Stock Up on Hand Sanitizer, Toilet Paper, and Your Crisis Communication Plan
This month I’m co-writing with my daughter Isabelle, who is a junior communication major at Lipscomb University.
If this whole coronavirus mayhem has taught me anything, it’s that we seriously have no idea what is going to hit church leaders next and that panic spreads worse than the virus. At this point, I really, really hate surprises. As your self-appointed communication evangelist, I’m offering a simple top 10 crisis communication plan for churches. Using the following guidelines will help your church avoid the potentially derailing shock period and get you through the first couple of days.
Foundation Work: Have you ever heard that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; and the next best time is today? The same is true about preparing for a crisis.
1. Establish a crisis team. This crisis team is responsible for communication decisions and messages prior to a crisis as well as during the crisis. I suggest two elders, one or two staff members, a communication professional, and an attorney. Put some subject matter experts on standby and activate as needed. It’s also good to tag one younger and one older church member to gauge perception and feedback. Your group needs to be able to move quickly, so avoid a large number and decide who makes the final decision if there isn’t consensus. Maintain a current contact list so the team can be quickly activated and provide an updated list every six months or so.
2. The first job of your crisis team is to plan for bad stuff to happen and assign specific responsibilities: spokesperson, writer, news/social media monitor, fact finder, editor. The question on the table is, “What would we need to do if ___________________ happened?” Common crises include natural disasters, shootings, sudden staff changes, racism, sexism, criminal activity by staff or member, sexual misconduct by staff or member, sexual predatory activity by staff or member … oh yeah, or a virus. While scenario planning is outside my expertise, it should be included in your crisis preparations as well.
3. The spokesperson for the church needs to be someone who is articulate and poised, uses excellent grammar, and has media training. Communicate to the rest of the church that this is the designated spokesperson. If the media contacts anyone else, instructions are to pass them along to the spokesperson. Remember, this is a crisis; you can’t afford for someone to accidentally inflame the situation or escalate the rumor mill by allowing anyone else to speak for the church publicly. Develop a church policy for dealing with the media and put it in the bulletin every few months, just so people know who the church spokesperson is and what to do.
4. Once a crisis happens, get the facts and monitor news and social media. If the crisis is public (such as in a public arrest or shooting) and likely to attract media attention, put out a holding statement during the first 30 minutes, using the appropriate channel to your target audience. “We are aware of the situation and are gathering facts. We will provide updates for our members and media as soon as possible. All questions should be directed to our church spokesperson.” Provide a name and contact information. This is not the time to apologize, no matter what happened, although that may be required after you get the facts.
5. Identify your target audience. Does this issue primarily concern your church family, the public, or a specific victim? Determining your target audience will determine the appropriate channel to use for your message and audience order. Shepherds and staff need to be fully informed first, before updates go out to other audiences, even if it’s a quick heads-up text. If the target audience is public, get the message out to the church leaders and church members before you send it to the media. It may also be appropriate to provide a frequently asked questions (FAQ) list and talking points for elders, staff, and/or church members to easily answer questions. This equips people for individual conversations, not an interview, and keeps everyone on the same page.
6. What is needed in the next six hours, next two days, next week? Strategize for the appropriate timeline and delegate jobs to your team, with appropriate check-ins to make sure people are making progress. Coordinate with other subject matter experts such as your disaster relief team, counselors, or others as appropriate.
7. Determine what your message priorities are for this situation, develop those talking points, and stick to them. Do you need to verify facts, refute pervasive rumors, apologize for misconduct? Never, never, never speculate. If you are asked a question and you don’t absolutely know the answer or cannot share it, say, “I’ll find out and get back to you,” or, “We will let you know as soon as we can.”
8. It is important to get ahead of the story. People will start digging into the crisis and may create rumors because they crave more information. It is important for you to continue your fact finding, making sure you are aware of all the details of the crisis and can prepare for any further problems. Your goal is to prevent what is called a slow bleed. A slow bleed is when more and more bad news is uncovered and leaked after the initial crisis. Stay on top of the media so you are aware of what the public knows and never give them new negative information right out of the gate. To be clear, never hide information but you don’t have reveal everything in the first 30 minutes. The church’s reputation will deteriorate exponentially if you are hiding information for an extended period of time. Your job is to strategically decide how and when to handle that information with the idea of separating the crisis from the church.
9. If you need to apologize, do it as soon as possible after you have the facts. Now is not the time to be defensive, although you shouldn’t apologize for something the church isn’t responsible for. Research shows many public apologies are sadly inadequate and can realistically do even more damage to an organization’s reputation. Be sincere, respectful, honest, and timely. Pair the apology with next steps for preventing a repeat incident, but don’t make guarantees that are out of your control like, “A child will never die again by auto accident on a church trip.” If you have a specific victim, possibly from a sexual predator situation, your apology should go directly to the victim and victim’s family first. Deliver the apology in person. Then, because this issue involves the church at large, release the apology, along with mitigating and substantive next steps, to the group at large. There is an advantage to videoing the public apology since the nonverbal communication (65-90% of the message) carries the burden of the effectiveness.
10. Reach out for help from people who have been through a similar situation; their experiences are invaluable. Hope Network Ministries is my Church of Christ hotline; there isn’t a church situation that they haven’t experienced, and they are always willing to take a phone call at 214-364-9150. Another great resource is Cheryl Mann Bacon, from the Siburt Institute. Foster a positive working relationship with the media as well. Who do you know right now whom you can take to lunch and ask, “How can we be more prepared as a church to handle difficult issues appropriately?”
Bonus: Don’t let the situation hijack your identity as a church. Invite God into the middle of what is happening, asking directly for skill and guidance. Keep on mission with your language, ministries, and actions, even during the crisis.
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Special thanks to Dr. Alan Griggs, chair of the Department of Communication and Journalism at Lipscomb University, for allowing us to use information from his crisis communication course.
