What is one thing you can focus on to remain calm and gain control of a communications crisis?

If you find yourself amid a media or communications crisis, it can feel incredibly overwhelming. 

Focusing on one key element can help keep you and your key stakeholders calm and focused.

Maintaining consistency across three key areas can help get you safely to the other side of the crisis and demonstrate your excellent communications skills along the way, 

Here are some tips that I have found useful when managing a media or communications crisis. They might also be helpful for you!

Consistency in how you approach each day - there are so many elements that you can’t control when you are dealing with a communications crisis. By having a consistent approach to each day, you are bringing control where you can and contributing to a sense of calm in your team. This could include a quick stand-up at the start of the day to ensure everyone is clear on roles and priorities and a wrap-up email at the end of the day. 

Consistency in how you communicate with your internal stakeholders - the communications team is not the only partof your organisation that will be busy at this time. Key operational and executive staff will also be impacted. This means it’s important that they get clear and consistent communication from you. It could be as simple as having the same subject line and format for all emails and ensuring any urgent requests are flagged with a text message. 

Consistency in Messaging - to manage the crisis effectively, it’s critical to build trust with your audiences. Consistency in messaging is a solid foundation for doing this. While some elements will change as the situation evolves, identify the key messages that need to be reiterated and ensure they remain consistent throughout.