FEATURE
During a crisis we all crave optimism but there ’ s no point in sugar-coating the situation . Make a point of rooting all your communication in the real world as things evolve . This doesn ’ t mean you have to be a pessimist but excessive confidence in such an obviously difficult situation would lose credibility .
The content of your communications will change as the crisis evolves . I find it best to tailor our
communications to the likely emotional state of our stakeholders , focusing on what they needed to know most at that moment .
For example , during the first lockdown , I felt acutely concerned about the more junior members of our team . I knew they must be frightened and feel isolated . So , I decided to start writing a morning email to my entire team , across the globe . I would speak frankly and openly . It is a very personal lo-fi way of connecting with everyone on the team . In daily emails , I repeated and reinforced messages . You may get tired of repeating key messages but your stakeholders need to hear them several times .
Our communications focused on giving people necessary information while encouraging them to remain calm and stay safe . Your stakeholders will have limited attention in a breaking crisis as there is a lot going on and they can feel frightened and overwhelmed . They are not going to be in a state to be able to process complicated information , so I kept messages simple , to the point and actionable .
I felt it was important up front to state our organisation ’ s objectives in the emergency and commit to achieving them . I recommend sharing different strategy options you are considering when faced with the crisis . Transparency builds
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