What are the benefits of being responsive to stakeholders during a crisis?

1 Why responsiveness matters

Responsiveness is not only a courtesy, but also a strategic advantage in a crisis. By being responsive, you can build trust and credibility with your stakeholders, who may include your customers, employees, investors, partners, regulators, media, and community. Trust and credibility can help you reduce uncertainty, confusion, and anxiety among your stakeholders, and prevent or mitigate negative reactions, such as anger, frustration, or boycotts. Responsiveness can also help you influence the narrative and shape the public opinion about the crisis and your organization.

2 How to be responsive

To be responsive, one must be prepared, proactive, and consistent in their communication. To do so, identify key stakeholders and prioritize the most affected and influential ones. Establish clear and accessible channels of communication, such as a website, hotline, email, or social media account. Monitor and update them regularly and respond to queries promptly. Provide factual and transparent information about the crisis, its causes, impacts, and solutions. Show empathy for the victims and stakeholders and apologize sincerely if your organization is responsible or partly responsible. Demonstrate leadership by taking responsibility, making decisions, and taking actions to resolve the crisis. Communicate your actions clearly and convincingly to show how they align with your values and goals.

3 How to develop responsiveness

Responsiveness is a skill that can be honed with practice and feedback. To develop responsiveness, it is important to plan ahead for potential crises and create a communication strategy and protocol. This should include identifying spokespersons, key messages, communication channels, and stakeholders. It is also useful to learn from other organizations and experts on how they handled crises and communicated with their stakeholders. Additionally, feedback from stakeholders should be sought and evaluated to identify what worked well and what did not. Finally, recognizing and rewarding staff for their responsiveness and professionalism is beneficial.

4 How to measure responsiveness

Responsiveness can be measured using both quantitative and qualitative indicators, such as the number and frequency of communication outputs, their timeliness and accuracy, their reach and engagement, stakeholder satisfaction and trust, as well as their outcomes and impacts. For example, you can consider how quickly and correctly you provided information or answered queries, how many and how well you reached your target audiences and how they reacted to your messages, how they rated your communication quality, clarity, and relevance, as well as how they perceived your organization's reputation and credibility. Moreover, the influence of your communication outputs on the resolution of the crisis, the recovery of your organization, and the prevention of future crises should also be taken into account.

5 How to improve responsiveness

Responsiveness is not a one-time effort, but rather a continuous process of learning and improvement. To achieve this, it is important to review and update communication strategies and protocols regularly, while also monitoring and anticipating the changing needs and expectations of stakeholders. Additionally, seeking new and innovative ways to communicate, such as using multimedia, interactive, or personalized formats can be beneficial. Collaborating and coordinating with other organizations and stakeholders involved in the crisis or affected by it can help to share information and resources. Lastly, celebrating successes and challenges in being responsive can provide valuable learning opportunities.