Crisis Gap - Not Having a Risk Communication Plan

Through our work in the field of crisis management and crisis communications, we have found many common gaps that businesses are exposed to.

These gaps are fairly common throughout most sectors. Here is one that you may find interesting as it relates to the current COVID-19 crisis.

Crisis Gap - Not Having a Risk Communication Plan

Risk Communication is the large body of university-level research in behavioral science that for over 50 years has helped guide effective crisis communications in situations of high stress/high concern. The basic premise of Risk Communications is that the risks that scare people but don’t harm them are often entirely different from the risks that actually harm people but don’t scare them. Most people, for example, think driving is very safe, even though it’s actually quite risky – many thousands of people die on the road each year. Driving actually harms people, but doesn’t scare them. Then compare driving risk to things like vaccinations or genetically modified foods, where substantial numbers of people believe that the risk is much greater than science shows it to be in actuality.

Resource: The Most Common Gaps - Episode 59 of the PreparedEx Podcast

The discrepancy becomes much more pronounced during a crisis, when people who organizations are trying to communicate with are under great stress. Think of Ebola virus, or a community exposed to the contents of an overturned tank car that may have emitted toxins. Risk Communication teaches that when people are in a state of high stress their minds will lose, on average, 80 percent of their capacity to process information. Risk Communication’s science-based tenets take these kinds of behaviors into account and have developed methods for more effective communications in high-stress situations. Crisis communications plans must therefore be able to draw on the lessons of Risk Communication to help guide communications with stakeholders experiencing high levels of stress.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you require support with regards to your organizations Risk Communications Plan.