Optus a lesson in not communicating
Optus’ handling of the outage crisis that affected millions of people Australia-wide is likely to become a textbook example of crisis communications – for all the wrong reasons.
As strange as it seems, companies can sometimes be slow to recognise that they are in a crisis, with that blindness being the cause of a lack of communication.
That wasn’t the case for Optus. The nationwide outage that left customers in the technological dark, crippled transport systems, forced hospitals to enact their own crisis planning, prevented 000 emergency calls, and disrupted businesses big and small started around 4am (Eastern).
It came just 12 months after the company was hit by a cyber attack that compromised the personal details of thousands of millions of existing and former customers.
But it was not until 6.45am that the first communication came from the company to customers; the chief executive conducted an interview on radio around 10.30am and didn’t hold press briefings until later in the afternoon.
While Optus has defended its communication approach, it left the Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland to respond to media questions and for others to speculate on the reason for the outage.
Meanwhile, customer anger grew.
Communications specialist and Platform Communications Director Kirsty Danby said Optus failed the first rule of crisis communication: communicate early.
“You may not have all the answers but all your stakeholders want to hear from the senior leader or leaders, know that they recognise there is a problem
and that you’re working to resolve the issues,” Kirsty said.
“By communicating early, you at least have some chance to control the messaging – or at least have your voice heard – rather than leaving it to others
to speculate and potentially make the situation even worse.”
It took Optus four-and-half hours to contact Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland – immediately after an internal crisis meeting had concluded.
Kirsty says engaging key stakeholders regularly is vital.
“Stakeholders need to be contacted regularly and that job should be clearly outlined in the crisis communications plan,” Kirsty said. “It may not be
the chief executive, but it needs to be an appropriately senior member of the leadership team.”
Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin (who has since resigned) defended the communications approach, saying they communicated regularly and that customers
wanted the CEO to be involved in solving the problem not conducting interviews about the problem.
Who talks to the media during a crisis is also important, says Kirsty. “There is an expectation today that senior leaders must be involved in both responding to the
crisis and explaining publicly how they are responding to a crisis.
“But companies should be realistic in their crisis planning. While the CEO may declare they are the only person to talk to the media that can sometimes be
counter-productive because they are actually responding to the crisis.
“We advise that an alternative to the CEO is also designated as a media spokesperson.
“And the process is simple: provide regular updates, indicate when the next update is likely, make the same person available because it builds trust and reassurance.”
Ms Rosmarin was criticised for saying the cause of the outage was technical and couldn’t “be covered in a soundbite” and for her demeanour when she did
eventually conduct media interviews.
“No-one says crisis communications is easy,” Kirsty said. “But when you do appear in front of the media you have to be empathetic both in language and
demeanour. There is a risk that lawyers control the messaging when in fact stakeholders, particularly if they are customers, want clear, unambiguous statements
spoken by a real person not an automaton.
“And don’t be condescending. Dismissing something as too technical for a soundbite is not a good message.”
When Optus appeared before a Senate inquiry into the outage and its handling of the crisis, it revealed that it had not held a crisis planning drill to cover an
outage on such a scale. Several media outlets later reported that Optus clarified the position, saying it had “procedures that supports crisis or catastrophic scenarios”
that are regularly reviewed and tested.
“Companies in the resources sector – particularly oil and gas – are well versed in crisis planning, particularly from the operational perspective,” Kirsty said.
“It is important that the operational crisis plans interlink with the crisis communications plan – and that crisis drills are held regularly.
“You can’t find the weak spots unless the plans are pressure tested.
“By preparing for the worst-case scenario you should be covered for all eventualities.”
But things went from bad to worse for Optus.
When Ms Rosmarin arrived to testify at the Senate inquiry, Optus staff accompanying her pushed TV cameras aside and one put their hand over the lense of a camera.
There is no better way to guarantee vision runs on the nightly news.
And when the CEO emerged from the inquiry, she was surrounded by police and security, further reinforcing the view she was under siege and avoiding questions.
Kirsty said: “I feel she was let down by her communications team. Yes, CEOs must bear the ultimate responsibility, but some of what occurred breaks every rule of communications.
“It wouldn’t have been easy, but she would have been better served to address the media on leaving the inquiry, answer some questions and move on.
What we got instead was an unedifying spectacle.”