Why and how to craft an internal comms crisis plan

When disaster or a seismic change hits your organization, your first thought might be to calm customers, but don’t overlook your staff. They need reassurance—and can help with messaging.

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They send out strategic emails, work closely with PR and legal teams, and do all they can to mitigate the crisis—but are company leaders doing enough to communicate with employees?

Whether something goes awry within your company (for example, your CEO resigns) or outwardly with your customers (a security breach, perhaps), communicating with employees should be a top priority. In a crisis, you need your employees lending support.

You must address the fears of your team members, assure them you will move forward together, and give them the tools they need to communicate with their families, customers and one another.

A company crisis can take many forms, such as:

You must have a plan in place before a crisis hits.

Duke University shares its crisis communication plan on its website. This document outlines procedures, who will be in charge and where the crisis committee will meet. Should an emergency occur, the team at Duke will be ready to execute the plan.

Identify your employees’ chief concerns.

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