Measuring what matters during a crisis

"All business in a democratic society begins by public permission and exists with public approval." - Arthur W. Page

In Chapter 11 of Measure What Matters, Katie Paine mentions this quote and describes the importance of measuring public approval of your organization in crisis situations. The public's approval and trust in your organization is comprised of three key elements: 

1. Competence - Do publics believe your organization will effectively compete to survive in the marketplace?
2. Integrity - Do publics view your organization as fair and just?
3. Dependability - Do publics believe your organization will consistently do what it says it will do?

A high degree of trust among publics will help cultivate a business's relationships with customers, stakeholders and others who are invested in the organization's success. In turn, those relationships can have a measurable effect in helping the organization defend its reputation against crises.

Katie Paine says, "Thanks to the economic collapse of 2008, people trust corporations less than at almost any other time in our history" (p. 171). This means that building up relationships before a crisis is essential to a business's financial health and survival, because strong relationships can reduce the expenses that typically follow crises situations, such as lost revenue, regulations, litigation and pressure campaigns. 

Measure What Matters gives seven steps to measure the strength of an organization's relationships and the level of trust among publics, during and after crises:

1. Define a specific desired outcome from the crisis
2. Define your audiences and what you want your relationships to be with each one
3. Define your benchmark
4. Define your measurement criteria
5. Select a measurement tool
6. Analyze results and make actionable recommendations
7. Make changes and measure again

Reading this chapter, I was surprised to see Katie Paine's "seven steps to measure crises and trust" are very similar to the previous measurement plans she touched on for customer relations, sponsorships, events, community relations and employee relations. I know crisis situations often require quick reactions and decisions, but I hadn't thought about the extensive measurement processes that are still important. However, as Katie Paine noted, if an organization is able to work through these seven steps before a crisis occurs, it makes the measurement process much easier when they are under fire.