Tearing Down the Silos Can Only be Beneficial

As mentioned in previous blogs, I work for an organization in which risk management is taken very seriously by most levels of management. In fact, our Risk Management Team meets with our President and CEO, and each VP on a monthly basis to discuss risks associated with their department’s activities, mitigation / control activities utilized to manage those risks, and so on. A deep-dive, ‘high-level risk’, presentation is delivered to our board of directors on a quarterly basis; it is the VP whom owns the risk who delivers this presentation (discussing finer details of the risk, ways in which the risk is being managed, plans for addressing the risk should if come to fruition, and so on).

In my nearly two years since joining the organization, I have seen great strides made by the Risk Management Team. Risk management was a foreign concept to many within the organization, but is now a term that each and every executive, senior manager, and middle manager has come to understand and appreciate.

So why am I praising my organizations Risk Management Team? Simple – the work this team performs on a daily basis not only instills the preparedness mindset across the organization, but helps reinforce the idea that significant mitigation and management of risks can go a long way to reducing the likelihood and / or impact of any potential crisis. It is my belief that organizations cannot simply rely on business continuity planning, nor should they rely solely on risk management professionals, to protect them from potential catastrophes; these two groups of individuals must work together in a holistic fashion to ensure their organization is as secure as possible to avoid, and if necessary, manage any of a serious of crises heading their way.

I would love to hear how you do / don’t interact with other like-minded professionals in your workplace.

Thanks,

The Continuity Blogger

Carnival and Costa: A Tragic Situation Becomes a Disgraceful Situation

It is simply amazing that, in 2012, Carnival Cruises has underestimated the power of traditional media, social media, and the public at large. The company has done everything in its power to make the tragic sinking of one of its fleet (and associated loss of life, an impending environmental crisis, and so on) a public relations crisis. Over the past two years, we have watched Toyota, Research in Motion (RIM) and British Petroleum (BP) walk this path before, and in all cases, the outcome was not favourable for the corporations. Carnival Cruises, and its subsidiary Costa, appear to be headed down the same path. Senior executives refuse to accept responsibility for the situation, and instead, blame the actions of a single employee (who should be reprimanded but not made a scapegoat). In fact, there was a series of events leading up to the initial collision which cannot be pinned solely on one employee.

The negativity surrounding the situation has been exasperated with an initial refusal from senior management to visit the site and console victims and their families, and has only now been made worse, following word that the company has offered a 30% discount to those victims willing to travel with Carnival and Costa on a future cruise. Word of this insulting offer has set off a firestorm of criticism in traditional media (http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/23/2604320_p2/carnival-faces-a-hostile-pr-tide.html) and social media alike.

One would like to think that Carnival and Costa witnessed the firestorm unleashed on Toyota, RIM, and BP over the past several months and would appreciate the kind of damage such negative publicity can have on the long term earnings / survival of a company. Unfortunately for Carnival, the repercussions of the recent negative publicity will last for months, if not years, and will ultimately take a bite out of the organizations bottom line.

It is 2012, and any multi-national organization should have the experienced and specialized communications / public relations staff on call to deal with these sorts of situations. Any organization that does not have access to such resources (whether they be employee or consultants), whom have not performed the proper crisis communications / sensitivity planning, and whom do not respect the power of the media and the public, are more than deserving of the fury unleashed upon them.

It is unfortunate that we must watch multinational organizations continue to make the same mistakes time and time again…

In your capacity, would you have dealt with this situation differently? How have you dealt with public relations crises in the past?

I look forward to your comments,

The Continuity Blogger