Time to prepare is precious.
While time to prepare is precious and should be used wisely, there are actually some dangers to be conscious of in preparation. The time that is our friend – the very time to think, strategize and perfect your communication products – can work against us. The problem with preparing crisis communication strategy when we have time is… we have time. Plans become ornate, releases become verbose, ‘needed’ information becomes encumbering, and we don’t notice it.
The peril when we prepare in peacetime
Consider the coffee break, the perfect time to set aside our daily work and imagine an incident. We can sit back with a good cup of coffee, reflect on a possible incident that could happen, identify affected stakeholders and associated business risks, and devise our initial statement. All good, except that, inspired by the possibility of extending our coffee break by a few minutes (it is darn good coffee), we decide to massage our message.
We include a few additional facts, and we conjure up another stakeholder group. We suddenly realize it would be good to include ‘them’ in our initial statement distribution, so we edit the content a bit more to meet the new sensitivities.
Then, quite responsibly, we remember to add their contacts to our contact list to be sure we’re able to reach them. We remember that we just revised our marketing message so we decide to include some of that text in the draft release. Next we add our legal disclaimer to the bottom of the release. Then we add a nice, caring quote from our current Operations Manager. Finally satisfied, we tuck it in to our response folder and return to our ‘day job’ happy that we’ve increased our response capability while enjoying a good cup of coffee.
What have we actually accomplished?
- We’ve created the monster template. We have too many blanks to fill in. We’ve added a quote that will cause approval hurdles even if the person quoted is still in their position. We added a corporate disclaimer that sounds like we’re dodging responsibility for the truth, let alone the incident. This statement will take too much time to fill out, too much time to approve, too much time to revise – too much time to be effective at all.
- We’ve institutionalized bad contact lists. By writing for several different audiences we’ve created the necessity of having their contact information updated and ready at all times. Here is a general rule for your contact lists: they are always out of date. The only way you can be sure you can use a contact list is to be sure you alone are responsible for its updates, or that you have immediate access to a contact list someone else is actually keeping updated.
- We’ve guaranteed revisions and delays. Any content beyond facts will be treated subjectively, because it is subjective. Subjective content is always debated, revised, enhanced or excised; usually at the worst possible time.
- We missed the approval process. Content is worthless unless it is reviewed and approved for use when it is needed and for the purpose it was created. Always route your templates for approval and be sure the approvers know when and why it will be used. Do not depend on unapproved templates. In the magnified tension of a crisis, they will not be approved.
Our relaxing writing experience results in a statement that is too long, won’t be approved, will be constantly revised and if approved will be sent to a bad list of contacts. We should have just enjoyed our coffee!
How do we prevent this?
We don’t carry an umbrella in the sunshine, we carry one when it’s raining. In crisis preparation, we need to be thinking about really foul weather. While we’re enjoying our relaxing coffee break and our comfortable pace of preparation, remember that when we use crisis content, we will be rushed, stressed, under-resourced, remote, worried, half-awake, in our car, at a restaurant, or suffering multiple other distractions or impediments to careful thought.
We don’t like to imagine trauma, but we need to do so for good preparation. It helps to personalize the risks we’re writing against. Imagine being rushed, remote, worried, and even fearful. Imagine that the stakes are even higher; imagine fatalities, massive damage, or a huge release that is our organization’s fault! Remember what smoke smells like, and what fire looks like.
Put yourself in a crisis mindset; adopt your lizard brain.
Prevent the preparedness trap
Keep blanks or options to a minimum.
Restrict the amount of content. Consider that blanks in a statement are multipliers of time needed to publish. Two blanks double the time needed over one blank. Three triple it. Remember that no matter how fast you are, you are already too late: The event has already occurred and people already know about it.
Eliminate as many options for content as possible. Every bullet point that needs to be selected or deleted causes additional delay. Optional paragraphs are either not deleted, or are revised or removed in error. Contact information is outdated or revised. Even the ‘a/an’ and ‘and/or’ bits are ignored or incorrectly selected.
Prepare to KISS everybody
In a crisis, we’re not the only person under stress. The people approving our release draft are stressed too, and they may miss key points in a sea of detail. Even more critically, our impacted stakeholders are under as much or more stress as we are; they too have just been wakened, were called at a restaurant, are away from their family at home, behind schedule or stressed in a hundred other ways. Under this stress level, their own lizard brains are kicking in, and they just can’t read or absorb too much. Make the statement as short as possible.
Your initial statement could be as short as: “We are responding to a report of (briefly describe what happened) at (location). Authorities have been notified and we are responding. We will provide regular updates.”
This statement can be brief, a total of 150 or so characters. Say the rest later. No statements of environmental concern, no response details, no list of responders, no corporate ‘DS’ (doublespeak); just the facts, ma’am.
Gain pre-approval.
Test your templates with the people who will have to approve it in actual use. Run it by your legal team, with a full explanation of when it would be used, who you would send it to, where you would post it, why it is important and what you would be drafting next.
Provide as many specifics as you can, but only if you know you can live (and communicate well) within them. Be careful though, your ‘specifics’ can easily come back to you as ‘constraints’. As an example, if you tell an approver that you’ll use your draft statement to confirm an injury to an employee, they may not let you use if it a non-employee was injured. A statement to about arrival of response equipment ‘in a fire’ may not be allowed to use for other purposes.
Prepare to keep talking!
Response communication isn’t only about the first release. We still have much to say. Don’t disappear from society after your first release! In the early stages of a response facts are harder to come by, so be prepared to share them as quickly as you can confirm them. Follow the same pattern of frequent, short releases rather than infrequent, long releases.
Practice this. Prepare past the initial statement on your coffee break; analyze the incident you’re ‘responding’ to, map multiple releases and prepare each one:
- Your first statement facts will be what/where and a promise of more information
- Second statement facts can outline agencies responding (they’ve been notified!)
- Third statement could expand on actual developments
- Additional statements include the latest response updates
Remember that stress affects everybody’s ability to absorb information, so stakeholders will appreciate receiving information in easily digestible bites. As response efforts unfold you will have more information (and more time) to share.
Prepare, then share what else is important!
If we prepare well, this is when we have more than bare facts to share. This is the time to send short updates expressing our organization’s commitment to known stakeholder concerns: safety, the environment, wildlife. This is when we mobilize any of our prepared ‘holding statements’ that are applicable. This is information that can be staged and pre-approved. Use of this information isn’t contingent on response facts, but on our expertise in crisis communication.
If we’ve prepared well during our coffee breaks, we’ve already determined affected stakeholders concerns in any anticipated incident, and we’ve already built concise statements of commitment to address each of their concerns. Share these now, in a dance with new facts. Here’s what the above list of typical initial communications can look like if we’ve got the holding statements identified, written and pre-approved:
- Your first statement will be what/where and a promise to provide more information – not much change to this one – it needs to get out the door!
- Second statement could outline agencies responding and your commitment to respond with them
- Third statement could expand on actual developments and share your commitment to safety of employees and the public
- Additional statements include the latest response updates and key holding statements to match.
- Injuries? Include your pre-approved explanation of how they are reported and who shares information.
- Environmental impact? Include your pre-approved statement of commitment to protect and restore.
- Wildlife impact? Include your pre-approved statement of commitment to protect, rescue and restore.
- Property damage outside the fence? Include your pre-approved statement about a claims process.
It’s good to prepare…
…even better to prepare in context. Step into the crisis in your mind, then prepare your initial and update statements, contact lists and approvers. Practice like you’ll have to play to ensure agility under stress.