Rallying the troops: Crisis communication and reputation management in financial services

Abstract

Motivated, engaged and trusted employees can help a company get over most crises, but achieving an engaged workforce is not always straightforward. Employees are a company's best ambassadors, and having them all pulling in the same direction is the first essential of reputation management. But whether it is a lack of contingency planning, crossed wires between internal communications, PR and HR, or just plain panic, the truth is that employees are too often overlooked at the very moments they are most needed. Often, there is a total disconnect between those at the top and those at the bottom of an organisation, putting a huge amount of responsibility on middle management. Critically, how do we get the middle layer to work effectively and be the glue that holds an organisation together, rather than the vacuum that can cause it to collapse?