Communications In a Time of Crisis Isn’t About Transparency – It’s About Hope

If you worked in any form of communications about a decade ago, you may well remember it happening. You arrive at the office. Innocent as a dove. You open your laptop, take that first sip of coffee - and there it is.

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Transparent.

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If you blinked and missed it the first time it hit your emails, you wouldn't have the 300th time someone proclaimed the 'T' word across the conference room in their own Plymouth Rock moment.

It was far from a new concept, but transparency and the practice of being transparent began to dominate how businesses operated and communicated. Particularly when it came to employee and stakeholder engagement. And although you may not have heard or even thought about the word since year 3 science class, the fact of the matter was, transparency was suddenly cropping up 3-4 times a week. A bit like your new back problems.

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And therein lies the challenge. How can we incorporate the pillar of honesty in our communications when it's a sudden, sharp paradigm shift?

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A little too close to translucent, transparency almost feels synonymous with empty. Or worse: trendy. Synonymous with C-Suites attending workshops about how to be more authentic (no, really, that happens). Synonymous with saying too much of one thing, and not enough of another.

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This isn't a case against transparency - or a case for concealment. Instead, it's a case for shifting how we think about open communication, equal communication. Communication that informs, assures, drives action. Particularly in a time of crisis.

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Hope in leadership, leadership in hope

Defining exactly what 'hope' is, is close to trying to explain a feeling, or scent. It's vague in its certainty, distinct and nondescript - yet overwhelmingly recognisable as a universal sensation.

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It might sound simplistic, but hope can significantly inform how we feel, think and act, particularly when it's hope imparted through leadership. So it's natural to say that it can also inform the behaviours of your stakeholders and employees too.

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Let's start at the top. Before all the strategic media relations and considered touchpoints, you need a specific type of message. We've wrung out the potential of personalised communications in employee engagement, but when faced with a risk- or even fear-based situation, no one will care about their name at the top of an email.

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Crafting tailored communications will help provide you with the clarity and longevity you're looking for. It's about effective messaging, coming from a single source, that feels true and accurate. This is your anchor point. Where you are building from. The benchmark to your internal comms' success - or not - at crisis point. No pressure.

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If you had to throw the rest out, the one priority here is to create connection. If we were to break it down in plain terms for your business, it might look a bit like this:

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Acknowledgement -> Impact -> Focus -> Action -> Intended Outcome.

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There are variations of this algorithm, rules and exceptions to look out for. But in terms of a fundamental approach, this could be the baseline to work from.

And on that note…

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The universal goal

Point blank, your communications need to work for you. Hard. Evolving alongside your BCP is good, looking beyond it is better, encouraging others to play a role is best.

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That's not to encourage you to create a champion scheme. Please don't do that. To one side, it looks like extra admin, to the other, it looks like shirking responsibility, and those badge icons at the bottom of an email won't boost engagement.

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It's about the shared vision, or universal goal of your company. It takes that solutions-first focus, the messaging relaying what your company is for, not against, and raising it with employee-backed incentive.

Opportunity.

Opportunity will create momentum. To take real action with a visible or demonstratable outcome will help your business' communications take on a life of their own. Mobilising stakeholders and employees comes from mobilising hope. Mobilising hope is turning your focus beyond the confines of the present, to the autonomy of creating the ideal step forward.

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That's the incentive, by the way. Not a slice of pizza at the end of the quarter.

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The right words for the right reasons

The final word here? This isn't about the 'right' words for the sake of it. It's about the right words for the right reasons.

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We aren't striving for an idealistic, criticism-free process. We're preparing for all potential receptions to your crisis communications, and embracing the breadth of what that might be to strategically determine next steps.

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Meaningful communications is reflective of a company's culture. It’s an exercise in your directorate's ability to connect with and listen to employees, and to use those insights to create a more informed place of work. It's an effort to take you from where you are, to where you want to be.

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That's a universal goal in itself.

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