Five lessons on crisis communications.

Crisis communications can be intimidating but it’s nearly guaranteed to happen at some stage. A recent example from the sporting world has some important lessons.🚨
 
As background, on 2 January, a player for the Buffalo Bills collapsed on the field during a high profile game. The player suffered a cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field. In front of players, and fans.
 
As the crisis unfolded live on national TV, how the Bills managed the evolving situation provides best practices we can all learn from.
 
1️⃣ Lead with compassion: Regardless of what your organization does, it’s people who you’re serving and people who make your company function. So put people first.
 
Fans were pumped for the primetime game. But when a player faced a life-or-death situation, the billion-dollar side of the game took a backseat for all fans and players.

2️⃣ Awareness is key: The Bills knew when to prioritize people over the profession and profit. In the heat of the moment, it can be easy to make a quick decision that turns out to be a critical miss.

If the Bills had made the decision to resume play, it would have put them in the spotlight as insensitive and greedy, putting the players in the spotlight as replaceable and there to drive entertainment and profit. The focus needed to be on the health and safety of all players.
 
3️⃣ Timing is everything: The game was first suspended and then cancelled, breaking the standard protocol of a brief delay after an on-field injury. However, it was reported that players were told they had 5 minutes to get ready to go back to playing.

The NFL got some flak for that purported call and for the hour it took them to officially suspend and then cancel the game. A decision that should have been made faster.

4️⃣ Communicate regularly: The Bills issued a statement overnight about Hamlin’s condition. The next day, they gave an update and they’ve continued a steady cadence of updates.

Your stakeholders need communication regularly and often. Share what you know, even if it’s just to say there’s no update yet. Most of them are your loyal brand ambassadors. And a lack of communication almost always leads to unhelpful speculation.

5️⃣ Have a plan in place: You can’t predict when a crisis will strike. But you can and should be prepared.

Draft a plan with mock scenarios and draft as much of the protocol as possible for resuming operations to their pre-crisis state. Identify your crisis leads, spokespersons, those who will help you through the situation. What are your communication channels, messaging etc? Outline as much as possible so you have a place to start when you need to act quickly.
 
 
The leadership who navigated this situation turned the crisis into an opportunity. In this case building loyal support.
 
As a final note, the player in question – Damar Hamlin – is making a remarkable recovery.