Inertia is real, and it affects everything we do. Whether getting out of bed, competing in a drag race or starting crisis communication efforts, it takes time and effort to get going. In exercises, a common phrase for the JIC (Joint Information Center) performance is “It is going slowly, but finally gaining traction”. This reflects the reality that it takes time to form a JIC, establish objectives, create content, gain approval and share it with stakeholders. Unfortunately, stakeholders are much more nimble at communicating, and they expect your communication pace to match theirs. So while ‘gaining traction’ sounds like a wise observation of organizational dynamics, but it is actually an admission of failure.
Crisis communication is like a drag race: the winner is usually ‘the first one out of the gate’; the driver with the fastest reaction time often beats the driver with more horsepower. When an entire quarter-mile drag race is over in less than 3.6 seconds, the briefest delay in launching can cost the race. If your JIC is ‘gaining traction’, you’re losing the communication race. And there’s no trophy for second place.
Now imagine that your vehicle doesn’t top out at 386 miles per hour, but actually runs at the speed of light, or as Bill Gates puts it, at the speed of thought. How do you keep up with instant news? A simple rule of victory in racing is ‘start fast and keep accelerating’. Yet much training and strategy for crisis communication is the opposite.
How do you gain traction quickly? You start fast and keep accelerating.
Start Fast – to gain traction
If your organization is experiencing an incident, communicate immediately. Get out of the gate fast:
- Require immediate notification by operators, so you know what is happening as soon as they do.
- Evaluate stakeholder impact and concerns from the incident as quickly as possible.
- Brief leadership on your Incident Evaluation so they understand and support aggressive stakeholder communication.
- Publish an Initial Statement, using facts from the notification call, plus key messages that match your Incident Evaluation.
- Email to identified stakeholders, publish to your organization’s website and social media accounts to share the Initial Statement.
- Publish first, then call in reinforcements! Get the Initial Statement out and then mobilize the rest of your team.
- Activate an Inquiry Management process to capture stakeholder concerns and deliver consistent messages.
- Publish an Update Statement!
- Publish available background material (FAQs, Fact Sheets, Graphics) for stakeholder understanding
- Provide media management helps to all employees, both management and field
- Wash, rinse and repeat until you….
- Join the JIC (this is about the time Unified Command is forming in earnest)
Congratulations! You’ve conducted a fast start! Now, embark on an information acceleration curve, adding staffing resources and product as available.
Keep Accelerating – to use your traction
Many responses will not escalate to Unified Command, so you may be on your own for all ongoing response communication. If the response isn’t rolling into Unified Command, now is time for you to develop your ongoing Public Information Plan. This is an expanded version of your initial evaluation, in both time and scope. As additional communication resources come online for you, you need this roadmap to place them where they’ll have the greatest impact. Take the time to build this plan, then place people where they’re most qualified and release them to perform.
Share the Public Information Plan with response leaders to ensure understanding of the critical role stakeholder communication will play in the response and recovery stages. This will help with approvals, cooperation in press or public meetings and in mobilizing the resources you’ll need to stay in front in the communication battle.
If Unified Command does form, the JIC will form at the same time, and new players will come in the room to join the effort. They will start from a standstill, as positions are determined, approval process set, Incident Command consulted about a release schedule, and Unified Command product is developed, approved and released.
The fast start you’ve performed will provide the only content to get stakeholders through this ‘start up’ time. It may also provide a communications momentum to foster faster processes in the JIC.
- Your initial response objectives may endure, particularly if they’re based on the ICS 201 form
- Initial distribution platforms and stakeholder contacts may persist if they’ve been used and are being accessed by stakeholders
- Publicly announced events will likely persist. They won’t be cancelled.
- Posted content will endure: FAQs will be maintained, Fact Sheets will be retained, Incident Updates will persist as they are the communication history of the response.
The most key resource for a quick transition will be the incident evaluation you’ve conducted (Start Fast). If you have demonstrated a commitment to early communication activities (measured in product), they can be a foundation for the JIC; your early work will allow a faster creation and adoption of a JIC Public Information Plan.
JIC or no JIC, your fast start and continuing acceleration provide the best hope of maintaining a voice in response communication. Early content that is well received gathers stakeholders for additional sharing. Your speed will allow your organization to retain the right to share information. You will remain relevant to stakeholders, and you can build that relevance with continued information that only the response organization can provide.
Don’t give your voice away. Win the race to relevance. Start fast, and keep accelerating.
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