Your employees found out about the crisis from X rather than from your own external statement.
And now you’re wondering why the internal mood feels… off
This happens more than organisations want to admit.
A crisis breaks. The comms team scrambles. Legal gets involved. The CEO needs to sign off. Hours pass.
And whilst everyone is perfecting the external statement, the people inside your building are already talking.
They’re in WhatsApp groups. They’re messaging each other. They’re refreshing the news.
And they’re wondering why nobody has told them anything.
I learned this the hard way many years ago.
A client issued a brilliant external statement. Thoughtful. Measured. Exactly right.
But their own team found out at the same time as everyone else.
The statement was fine. The damage was already done.
Because when your people hear it from the outside first, they stop feeling like insiders and in a crisis, they should be your ambassadors.
And that feeling doesn’t go away quickly.
Here’s the bit nobody wants to hear: your employees are your first audience.
Not your last.
Brief them first. Even if the brief is “here’s what we know, here’s what we don’t know yet, here’s when you’ll hear from us next.”
That’s still infinitely better than silence.
Because the external statement might protect your reputation.
But how you treat your people in the first hour is what protects your culture.
Protecting your culture is just as important as protecting your brand during a crisis. If you need help developing a robust communication plan for both internal and external audiences, please explore our crisis planning services.