For nearly five years, this retired (and still recovering) TV news reporter and anchor has crossed to the “other side” to serve as the Chief Communications Officer at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). As a state-level employee in charge of leading communications before, during, and after natural and man-made disasters, I’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way in a “disaster-prone” state. I started my position in February 2020, and in my first year, my state received six federal disaster declarations! What a time to cut your teeth in crisis communications. Not only was the world dealing with COVID-19, but my state was devastated by tornadoes on Easter Sunday, killing over a dozen people. Fast forward to hurricane season that same year, when another disaster hit us, Hurricane Zeta. Those were three federal disaster declarations from my first year of working in emergency management as a public information officer (PIO). I’ve seen plenty of more since then.
Many believe crisis communication is a reactive type of job. The crisis happens, you react, end of story. However, especially in emergency management, successful crisis communication comes from planning and proactiveness. Executing public awareness campaigns, building trust within the incident command structure (ICS), and forming relationships with the media. None of those aspects need to happen during an event. For some, it’s easy; I have a boss who recognizes the importance of a PIO, so I have a seat at “the table.” However, for many communications colleagues, it’s a challenge to prove their importance until it’s too late, and it’s time to be REACTIVE because their leadership failed to include them from the very beginning.
If you’re just starting out as a PIO, know that you have a key role in informing the most important people: citizens. However, if you are new to this (or experienced), mistakes will happen. A messaging campaign will not land with the audience; you get too far ahead in your messaging, and it impedes operations; you made a typo in a release even though you read it a thousand times, or you were given inaccurate information and were forced to correct it. It happens to the best of us.
If you are new to the world of public information officers, welcome to the not-so-secret society. Here are 10 tips I’ve learned along the way. Some were learned while drinking water through a firehose:
- Be proactive – pre-plan, pre-template, and prepare canned messages.
- Have a template for press releases, media advisories, etc. The less work you must do when hurrying to get information out.
- Have a plan for your release approval process, identify your backup, and have a plan in place if an electrical failure hinders your messaging dissemination.
- Demand a seat at the table.
- This can be tricky if you do not have leadership “buy-in.”
- A public information officer is not the “yes” person on the team. They should be the ones who give you the most objective perspective of the decisions leadership is making.
- You need direct access to the one in charge.
- If you’re familiar with the Incident Command Structure, the PIO serves in the Command Staff and is a direct report to the incident commander.
- Do not make your PIO report to five people before critical information can be shared (life safety could be on the line)
- Get to know the people you work with inside the agency.
- I get some of my best messaging ideas from the people who work at MEMA. They have war stories of previous disasters; they’re meeting with people who are impacted and are hearing their stories, too. They can be your best resource, but also, just get to know your work family. You’re with them more than your own most of the time.
- Get to know the reporters/journalists – build a rapport with them.
- When they call, answer, be available, and grant them access when you can.
- They need you, and you need them to get out critical information.
- When seconds count, you can text your local anchor who’s live “on air” so they can report what you just told them; that’s called trust and respect – keep it!
- OWN IT – When you make a mistake, and you will, you own it.
- It builds trust with your leadership and the public to say, “We messed up.”
- Correct it as quickly as possible and move on.
- LISTEN – while your job is to be the spokesperson for the agency, one of the biggest pieces of advice is to shut up and listen.
- Listen to the wise employee who’s been there for decades
- Listen to the directions and lessons learned
- Speak when necessary
- LEARN – learn to analyze the situation as a general member of the public.
- As a PIO, you must remember that the public doesn’t know what you know. Talk to them and inform them like you’re telling the story for the first time. Write on a fifth-grade level to ensure complicated information is broken down for everyone to understand.
- Analyze the first, second, third, fourth order effect of the decisions you make, decisions your leadership makes
- Take time to analyze the situation before taking action.
- Decisions your leadership is making can have residual effects that they can’t see; inform them.
- Take a vacation.
- This one is so hard for many of us to follow. Burnout is real; let’s face it: jobs and life are stressful.
- I’m a working mom and even if you aren’t a parent, prioritizing your mental health can also improve your physical health as well. Take care of your mind, body, and soul. You will hit a wall one day. The GO! GO! GO! Energy will wane. You are not weak. You are human. Take a vacation, even if it’s a staycation, and unplug from the job. And if you’re asking yourself, “Well, who’s going to handle things while I’m out,” I’ll take you back to bullet point number 1 – Plan.
Never stop learning, put egos aside, and remember your “why.” You got into this position for one reason or another. For some, it’s simply a paycheck; for others, it’s a passion. May the odds be ever in your favor.