Crisis communication best practices: 8 easy tips
A crisis is any unanticipated event at a business that interrupts operations or damages reputation. To see potential crises coming and minimize the damage, many different departments have to work together and understand their shared interests and plans. We can’t ever know exactly what’s going to happen, but we can plan ahead with crisis communication best practices! Crisis communications is one part of the big (very big) picture in crisis management at your organization.
Crisis communication is the system and plan for managing the flow of information during a crisis. Comms matter even more than usual in chaotic times… but a smart approach can help you not only survive difficult times but emerge on the other side even stronger than before! A complete crisis communication plan delivers a clear path for the management of public relations, customers, and employees when something goes wrong.
Why crisis communication matters so much
Most of what makes crisis comms so crucial is what can happen if you don’t execute it well. A poorly managed response to something disruptive can result in a major loss of trust in your business and brand (from the public and from your own people). One of the very worst things a business can do in a crisis is stay silent. Information (including assumptions, fears, and falsehoods) spreads extremely quickly today, especially on social media. If the company doesn’t provide a voice about what’s happened, others will fill in the gaps and you’ll lose the ability to steer the conversation.
But that doesn’t mean it needs to be scary! There are many excellent resources out there to build your organization’s complete crisis management strategy, and you can take it from a “what if” to a “when it happens, we’ll be fine.”
By looking at it as an opportunity to demonstrate a strong voice and actually build trust, we can put together crisis communication best practices that are simple to follow.
8 crisis communication best practices
1. Prepare and templatize
Work to anticipate as much about potential crisis situations for your business as possible. You can probably come up with a list of things that might go wrong… use them as a starting point for preparing yourself. Think through each one, and go ahead and pre-write as many statements as possible.
- Craft holding statements that make sense for your business using these templates. Holding statements should be released as quickly as 15 minutes after an event to get ahead of the story.
- Think through and complete all the parts of a crisis communications plan. Make sure to gather any and all existing plans and procedures as part of yours.
- Write and save emails and text messages in your comms tools that you can quickly customize to fit the situation that you’re facing. Take care of text messaging opt-in now (here’s a template for an SMS opt-in form)
2. Stay organized
One of the most important things to do with your crisis communications plan is to make sure you don’t stash it in a folder somewhere and forget about it! The best plans and ideas go straight out the window when the pressure’s on if they’re difficult to find.
- Keep your communication cascade, contact lists, messaging templates, and complete plan doc in a prominent place on your intranet accessible to everyone on the crisis team. Many businesses keep a backup paper (!) plan, too, in case there’s a tech interruption.
- Update your resources regularly, and run audits to make sure that all the links work and the documents are up-to-date.
3. Keep your crisis team fresh
Conduct regular training sessions with your crisis communication team. These should include
- A complete review of the plan(s) with the team members at least twice a year. Make sure that everyone with a pivotal role knows what they’re supposed to do.
- Conduct mock crisis scenarios and drills. This might entail full-on practice sessions that feel like fire drills, or smaller-group walk-throughs (sometimes called tabletop drills)
- Update your crisis comms plan for current roles and employees, and make sure everyone involved is informed.
- Send messages through all of the communication channels in your plan. Make sure your distribution lists are up to date and that employees know what to expect. This will reassure everyone that there is a system, prep their muscle memory to receive messages in a stressful moment, and make sure that everything’s working.
4. Get your story straight
The job of crisis comms is to provide guidance, unity, and support in the face of confusion and stress. Since crisis communications best practices recommend using every channel at your disposal, it’s important to make sure your team is speaking as one.
- Appoint a designated “final message approval point” within your comms plan, near the top of the chain. Everyone on the team should look to that position for the final word on what to say.
- Where it makes sense to build default messages or strategies into your templates, do that, i.e. In the case of a data breach, we will always contact the affected customers first with this message…
5. Always be transparent
But never guess. Communicating with the public, with your customers, and with your employees during a crisis is all about building trust. It’s an opportunity to do what you say and say what you do.
- Share exactly what you know, as soon as you know it.
- In public relations, be honest in your holding statements and follow-ups.
- With customers, share with them what happened in a channel they’ll actually read (not hiding it and hoping they won’t notice), and repeat it like you would repeat a marketing message.
- With employees, update them quickly and explain why you’re taking the actions you are with the public and with employees.
- Include only verified information in every communication. All of these groups are looking for a source of trust when things are confusing, and it’s important that the company can be counted on.
6. Use your middle managers
As you design communications cascades for different types of crisis situations, don’t rely solely on mass, one-to-one messaging. The managers in your organization hold a special role and connection to their teams, and will be good at reaching people and the most likely to be believed.
- Prepare your managers as part of your practice and preparation. The manager communication gap can be overcome!
- Prepare a manager FAQ sheet as soon as possible during or after the crisis event, and help to create the important manager feedback loops your teams need after mass communications.
7. Cover all your internal channels
A single communications channel will never reach 100% of your audiences, but the right mix of channels can. In a crisis when the heat is on, it’s easy to forget a method or message, so build everything into your templates.
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- Plan to use at least the “big four” internal communications tools to manage internal messaging and conversations.
