As I sit here typing, the song ‘What a difference a day makes’ must be being downloaded by almost all the staff in the American White House. A few days ago it was neck and neck in the US elections with a hint in the air that Romney might just have it. There’s no doubt that downcast Democrats were hoping for some kind of a miracle that could turn things around. Well, what do you know – Hurricane Sandy arrived just in time. Yes, the devastation and disruption must be terrifying to all those on the east coast. BUT this has to be seen as the game changer in this election campaign. A perfect opportunity for the president to come across all...well, presidential! A man in control who can handle a major disaster. Hours and hours of free airtime to demonstrate why he should remain in the top job. It is a fine balance between showing your concern, compassion and urgency to get things done and it appearing like just an opportunity for self promotion. However, at the moment Obama seems to be getting it right.
The second piece of luck came in the shape of Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey. Whether this was an emotional outburst or a very clever bit of political manoeuvring, but he decided on prime time ‘Fox News’ to endorse the president, claiming he was doing a great job and had given him all the resources to get his state back on its feet. I don’t think he will be getting a Christmas card from the Romney Family this year - game changer number 2!
This whole saga is a great example for any business. Even when a disaster hits (weather related or not) as an organisation you have to come out and publicly show you are doing everything you can to solve the situation. By using the media, and getting the right messages across by showing concern and compassion you can change people’s perception. If you simply issue a statement and claim you are too busy sorting out the crisis to manage the media, it will only end badly. The media is a great facilitator for you to communicate your information. If the wall to wall coverage is all about what you are doing to make things better, it makes it very difficult for your competitors to strike back and it can silence your critics whilst you get the organisation back on track. This is why making sure your key spokespeople are up to the job of facing the media is critical. I bet most of your senior spokespeople have had some kind of media training but probably a while ago. Refresher sessions are key to making sure they remember the rules of engagement, the dos and don’ts of how to handle an interview and how to turn a reactive question into a positive response. It’s easy to push the media training down the agenda but refresher sessions can really reap dividends when times get tough.
I may yet be proved wrong with the US election result, so please don’t make a trip down to the turf accountants just yet, but I reckon the head of communications at the White House has a little bit more spring in his step at the moment.