You Gotta Be Zen When Things Are Going Haywire
Newsletter #127
This Week
You’re the Calm in the Storm
ICYMI: Crisis Strategy From the Royals
Spotted…
Before We Go…
1. Calm in a Crisis: You Set the Tone
When an organizational crisis hits, tensions run high. As the communicator, you're juggling a million things: ensuring the situation has stabilized and everyone is safe, gathering the facts, coordinating a plan, fielding phone calls, and answering questions. It's a lot for anyone.
Understandably, you may be feeling stressed and overwhelmed yourself. And as the one delivering the message, it's possible that you're the target of others' anger, frustration, and panic. It's hard not to absorb those emotions.
But here's the most important thing to remember: As the communicator, your job is to set the tone.
Just as you're taking in the emotions of the situation around you, others are taking cues from you on how they should react. Your tone, body language, and word choices affect how others interpret your message. A calm, in-control communicator conveys confidence and builds trust that the situation is being handled. A frantic approach can send the story in the opposite direction.
2. ICYMI: Bundling Bad News
We’re talking crisis communications this week, and it reminded us of this previous EO Report story about a tactic used by Buckingham Palace in 2024. It was announced that two medical incidents were taking place: Kate was in the hospital and off duty and King Charles was expected to have surgery that same week.
One approach to sharing bad news stories is to bundle them together. What are the risks and rewards of this strategy? We explored.
3. Spotted
We recently had the opportunity to present at the Nebraska Early Childhood Collaborative’s Elevate Conference to a group of early childhood providers. We talked about crisis response and protecting your business’s reputation. (See a theme for this newsletter?).
Interested in having us put a course together for your organization? Let us know! Shoot us a note at erin@claritychannels.com.
4. Before We Go…
From The New York Times: What Steven Spielberg Taught Me About Fear,Catharsis, and Being Human
A profile on the storyteller of a generation. “Popular art has always bonded us to one another, no matter what might have been cleaving us apart, no matter how different our lives or how our responses to that art diverged. And Spielberg’s films have been a premium adhesive.”
“In a raw and emotional interview with the Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro, released Sunday, Pelley, who had been at CBS for 37 years, told his side of the story. Several times, he teared up. He said the whole affair felt ‘like your spouse was murdered.’”
“In another of a series of moves restricting media access at the Pentagon, the Defense Department has declared that its press office is now a classified space inaccessible to journalists.” The New York Times had previously successfully sued the department for barring access to journalists.