Crisis communications 101

How do you handle communications in a crisis?

How do you handle communications in a crisis? I won’t intellectualize this much. Here are four steps:

1. Research publicly available information and the state of play. Check past instances, similar issues, etc., and see how it played out. State the issue clearly.

2. Gather the leadership team to collect facts and views. Depending on the issue, this can include founders, CXOs, heads of legal, compliance, policy, marketing, etc.

3. Draft a rough document that covers potential responses and a plan to reach the audience. Anticipate difficult questions and align on reactions.

4. Arrive at a final response. This will be your base document. Trigger outreach, and update the crisis manual if you have one.

Note 1: Your response should cover as many questions as possible and an FAQ. If you leave room for follow-ups, you’ll be distracted while you try to get out in front of the issue.

Note 2: Take help from the social team to collect and respond to specific queries referring to the base document. Don’t forget to keep employees posted. Remind them not to speak directly to the media or on social.