"PR after the fact is not good enough," said Binneman, MD of Repucomm. He said communications professionals should have as their main goal, the aim to protect the reputation and to demonstrate integrity by the organisation. There were often too many plans, and too little integration - "one size does not fill all!".
"The focus of communication is to impact and influence reputation and performance. Communicators must think and practice strategically to be relevant in today's organisations - the only reason organisational communication exists, is to achieve measurable results that help the organisation achieve its mission."
He quoted Lester R Potter in "The Communication Plan", an IABC course manual, as saying: "Communications can learn a great deal from 'classical strategic planning'". The process and its techniques, language, and methods of measuring success, all combine to help the organisational communicator learn to think strategically and manage communication in a strategic manner, said Binneman.
"Ristino/Peters Inc described Integrated Strategic Communication as the process of co-ordinating all organisational communications, both internally and externally, to develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with key stakeholders by ensuring the right message is targeted to the right audience at the right time and at the right place," reported Binneman.
"Crisis Management deals with the reality of the crisis and Crisis Communications deals with the perception of the reality - the distinction is importance as this informs on which consultant or approach to use."
A comprehensive Reputation Management Framework consisted of :
· Risk identification and strategy.
· Governance structure.
· Management controls.
· Response (Crisis Management Structures).
· Disclosure (Communication with all stakeholders).
· Priority business and issue hotspots (based on risk profiling conclusions).
"The challenge for companies, stakeholders and assurance providers is to come up with a framework which can provide assurance on issues, systems and processes, impacts and outcomes, targets and objectives."
An international public relations task force formed in 1980, pointed out that: "The greatest value of the public relations professional is in anticipating and shaping what is happening, not in reporting or coping with what has already been determined. By the time an organisation is confronted with the attitudes of its public (like negativity of the staff), it is usually too late for public relations thinking to have an effect on them."
Binneman said communication's challenge was to: prove and impact on the value of intangibles; be a corporate jester - defend the organisations' credibility, integrity and reputation; and become a multiskilled Reputation Manager.
He proposed the following four blocks to build a framework for your policy:
1. Identification - Vulnerability Analysis.
2. Prevention - starts with published policies, guidelines and procedures.
3. Implement an early-warning system (Communication Loops).
4. Implement a Crisis Management and Communication Action Plan.
