|
HTML clipboardIn 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." |
