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Gauteng Women In Insurance: CPD 3 Session – Navigating crisis communications and reputation management for insurance claims

January 11, 2024

This session featured Huntley Smith, Change Architect and former COO, who led a powerful and candid conversation titled C-Suite Unfiltered: 90 Minutes Inside the C-Suite. Smith unpacked the realities of executive leadership, offering attendees a rare glimpse into the pressures, decisions, and mindset required at the top.

Rather than focusing on polished success stories, Smith took attendees into the “war room”, sharing real-world lessons on navigating complexity, driving organisational change, and leading with clarity in high-stakes environments. His session challenged conventional perceptions of leadership and encouraged future leaders to think more strategically about their own growth journeys.

We were grateful to our main sponsor, iTOO Special Risks, co-sponsor Absa, and logistical sponsors FAnews, Glasfit, and Santam Specialist Solutions for their contributions to the success of the event.

On the topic of navigating crisis communications and reputation management for insurance claims, Gauteng Women In Insurance (GWII) hosted a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) session on 14 September, proudly sponsored by Camargue.

Guest speaker, Rianette Leibowitz, PR Risk Management Consultant for companies such as Camargue, spoke about the importance of a crisis communication plan and reputation management for insurance claims.

Navigating crisis communications

Every business strives to build a solid reputation, retain clients and to keep all stakeholders satisfied. That’s why being prepared for an incident and having a crisis communications plan in place could alleviate the stress and be the guiding framework you can rely on when a crisis situation feels overwhelming and out of control.

In this session, Rianette shared her overview of a crisis communications plan and discussed the practical implications by showcasing examples of claims and what the best-case scenarios would be.

Overview of a crisis communications plan

Communications, according to Rianette, refers to all the different areas we use to communicate information effectively to relevant stakeholders. A communications strategy is a business framework that guides the company to ensure that messages are aligned and that all communication efforts lead to achieving the same business goals.

“The success of your business relies on solid marketing, regular media exposure, effective internal and client communication and good brand-building activities. Even though this could sound quite overwhelming, it’s comforting to know that there are experts who are passionate about this and who can come on board as consultants or in-house communications managers,” she added.