Dear Reader,
Effective issues management doesn’t stop once the immediate crisis has passed. To truly learn from the experience, you must monitor the issue’s resolution and evaluate how your response impacted the organisation.
This stage is all about reflecting on how the issue was handled and identifying areas for improvement, both in your immediate response and in your overall issues management strategy.
While it’s natural to want to move on after resolving an issue, taking the time to conduct a thorough evaluation ensures that your organisation is better prepared for the next challenge. This process not only helps refine your approach but also allows you to learn from every situation, continuously building your capability to manage emerging issues effectively.
Steps to Evaluate Post-Issue
Conduct a Debriefing Session
Once the issue has been resolved, bring together the key individuals who were involved in managing the situation. This can include team members from communications, PR, legal, customer service, and leadership. During the debriefing, discuss what worked, what didn’t, and any unexpected challenges that arose.
Example: If your team handled a crisis involving a product recall, ask what aspects of the communication strategy were effective, and where delays or misunderstandings occurred. Was the internal communication clear? Were external stakeholders properly informed? Did the messaging align with your company’s values and objectives?
Analyse the Impact of Your Response
Evaluate the effectiveness of your response by looking at both qualitative and quantitative data. This could include media coverage, social media sentiment, customer feedback, sales data, and internal metrics such as employee morale. Assess how your actions influenced these outcomes and whether the issue’s impact was mitigated.
Example: After addressing a social media backlash over a controversial marketing campaign, analyse the reach of the company’s response—did your messaging reduce negative sentiment? How quickly did public opinion shift? Was there a measurable reduction in customer complaints or enquiries related to the issue?
Assess the Timeliness of Your Response
Timing is critical in issues management. Review how quickly your organisation responded to the emerging issue and how long it took to implement an effective solution. Delays in addressing an issue can amplify its impact, so assessing the timeliness of your actions can help improve future response times.
Example: If a competitor’s harmful report gained traction before you could issue a response, consider whether there were any delays in your internal decision-making process. Could the response have been quicker? Were there any bottlenecks?
Review Stakeholder Communication
Effective communication with stakeholders is key throughout the life cycle of an issue. Reflect on how well you kept your internal and external stakeholders informed throughout the process. Were your communications transparent and aligned with the messaging shared with the public?
Example: For a potential data breach, were affected customers immediately informed about the breach and what steps were being taken? Did the response team maintain consistent and clear communication with regulatory bodies? Was the company’s leadership briefed regularly on developments?
Evaluate Team Performance and Coordination
Consider how well your team worked together during the issue’s resolution. Was there clear communication within the team? Did everyone know their roles, and was there good coordination between departments? Evaluate how you can improve team collaboration for future issues.
Example: If your legal team needed to work closely with communications on messaging, did both teams have a seamless exchange of information? Were there any miscommunications or bottlenecks?
Identify Gaps in Your Current Issues Management Plan
Post-issue evaluation is the perfect time to identify weaknesses in your issues management plan. Perhaps you didn’t have the right resources, or there was a gap in your communication strategy. Maybe there were unforeseen challenges that exposed vulnerabilities in your preparedness.
Example: If you didn’t have a pre-prepared crisis communication template, consider developing one for future use. If certain team members lacked specific skills or knowledge, you might want to introduce training sessions or hire new staff.
Implement Actionable Improvements
Based on your findings, make adjustments to your issues management processes, plans, and strategies. This could include revising communication protocols, updating your response procedures, or investing in new tools and resources. Continuously improving these areas will help ensure that you’re even better prepared the next time an issue arises.
Example: If you identified that your social media response was slow or mismanaged, consider investing in a social media monitoring tool or training your team on best practices for real-time engagement.
Document Your Learnings for Future Reference
After each evaluation, document the insights you’ve gathered. This documentation should be part of your organisational knowledge base and serve as a reference point for future issues. By systematically recording lessons learned, your team will continuously improve its ability to manage emerging issues.
Example: Create a post-issue evaluation report that includes key findings, what went well, what could be improved, and any updated processes or policies. This will ensure that knowledge is retained and shared with the team to help refine the issues management strategy over time.
By continuously learning from each experience, you’ll be better equipped to handle future issues with confidence and minimise their impact on your organisation.
Thank you for following along in this series.
We’re here to help you develop these skills and grow your career. Stay tuned for more resources and insights from the Guild of Communicators Academy.
Reach out to us at the Guild of Communicators Academy (academy@gocommunicators.com) if you have any questions!
For more reading from this email series:
Email 1 – Understand the Basics: What is Issues Management?
Email 2 – How to Spot an Issue Before It Becomes a Crisis
Email 3 – Assessing Impact: How to Prioritise Issues in Real-Time
Email 4 – Crafting a Response: How to Handle an Issue with Precision
Email 5 – Evaluate and Evolve (Your Issues Management Process) for Future Success