The Sunday Mail
Howdy folks!
I should confess that I don’t only love writing for The Sunday Mail, but also enjoy reading it.
And, some fortnight ago, I was saddened to read Tendai Chara’s piece titled “Tourists fear one of Zim’s finest destinations”.
The story said the number of tourists who visit Nyanga has fallen to an all-time low, although Zimbabwe recorded a nine percent hike in the number of tourist arrivals last year.
How does one reconcile this lethargic phenomenon?
Folks, Nyanga is just a wonderful place, to say the least! I was there in the month of the goat last year, and Nyangombe Falls still strikes me.
Let me tell you a little story that transpired some donkey years ago.
The year was 1896 and Cecil John Rhodes, that erstwhile colonial master, after visiting Nyanga for the first time, was compelled to write to his agent.
“Dear McDonald, Inyanga is much finer than you described … Before it is all gone, buy me quickly up to 100 000 acres, and be sure to take in the Pungwe Falls.”
So intrigued was Rhodes that he went on to build a holiday cottage which was later converted into a hotel in 1933. Rhodes Nyanga Hotel exists to this day.
Everyone loves Nyanga!
But then, it begins to boggle the mind why the rising tourism tides did not lift the Nyanga boat; just why are tourists not going to Nyanga?
Chara quoted Nyanga Rural District Council CEO Mr Zefania Jaravaza explaining: “In the past few years, we have had several tourists disappearing without trace in the Nyangani Mountain, earning us bad publicity in the process. As a result of the (bad) publicity, tourists are shying away from Nyanga.”
Just look at it folks, bad publicity is now one threat that is wreaking havoc to the entire tourist attraction areas in “Rhodes’ paradise” of Nyanga.
This is not just a tourism sector disease.
Reputation matters in every business, folks.
Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good reputation is more desirable than great wealth.”
What we learn from the sad Nyanga story is that a little leaven can leaven the entire lump.
Investors can shun the entire Sunshine City, for instance, simply because of one incident of stinking corruption by one company.
But the main issue falls within the four corners of crisis management.
Corporate Zimbabwe must urgently rethink the processes by which it deals with major events that threaten to harm it, stakeholders or the general public.
In this era where various social media platforms are proliferating every now and then, giving anyone access to air their views to many people, brands are left vulnerable to more threats, real or perceived — be it rumours, workplace violence, employee dismissals, management misconduct, natural disasters, cyber-attacks, industrial accidents, civil or political unrest, you name it.
In Zimbabwe, it is unfortunate to note that the role of crisis communication to the life-blood of companies is often underestimated, albeit integral.
Yet we see potential threats manifesting wherever we set our eyes on, irrespective of sector.
For instance, just look at how most workplaces are very unsafe and unhealthy as can be seen from our country’s Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR), which is an indicator of how safe and healthy workplaces are.
A workplace with a high LTIFR (of one and above) is deemed unsafe.
The National Social Security Authority found the 2014 edition of LTIFR to be an abysmal 2,27, which is way above the acceptable standard of below one.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that only 18 percent of our local companies have an occupational, health and safety policy in place.
Surely, this only points to looming crisis waiting to strike.
Organisations are, therefore, called upon to put in place robust systems to checkmate potential risks.
We do not want corporates that are reactive by waiting for ascertainable threats to escalate and explode and then start running around like headless chickens.
We will continue to lose potential investment and other opportunities if we do not manage the way we look at crisis management.
It does not matter what level the crisis has progressed to; it can still be managed with a view to restoring sustainable relations with stakeholders who support your business.
Otherwise if those relationships are muddied, you cannot expect your business to continue thriving on a sustainable basis.
What is, however, disappointing is how most organisations and public relations executives live in cloud cuckoo land, being ignorant of the potential threats facing their businesses and industries at large.
There are those who may actually know their potential risks but without systems in place to effectively avert such threats.
Then there are some who may have such systems in place, nonetheless untested to see whether they will work as intended in the event of a crisis attack.
How many times have we read about our local municipality’s fire brigade arriving at scenes without water?
Some businesses don’t even know what the media are saying about their brands on social media.
Some may know but just don’t give a damn.
Yet all these conversations shape the manner in which people view a product or service, and might subsequently compel customers to change their preferences.
Whether you like it or not, people are always talking about your brands these days and sharing their experiences in using it.
Those who choose to ignore such interactions also leave stakeholders in a vacuum where they are prone to make their own conclusions, which may be far from the truth as in most instances.
We are at a defining moment as a nation, as we try to rebuild our economy to levels that even surpass its glory days.
And most of the investment that we are trying to attract is coming from very far places, from people who are out of touch with what is happening in our country.
These are people who can believe just about anything that they hear in the absence of authoritative truths that counter negative things that are often speculated by our nation’s detractors.
We, therefore, cannot expect to progress as a nation without robust crisis management systems in place, both in business and Government, which equip entities to withstand threats to their survival.
The advantage of being aware of potential threats is that it can put an organisation in a better position to take early action, and hence avoid more serious problems.
Some organisations elsewhere have also learnt that appropriate planning for potential sector-wide crises actually gave them the upper-hand over competitors that were not prepared.
In light of the above, Corporate Zimbabwe must start to evaluate itself and start to invest more in building and strengthening crisis preparedness and response mechanisms.
If incapacitated to do that, it can always find help from experts.
Organisations like Magna Carta Zimbabwe are actually in the business of helping organisations with customised crisis management tool-kits.
While the sad story of our beloved Nyanga should give some hindsight on the indispensability of dynamic crisis management systems, the onus remains in Corporate Zimbabwe’s court to implement it.
Later folks!
