How to Communicate in a Crisis

It’s no secret that the novel coronavirus (and COVID-19, the disease which results from an infection of that virus) is having a pretty big impact on life as we know it right now. Much of what we act on today is based on reports that may be out-of-date within twelve hours.

People are worried. Your clients are worried. Your suppliers are worried. Your business partners are worried. You’re worried, about your business, your employees, and, of course, your family.

You better be.

This thing is definitely changing a lot of games.

It’s not the worst thing ever, but it is having a big impact on everything right now. Schools are closed, kids are home, and many of us are working from home for the first time ever. Social distancing may work or it may not, there may be a vaccine in 3 months or it may take a year and a half. For that, we need to stop and take a pause every once in a while to just catch our bearings.

So, just follow my lead here. Let’s all take a deep breath …

In… hold… release.

How about another?

In… hold… release.

And one more.

In…. hold… release.

Okay, does that make you feel better? Maybe. Maybe not. But this should.

I know it may be one of the last things on your mind right now, but you definitely need to start communicating better. To your employees, to your clients, to your potential clients, to your business partners, and to your family and friends.

They need to know what’s going on with your company, your industry, and your self.

It doesn’t do anyone any good if they (everyone else) just gets to make up their own ideas about what’s going on. That’s never a positive outcome.

So to help, here are three effective tips for communicating during a crisis.

1. COMMUNICATE!

You may think it goes without saying, but the fact is, too many times businesses and individuals just don’t send out enough information about what’s going on.

They think that everyone else is going to be doing something, so they don’t need to. They assume that people watch the news, or listen to it, or have seen something on Facebook or LinkedIn, so they’re good.

The problem is, you have no idea what your audience has seen, or hasn’t.

The downside is that when people don’t have information, they tend to make stuff up to fill the void.

Most of the time, this is just imagination run wild. Speculation spreads faster than wildfire. It’s more like a nuclear reactor overloading and leading to runaway power output and eventual meltdown. It’s something you can’t get back under control, and the problem is that this destroys the things that you’re working so hard to save.

The same thing happens with a crisis situation. People are concerned, and they are hungry for information, so they are likely to latch on to whatever they hear, regardless of the truth or the application to your situation. If they never hear your official position, good luck getting them to believe you once everything has blown over.

You’ve got to be out at the front of the thing, telling people what is going to be beneficial for them. And this is going to be difficult, at times, because things are, by definition, changing rapidly. That ties in to point #3 below, Be willing to be wrong. More on that in a minute.

The essence is that your business may want to hide behind the uncertainty around the situation to avoid standing out and being in the spotlight. Believe me, though, it’s more important to be upfront about the situation and actually communicate to your audience than to pull back into your shell and hope it all blows over.

That’s a plan that’s only going to make matters worse.

Remember, you need to communicate, because that is the only way to ensure you stop the rumors and speculation that will spontaneously generate without your leadership.

“Nature abhors a vacuum,” and so does the individual mind. We love to make up our own fantasies and conspiracies, so if you don’t want those floating around (Pro tip: YOU DON’T), you have to direct the flow of information. By, you know, communicating.

So, while you’re communicating, be sure to remember the following:

2. BE CLEAR ABOUT IT

The biggest problem that communicators make in times like this is hiding behind jargon and insider language, or arguing fine points of grammar that don’t matter to the situation at hand.

When you’re in a crisis, often time is of the essence. You can call something an “outbreak” or a “pandemic” or “epidemic”, and you can go back and forth about what various definitions are. But in the middle of it is not the time to get all dictionarial on your people.

If you spend your reaction time arguing about terms, you’re not actually solving the problem.

If you couch your answers in technical jargon, you may win the grammar battle and yet lose the emotional war.

A lot of times experts hide behind confusing, obscure terms and phrases because that’s the “technical definition” of something.

The problem is, that only leads to frustration and delay, as non-experts don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.

You want to be clear in your communications, and tell your people four things:

What you know.

What you don’t.

What you want people to do.

What you want them to don’t.

The most important thing is to be clear and talk in your audience’s language. Which of these two statements is going to be more effective, do you think?

