How to lead your comms team during a crisis

You’ve got your crisis communication strategy in place.

You know who your spokespeople will be. And you’ve tested your crisis comms plan.

But have you thought about how to manage yourself, and lead your team through a crisis?

It was the question we explored during our latest masterclass for members of the Media Team Academy – our learning and development programme for comms and media team professionals.

James White, our CEO, was joined by Dan Boniface and Laura Bridgeman, who deliver leadership and management skills training for The BCF Group. And by Helen Robinson-Gordon, head of news and media relations at the British Medical Association.

The session began by exploring how to look after yourself and your team during the sustained pressure that crisis media management brings.

“You don’t fully know how well you will cope until you have been through it,” Dan said.

“The more you go through crises, the more confident you become about controlling them.

“But we know people often don’t look after themselves during a crisis.”

Dan believes finding ways to reduce the pressure is critical.

“At some point, we have to release the pressure,” he said. “It is about understanding your release points when you feel stressed and anxious and using them when the time is right.”

It can be as simple as going for a walk, making a cup of tea, or exercising.

 “When I’m working from home, I go for a 20-minute walk,” Dan said. “It clears my mind, and I’m more productive when I sit back at my desk.

“In a crisis, people worry about how that sort of thing is perceived. But that is not doing us any good.

“If you are not in a good frame of mind, how will you support everyone else?”

James added: “As a manager, you have to work out how your team will destress and ensure they have enough breaks during a crisis.”

But how else can you stay calm during a crisis and prevent your emotions from impacting your decision-making?

 

Controlling the controllable

Laura believes it is about focusing on the things you can control.

“There is a lot around mindset and the emotional state we get into during a crisis,” she said.

“There is the phrase ‘controlling the controllable’, which is about focusing on your sphere of control and influence and not worrying about the things that are not your responsibility.

“We have a limited supply of physical and emotional energy. And if you continue to try to keep up with the strain all the time, it becomes damaging,

“You must remember that you can’t influence what has already happened. You can learn from it. But you need to stay in the moment and deal with the things in front of you.

“We need to ensure we are taking responsibility for our actions and are role modelling that for our teams.

“If you have to make quick decisions and don’t get them right, admit you didn’t get it right.

“Don’t try to place blame on others or focus on what they are doing – that just becomes a big distraction.”

 

Resources, ‘radical acceptance’ and eating elephants

Laura believes it is also critical to focus on the resources you have rather than what you wish you had.

“Always think about the resources that you have available rather than getting caught up in ‘I wish I had’ or ‘if we had’ thoughts,” she said.

It is part of something she refers to as ‘radical acceptance’.

She said: “It is about accepting and owning what has happened, while not worrying too much about what else might happen.

“Focus on the present moment and the next step to move slightly forward, even if we can get to the crisis being fully resolved at that point.”

James added: “It reminds me of a piece of advice someone gave me years ago – how do you eat an elephant? One piece at a time.

“You can’t solve everything in one hit. You have to break it down, get your action in place and work through it step by step.”

That is advice Dan agrees with. He said: “When you are in a crisis, it feels like a huge thing and can be overwhelming. But it becomes more manageable and achievable when you break it down to the first thing you need to do.

“And then you can move on to the next action.”

 

Managing the emotions of others

What about the emotions of others? Can you avoid them impacting your decisions?

Dan believes emotional intelligence is vital here.

Dan: “There is lots of evidence emotional intelligence is on a par with IQ for success.

“Anytime we are dealing with humans, emotional intelligence is in play.

“It is about understanding our emotions and controlling them. And understanding other people’s emotions and helping them control them.  

“We can’t control the emotions of others. But we can seek to understand how they are feeling.

“So, in a crisis, understand the crisis and how people feel about it.

“Then ask them if they need to take a few minutes, some space to think or if they need to vent.  

“That understanding shows them someone cares and helps them move forward.”

The other crucial area here – linked to emotional intelligence - is understanding the different personalities in your team.

Developing emotional intelligence helps people manage the different personalities in a team.

There are four main personality types:

Fiery red: Strong-willed, ambitious, decisive. They want to get on with their tasks.

Sunshine yellow: Enthusiastic, persuasive and sociable. Often the centre of attention.

Earth green: Patient, stable, consistent and a good listener. Potentially more introverted. But always there to support when someone needs it.

Cool blue: Detailed, careful, meticulous. They often enjoy data analysis and critical thinking.

“It is vital to understand we are never 100 per cent one of the colours and none of the others,” Dan said.

“But if we understand our traits and why we do things a certain way, then we can see that in others in the way they speak, their actions and body language. We can pick up their type of character.

“And we can adapt our communication style to meet their different needs.

“Ideally, in a team environment, you want a balance with lots of different traits in it.”

Let’s explore this further.

Laura says that in a crisis, fiery reds will take over.

“They are the ones who will want to leap into action and take control,” she said.

“Sunshine yellows may want to discuss it a bit more and talk things through.

“The earth greens are likely to go quiet because they want to carefully think about what has happened and how to move forward. Cool blues want the facts and figures.

“So, it can feel like people are going in different directions. But it is people coming to terms with what has happened and reasoning with it in their own way. And all of these different ways are fine.

“By recognising my character traits, I can also identify if I am being a bit too fiery red or too earth green and think about how that impacts my team. And that is crucial for moving us forward in a crisis.”