- Your intranet should be the source of truth for all employees, with documents, statements, and links related to the crisis event should be easy to find.
- Instant messaging will be where inter-employee conversations happen about the event. Make sure you’re planning to at least mirror your other comms in these channels.
- Email reaches nearly every employee, and can be smartly organized to provide a clear picture of what’s happened, why, and what happens next.
- Text messaging is the ideal tool for reaching every employee in the moment, and is especially useful in emergency situations.
8. Follow up and support teams
Make sure that you don’t stop talking to employees about the event once it’s over. The feelings that come with many crisis events can last long after, and employees will need support to keep morale high and trust strong.
- Build follow-ups into employee one-on-ones with their managers, and ask for reports back on questions, feedback, and any other lasting effects from the crisis
- Ask for direct survey feedback on the company’s overall crisis response, including the employee comms. Some sample questions to consider:
- Did you feel that the information provided was clear and easy to understand?
- Did you feel that communications were timely enough during the event?
- How well did we address your concerns or questions during the crisis?
- How effective were the communication channels used (emails, text messages, intranet, etc.) in keeping you informed?
- Do you feel that our response to the crisis aligned with our values?
- How comfortable did you feel reaching out to your manager or HR for support during the crisis?
Tips for internal communications channels in a crisis
Speaking of internal communications… how you handle employee comms during a crisis is extremely important! Follow these tips to use your internal comms channels most effectively to inform, engage, and support your teams.
The easiest way to be prepared to email during and after a crisis is with templates (which you can store in a tool like Workshop). If you outline the structure of your messages now, adding the actual information later is much easier.
- Be concise and clear: Super-simple subject lines and straightforward language help make sure your message is quickly understood.
- Prioritize information: Start with the most critical information and action items, followed by supporting details.
- Use a consistent format: Stick to a familiar template so employees know where to find key details quickly.
- Include contact information: Always provide a point of contact for questions or further guidance.
- Update regularly: Send updates as the situation evolves to keep everyone informed.
Text messages
SMS is the absolute best channel for things that people need to know right now, and a great way to get responses if you have a two-way platform. These short messages can be mostly templatized beforehand, too.
- Immediate alerts: Use text messages for urgent, time-sensitive information that requires immediate attention.
- Keep it short: All text messages are short, but make sure you’re not including anything that isn’t necessary in your messages. It’s a good idea to start with an all-caps word and a colon, such as ALERT:, UPDATE:, or URGENT:.
- Include actions: If a response or action is needed, clearly outline the next steps.
- Provide a link: Include links to a more detailed resource like an intranet page.
- Avoid overloading: One of the reasons employee text seems urgent is because it’s not always used. Make sure your high-priority messages really seem important!
- Make sure everyone’s opted in: Use an easy SMS opt-in form like this one so you have permission to message company-wide.
Intranet posts and notifications
- Centralized information hub: Use the intranet to house all detailed crisis-related information, including FAQs, resources, contacts, and updates.
- Prominent placement: Make sure critical notifications are very visible on the homepage or a dedicated crisis section of your intranet.
- Regular updates: Continuously update the intranet with new information and remove outdated content to avoid confusion.
- Searchable content: Ensure all crisis-related information is easily searchable by relevant keywords.
Instant messaging
- Real-time updates: Use instant messaging for one-to-many quick updates and to have conversations about immediate concerns or questions.
- Keep it professional: Maintain a formal tone to ensure the seriousness of the situation is communicated. These channels are often a little more fun or lighter-weight, so you don’t want important stuff to get mixed in with that.
- Designated channels: Create specific channels (Slack) or Teams (Microsoft Teams) dedicated to crisis communication to keep discussions organized.
- Moderation: Have a moderator or crisis team member monitor discussions to provide accurate information and prevent misinformation.
- Encourage two-way communication: Allow employees to ask questions or share their concerns directly in the chat.
Phone calls
- Direct and personal: Use phone calls for delivering critical information to key individuals or when a personal touch is necessary.
- Script your message: Have a clear, consistent script for everyone making calls to ensure the same information is delivered every time.
- Listen actively: Be prepared to listen to concerns and provide reassurance, as phone calls can also serve as a way to gauge employee sentiment.
- Follow-up: Document key points discussed during the call and follow up with an email or text summarizing the conversation.
- Train call handlers: Make sure the people making the calls are trained to handle questions or emotional responses professionally.
What to avoid in crisis communications
Because crisis comms is scary and can be intimidating, the number-one place way we fall down as communicators is by avoiding it. So, just by getting started with your crisis comms plan, templates, and training, you’re doing important work. Consider these common pitfalls as you prepare…
Don’t blame or call out individuals. It doesn’t help anyone to point fingers, and the job of good crisis comms is the slow the rumor mill down… not speed it up!
Don’t sow panic or fear. The psychology of communicating in a crisis says that people “default to assuming the worst is true.” Our job as communicators is to share as much real truth as possible to keep people from filling in those spaces with assumptions and fear-based ideas. Information is calm, instruction is security.
Don’t improvise or second-guess the plan. If you’ve laid it all out and thought it through when everyone wasn’t panicking… it’s probably a better decision than the one that came up at the last second.
