The Importance of Critical Communication
No organisation is immune to internal strife, criticism and other disasters, so having a solid critical communication plan in place is essential.
Organisations cannot ignore crises largely due to the existence of social media – everyone has a voice online and as such it is effortless to share opinions with a broad audience. Though bigger brands frequently garner more attention for their blunders, all businesses must be ready to handle crises. This underscores the necessity of having a solid crisis communications strategy.
In order to maximise the benefits of crisis communication, it is imperative to formulate a strategy before a crisis arises. Keeping all employees informed of what actions are being taken, along with constant monitoring and assessment of the situation is key in allowing for coordinated responses.
What Should an Effective Critical Communication Strategy Entail?
In an otherwise unpredictable and perplexing situation, the strategy should aim to offer clarity and direction to all stakeholders.
This is accomplished through some essential steps:
- Instilling confidence
- Building trust
- Clear and consistent communication
This allows the strategy to perform a critical role in helping to stabilise and guide the organisation during a crisis while successfully maintaining company continuity.
Frontline Critical Communication Challenges in a Crisis
The Brookings Institution identifies frontline workers as individuals who are, ‘employees within industries who must physically show up and be active in their jobs.’ But more than this, frontline employees rarely have access to computers, email, company intranet or other similar means of communication used by traditional desk-bound employees.
As such, it can be challenging to communicate with these workers in an efficient manner. By the nature of their work, frontline staff may struggle to keep up with company news, even during critical periods.
Additional limitations can include:
- Limited connections with leadership
- Inability to share their concerns and ideas
- Poor information access and peer support
- Potentially limited access to organisational systems
The Solution? Effective Critical Communication Management Systems
Crisis situations can strike at any time and making use of flexible and accessible multi-channel digital employee engagement solutions is essential to gaining the upper hand under complex circumstances. Keeping stakeholders connected and informed amid unsure crisis situations and rapidly providing vital information to sometimes scattered frontline staff while ensuring that limitations are minimised, is possible via digital solutions such as communication apps.
Directing and maintaining a clear communication flow not only allows for crisis to be resolved but can further build and protect organisational reputation.
Key Takeaways
A clearly communicated action strategy that answers employee concerns, considers risks, and enables the implementation of solutions that can handle an adverse situation in a positive way is the key to addressing crises effectively. A thorough, well-thought-out, and prompt response to a crisis can not only improve an organisation’s reputation but also simultaneously bolster positivity among employees.
A critcal communication strategy should prioritise effective, frequent communication, feedback and communication channels for frontline staff and situation monitoring in order to constructively handle organisational crises while maintaining continuity, reputation and frontline employee welfare.
Talk to an expert to find out how Wyzetalk can help you reach your frontline employees in a crisis.