Oct. 29, 2008 at 12:03pm

Making the best of the worst:

Communicating in times of crisis

Posted by Shari Campbell in Community Relations, Declassified, Media Relations
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“The government surveyor approved our process.” “We don’t want to sound apologetic.” “He shouldn’t have been doing that!”

When faced with a tragedy or difficult issue, it’s not uncommon for finger pointing to spread through an organization like wildfire.

Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Pride, ego and emotion sometime get in the way of clear thinking. But when an employee suffers a serious workplace injury or a patient dies at your hospital for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, think about how you would feel if it was your spouse/mother/child who had been harmed.

How does this change your statement to the press or your letter to employees?

A little bit of humility goes a long way. Sorry seems to be the hardest word to say – yet when we say this simple word, it comforts family members and it demonstrates publicly a posture of humility rather than blame or defensiveness. Consider:

“The loss of your sister was devastating to our staff, all of whom cared deeply for her.”

“We’re sorry this tragic accident happened.”

Remember accountability and action. In this era of transparency and financial market meltdowns, the public expects organizations to be accountable for their mistakes and to take action to fix problems. And like humility, demonstrating accountability and action will help your organization weather the media storm and serve to shorten the news cycle. Two quick examples:

“We will immediately begin a top-to-bottom review of our safety practices.”

“We are investigating what happened. We will take corrective action, which includes reviewing our policies and holding additional staff training to make sure this type of incident cannot happen again.”

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