There are safety concerns about your product. The neighbours don’t want your phone mast in their back yard. You need to tell the public what to do about the latest pandemic. These and many other similar challenges face spokespeople charged with communicating about risk. It’s tough enough talking to the media at the best of times, without people’s fears and concerns loading extra pressure on top.
To help succeed in this context, here are five tips related to the content of risk communication.
1) Provide practical advice – in uncertain times amidst wild speculation, one of the best things a spokesperson can do is provide reassurance by giving advice about things we do know, and actions we can take. Giving back a degree of control to the public helps them to cope better – and deal with the realities of the situation.
2) Content is king – spin and vague advice is unhelpful on a good day: in a crisis it can do great harm. People crave clarity, facts and information so they tune in tightly to the content of what spokespeople say and quickly dismiss or even discredit those with nothing valuable to add. Which lends credence to the old adage – “if you’ve got nothing useful to say, say nothing at all”
3) Avoid speculation and “fence-sitting” – speculation creates panic, often about the wrong thing. And fence-sitting (“it might be this, or it might be that”) is just a waste of time. Avoid these traps by majoring on facts and leaving the speculation to others.
4) Prepare well – effective media training teaches the power of key messages: never is this more relevant than in the case of risk communication. Your messages must be clearly prepared and communicated to avoid confusion. This means knowing your agenda before you face the media and ensuring that you communicate your messages with fluency and precision. And it’s simply irresponsible to put forward a spokesperson who stumbles over their words or who is unable to articulate themselves clearly during a crisis. It’s bad for them, bad for your organisation and bad for the public that needs to understand the situation better
5) Keep it simple – at a time of raised anxiety the need to speak plainly and without jargon or management speak is more important than ever. The public need to understand what they’re being told, so complex language should be avoided at all cost.
Risk communication is challenging. But with the right content you will have taken the first step to effectively informing and reassuring the public.
Communicating with Confidence
Many business people are affected by nerves when speaking in front of an audience: especially one which is made up of their colleagues! This can result in fluffed lines, hesitant body language or a shaky voice. Communication skills training can help to address these challenges and the following tips can also help to prevent and overcome the most common concerns.
Four Questions to Ask Before the CEO Faces the Media
In a crisis, should the chief executive be your media spokesperson? Putting the CEO forward as the face of the organisation should not be a kneejerk reaction: it should be a well considered decision designed to help the organisation communicate most effectively with its stakeholders and thereby protect its reputation.
Three Steps to Avoid Being on the Wrong End of a Media Encounter
It’s 10.15am, you’re in your office and the phone rings. You pick up and a voice says: “Hi, this is John Davis from the BBC, we’d like to ask you a few questions….” By now, your heart is racing and your mind is whirling. So what do you do?
