Crisis communication is a pain in the a**, especially because being proactive is not the norm. Most companies don’t start planning for a crisis until it’s already happened.
The most important thing to remember is: the way you talk to people in the first few hours and days matters just as much as how you fix the problem.
The reality is, with a crisis, most organizations make the same five mistakes…so here is our handy dandy list for you to bookmark and then put in your crisis plan.
Oh…you don’t have one. We got you, book a meeting with Bode, we can help – yes, you gotta pay for the meeting; we don’t work for free.
Mistake 1: Pretending Perception Doesn’t Matter
What people believe happened is your reality in a crisis. If your customers, employees, or the public think you messed up, you messed up. Crisis communication is about knowing the perception, and then responding to THAT, not what you know to be the truth.
- The fix: Own the mistake, acknowledge your actions, and explain clearly what you are doing to make it right. Defensiveness never works.
Mistake 2: Giving Mixed Messages
When leadership, legal, employees, and PR aren’t on the same page, the public is gonna get mixed signals and conflicting stories. If you do not prep your people and educate them on the consequences of miscommunication, you’re gonna make a sh*tty situation worse.
- The fix: Get everyone aligned on the facts and the timeline before speaking publicly. Do NOT forget your internal team – your employees should never find out about company news from a headline or social media post.
Mistake 3: Waiting Too Long to Speak Up
Waiting to have every single detail ironed out before acknowledging, owning, and fixing is a huge mistake. Silence doesn’t make the problem go away; it feeds rumors, and outside speculation takes over the story.
- The fix: Put out a succinct, honest holding statement. Acknowledge the issue, state what you know, share what you’re doing right now, and tell people when to expect the next update.
Mistake 4: Owning or Acknowledging Without an Action Plan
Admitting your role, whatever it may be, without offering a fix is what people call “lip service.” On the flip side, promising things you can’t deliver will ruin your credibility.
- The fix: Pair your statement with concrete steps. Tell people what you’re doing, what happens next, and the steps you’re taking to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
Mistake 5: Moving On Without Learning Anything
Once the crisis passes, everyone just wants to get back to normal work, which makes total sense – but if you don’t review the situation, assess how it happened, and then put a process or procedures in place, you’re probably gonna f*ck up again.
- The fix: Run a post-incident debrief, or as we call it: post-mortem. Dig into what broke down, update your crisis playbooks, and make sure everyone knows their role for the future.
Navigating a crisis comes down to OAF: own your role, acknowledge the situation, and fix it. You can’t stop bad things from happening, but you can have a plan, a trained team, and the right process to minimize the losses. What matters is how you handle them – and that’s what people will remember.
