Healthcare is moving at an unprecedented pace. Mergers, acquisitions, downsizing and even social media comments hit the news and the community buzz begins. During times of change, every organization needs to tap into its greatest resource – its workforce, to fill the information channels with the right information. All too often though, employees get important news along with the public. That can be hurtful to the employees because they are investing their time and energy to help the organization thrive.
Spreading Key Messages
In my experience, the average employee would welcome the chance to help spread key messages IF they know what to say. Make sure your employees hear news first. Give them talking points to help them respond to questions and provide additional resources where they can get more information.
I was recently working with a hospital that needed to eliminate dozens of positions. The good news was that every person remained employed within the system. Unfortunately this piece got lost when people heard “eliminated positions.” If the employees had been the first to hear the information, they could have prevented rumblings from blowing up into reputation-damaging rumors.
Tags: crisis communication, social media
