Maintaining Brand Equity - What it means to take care of your people

This article is part two of Maintaining Brand Equity during a Crisis.

What does taking care of your people during a crisis mean? It means different things to different people, for different industries, and for the type of crisis involved. How businesses, business leaders, or business owners handle this makes the difference in how it ultimately affects their existing brand.

There are no cookie-cutter or one-size-fits-all ways to take care of your people during a crisis but you can take steps that will greatly reduce any negative impact on your brand.

• Start by showing leadership in identifying the crisis and its underlying causes. Do not leave anything to chance. Crises do not take care of themselves, there is always a negative impact somewhere.

• Obtain full and factual knowledge of the crisis and the challenges it poses.

• Communicate clearly to all involved about the state of the crisis. Make this information available and accessible to all so that there are no ambiguities and less misinformation is circulated by those who are not informed.

• Collaborate with your crisis management experts to draw up proactive measures to mitigate the crisis, reduce your losses, and ensure that you can stay in business.

• Listen to your front liners and those who are directly affected by the crisis. Show genuine respect, interest, and empathy for their plight caused by the crisis.

• Provide needed support. This can be in the form of incentives, protection, protective gear, assistance, alternative business arrangements, deferred arrangements, or whatever the situation calls for in your case.

• Gather data throughout the process for analysis. This will assist in evaluating measures that are being implemented in the present and also assist in future planning.

• Communicate regularly with updates so that all involved have a clear direction of what is expected of them and what they can expect from their business leaders.

• Be present and offer reassurance but do not sugarcoat the situation.

Plan for the future with all the lessons you learned from the crisis. Continue to build on your brand promise and brand values. Contact us for your individual brand strategic tips or Axios Risk Solutions for your Risk Management and Business Continuity Planning Solutions.