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Crisis Communication Strategies for Leaders: Build Trust During Uncertainty

Crisis communication requires leaders to provide clarity even when circumstances are changing and complete answers are not yet available.

Employees, customers and other stakeholders want to understand what has happened, how it affects them and what they should expect next. When leaders wait too long, communicate inconsistently or avoid difficult information, uncertainty fills the gap.

Effective crisis communication does not require a perfect answer. It requires an accurate message, a credible messenger and a consistent process for sharing what is known, what remains uncertain and when additional information will be available.

In this episode of *What’s Your Story?*, Sally Williamson joins a panel of human resources and corporate communications leaders to discuss how organizations can communicate with honesty, empathy and confidence during a crisis.

Crisis communication requires leaders to provide clarity even when circumstances are changing and answers are incomplete. Employees, customers, and other stakeholders want to understand what is happening, what it means for them, and what comes next. In this episode of What’s Your Story, Sally Williamson and a panel of human resources and corporate communications leaders discuss how organizations can communicate with consistency, empathy, and credibility during periods of uncertainty.

Crisis Communication Strategies for Leaders: Why Consistency Matters in Crisis Communication

As we focus on a pandemic around the world, we are all searching for information and for answers. On a personal level, we’re relying on our government and our media to share what’s happening. It’s an unprecedented topic and a new normal in our homes, schools and our lives. But we also wonder about our professional lives. And companies have to interpret the impact of that new normal for employees. In most companies, that calls up the communications and human resources teams to activate or develop a crisis communication plan.

What Is Crisis Communication?

SW&A hosted a special panel with some of our colleagues and friends, who know how to manage crisis communications. You’ll hear insights and best practices on what employees and customers need and want during trying times. It takes clarity in ambiguity, confidence in uncertainty and some guidance and advice from those who’ve been there a time or two.

More About Our Panel

Patti Wilmot: former HR Leader – Patti has over twenty years’ experience as a former-chief human resources officer. She has helped create award-winning leadership development programs focused on creating a “bench” of future leaders. She brings expertise in assessing talent, improving the effectiveness of leadership teams and helping leaders leverage their strengths to improve effectiveness and impact.

Steve Soltis: former Executive Communications Leader – Steve is a senior adviser with MAS Leadership Communication. Soltis recently retired from The Coca-Cola Company, where he led both executive and internal communication for the past 11 years. In his role at Coca-Cola, Soltis was responsible for orchestrating the company\’s entire C-suite executive visibility efforts and for formulating its employee communication strategies and execution.

Francie Schulwolf: Former Communications Leader at InterContinental Hotel Group – Francie’s focus is on developing strong, confident communicators. With close to twenty-five years of global, corporate experience in advertising, marketing and communications, she is intimately familiar with the demands executives face. This understanding, along with her honest and warm style, create a safe and comfortable environment for individuals to learn and grow.

Sally Williamson: Founder of SW&A – Sally is a leading resource for improving the impact of spoken communications. She has developed key messages and coached leaders and their teams to deliver them effectively for more than thirty years. Sally specializes in executive coaching and developing custom programs for groups across company verticals.

Show Highlights:

What is the picture of success? What do you want to achieve through this situation?
How can businesses leverage this situation? How to win hearts and minds.
What is your central message and who are your stakeholders?
Know how your employees are doing, understand what your consumers are needing to hear.
Timing is critical and consistency is key.
Address compensation as best as possible for employees. Be honest with your messaging, if you don’t know the answer let employees know.
You can be just as clear about what you know and what you don’t know.
Always show unity with leadership and re-enforce it in your messaging.
Figure out who are your best messengers who can clearly communicate. Be in constant contact with your employees.
Come out with messaging that connects with your brand and your culture.
How to construct a plan that shows a picture of success – do this through employee engagement and build off of that.
How do you help a group think about clarity and how to understand it?
How do leaders deliver this messaging to their teams? There needs to be a means to get the message to them, let employees know and be consistent.
Front line people managers are incredibly important during this time, this is the time to step up and this is the time to reach out to employees.
Contact each individual employee frequently and know what is going on with your employees.
Even if you don’t have something to say to employees, still have that touch point to contact them frequently. Employee care is incredibly important. Keep morale up.
Make sure your employees hear about what you are doing before the public knows.
Get senior leadership out, touching base with employees personally.
Learn to develop manager talking points from leadership.
What companies are doing a good job with communicating their message through the crisis?
Clarity of truth is important. Not all companies can give good news.
This is the moment that will define your leadership.
It’s overwhelming as a leader right now, leaders need to be the calming force and utilize empathy.
Leaders need to be able to send information both ways, up to higher leadership and down to employees.
Don’t let a world wide crisis become your crisis, do everything with kindness and with accurate information.
Ask people how they are and if they know what they are supposed to be doing during this time.
How we treat our team members now will come back to us.

How to Create an Effective Crisis Communication Plan

The most effective crisis communication begins before an organization is in crisis.

Leaders may not be able to anticipate every event, but they can determine how information will be verified, who will make communication decisions and how employees and external stakeholders will receive updates.