• Enforce isolative measures with the exception of essential service practices such as resupply and medical professional visits. Avoid excessive gatherings and avoid the tendency towards accumulation of supplies. Both of these practices mitigate the overall effectiveness of our intervention efforts.

or

• Stay at home, don’t go outside except for what you absolutely must, and if you feel sick call your doctor immediately. Don’t hoard stuff – there’s others to think about, too.

Frankly, the second one is going to resonate with more people. The first just sounds too confusing and intimidating. People who don’t know what “isolative” means are either going to get scared or think it doesn’t apply to them.

When they do that, they won’t follow through on your commands. Thus mitigating the overall effectiveness of your intervention efforts! [ I couldn’t resist. :-D ]

You can argue whether we should be practicing “self-isolation” or “quarantine” or “social distancing”, but do it after the whole thing is over! Right now is not the time. There will be plenty of that later. Now, we just need people to stay at home, don’t gather in crowds, and call the doctor if you feel sick.

Frankly, in times like these, the situation changes often. Which leads to my last tip for effective crisis communications:

3. BE WILLING TO BE WRONG

In a crisis, things change fast. Facts themselves don’t change, but they do become stale as more information is uncovered, as research progresses, as more data is added to the various projections and the machine learning algorithms have a little more to go on.

This means what you say today may no longer be true in three days. Or tomorrow. Or even in a few hours.

If you’re waiting to say anything because you need to have “all the facts”, you’re allowing for that speculation and rumor-breeding to continue. Remember, tip #1 was Communicate. If you’re not saying anything because you’re afraid it might be wrong, then you’re part of the problem, not the solution.

Look, people are pretty forgiving. We understand this changing nature of a crisis situation. We’ve all been there and none of us expects perfect data and perfect forecasting every time.

We do not appreciate, however, feeling like we are being intentionally kept in the dark or that you’re “covering up” something.

If you tell me now what you know and what you don’t, and then later what you know changes, I’m going to be pretty accepting of that. IF you tell me that what you know has changed.

However, if you wait until later, like after things have changed even more, I’m going to start getting suspicious. I might fear you’re covering up something. Or that you have nefarious plans you’re not telling me about.

In order to fill this information void, I’m going to go back to making up my own ideas about the future. At least then I’m not acting in a complete vacuum, because I have some facts (totally made-up) to go on.

Essentially, you’re letting me have control. And when I take control, I won’t want to give it back up later. I’m going to be extremely skeptical of what you tell me later, because by then you’re going to have to contradict the truth I’ve embedded in my mind. I formed my own conclusions that, obviously, must be right, because you didn’t offer me any alternative.

When I can make up my own stories, I’m also going to be more attached to them, because everything else feels like an attempt on your part to manipulate me after I’ve done something you didn’t want.

And if I’m skeptical and fearful that you’re manipulating me, do you think I’m really going to listen to your advice? Do you think I’m going to heed your instructions? Nope. I’m going to double down on my own ideas and get further entrenched in my own way of doing things.

Which is bad for you.

If you don’t want that distrust on the part of your audience, then, you’ll do well to communicate often, and update often, so that I don’t develop my own narrative.

CONCLUSION

So, there you have three tips for effective crisis communications: Communicate, Be Clear About It, and Be Willing To Be Wrong.

These will help you make sure you are staying in touch with your audience, your family, and your business partners.

Without effective communication, you’re letting the rumors grow and breed and multiply faster than you’ll ever be able to contain them.

Don’t let that happen.

Be out in front with your communications, be clear about what you know and don’t know, and make sure to update often, because you’re probably wrong. Or at least you will be tomorrow.

You got this. You can do it. I believe in you.

Sincerely,

Stephan

P.S. The last two, Be Clear About It and Be Willing To Be Wrong are communication strategies outlined in my FREE ebook “It’s Not About the Data” This is available by invitation only, and all you have to do is send me a message and tell me you want it.

The whole thing is full of 12 communication strategies for “quantitative professionals”, but, heck, they’re tools that everyone needs a reminder of every once in a while. Let me know you want it, and I’ll shoot it over to you immediately.