Empathy in a Crisis (Part 3)

Part 3: 6 simple principles

In our previous blog post, we outlined the serious consequences that can arise when managing directors and board members fail to show empathy in a crisis. In this final part of our blog series, we present six simple principles that can help make your communication more empathetic in difficult situations.

If, in the meantime, you have found yourself wondering whether empathy really is the answer to managing crises, you are, of course, right to question it. The answer is clear: yes and no! It would be naive to assume that empathetic communication can prevent every problem involving affected stakeholders. It may work in individual cases, but both the problems and the people affected are far too diverse for that. You simply cannot please everyone. However, in numerous crises, empathetic communication has made a significant contribution to easing existing problems and challenges – and, as a result, reducing the effort required to deal with them. All you need to do is keep the following six principles in mind.

Principle No. 1: Communicate early!

People who fear the worst want certainty. If someone is left in the dark about what is happening to their job, their holiday pay or their health, their anger towards those who are failing to keep them informed will grow. The fact that entirely different factors may actually be responsible for their predicament often becomes secondary. Restructuring experts are familiar with a seemingly paradoxical effect: at employee meetings, there can be an almost palpable sense of relief when, after months of uncertainty, the bad news everyone has been expecting is finally delivered. At last, people know where they stand.

Principle No. 2: Respond to enquiries promptly!

This is essentially an extension of the principle of communicating early. If someone has to wait a long time for an answer, they are not only angry about being kept in the dark, but also frustrated by how long it takes to get their questions answered. Those affected feel disregarded and powerless, which may lead them to react irrationally.

Principle No. 3: Reduce the effort involved!

Responding to individual enquiries can require an enormous amount of time and effort. Standardising responses has proven highly effective in this regard, for example by providing FAQs or – for more complex processes – setting up a dedicated website for those affected, with password protection if necessary. This can provide clearly and logically structured access to the latest updates, the FAQs already mentioned and additional background information. Websites of this kind can be set up with relatively little effort. The benefits, however, are considerable, because they send a clear signal to the affected groups that transparency is being taken seriously.

Principle No. 4: Use language people understand

Many managers use the same language when speaking to employees or other affected groups as they do in senior management meetings. Outside a small circle of specialists, however, hardly anyone understands it. Managers are therefore well advised to communicate with affected groups in language that makes sense to them. The benchmark should not be the manager’s own experience and expertise, but the knowledge and social background of the audience. After all, those affected will only rarely be business graduates or engineers; more often, they will simply be employees or members of the public. What is more, the sometimes rather unappealing language of business and management can come across as cold – and therefore as hurtful and indifferent.

Principle No. 5: Explain things properly!

This principle follows directly from the previous one: using understandable language is all well and good. But little is gained if those affected still fail to understand the wider context. If employees cannot see the rationale behind a decision, they are far more likely to regard the proposed measures as an outrageous imposition – and to fight them tooth and nail.

Principle No. 6: Show regret!

Strangely enough, this is traditionally the principle that many decision-makers resist most strongly. As a PR consultant, simply suggesting that the word “unfortunately” be added to an employee communication can sometimes be enough to put your mandate at risk.

Conclusion

Some managers’ tendency towards sober, unemotional communication may well have developed over the course of their careers. No one wants to show weakness and make themselves vulnerable. Empathy is also unfamiliar territory in many professional environments, leaving people unsure of how to navigate it. And not without reason: striking the right tone is not always easy. But it can be learned – and there are professionals who can help.

Whatever the reasons behind it, the benefits of empathetic management communication are immense, as we have at least begun to illustrate here. Empathy should therefore become an integral part of every managing director’s and board member’s management toolkit. Not out of altruism, but out of self-interest.