Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Every congregation will endure the challenge of communicating during a stressful time in which it feels as though the eyes of the world are scrutinizing your community. The cause of the crisis may vary: Part of the church masonry has fallen off and injured a passerby. An unidentified mold is making preschool children sick. Clergy are being accused of misappropriating funds. Or there's widespread anger and resentment over the closing of a beloved ministry.

When people talk about managing the messaging during a crisis, they usually mean the external message: what you say to reporters, what you say on your public website, and what you say on your social media platforms. Often overlooked is the importance of internal communication. But in a crisis, how and when you communicate within your own organization can be enormously helpful in enhancing your institution’s ability to communicate clearly and effectively.

Below are some specific actions and guidelines that we’ve found helpful at Trinity Wall Street.

Forming a Response Team
One of the hardest things to do in a crisis is to keep things in perspective. Even the most experienced communications person would have a hard time doing this on his or her own. You need to have someone you trust to bounce ideas off, to share things you never would have thought of, and to remind you that all will be well.

So form a small team—three is a good number – looking for diversity in skills, temperament, and experience. When the situation is particularly demanding, check in daily. Make sure everyone knows that it’s okay to have a bad idea, and that it’s okay to say you think something is a bad idea. Trust each other. There is nothing like a daily check-in meeting when the goals for a team are clear to help build trust.

Importantly, make sure everyone on your team is clear on internal authority and decision-making process. Generally speaking, communications staff can influence decisions, but they do not make the decisions. We counsel on the impact or potential risks of a decision, and then we communicate the decision strategically. Included in this category of authority is making sure a media policy is in place and understood. No one should be speaking "on behalf" of the institution except those designated. Finally, having a team helps you to resist falling into a bunker mentality. It’s not you versus the world, and having other people around who you are checking in with can help you remember this.

The Heat is Hottest Closest to the Flame
The people freaking out the most are the people inside the organization. You might even be one of them (so form a team -- see above). Your internal stakeholders think the whole world is reading all the bad press. Vestry, rector, congregation, friends of the parish think everyone is talking about it. How do you calm everyone down?

It’s a good idea to practice a calm and measured response to the questions below. If people are criticizing your institution, you can be assured that people who care about your institution will ask at least once:

“Why isn’t the media reporting all the wonderful things we are doing?”

And:

“Why aren’t we getting our great stories out there?”

Remember that people will get a little crazy around these issues. It’s your job to keep cool and remember that there is no such thing as over-communicating internally during a crisis.

Don’t Resist the List
You can get ahead of things by making a list of who the “internal” folks are. (Usually—vestry, clergy, ministry leadership, congregation, staff, ministry partners, bishops, “influencers,” friends of the parish.) Do not resist using this list. If you’re having the thought, “this is a piece of news people should know,” call your list up and get the world out.

This is especially true for bad news. Give people a “heads up” when you know that a damaging article is coming. If you know a story is being written, send a short note: I just want to give you a heads up that there may be an article in the XXX that is going to be unpleasant for the institution. When articles appear, send your list a link to that article as soon as possible. People who care about your ministries do not want outsiders passing the articles to them before you do. They want to be prepared and not surprised.

Be Accessible
Get on the phone. Talk to the vestry and other leaders, listen to their anxiety, and spend time with them. Engage with the complainers and the critics – you never know what you’re going to learn. Try to make sure the person demonizing you really knows what’s going on and that they know the facts. This will make you fluent in all sides of the story.

It is always a good idea to try to understand where a critic is coming from. Even though you are in charge of making sure your message (or angle, or side) is getting out, empathizing with those who disagree with you will make your message less defensive, clearer, and smarter. It also chips away at the “You just never listen” argument. People are sometimes surprised to have someone take their call, and listening can be a powerful tool.

There Is No Such Thing as Purely External Communication
And there’s also no such thing as purely internal communication – more on that in a second.

Keep telling your own story. You come to realize during times of crisis that there is really no such thing as purely external communication. Meaning, every story you put out there to the outside world has an internal impact. Tell your own story on your website even if it's repetitive. People inside your organization will see it and it helps people feel better.

Make sure everyone sees any "good" mentions in the press, as well -- even if it’s just a simple listing of an event or a service. It’s not a “story” but it says that life is still going on.

Finally, when crafting your internal communications – emails, speech drafts, memos – remember that in this day and age just about everything can and will go public. So craft carefully. Assume that your position paper will find a life outside the conference room, and that the pastoral letter to the congregation will be quoted in your local paper. Sometimes, that can even work in your favor.

You’ll find more tips on crisis communications below, but keep in mind that in the event of a crisis in your institution, your internal audience becomes extremely important. Sometimes we get focused on churning out the external material and messaging. That is still ultimately what you will be judged on, but paying attention to internal communication will always be worth the time and effort.

Linda Hanick is the chief communications officer for Trinity Wall Street. She is a member of the senior executive team and oversees the communications and marketing for the parish ministries and business enterprises.

Nathan Brockman is the director of communication for Trinity Wall Street. He is the editor of Trinity News, trinitywallstreet.org, and provides editorial direction for Trinity’s digital and social media platforms.

Resources

• “A church crisis requires a communications plan” by Liz Applegate, United Methodist Reporter
• “Communications Tune-up” by Bob Williams 
• Crisis Communications Plan: A PR Blueprint