The coronavirus has changed business communication forever. In most cases, this comes in the form of a reassuring email from employers, service providers or professional organizations about changes that have to be made or events that have been cancelled or are being postponed. Many of these emails begin with phrases such as “In an abundance of caution …” or “Because your safety and well-being are our top priority …”
Most of us skim these emails, take note of any substantive changes, update our calendars if necessary, move on with our days and forget the exchange. Mundane as that sounds, that’s a best-case scenario for corporate communication in times of crisis.
Our agency had an up close and personal experience with coronavirus communications when a bad communications plan landed one of our senior executives in a mandatory work-from-home situation. Here is her first-person account …
I recently went to Boston for work, checked in and thought I was having an uneventful trip – until late Friday. As we were wrapping up our meetings for the day, we were informed that nine days earlier an event had been held at a well-known national hotel chain and there were cases of coronavirus confirmed among those attendees. The hotel tried to assure us there was no risk to our health, the event had been held days before our own event began and no hotel staff had been affected. The hotel claimed that they had only just been informed about the outbreak and had been maintaining higher-than-average cleaning processes since the virus was first reported in the U.S. The underlying message was clearly “there’s nothing to worry about.”
Breaking bad news at the end of the day on a Friday is a well-known tactic among PR and communications people. I started to get irritated. Then I did a simple media scan to see if and what other information was out there. The Boston Globe already had a story up on the outbreak. The hotel had no comment.
I was angry and packed my bags to check out – two days earlier than my original booking. While I spoke with the hotel’s front desk, verifying that I wouldn’t be subject to fees or penalties for the early departure, the staff was moving so quickly that it was clear they didn’t want the people in line to check in behind me to hear our exchange.
Now, days later, I am the one calling the hotel for information. No proactive outreach on their part. I am the one following the news to see if hotel staff is still virus-free. No word from the hotel.
Had I been told at check-in about the situation, I would have happily relocated to another hotel in the area – there is no shortage of other options. Had I seen the front desk telling the people checking in about the concern, I would have sympathized. Had I gotten even one email or call since checkout, I could have given them the benefit of the doubt in dealing with a difficult situation.
Learn from the mistakes of others and consider these three points in your communications.
- Break your own bad news. Brands build loyalty in times of crisis if it’s handled well and it controls the narrative. The newspaper is the last place you want your stakeholders to get the information you should have given.
- Don’t downplay. The impact of your news on your stakeholders is not for you to decide. Provide the facts and don’t assume or assign the feelings that follow.
- Overcommunicate. Stay in communication with your stakeholders until the crisis has passed. It’s better to provide too much information as opposed to too little.
Coronavirus communication has monopolized our time for the last several weeks. Our senior executive’s account really brought it close to home.
Recent Comments