Hey there!

I'm Camille, the director of operations at MVPR.

As I’m sure many of you know, navigating communications during a crisis can be a headache for any startup. And there have been plenty of crises going around lately.

Whether it's problems with payroll, layoffs, or other unexpected critical issues, the way you communicate with your stakeholders; customers, employees investors, can make all the difference in how they view your company.

Even if not necessarily media-facing, communications during a crisis can have an impact on reputation - something none of us want to risk. That's why we've put together some of our best practices for crisis comms. These tips can help you to prepare in advance, communicate openly and demonstrate empathetic and stable leadership!

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✅ Plan ahead to avoid panic. Anticipate potential crises and identify hypothetical spokespeople, messaging, and communication channels ahead of time. This will help you inform stakeholders early and give affected employees a fair warning.

❌ Avoid announcing layoffs on a group call. Offer 1-1 conversations with those affected and provide multiple channel options for follow-up conversations, such as HR, senior leaders, line managers, and anonymous channels.

✅ Use an honest and empathetic tone in your crisis messaging. Write with people in mind and avoid corporate jargon. Acknowledge your responsibilities, admit what you don’t know, and commit to updates if things are changing quickly.

❌ Proactively address concerns instead of waiting to be asked for information. Lay out your plan and potential impact on stakeholders, cover preemptive questions, and communicate through a variety of channels.

✅ Communicate frequently to reduce anxiety for all involved. Share the same messages in different ways and channels over a few weeks.

❌ Avoid mixing messaging by celebrating successes while conducting layoffs. This demotivates employees and triggers bitterness with those being let go.

Thanks for reading! We know you're busy, but taking the time to prepare for a potential crisis can really save you a lot of strain in the long run.