The 7 Must-Haves for Your Executive Crisis Communication Procedures

[Editor’s Note: Columnist Mark Weiner will return next month.]

Liz Liberman, Senior Product Development Director, Cision

When a crisis hits, the volume of news can be overwhelming. Enter coronavirus. The firehose of content is on full blast, streaming directly at executives from every angle: peers, investors, board members and more.

If you have been tasked with distilling this information for leadership, the project can seem daunting. While most communications departments are experts at putting information into the world, many may be struggling now to invert the process. The quality of news varies considerably, so leadership teams need to know they can trust your communication as the gold standard.

The most critical step in managing the information flow up to leadership happens before the crisis hits. Organizations need to build infrastructure for executive crisis communication in advance. As many are learning now, if you wait until the volume of information is as gargantuan as coronavirus news, you’ll scramble to react.

It’s crucial to establish your crisis communication processes in advance.
SOP
To be prepared for any crisis, develop standard operating procedures (SOP) and revisit them quarterly or at least semi-annually.