Practical Tips for Communicating During Crisis
We’re all looking for beauty growing from the scorched earth.
These are strange times. As a professional communicator, I have been called upon in just about every type of circumstance to find the right words, to provide information to keep people safe and calm their fears. Today, as I look out at the world and how much it changes day to day because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard for even me to know exactly what to say.
This virus has caused each one of our lives to be upended, and we all feel overloaded with information. Some messages have been disjointed, even contradictory, and when people are unsure of what information to trust and what information to question, it causes anxiety. Anxiety can clutter your brain and reduce decision-making ability, and we need people to make good decisions right now.
Governmental and organizational leaders, as well as professional communicators, have a huge responsibility to help your audiences stay informed and remain confident in the institutions supporting them, and that is a very difficult job today. To those working behind the scenes to communicate well, whether to the public or their customers, I offer these 10 practical communication tips.
Tell the truth. All your listeners want is for you to tell them what you know, even if it’s bad news. Don’t wait to have all the information before you say anything at all. Tell people what you know as soon as you can so that they can make good decisions regarding their personal safety. Stick to the basics of who, what, when, where, why, and how to make sure you cover as many bases as you can.
Be honest about what you don’t know. If you don’t know the answer to a specific question, come clean about that. Do not make up an answer that may or may not be correct. Take note of the question, find the answer later, and remember to relay the new information in the future.
Provide frequent updates. You will not have all the information at the beginning of a crisis, so plan to keep communicating over time. Make sure the media, your followers, or other stakeholders know when your next update is scheduled.
Ensure messages are consistent. This can be hard to do during situations like this in which we learn new information by the hour. Especially when multiple people may speak to the public on a certain topic or the information is complicated, message maps are a great tool to ensure consistent communication. If message maps are a new concept for you, I can provide training on this valuable tool.
Keep communications short and concise. In the past couple weeks, I have received an email from every company that has ever been given my contact information, and I have not read a single one. They all are way too long. People under stress have difficulty hearing, understanding, and remembering information. Choose three main points you want to reinforce and keep repeating those statements.
Stay in your lane. One of the first things you learn when training to communicate during a crisis is to allow the appropriate authorities to share their own information and not turn yourself into a clearinghouse for content. Allow medical professionals to provide medical advice. Speak only to the information that is unique to your specific business or location.
Don’t recreate the wheel. Link to the experts like the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and state and local agencies when appropriate. Provide your unique audience with content specific to your business or organization.
Create a place where people know to go for the most accurate and up-to-date information. The main communication tactic in a crisis is often social media, because it reaches your audience quickly. But old posts also can become quickly out of date, so always link them back to a website where the most up-to-date information resides.
Regarding social media in particular, double-check any previously scheduled posts to ensure they are still accurate. Better yet, unschedule those posts altogether if they are not relevant to the current situation. Focus on only the important messages.
Take care of yourself and support one another. Being a communicator during ordinary times is hard enough, but it’s particularly stressful in times of crisis. Let the people around you know when you need a break from taking care of everyone else so you can focus on your own well-being, too.