A Guide for Crisis Communications

This practical guide will help you improve your employee, customer and partner communications during the Covid-19 crisis. Covering the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘how to communicate’, which ‘channels to use’ and some useful examples, create a better experience through effective communications.

Guide Content Links

Identify your target audiences
Communicating with your Employees
Communicating with your Customers
Communicating with your Partners/Business ecosystem
Evaluating your communications

1. Identify your target audiences

During a crisis people need information and reassurance and it’s important to understand that you have different audiences with different needs. Your target audiences are:

Your employees
Your customers
Your partners & business eco-system; vendors, supply chain, shareholders, financial backers, industry regulators and others

2. Communicating with your Employees

Employee communications during such an uncertain time should not just be focused on providing information and updates but should also extend to the human elements and show empathy.

Communications should be attentive to employees’ well being, promote physical safety and good mental health. Business leaders must be open to collect ideas, concerns and sentiment.

What to communicate

Explain how the current situation is impacting the organisation and explain what responses are being put in place:

Contingency measures
Strategic decisions and priorities
How operations will be managed
How teams will organise to make adjustments to routine business activities.

Communicate the introduction of new ways of remote working:

How any necessary training will be conducted
How any applications that are needed will be setup
The type of environment required
Explain any new policies around security and data access

Advise on new arrangements for teams, projects and tasks:

Key priorities for teams and individuals, setting goals and planning
Projects/campaigns being redirected, postponed or adjusted
Roles and responsibilities for tasks and projects in the new environment
How you will capture and clarify new requirements and proposals
The process for how you will discuss new ideas and make decisions
How you will share content
How best to communicate on task-related questions

Explain how performance will be managed:

Monitoring progress
Providing on-going feedback
Clarify and track commitments
Check accountability

Advise on the support available for remote workers and how best to stay healthy and how to “stay safe”:

Setting boundaries between work and private life
Structuring a work routine and sticking to a schedule
Having regular breaks
Avoiding distractions and procrastination
Going outside (but in line with the Government’s measures

Advise on ways for employees to collaborate and interact with each other (especially relevant to employees who live alone):

Connecting team members
Facilitating creativity
Creating alignment
Virtual social bonding

Don’t forget to advise on how you will manage any recruitment and on-boarding going forward.

How to communicate

Communicating regularly is paramount. Use a language and style that all your employees can comprehend. Show compassion in your communications.

Ensure that your communications demonstrate that leaders are visible, accessible and in control. They should come across as credible, trustworthy and able to build resilience.

Leadership communications must be clear and transparent: be clear about what you know, what you do not know and what you are doing to learn more. You should show that leaders are following the situation and adjusting their responses as they learn more. For leadership communications ensure there is one source of truth.

Managers should also speak with their teams and reports daily (schedule regular meetings) to keep an on-going connection and morale high. They need to, motivate, lead and create a sense of belonging.

Examples of Employee Communications

Channels to use

Whilst there is a wide range of channels for employee communications, it is important to be clear about the role of each platform and what you are trying to achieve.

There should be a mix of more formal and informal channels:

Emails, newsletters and similar are for “important” or official communications, Covid-19 related updates, security/safety/compliance/travel/leave policies
Video conferencing and other “in person” tools are for team meetings, informal chats and coffee breaks or water-cooler conversations, creating engagement, discussing and making important decisions, addressing personal issues
Messaging on internal communications platforms are for quick decisions, sharing content and contacts, notifications, communications around specific projects, campaigns, tasks, keeping momentum
Project management platforms are for assigning projects, tasks, roles and responsibilities, monitoring progress

3. Communicating with your Customers

With the customer journey shifting in many sectors from an off-line or partial digital experience to a full online experience, you need to map the new journey touch points and review your communications accordingly. Communications need to reassure your customers that you are reacting to the crisis and leading a way forward. Also, that you have not forgotten their needs and appreciate their loyalty.