Crisis: it’s a small word with a lot of meaning. Just hearing the word can evoke strong emotions, including anxiety and fear. It’s also often accompanied by an unconscious need to deny or distance oneself, not only from the situation, but also the judgment that may come from admitting there is a crisis. But what exactly is a crisis, and why are we so hesitant to accept that we are experiencing one? If we can better understand the concept and remove the stigma, we can respond more quickly, be more effective and leverage the moment as an opportunity.
What is a Crisis?
Unsurprisingly, there is no universally accepted definition of a crisis, as Merriam-Webster offers three different meanings, and communications textbooks can sound like riddles. Our preferred definition from “Effective Crisis Communication: Moving From Crisis to Opportunity” includes five components, “…a specific, unexpected and nonroutine event or series of events that create high levels of uncertainty and simultaneously present an organization with both opportunities for and threats to its high-priority goals” (Ulmer R., Sellnow T. & Seeger W., 2022).
Those components make it clearer that a crisis goes beyond something that impacts or threatens life, safety or liberty. More often than not, the crises we most often work on, through the AKCG On Call program, center around smaller moments that become larger problems if they aren’t properly addressed.
A Snowball Scenario
For an independent school, an industry that AKCG focuses on, this could begin with something as routine as a couple of faculty members from the math department leaving within the same calendar year for unrelated reasons. The school notifies families in a short, fact-based message without acknowledging the change it presents. Parents begin to speculate if there is a connection and if there is an underlying issue. The rumors become large enough that emails begin coming in questioning the quality of the curriculum moving forward, and the admissions office starts receiving more inquiries regarding whether teacher retention for the math department is an issue.
In these interactions, school administrators send a short email back assuring people the school has an above average percentage for faculty retention and solid recruitment efforts and that it’s not an issue that needs to be addressed. The questions slowly stop, and the school feels as if this is resolved.
Shortly after, the school launches a social media campaign featuring different departments and earns a media placement in the local news about the math program’s unique approach. Instead of celebrating the story and social media posts, parents begin publicly speculating about the math department’s quality and accusing the school of trying to use the story to hide a teacher retention issue. The school wonders how this narrative persists, why their assurances did not get through, and if they can continue with the campaign while the criticism is distracting from the content.
Where did the crisis communication strategy go wrong? How can the school share its positive stories and achievements without inviting criticism?
First, as crisis communication counselors, we would ask, “What does successful communication look like?” before responding. In the above example, success is not providing statistics to prove to concerned parents that they are wrong. In the situation above, success would be understanding the motivation behind the question and determining what the school could provide to alleviate the concern. If a parent asks if there will be an issue with the program’s quality, what they really want to know is, “Can I trust that my child will receive a solid math education next year?”
Unless you first acknowledge the parent’s feelings, no amount of data or facts will be effective. While the feelings were tied to a nonexistent issue, those feelings are still real. This situation could have been averted by picking up the phone and having a couple of short, empathetic conversations to make a concerned parent feel heard. Opening this door would have created an opportunity to explain how the school attracts talented teachers. These personal conversations also create an opportunity to ask about a child’s well-being and recenter the conversation on the student experience, which is the shared goal. Lastly, by having these unplanned chats, we can directly hear and properly assess the parents’ reaction without assuming what they are thinking.
Now Comes the Opportunity
We know reputation management does not end once an immediate challenge is solved; it is just the beginning. Rather than walking away and waiting until the next issue, now is the time to build upon the school’s reputation so it can withstand potential future threats. At AKCG, our crisis and media relations teams work closely together to strategically identify candidates who are ready for the AKCG Accelerator program. By taking a collaborative approach, we can strategically identify and tell stories aligned with business goals while minimizing risk.
This program collaborates with partner organizations to secure valuable, bottom-line-driven earned media coverage. As the consolidation of local news organizations and shrinking newsrooms persist, identifying the right reporter and outlet to tell your story takes more personalization and expertise than ever before.
At AKCG, our skilled media strategists work with you to discover the stories that matter most and collaborate with local, regional, and national media to place them in the right places at the right time.
To learn more about how to take your crisis and turn it into an opportunity, visit: akcg.com/media-relations/akcg-accelerator.
