Your stakeholders are in crisis mode. How can you communicate with empathy and professionalism?

Adopting active listening and playing back their concerns and checking with similes can help ensure that they are and know they are heard. Distilling the strategic view from the noise helps them gain confidence that its understood.

I find that researching those needs is crucial. Really delve in quickly to determine WHY these things are important? What will the consequences or damages really be to their company, their future amd to them personally? This research does not have to be time consuming but can be valuable and give you real insight to how and why they are reacting to the crisis the way they are.

A key component of listening is documenting. Take good notes that will allow you to relive the conversation. Don't try to solve or solution an answer in the heat of the moment. Listen and document. This will give you an opportunity to recall with context later on when you provide timelines and updates.

When communicating with stakeholders in crisis mode, it's essential to acknowledge their feelings and demonstrate understanding of their concerns. Begin by actively listening to their perspectives and validating their emotions. Use clear, concise language to provide transparent updates on the situation, outlining the steps being taken to address the crisis. Express your commitment to supporting them during this time, and offer reassurance that their interests are a priority. Throughout the communication, maintain a tone that is calm and composed, reflecting professionalism while fostering trust and connection.

When communicating what has happened, what needs to happen and what has NOT happened, be very direct and clear. Also, pay attention to social media and the speculation that gains momentum and be quick to address the "trends". Speculation and assumption are the enemy of truth.

We use diagrams and mindmaps to check understanding and using the stakeholders' words and inputs maintains their ownership. Sometimes we have to translate their jargon whilst avoiding ours.

Honesty can be calming and reassuring. If you do not have an update, then make THAT your update. Never allow time periods to be elongated between messages simply because you are figuring stuff out. Long silenced are uncomfortable in a normal setting and feel catastrophic during crisis.

During a crisis, most information that is provided to the public and shareholders is delivered by the media, not by organizational communication teams. This poses a distinct challenge and disadvantage for public relations specialist as they try to limit reputational harm. Communication with those who are affected is vital during all phases of the crisis for the trust to sustain, and for stakeholders and the public to understand and move on. If rumors and false information circulate among the media, more information must be given to counter the inaccuracies.

Set guardrails early on for timing of updates and don't miss them. When people know you will be addressing them and when, they will feel confident that you are in control. Make the updates concise and clear. Take questions and be prepared as best you can. If you don't have the information needed for an answer, be up front and let them know you are not able to give them an answer just yet. Stay calm and non-defensive.

Emotional intelligence or development of resonant leadership through domains of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management are the essential competencies necessary for effective mastery of emotions. Self-awareness begins with recognizing the impacts of emotions and how they influence emotional awareness. Specifically recognizing how feelings and emotions have a discernible impact on performance, along with a correlation between emotional awareness and values and goal attainment.

Be thick skinned. People will jump to conclusions, form theories and try to gain support for what they think should happen. They are not trained, nor do they have the information that you do. Try to remember that when conversing and discussing the event. When directly confronted with a challenge to your actions, be sympathetic. They are simply trying to make sense of what has happened. Give a clear path of what is next if known. Then report on the results at the next update.

The other thing we do is to help stakeholders get to a 30,000' view of their problems by asking them to help us understand the strategic implications of the issue. In doing that we can engage with them in consequence management and the longer view of recovery

Truth is paramount. If you communicate something that turns out to be incorrect, form a retraction immediately and let them know of the error. Being 100% reliable and truthful will allow you to make mistakes and still maintain trust. Integrity also means maintaining a professional demeanor at all times. Others WILL be watching. How you conduct yourself in front of the team, public and media will be scrutinized and used as a measure of trust. Your demeanor on camera should be the same off camera. Otherwise, you will be judged as disingenuous.

Agree! Being clear about the facts we know and the ones we're seeking helps ensure that trust is high and engages our stakeholders in the quest to constantly refine the knowledge and to plan actions together. Again, this gives them greater agency and confidence. Also, keep the facts and actions close to those who need to know. No-one else needs to get hold of them. Breach of this can do our organisation reputational damage.