Perhaps the best soundbite to emerge out of the protest outside St Paul's Cathedral came at the weekend from Ken Costa, former chairman of Lazard's Investment Bank who has been tasked by the church to head a group looking at what can be done about the issues which have been highlighted. He is, he said, looking to reconnect "the financial with the ethical." And he goes on to argue that maximising shareholder returns should no longer be the sole criteria for judging how a company is run (or sins).
Sterling stuff but there is still a whiff of a church trying to catch up. The structure of the Church does not allow a command and control system in the normal form, so the fragmented system in place has allowed the Cathedral response to appear disjointed. The Archbishop of Canterbury has, in the word of one commentator, broken his silence and attempted to rest control of the agenda; it was a rudderless ship with events taking over.
Either way the protestors look to be there into the New Year, as the Corporation has abandoned plans for legal action to remove them. Belatedly, St Paul's has invited the activists to take part in negotiations to downsize the camp.
From mid-October when the first tents were pitched it was evident that there was no coherent story coming out of the Cathedral authorities. One of the basic tenets of robust crisis management and communications is you need to decide where your are positioning yourself very early on; and then stick with it.
It is also a salutary lesson in making sure you know who your neighbours are and what crisis they may cause you. The Stock Exchange functions on, buy, selling and exchanging, whilst the Cathedral staggers on losing money. For advice on taking the drama out of a crisis and to review if your crisis systems are robust enough for your neighbours ‘events’, LINK can provide you with the tools to meet the challenges around the corner (literally!).
To find out how, contact us by emailing info@linkassociates.com or phoning +441332222299.
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