Communicating in a Wicked Environment: The Team Approach to Crisis Communications

Communicating in a Wicked Environment Joe Dougherty Director of Public Affairs Utah Department of Public Safety

Communications

Policy

Operations

“Routine” Decision Making ● ● ● ● ●

Problem is clearly defined Single organization involved Patterns repeat Feedback is rapid and accurate Formal rules and/or established leadership suffices

“Complex” Decision Making ● Problem is clearly defined, but requires urgent resolution ● Because of urgency, there is greater latitude for innovation and action ● Multiple organizations may be involved, but ● Recognized need for directive leadership to address the crisis

“Wicked” Decision Making

COVID-19 ● No immediate scientific/technical solution ● Effective mitigation requires counter-cultural behavioral change ● No clear timeline ● Competing experts ● Seemingly intractable trade-offs between lives and livelihoods ● Multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency response ● Most vulnerable populations: hard to reach ● Low-trust, skeptical publics ● Election year politics and public polarization

11/8/2020 7-day rolling average: 2,400 cases

“No one likes surprises” Said everyone ever

Effective communication during “wicked” events requires a committed team of guileless, adaptive, problem-solvers embedded within the policymaking leadership.

“Anything said or done in advance of a pandemic seems alarmist. After a pandemic begins, anything one has said or done is inadequate.”

-Sec. Mike Leavitt

Committed team of guileless, adaptive, problem-solvers

Committed team of guileless, adaptive, problem-solvers Comms policy

JIC

Governor’s office DPS Human Services Workforce Services UDOT Heritage and Arts UDOH GOED

DPS DEM Workforce Services UDOT Heritage and Arts UDOH Veterans and Military Affairs UALHD Contractor

Team Characteristics High calibre

Low drama

High trust

Self-effacing

High energy

Self-managing

Good humor

Self-correcting

Low ego

Bias towards action

Thoughts from the Team “Establish frequent communication patterns for your team. Can’t say this one enough. Daily check-in meetings at 9:00 (and a never-ending group text) saved us from lots of mistakes and duplicative work.”

Thoughts from the Team

“A communication-minded individual has to be at the table when policy decisions are being made to help leaders understand the potential pitfalls of policy decisions.”

Readability tools and tips Webfx.com/tools PlainLanguage.gov

Thoughts from the Team “If PR says one thing, but the CEO does another, you’re toast.”

Thoughts from the Team

“When you change policies, philosophies, or practices - be completely transparent and explicit about the reasons why you made the change, and prepare to spend time over the coming months to convince skeptics.”

Thoughts from the Team “Put positive, effective leadership on display. Communities need someone to trust during times of immense ambiguity.”

Thoughts from the Team

“Everyone needs your message, but not everyone can receive your message. It was connections of connections that helped us communicate to refugees, populations with limited English proficiency and sovereign nations.”

Thoughts from the Team

“In addition to thinking about what we want the message to say, think about what people are going to do once they get that message. What is their experience going to be? Are they going to go somewhere? Take a specific action? Do nothing?”

Thoughts from the Team “Don’t be too afraid of switching tactics if needed. You might have been wrong before.”

Thoughts from the Team “Work with people’s expectations, not against them.”

Thoughts from the Team

“Plan for technology failure. I think we all assume we'll need back-up plans, but we don't often assume we'll have a complete breakdown. Have a plan of what to say/how to say it when our preferred communication method doesn't work.”

Thoughts from the Team “Hire smart people you can laugh with. (Joe Dougherty’s cheer saved us millions of times.)”

Effective communication during “wicked” events requires a committed team of guileless, adaptive, problem-solvers embedded within the policymaking leadership.

“It feels like you are always behind and some days you feel like you aren’t winning. But dogged persistence will pay off if you can be consistent and seek to communicate truth.”

(Why we persist)