Internal audiences have traditionally been overlooked in crisis communications but should be front and centre when preparing for and dealing with a crisis, according to a new guide released by the CIPR.
The Internal Crisis Communications skills guide, released this week, outlines approaches for dealing with the needs of internal audiences before, during and after a crisis.
It aims to “help organisations protect their people, maintain trust, and support recovery through more effective internal crisis communication”, according to the CIPR.
The guide, by crisis comms specialist Alison Arnot, director of Catalyst Communications, states: “Traditionally, crisis communication has focused on the needs of the media and other external stakeholders”. It adds: “Yet when crisis strikes, the affected organisation’s employees and contractors will often face the difficulty first and most directly.”
Internal crisis communication is essential to “crisis prevention, and to crisis recovery” and “begins long before the moment of crisis impact”, according to the guide.
It recommends that organisations prioritise “ongoing two-way communication with their employees” and putting “plans, processes and strategies in place for internal communication in more challenging times”.
While there is no one-size-fits-all template, the guide outlines core principles that should be followed.
“At all points, it’s important to keep the people most affected by the crisis at the heart of the messaging strategy. Avoid long, complex messages. Be clear and show compassion for those affected as you communicate what happened, why, and what is being done to fix it,” it states.
“Messages in a crisis must be shaped with empathy and a clear purpose, supporting what you need people to know, feel, and do.” The guide stresses the importance of acknowledging what is happening and recognising how people are feeling.
It also looks at the issue of which comms channels to use. “If your people can’t quickly and easily access information in their own organisation, they will go elsewhere, so channel choice is as important as the content itself,” it says.
“Your choice of communication channels should be guided and shaped by audience need and preference and by the organisation’s culture, size, structure, working style, and geographical spread.”
There are also practical considerations, it adds. “Some digital channels may be unusable in a cyber incident, while traditional noticeboards become less valuable when people are working from home in isolation.”
Commenting on the new guide, CIPR president Advita Patel said: “When an organisation faces a crisis, it is the people inside it who feel the impact first and who play the biggest role in its recovery.”
She added: “This guide recognises that reality and puts internal audiences at the heart of crisis communication. By giving communicators a clear, evidence-based framework, it helps them support their colleagues through uncertainty, maintain trust, and strengthen organisational resilience.”