🔒Expert’s Corner: The need for speed in crisis communications can create a new crisis

 

Want to know how to make a crisis worse? Give in to the pressure to respond too quickly without knowing the whole story.

United Airlines learned that lesson when it gave a defensive reaction to the video of a passenger being dragged from an overbooked flight. They referred to it as “re-accommodating” the passenger and blamed him for being “disruptive and belligerent.” OpenAI got schooled after its board removed its CEO suddenly and without adequately consulting major stakeholders or the public. And what about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s praise of law enforcement after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, before learning that they took over an hour to confront the shooter? In all three cases, the pressure of the moment took over, and they responded too quickly. It’s completely understandable. Today’s 24-hour news cycle, coupled with nonstop social media and the push for transparency, all conspire to tell communicators that they must respond on the spot. However, in many cases, we’ve seen that such pressure causes those handling the public face of a crisis to react too quickly, thereby creating a new and potentially more complex situation. Today’s need for speed can be your enemy when it comes to formulating the most productive crisis response. In a survey of crisis communications pros, the need to react too quickly was cited as one of the chief obstacles to successfully handling a crisis. From experience, I can tell you that a too-quick response can create more problems. Why? Because in the first moments of a crisis, you don’t know the whole story. The situation remains fluid and is likely to change over time. Chances are, the people in the organization, especially those at the top, are reacting emotionally. All they want is for the communications professional to “just make it go away!” Crisis communications veterans know that a timely response is a must. Today, people expect organizations to respond as quickly as the story appears on their phones. So, yes, timely is good. A timely response positions the company as aware of the crisis, concerned about its impact and capable of responding. The key is being timely, not knee-jerk.

Information gathering

Before creating an initial public statement, communicators need a moment to collect as much information as possible. They need to understand what information is already out there, where the conversation is happening, who has been impacted, and who needs to hear from the organization right away. And they need to know what information those affected by the crisis need to hear. Once the communicator has some perspective on the situation, they will create an initial responder statement. It should demonstrate concern, compassion and competency. Show concern for those affected, express compassion for any harm caused, and demonstrate the competency to manage the situation effectively. Most importantly, that initial response must leave room to adapt to the situation as it develops. That’s why a lot of these statements are often short, fact-based and restate what’s already confirmed through credible sources. People will decide whether a company is a villain, a victim or a vindicator in a crisis in the first few moments. Once they make that decision, changing it will be almost impossible. The goal for communicators is to position the people they represent as the vindicators — the ones who can fix the problem — from the very beginning. The bottom line is this: In a crisis, it’s tempting to act as quickly as possible to make it go away. But overreacting to satisfy that urge can and does create other problems. Take a moment. Take a breath. Gather your facts and your wits, and carefully construct your initial response. Remember that response will shape the way the rest of the crisis goes in the eyes of the people who are most important to a company’s reputation, today and tomorrow. Andrea Obston is the president of Connecticut-based Andrea Obston Marketing Communications.