lecture at the University of Leuven. We explained how we apply the Crisis Communication Work Process (CCWP) as a framework for crisis advisors. Focussing on social media as a valid point of reference for the students, we took a closer look at the role of social media in crisis management. Discussing various cases and sharing expertise, we advocated for leveraging social media for analysis, editorial and other roles in crisis teams.

During such talks we strongly encourage interaction and we were happy to have our notepads filled with relevant crisis communications questions when heading home. We want to share some of those questions, the ones that really stuck with us. And we wonder: do these discussions sound familiar to you as a crisis professional as well?

Q: Are crisis advisors afraid that they might have given bad advice?

We actually love this question! The underlying question here is how the advisor built that advice in the first place. You see, communication is anything but a hard science. We’re not like any other disciplines managing a crisis or emergency. Firemen, medical services and police for example, all of these make decisions and act based on data: they see smoke, do measurements, examine the wounded, collect field information and use extended databases and validated facts as a reference. This approach can never align with how a communication department works, no? Well, it turns out that it does align perfectly!

We at PM always advocate advice that is not merely based on what our good old intuition tells us. We are aware that our intuition is flawed and heavily biased, especially in unforeseen circumstances. For communication, a thorough external perception and sentiment analysis should form the one and only basis that any advice is built on. Approaching crisis communication from a data driven perspective has been proven to result in more effective crisis communication efforts.

Read More

3 takeaways following the United Airlines crisis

If you’ve followed the news recently, you’ve probably spotted the United Airlines logo a few times. First they apparently banned a girl wearing leggings from boarding. More recently, they were the center of attention (in a negative way, that is) after violently and physically removing a passenger from a plane after overbooking the flight.

It’s safe to say that 2017 hasn’t been so great for United from a PR perspective. But let’s be honest, nobody knows exactly what happened and why. We don’t want to bash United airlines nor minimize all that happened recently. However, from our point of view, every major crisis teaches us some valuable lessons to keep in mind for the future.

Here are 3 of our biggest takeaways after the dust settled.

1. When you’re heavily under attack in international news, no issue comes alone

After the events of the last few weeks, other (smaller) issues people seemingly had with United started to emerge. It all escalated rather quickly and I don’t believe United’s executives were prepared for such a massive backlash.

#BrusselsAttacks: Crisis communication, social media and sentiment analysis (Dutch)

How to organise crisis communication on the federal level? How to cope with the challenge of keeping citizens informed in uncertain and complex circumstances?

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October 5th • Release date of our new book on crisis handling

Holiday reading recommendations from us at PM

Trello as a supporting tool for crisis management: article in magazine for emergency managers

Crisis Communications Masterclass : strategy & perception analysis (October 2017)

Communiceren na een datalek [Dutch]

Symposium: Crisis in kleine en grote zorgorganisaties [Dutch]

Do these 3 crisis communications questions sound familiar?

3 takeaways following the United Airlines crisis

1. When you’re heavily under attack in international news, no issue comes alone

#BrusselsAttacks: Crisis communication, social media and sentiment analysis (Dutch)

Our picks for you

Our key takeaways after a large-scale banking crisis (Dutch article)

Embracing informal stakeholder conversations for evidence-based crisis response: Two work processes based on crisis intelligence

What it’s like to work at PM – My first two weeks as intern junior consultant

Memorable quotes from a 60 person team playing our Zombie Crisis Game