Effective Corporate Leadership in the Covid-19 Crisis
The Covid-19 pandemic is escalating fast with the World Health Organisation having declared a global emergency. We are now witnessing several austerity measures including quarantines and curfews to attempt to limit the spread of the virus. For this reason, businesses must prepare themselves for the worst and to make sure that there is a crisis communications plan in place to face the pandemic.
There is no doubt that every business and organisation will be affected by Covid-19 and needs to know how to communicate proactively with transparency and clarity. The globalization of our economy has created an interconnected ecosystem that relies on international trade and supply chains. For this reason, W7Worldwide Crisis Communications Division developed a report about how to handle crisis communications during these hard times.
Global Business Challenge
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented companies with several challenges that are already taking its toll on the reputation of several business operating in various sectors. Disruption in global supply chains, curtailment of travel, cancelled events, working from home policies, employees infected with the virus, and in the worst case, business shut-down are now all part of reality.
Abdulrahman Inayat, Director & Co-founder at W7Worldwide “We are now experiencing challenging times that we have never witnessed before recently or ever. The spread of the Coronavirus is no longer just a possibility, rather, an ugly reality that is threatening the life of several business sectors. Shutdowns and downsizing are inevitable. There is a glaring need to develop solid corporate communications in place to protect the corporate reputation and wither the crisis before it is too late which is why we developed a 7-step guide to navigating through communications crises during the COVID-19 outbreak.”
One of the most important steps for businesses to follow is that corporate communications needs to always support the pandemic management efforts of the respective government and the World Health Organisation (WHO), referring to their guidance, healthcare advice and regulations.
Effective Corporate Communications
Successful crisis management is the ability to effectively manage the quick succession of events. Businesses that are equipped with a corporate crisis communications plan can respond proactively and lead by example of best practice in the way they manage the Covid-19 crisis. Governments and public sector organisations need to reinforce public trust by being clear with their communications on how they are managing the complications of the Covid-19 issue.
This is the moment when great communicators and leaders will come to the fore. With good corporate leadership and effective crisis communications, brands can reinforce their purpose, corporate responsibility and support of the community at large.
Companies such as Avaya and Emirates Airlines have taken several measures to combat the virus with the former offering online solutions to help employees to work from home and the latter taking every measure to ensure the safety of travellers and halting flights.
Every business must take a stand to protect itself, its reputation and its employees. Additionally, it must collaborate with the official agencies and other businesses to combat the disease as we work towards containing and combating the disease.
