Simulation debriefing
A certain company has been hit by ransomware! behold, some unscrupulous elements have hacked into this company’s database and gotten hold of customers data, threatening the company and its management to remit certain amount of money (ransom) or sensitive personal data of their customers would be compromised! Amid the pressure, the unfortunate incident has been leaked this to the public domain, as the Public Relations department of an organisation, how do you respond to this looming crisis?
Highlights of the event
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 was a bright day and I was glad to have participated in a nerve breaking PRCA coordinated Crisis Simulation tour in Leeds. It was a first time PR crisis simulation tour that I wished never ended. Organised by Public Relations and Communication Association (PRCA), West Yorkshire in partnership with Polpeo, this event brought together like minds in the PR industry, Journalists, students and PR Consulting Agencies such as Grayling, Social Element Agency, amongst others, giving PR students like myself who attended, a good first hand crisis simulation response experience and a chance to build our networking repertoires.
Prior to the start of the simulation exercise, a brief PowerPoint slide presentation was facilitated to brief all attendees of the task at hand and the nature of the simulation exercise.
Details of the simulation exercise
To start this simulation exercise, the attendees were divided in fives and roles were apportioned, my role was Communications and Monitoring the organisation’s social media accounts. An amazing but sophisticated PR crisis simulation software Polpeo was used. Polpeo integrates every unit of an organisation, thus, there was synergy, seamless channel of communication from PR to HR, Legal, internal staff information feed, and social media accounts monitoring, up to the CEO, with real time data and information on the CEO’s table for decision making in the face of a crisis. My team drafted several press releases, drafting emails for CEO, communicating with legal department to ensure drafts are litigation free, and monitoring the social media platforms were all real time and simultaneous.
Key learnings
Since the simulation tour, several ideas comes to mind, they stick in my psyche that me or anyone could leverage on;
- Teamwork in an organization is very important in a crisis. From PR to HR unit, to staff, to legal unit vetting press releases for liabilities or litigation, to monitoring of all organisation’s social media platforms and the website, all units must work to respond effectively to crisis.
- Organisations must be resilient and transparent, focusing on strategic intent, sieving through public hysterics to focus on the real cause of a crisis and finding solutions.
- Social listening in macro and micro-environment is important as this could help organizations anticipate crisis, get and give feedback during crisis.
- Having a crisis response plan in place, that outlines organisation’s policies and Standard Operating Procedure, helps organisations facing crisis to communicate clear and consistent messages to the right audience, at the right time, using right channels to address crisis, thus bridging confusion and misinformation.
Can universities partner with polpeo and make crisis simulation exercise part of PR classroom curriculum?
As the simulation ended, we all gathered to share experience, feedback and the key learnings, observation and comments from each group. On a personal note, the simulation exercise made me understand the power of practice and experience. And I throw this rhetoric question. How important is simulation exercises, how is crisis simulation important for PR Practitioners? Is crisis simulation exercise in classrooms with certain software such as Polpeo or its equivalence important for PR students? is simulation an effective complement of lectures and classroom lessons? is simulation impactful and helpful to organisations? These and other questions beg for answers. PRCA Crisis simulation tour proved to answer all these in positive affirmation that simulation- a product of practice, trial and learning is good way to learn to anticipate a crisis, prevent, react, or respond to a crisis.
Break out session and networking
During the networking session after the simulation exercise, I was discussing with one of the organisers and cofounders of the wonderful polpeo simulation software, our interaction tilted on how this software could be useful for PR students in classrooms? she was thrilled.
Polpeo is a software built for all kinds of learning scenario including class rooms and in-house organisations or PR agencies. Polpeo simulation exercise makes you understand where you failed, where succeeded and where you need to respond better should such event happen, it helps you visualize what a real live crisis could look like, you cannot but learn in all the processes” she said
Organiser and Co-founder, Polpeo simulation software