When millions of dollars are at stake, no one likes surprises.
Today, the Bank of England accidentally emailed a private Brexit Plan to four executives at the Bank of England and included an editor of The Guardian.
To give you a bit of background on the situation, the Bank of England is currently undergoing crisis. According to Bloomberg Business, “Bank of England staff are assessing the potential risks related to Britain’s renegotiation of its European Union 
membership and the threat of the country leaving the bloc.” And the assessment of these risks and how the bank was going to deal with these issues was what was sent to the wrong source, causing huge amounts of embarrassment to the bank.
Events like this prove why it is so important to have a crisis plan for your shareholders when something goes wrong. In my opinion, honesty is key. I think the Bank of England handled it well by mentioning that while it is unfortunate that the information got out this way, they will still maintain their current stance. They handled it in a very matter-of-face, yet relaxed and honest tone. This transparency that they have created between them and the public will only allow for more understanding when other events like this inevitably happen, which is something that other companies can take note of.
When managing crisis, have these three things in the back of your mind at all times:
- Be honest
- Be transparent
- Don’t give into the media “buzz”
Rethinking IR 