Crisis Communications in Local Government: SEND HELP!
Rob Trewartha is a Director of Strategic Communications and Initiatives for the City of Mississauga and a candidate in the McMaster University Master of Communications Management program.
Image generated by ChatGPT
In Canada, there are over 5,000 municipalities, each with elected representatives and most with staff teams that range from a handful, to many thousands. All deal with crises, but each will do it on their own, with little external support or guidance. We wish our response centres looked like the one in the image above!
As a former Chief of Staff to a mayor and as the current Director of Communications for the City of Mississauga, I have been through more than my fair share of crises.
There isn’t much of a playbook for municipalities to follow when it comes to preparing for and executing during a crisis. But, not to worry, I did some research and have developed 5 lessons to share with my municipal crisis management colleagues. In fact, I wrote a much longer paper on it, here.
Lesson 1: The Public Good is Paramount
In a crisis, local governments face pressures not faced by those in the private sector. Let’s be honest, there are often many actors involved, many interests, and above all else, there is an expectation that the local government will keep the well-being of the public at the centre of its efforts.
Those who have researched this area have found that in crises in the public sector, the need for multi-party collaboration is higher, resources are difficult to come by, political actors create difficult dynamics to manage, public pressure for information is constant, and legislated legal frameworks can throttle crisis communications efforts.
If you work in local government crisis response, you get this.
You also understand that your focus is on the public good — on ensuring people are safe and have the information they need.
As a local government, your voice carries weight, which means you bear an awesome responsibility.
Don’t forget your purpose!
Lesson 2: Prepare, Prepare…and Oh Yeah, Prepare!
In the private sector, especially in sectors prone to emergencies and disasters like chemical or transport, they employ dedicated teams who regularly prepare for crisis events. In fact, shareholders demand it.
In local governments, with our limited resources, we do not prepare the way we should. Some bigger cities do a better job, but by and large, as a sector, we are not adequately prepared for crisis.
We lack what the crisis communications literature calls the “crisis mindset.” In fact, the very few scholars who have studied local government crisis communications find that most local governments approach each crisis as a new event.
We need to shift our thinking to crisis preparedness. The data shows that those who prepare perform better when crisis hits. As communicators, we have a duty to convince our organization of the need to prepare for crisis.
Some basic questions to ask of your team and your organization:
- Who is your crisis team and who is the first on your call list when crisis hits?
- Where will you meet?
- How will you communicate?
- Who will speak for your organization?
- Is leadership, both bureaucratic and political up to speed on your crisis plans and do they know their role?
All of these questions, and many more, need to be answered well before a crisis hits. They should inform your crisis response and communications plan.
Oh, and I cannot stress this point enough: don’t underestimate the role politics will play in your response.
Get on the same page with your CAO and Mayor about the who, what, where, when and why of your city’s crisis plan.
Image: Callan (2020)
Lesson 3: We Can Learn from the Private Sector
As I said above, the crisis response in the public sector is different due to the many pressures faced. The political agendas alone create dynamics that private sector CEOs and crisis managers never have to face.
But, local government can learn from the private sector when it comes to crisis response. In particular, adopting a crisis mindset as an organization and breaking down silos that prevent information sharing and communication.
Information and communication are critical before a crisis and especially during.
At the same time, private sector crisis responders look to protect the brand of their corporation during crisis. A damaged brand hurt the bottom line.
Local governments have a brand that is based in large part on upholding the public trust. In a crisis then, local government crisis responders would do well to maintain the public’s trust at all costs.
Without trust, local governments lack legitimacy during crisis. This can literally cost lives as seen during the pandemic.
So, learn those who have done it well. The Maple Leaf Foods response to the listeria outbreak in 2008 is a textbook case of crisis preparedness leading to an effective response.
The Toronto Public Library’s recent response to a cyber attack is also instructive and a great example of public sector crisis response.
For local governments, trust is the bottom line. Protect it at all costs. If you lose the public trust, you lose your legitimacy, which according to Edelman, is already low for governments.
Lesson 4: Don’t Forget Your Humanity
Image: The Story Teller (2023)
The scholars who study this topic have found that during a crisis, it is essential to play a bridging role, not a buffering role; to “build relationships with stakeholders, rather than a set of messaging activities designed to buffer the organization from them”; and to remember you are talking to human beings.
As a bridge, you are engaging the public in the crisis response efforts, by explaining the event, as well as providing targeted information in a candid manner.
One of the top crisis communications scholars, Timothy Coombs, argues that the COVID19 pandemic changed how the public sector communicates during crisis. He makes the case that in crisis, our communications should focus on anxiety, empathy, efficacy, fatigue, reach, and threat.
What stands out for me in that list is empathy. It makes good sense that we would empathize with people during a crisis, but in reality, many of us stick to the same rigid communications approach.
But our audience is different. They are scared and anxious. They may be going through the worst time of their life. If we want our message to reach them, a dose of empathy would go a long way.
As communicators, our job is story-telling and meaning-making. Our job is to take the information and make it make sense to the people who need it the most.
Research shows that if people doubt the capacity of the government to effectively respond to and meet their needs during a crisis, they will begin to ignore the government message in favour of others.
Don’t forget your humanity!
Lesson 5: Reach People Where They Are
Gone are the days when a local government could put out a press release and have it picked up by local media that would reach a majority of residents. With the consolidation of media and the disappearance of local media, the government to media to resident pipeline has ended.
In its place, residents now receive their information from many channels, including traditional media, digital media, and social media, of which there are multiple platforms.
Paradoxically, residents are more connected than ever, but more difficult than ever to reach.
The job of the local crisis responder and communicator is harder than it has ever been. In a crisis, we need to determine how to best reach our audiences in need on the right channel.
In a crisis we must aim to reach the right people, at the right time, with the right message, on the right platform.
This means preparing pre-crisis to ensure all of these channels are active and that we have the skillset in place to develop content in a hurry for each.
So, what did we learn?
- Very little attention is being paid to crisis communications in local government. But, that gives us an opportunity to start, now.
- The bottom line for local government crisis communicators is to plan ahead, prepare, and develop a crisis mindset throughout your organization as much as possible. It could save lives.
- Cut through a noisy communications environment with empathy and mean-making so people understand what you’re saying and listen.
- Use your status as a trusted brand in the local community but protect this status with everything you have.
- Study private sector crisis response and learn from it.
Good luck!
MCM