Following a tragic weekend on Saskatchewan highways, 650 CKOM News Talk host Evan Bray invited crisis communications expert Carey Hyndman to speak about best practices when the unexpected happens. The interview explored how a crisis may unfold and how an organization can be ready to perform on its worst days.
Key takeaways
Here’s a summary of Hyndman’s remarks:
- The first internal conversation is messy. People are emotional, some defensive, some hoping it goes away. Executives, comms, HR and legal all instinctively move to protect the organization. It takes strong leadership to face it with compassion and accept responsibility.
- You will never be fast enough. Someone will always be asking before you’re ready. Her advice: be a reporter inside your own organization, nail down the who/what/when/where you’re confident in, and start simple — we’re aware this happened, here’s what we know, here’s who’s involved, here’s how we’re responding. Saying “I don’t know, I’ll find out” is acceptable.
- Don’t let someone else tell your story. If there’s an information vacuum and people are looking to you, silence damages your reputation. The counterpoint: don’t overstep your actual role or say something you’ll have to retract.
- Rehearse before it happens. Organizations have a risk register — practice the top few scenarios, including a fatality. When you’re in a heightened state and possibly grieving a colleague, you aren’t at your best, and that’s the wrong moment to be inventing a response.
- Plain, precise language. Be specific about numbers and scale. Anticipate the question everyone silently asks — does this affect me? Speak slowly and calmly.
- Apologizing isn’t a liability. It’s fine to express regret and sympathy for those affected. Refusing to say sorry is usually what becomes the story.
- What organizations that do this well share: they understand their role in the crisis, communicate to employees and partners rather than just media, follow through on what they said they’d do, address what will change going forward, and avoid getting defensive or making it about themselves.
