How in the world can values help in times of crises?

The crisis hits you right between the eyes. You’re a major oil company and one of your rigs just exploded. A huge gash in a deep underwater pipeline is releasing oil into the environment. You know this story, so I don’t really need to mention the name of the company.

How do you respond? You’re probably thinking: the exact opposite of how they responded. You’re mostly right, but more importantly, you respond with your values as the foundation.

Let me give you an example: If honesty is one of your values, and hopefully it is even if it’s not on your official values list, you tell the media exactly how much oil is gushing out of the pipeline, rather than giving them a low number in hopes that they won’t discover the real number.

You might be wondering how that helps in a crisis because it seems just as damaging. Well, your values foundation helps in a lot of ways and it begins well before the crisis hits. Here are a few ways in which your values will help you in times of crises.

1. They ground you. You’re a CEO, a CMO or some other executive, but you’re human. Your job is at stake and the crisis threatens your reputation and livelihood. If you are honest with yourself, you know that the first thing you’re thinking about is how do you make this just go away, how do you bury this and keep it out of the press. This type of thinking can lead to compromises and a complete disregard for one’s values, because survival instincts have kicked in. But if you have defined personal values and defined corporate values, that initial thought fades quickly, and you begin to face the problem from the basis of your values. By doing so, you don’t make matters worse by lying to the media.
   
2. They guide you. Crises are complicated. Especially those as large as the oil spill example. Information races toward you fast – some of it true, some of it false and some of it incomplete. You have to make decisions just as quickly, but you have to be careful not to make a decision too quickly, as it could lead to sending misinformation to the media or government authorities. The stronger your values, the more decisive and accurate you will be. Let’s say one of your values is authenticity and transparency. With this value in mind, as soon as you get information, you’re going to share it quickly and authentically by tempering its accuracy. You might say something to the effect of: “Our engineers have assessed the situation and we believe there are 10 gallons of oil gushing out of the pipeline per second. We had to put these numbers together quickly so it’s possible that we have miscalculated. There could be more or there could be less. Our engineers will continue to assess the situation, and we’ll share more as soon as we we know more. The government authorities are in the process of putting together their own assessment and will share with you soon. At that point, with their information, we will reassess our estimates and hopefully come to the most accurate conclusion possible.”
   
3. They temper the flack. This one is tricky because it has to start before the crisis hits. You have to have a reputation for living up to the values you have posted on your website. It’s not enough just to have your values posted. And you have to communicate your values through your actions and your words to the media, the public, the investment community, your employees and everyone who will listen. That creates 360-degree  accountability. By communicating your values, you’re making a commitment and a promise to everyone that you will live by them, and if you fail, you will take drastic action to fix it because your reputation is at stake. If you’ve done this in advance of the crisis, the media, public, investment community and employees will know how you’re going to respond. They’ll know that you will do the right thing. Otherwise, it’s a crap shoot on what they will print, say and do that will harm your organization in more ways that you can even imagine.

Crises are hard to navigate even if you have your values straight so it’s generally a good idea to hire an expert or a firm. Jakel Communications, a Denver PR agency, can help in most situations. If we can’t, we’ll direct you to a larger firm that can.