Three key principles of crisis communication
In times of crisis, the first actions are the most important. When the initial steps are taken quickly and correctly, they can limit damage and influence the narrative of the episode moving forward. Below are three principles that organizational leaders should apply to any steps taken in the immediate aftermath of a crisis.
1. Tell what you know and quickly
Remember the instinct that kicked in when you were a kid and you broke a piece of your mother’s china because you were throwing the football inside the house? Your first thought was to either get rid of the evidence (maybe replace the broken piece with an unbroken one) or glue the broken piece back together and hope Mom never notices. Because none of us like other people to find out about our mistakes, this is a very strong instinct, but it’s almost always the wrong instinct.
When something goes wrong at your organization, you might feel an urge to circle the wagons and not speak about it until you’ve gotten it under control or completely fixed. But silence often is construed as suspicious or dishonest. You need to be transparent, honest and trustworthy in order to be perceived as transparent, honest and trustworthy. This means you need to give the public the information you know for sure when you know it, even if it’s incomplete. This means not speculating or making up information if you can’t verify it. Rather, you can and should provide updates as you learn more.
Here’s an example of telling what you know when you know it and committing to continued updates: “There was an explosion in the paint shop of our Lakewood plant at 11:10 this morning. All employees are accounted for, and there were no fatalities. We do not have complete information at this time about the number or severity of injuries, but we will provide that information when we have it. All employees have been evacuated from the affected area. At this time, we do not know what caused this explosion, but we are committed to conducting a full investigation to prevent this from happening again. In the meantime, we are working to help our employees connect with their family members. We expect to have more information to provide on this developing situation within the hour.”
2. Take responsibility and quickly
When your mom inevitably found out about the broken china, you probably tried to blame your little brother who was supposed to have caught the ball when you threw it to him (and not let it sail into the china cabinet), right? In the same way, you may be tempted to look for a scapegoat for your organization during a time of crisis. But transparency, honesty and trustworthiness requires that if your organization failed, it must do what it can to make the situation right as soon as possible and commit to taking action to prevent such a failure from happening again.
In the paint shop explosion example, perhaps an employee improperly placed a container of highly flammable liquid in an area where it was exposed to high temperatures. This is not the time to go on the evening news and tell everyone that employee Sally Smith didn’t follow proper safety procedures and so your organization is firing her and suing her for damages. Instead, this is a time to acknowledge that your organization is reviewing its safety practices and implementing new safeguards to prevent a similar situation from ever happening again.
3. Use only one mouthpiece
Finally, during times of crisis, information (both accurate and inaccurate) flows swiftly and not necessarily in an orderly fashion. The best way to ensure accuracy and consistency in your message is to designate one, official spokesperson or mouthpiece. Imagine the confusion if the president of the company, the board chair, the communications director and the paint shop manager all did separate TV interviews with local reporters within the same two-hour period in which they all gave different, and in some cases conflicting, information. To avoid this nightmare, designate an official channel of communication (for example, everything must go through the organization’s department of communications – be that a statement from the president issued by the communications department, a press conference arranged by the communications department or a social media post published by the communications department on an official organization feed). Ask other members of the organization to refrain from speaking publicly about the matter outside of the designated channel.
It’s worth noting that every crisis is different and each requires a unique plan of action. However, these general principles can apply to most any situation involving an organization that places a high value on transparency, honesty and trustworthiness.
Mandy Minick is the principal and founder of Minick Public Relations, LLC. She is the immediate past chief communications officer for the Ohio Department of Education and has 20 years of public relations and entrepreneurial experience. Find Minick Public Relations on LinkedIn.