A crisis communication plan gives the organization a starting point when time is limited and emotions are high. It reduces the risk of conflicting messages and helps leaders focus on the people affected by the situation.

Define the Picture of Success

Before developing a message, determine what the communication needs to accomplish.

The immediate goal may be to protect employees, maintain operations, correct inaccurate information or explain a significant organizational decision. Over time, the goal may shift toward restoring confidence, rebuilding relationships or helping people understand what the organization has learned.

A clear picture of success keeps crisis communication focused. It prevents the organization from responding to every question with disconnected information.

Ask:

What do we need people to understand?
What action should they take?
What concerns must we address?
What would maintain or restore trust?
What does the organization want to be known for when the crisis has passed?

These questions help leaders communicate with purpose rather than simply reacting to pressure.

Build a Clear Central Message

During a crisis, leaders often have more information than an audience can absorb.

The central message should give people the clearest possible understanding of the situation. It should explain what happened, why it matters and what the organization is doing about it.

That message becomes the anchor for every communication channel. Supporting details may change for employees, customers, investors or community members, but the organization’s central position should remain consistent.

At SW&A, we organize communication around Content, Style and Situation. During a crisis, all three matter.

The content must be accurate and relevant. The leader’s style must communicate confidence without minimizing the seriousness of the moment. The situation determines the timing, channel, level of detail and emotional tone the audience needs.

Separate What Is Known From What Is Unknown

Leaders sometimes delay communication because they do not have every answer. But silence can create more anxiety than an incomplete update.

Be specific about what has been confirmed. Acknowledge what remains uncertain and explain how the organization is working to find the answer.

A useful crisis message can include:

What we know now
What we do not yet know
What we are doing
What we need employees or stakeholders to do
When the next update will be provided

Saying “we do not know yet” can be credible when it is followed by a clear commitment to investigate and communicate again.

Speculation is more damaging than uncertainty. Leaders should avoid filling gaps with assumptions simply because the audience wants immediate answers.

Understand Each Stakeholder’s Perspective

Different audiences experience the same crisis differently.

Employees may be concerned about safety, compensation or job security. Customers may want to know whether products and services will continue. Investors may focus on financial exposure and recovery. Managers may need practical direction for leading their teams.

A single announcement will rarely answer every stakeholder’s questions.

The crisis communication team should identify each priority audience and determine:

What does this group already know?
How does the situation affect them?
What are they most concerned about?
What information can be shared?
Who should deliver the message?
Which channel will reach them effectively?
When will they need another update?

Beginning with the audience’s perspective helps the organization communicate relevant information instead of simply repeating what leaders want to say.

Prepare Managers as Crisis Communicators

Employees frequently turn to their direct managers to interpret organizational messages.

That makes people managers an essential part of internal crisis communication. They need enough information to explain what has happened, reinforce the organization’s message and respond appropriately to employee concerns.

Provide managers with clear talking points, anticipated questions and guidance on what should be escalated. Tell them which details are confirmed and which information should not be interpreted or expanded.

Managers should not be expected to invent answers.

They should also have a way to share questions and employee reactions with senior leadership. Crisis communication must move in both directions. Leaders need to understand what employees are hearing, fearing and misunderstanding so future communication can address those concerns.

Establish a Consistent Communication Rhythm

Frequent crisis communication is useful only when it has purpose.

Sending repeated messages with no new information can overwhelm an audience. Waiting until every detail changes can allow uncertainty and rumors to spread.

Tell stakeholders when they should expect another update, even if the next communication may simply confirm that the situation has not changed.

A predictable rhythm gives people a reliable source of information. It also reduces the pressure on managers and communications teams to respond individually to every question.

Consistency should extend across channels. Employees should not learn significant company news from the media, customers or social platforms before hearing it from leadership.

Choose the Right Messenger

The person delivering a crisis message influences how it is received.

A senior executive may be the appropriate messenger when the issue affects the entire organization or requires visible accountability. An operational leader may be better prepared to explain a technical response. A direct manager may be the most credible person to clarify how a decision affects an individual team.

The messenger must understand more than the approved language. They should understand the audience, the emotional weight of the situation and the purpose of the communication.

Preparation should include practicing the message, anticipating difficult questions and ensuring that verbal delivery supports the intended tone.

Continue Communicating Through Recovery

Crisis communication should not end when the immediate disruption is resolved.

Employees and stakeholders may still have questions about what happened, what has changed and whether the organization has addressed the underlying problem.

Explain what the organization learned. Identify actions taken and acknowledge commitments that remain incomplete. If earlier information changed, clarify why.

The recovery period after crisis communication is also an opportunity to evaluate the crisis communication plan. Review which channels worked, where messages became inconsistent, what audiences were overlooked and how quickly managers received the information they needed.

Crisis communication shapes how people remember a leader and an organization. They may not expect leaders to have every answer immediately. But they will remember whether leaders were visible, honest, empathetic and consistent when the answers mattered most.

SW&A helps executives and leadership teams develop clear messages, prepare credible messengers and communicate effectively through moments of uncertainty and change, including crisis communication.