Who Is The Fuse Of Crisis?

      In last post "Thoughts On Malaysia Airline Social Media Crisis", I discussed about how Malaysia Airline handle with its crisis on Facebook. I  learned some good points from others' blogs. However, I didn't talk about how I really feel about the crisis. In this post, I am going to share my own opinions on crisis.

      I believe no company wants to face crisis; I believe no company wants to handle with crisis; and I strong believe no company wants to make crisis loud when the crisis happen.

     No one wants to face crisis because crisis make people feel fear. When people feel fear, what's their first reaction? I think they start expressing their voices and judgement to outside the world. Why they do this? I think people do this not only because they want to relief their fear, but also because they want to find the same voices from others.

    When crisis happened, Malaysia Airline posted the message and update the news on social media. I think this is a very brave action. I have a strong feeling about Malaysia Airline took its high responsibility on this crisis. Instead of avoiding the issue, the Airline choose to handle it.

     People may think the 370 flight disappeared was the start point of crisis. This news made people worried about the carriers on the flight. When it happened, no one include the Airline knew what happened to that flight. Then, the Airline started searching the flights and updating the latest news. However, what did the Airline receive? Tons of negative comments.

So, Who Is The Fuse of Crisis?

     Not Company. It is People, who start judging the crisis. When one person shared about how angry he was on the Facebook comment, the rest people "Like" it and put even worse words on the comments. As the result, people have a bad perspective on the Airline Company. Then, the real crisis began. And, people make the crisis even louder. Thus, I believe news are the gasoline of crisis, people are the fire.

     Even though Airline Company didn't state the facts at the beginning, at least it tried to solve the problem. I can feel that the Airline Company didn't prepare well for the crisis. Maybe because of the high-context culture, the way that Malaysia officials handle the problem was not straight-forward to talk about the facts. 

     Therefore, from audience aspect, when people didn't heard what they want to hear from company posts, they will have bad feeling about the company. Then,  people start to share many negative comments, which made the company feel very stressful and challenging.

What Should We Do When The Crisis Happen?

#1. Stay Calm

      When the crisis happen, both company and people should stay calm. Company needs to stay calm to identify the issue and risks of the crisis. People also need to stay calm to wait for the company's response. 

      Without fully understand the issue, putting any negative comments only make the crisis worse. People needs to give a certain amount of time to the company for solving the problem. At the same time, company communication team also needs to update the useful and transparent message.

#2. Think Positively

      It is very hard for us to think positively when the crisis happened. Most of us include companies would prepare the worst result. However, thinking negatively doesn't help company handle the crisis. Thus, I think if we really want to share our thoughts on social media, we could share some good ideas that could support company. We should transfer some positive energy to company. This way will not only build company's confidence, but also reflect good brand image as a person. 

# 3.  Team Cooperation

      Some people think PR should take high responsibility on crisis, and some people think crisis management should handle the crisis. In my opinion, all the teams in company should face the crisis together and take responsibility. Only relying on one or two teams to concentrate on crisis is very difficult. I also feel it is very unfair for those two teams because they have to handle something that nobody wants to do. 

      Thus, when company faces crisis, the top executives should meet all major team leaders and discuss crisis strategy. And, the company should make sure that every team understand how important to cooperate together to handle crisis. When all the teams work together, the process will be more efficiency. 

Overall, 

      Those are my personal thoughts. It is totally fine if you are not agree with me. When I read many negative comments or discussion about Malaysia Airline crisis, I was also feel disappointed about the crisis. I can feel how strong and powerful the people's voices are! Sadly, most voices are negative. 

      People think Malaysia didn't handle the crisis very well at the beginning. And, the crisis definitely has a bad impact on Malaysia Airline's reputation. However, does the company destroy its image by itself or by other people? I really don't know.  I wonder if people stop sharing their bad comment, will the "People Crisis" still happen?