You’re in a crisis situation. What are the best practices for communicating effectively?

In a proactive or reactive crisis, owning the narrative is critical - break the news yourself. Maintain transparency by promptly sharing accurate information, showing empathy towards those affected, establishing clear channels for updates and inquiries, informing relevant stakeholders, and providing actionable guidance to mitigate the crisis's impact. Listening to feedback, adapting communication strategies as needed, and maintaining a consistent message across all platforms is vital for fostering trust and managing the crisis effectively.

Make sure your messaging is consistent with each audience. Also, think through the hierarchy of the messaging chain, but get information to your primary audience--your employees as a first line before communicating externally. This might mean sending a message to managers a few minutes ahead of all employees and simultaneously with board members and other key internal, non-employee groups.

Once you met with key players in your organization to define objectives (know where you want to go) and determine who needs to hear it (identify your audience), you hold key elements to formulate a message that resonates with the very people you want to impact. Focus on building a genuine, simple message that can be shared consistently. This is one of those moments that shine a light on how "soft skills" are 100% ?????????????????? skills. Be thoughtful and deliberate. Nuance matters. And remember when people receive a message, only 7% comes from words. The rest comes from tone and body language. So make sure words AND actions hold up in an omni-channel approach. (tip: search Albert Mehrabian 7-38-55)

Timing is of the essence in most crisis situations. Try to use multiple communications channels simultaneously to get the work out in a consistent way.

Adding on to what @Maria Doyle shared: ensuring the right people are clear that if they receive questions or comments or requests for information, whether they are allowed to share any approved responses or should send the inquiry to a specific person or function.

As intuitive business coach, I recommend to use intuition in crisis situations. 1. Tap into your instincts to quickly assess the gravity of the situation and understand the emotional state of those involved. 2. Trust your intuition to guide the tone and delivery of your messages, balancing empathy, clarity, and reassurance. 3. Prioritize active listening, allowing your intuition to discern unspoken concerns and underlying needs. 4. Be agile and adaptive, responding intuitively to changing dynamics and emerging challenges, while maintaining transparency and authenticity. By embracing intuitive practices, you can navigate crises with more empathy and clarity, fostering trust and resilience in the face of adversity.

In my experience, crisis communications is usually an area where your CEO should be the spokesperson for the company. Make sure they are involved in the messaging and the communication strategy. It's also important to rehearse and public statements (hopefully they have been media trained previously.) You want to ensure your spokesperson appears confident and can answer any questions if there is a press conference.

Existen muchas tácticas. Muchos "expertos", pero la realidad es que el mejor consejo es el siguiente: Decir la verdad siempre. Las mentiras o las verdades "a medias" solo provocan que la crisis empeore. La verdad ante todo. Esa, es la mejor solución para que -al menos- no se ponga peor la situación.