Communicating During a Crisis
There isn’t an organization or business that hasn’t been impacted by Coronavirus/COVID-19. For most of us, navigating this particular situation has put our crisis communication skills to the test, allowing us to see where we are doing well and what areas require more work.
As you do your best to continue operations, consider these tips for effective communication:
Practice routine compassionate language to all your stakeholders.
Communication does more than inform. It conveys care, concern and leadership during uncertain and difficult times. It’s important that employees, as well as customers and clients, hear from leadership for reassurance and encouragement on a regular basis.
Make sure your communication is coming from a real person, not just the organization or company. People need to be able to visualize a personal message coming from a human.
Be thankful for everyone’s commitment, patience and support. This is also a good time to reinforce your organization’s values and why they exist.
While it’s good for your stakeholders to know that you are “monitoring the situation,” it’s equally, if not more important, to demonstrate what your company is actually doing. This can range from taking extra measures to ensure safety and wellbeing, to reminding people of the resources available to them.
Make sure you are enabling two-way communication – allow people to ask questions and providing a contact for more information.
Send the right message to the right audience at the right time.
Being too quick to move on from a crisis during the response or risk assessment stage can be detrimental to your company. It can also come across as self-serving and insensitive to those who are still dealing with, or healing from, the crisis.
If you are worried about the timing of your message, identify what stage of the crisis you are in and make sure your messages align. Consider language that is forward-looking, keeping your stakeholder at the center of your message, as opposed to your profits. Remember, your message will vary from audience to audience – don’t assume one communication piece will apply to all.
Document everything.
It can be difficult to see the upside of a situation in the midst of a crisis. However, it is during these challenges that we can identify opportunities to change processes, identify areas of weakness and gain valuable insights for moving forward.
Take a few minutes to document and record your daily communication efforts. Keep a list of the questions you’ve received and record the communication flow (what you communicated, how often and to whom) and what communications platforms you’ve used to deliver your messages. When the crisis is over, the information you’ve gathered will allow you to assess your communication strategies and develop a solid plan, should a crisis occur in the future.