In the shock wave of a catastrophe such as the
September 11 terrorist attacks, companies find
themselves having to react to events moving at
disorienting speed. There's little time to neatly tailor
the message for the various constituencies to which
management must speak -- not just the employees and
their families, but also investors and customers. And
according to some corporate communications experts, it
may be better to not even try. Instead, the secret of
crisis communications may be to speak to the diverse
stakeholders with one clear, focused, timely message.
“I'm a big believer in the idea that internal and
external communications need to be strongly linked,"
says Linda Grosso, a veteran corporate communications
specialist with Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a New York-based
consulting firm.
But it's all the more acute in a crisis, when the
interests of all these different people tend to blend
together. Once you get the question of whether people
are safe from harm, you get into other questions -- what
does this mean from an economic standpoint for the
company, and for me? The employee is wondering, 'Is my
job safe? Can I go back to work, and when?' The investor
is worrying about whether the company is going to be
able to do business. And the customer is worried about
whether he's going to get the things he needs to buy. So
a lot of the messages you would send to them are the
same as what you're trying to send to the employees."
Additionally, there's a good chance that investors and
customers will see whatever messages a company puts out
to employees -- especially if they're distributed
through the company's Web site, the latest trend in
crisis communications.
The most critical challenge in speaking to all these
audiences, Grosso says, is establishing a sense of
trust. To that end, it's vital for management not to
blow its credibility by putting out incorrect or
confusing information. "Until you understand the scope
of a situation, you don't want to do a lot of detailed
communication," Grosso explains. "You should get the
first-stage message out as quickly as possible, but it
should be brief. Basically, you say that you're on top
of the situation, that you're concerned about employees'
safety and welfare. You're doing everything possible to
get more information, and you'll share more as soon as
it's available."
Once the company has compiled and provided a list of
survivors and casualties, the emphasis should quickly
shift. "You have to get the double message out that
'we're here for you,' and at the same time that 'we're
all going forward.' One of the things I've seen
companies communicate effectively to people who've lost
coworkers, or lost their homes, or whatever, is that
they're sensitive to their needs, and flexible, and that
they're going to help. At the same time, they were also
putting out the message that they're going to get people
back to work as soon as possible. Those two things
actually fit together -- you have to address people's
needs so they can focus on their work, and getting back
to one's routine can be very healing, in itself." That
dual message speaks positively to investors and
customers as well, even if it's not directly addressed
to them. Says Grosso: "The key thing is to get people to
feel that the company has a plan to take care of them."
The final phase of crisis communication, says Grosso, is
to provide some closure. "One company I know of is
thinking about eventually putting out a special internal
magazine, highlighting what employees have done to cope
with the crisis, and recognizing their contribution. I
think that's a really nice idea. It acknowledges the
fact that they've all been through this terrible event
that we'll never be able to forget. But also that it's
time for us all to move on."
Source: Patrick J Kiger link