This weekend’s blizzard gave a powerful reminder that real trust-building happens before disruption hits. It’s okay if you don’t have perfect information. However, what needs to be perfect is your communication and ability to show people that you care.
I speak for all New Yorkers when I that I am absolutely over all of these storms. At the same time, I know they come, I know they go, and what really matters is whether the right leadership is in place to get us all back up and running in a city that never sleeps.
It’s a tough job to have when people are looking to you to understand what comes next.
Here’s what you should be communicating before disruption, and why it matters:
1. Tell people what you know. Start with facts. What’s happening. What may be affected. What decisions have already been made.
This reduces speculation and grounds people in reality.
2. Tell people what to expect next. This is the step everyone skips because they think “I don’t know yet” isn’t an acceptable answer. Humility is humanizing. People can tolerate disruption. What they struggle with is uncertainty about what happens next.
Even a simple statement like “We will reassess tomorrow morning and send an update by 12 PM,” will do a ton of good in ensuring that people trust you know what you’re doing (even if you don’t feel like it).
Telling people what you know shows people that you are present, that you are thinking ahead, and that they don’t have to figure it out alone.
3. Tell people what you are prioritizing and why.
Oftentimes we get swept away with the logistics and the minutiae that we forget who we’re speaking to and why. It’s easy to get carried away running through details as if you’re giving a report. But report-style communication does not make people feel SAFE. People are listening to hear continuity, care, and most importantly, COMMUNITY.
Speak to people where they are CLEARLY they can understand how decisions are being made in real-time. They don’t have to know every detail, but they should know that you listened, and that you care.
💡 If you made it this far, notice I didn’t use the word “crisis.” Because it makes people uncomfortable. For some of us, this blizzard very well was a crisis. But to the average New Yorker, it was something to buckle up and weather (no pun intended) as best we could, and then get back on the ball.
In moments of disruption, people are not just evaluating your operations. They are evaluating your leadership.
The organizations that answer those questions early are the ones people trust long after the crisis ends.
