What does trust mean for your organisation?
At the Corporate Affairs Summit towards the end of last year, I heard Dr Steve Van Riel (Head of insight and innovation at Teneo) talk about what trust means to an organisation. He talked about the…
Posts by Kate Hartley
Why information alone doesn’t change minds in a crisis
For many years, communicators (including me) have told companies to focus on communicating only high-quality information during a crisis. A crisis is no time for niceties, or corporate messages. No-one…
‘Fatal bias’ and the destructive power of the near miss
In a simulation exercise recently, one of the team said: “We’ve been through something like this before. We know how to handle it. It’s business as usual.” You could feel…
Team psychological safety and avoiding a culture of fear
Team psychological safety in the workplace plays an essential role in creating a healthy culture. The term was first coined by psychologist Carl Rogers in the 1950s, and the…
Whistleblowing – a cautionary tale for organisations
A couple of weeks ago, Tamara and I had the privilege of speaking to Jonathan Taylor, a whistleblower whose world was turned upside down when he exposed his employer for…
Why every crisis team needs a challenger, holding the team to account
When we run simulation exercises, almost every team says the same thing: “We were too slow to act. Time ran away from us!” They’re right. Time does run away from…
United Airlines passenger removal scandal – what can leaders learn?
When Dr David Dao was dragged off a United Airlines flight in 2017, there was international outrage. For anyone who doesn’t know the story, he had been selected to give…
2023: the year in crisis
It’s been a crisis-packed year for brands. From failure in company culture or leadership, to sophisticated cyber attacks, here is our pick of the year’s crises, and what we can…
Preparing leaders for a crisis takes more than media training
I’ve worked with a lot of leadership teams to help them prepare for a crisis, often running simulation exercises alongside their communications teams or PR agencies. When I first talk…
Aligning your values to your behaviour can avoid a reputation crisis
A couple of years ago, I wrote a book on crisis communication, and I interviewed the amazing business psychologist, Gill Green, about what an organisation might do to trigger (inadvertently)…
Saying sorry in a crisis
In nearly every crisis simulation exercise we run, the issue of saying sorry raises its head. Should you say sorry in a crisis? Does it constitute an admission of liability?…
My crisis is over. Now what?
In a crisis, there’s a real temptation to focus on the here and now. Our instinct is to go into survival mode. It’s hard enough to think about getting through the next 24 hours, let alone to think about what to do once the crisis is over.
Why do people flout the lockdown guidelines? Lessons from 1940
Even before the government amended the social distancing rules, I’ve noticed people start to flout the ‘stay at home’ guidelines more and more as lockdown continues. When I first had…
When is a crisis not a crisis?
I was chatting to Ben Smith for the PR Moment podcast recently about crisis communications, and one of the things that came up in conversation was: what is a crisis?…
Why crisis planning is vital
Crisis planning comes naturally to some people. These people appear to have been born ready to prepare for the worst in any given situation. They’re the ones who’ll have the…