exec-leadership-commlisted

# Leadership Communication ## 4 principles of crisis communication 1. **Speed precedes accuracy** — announce first, refine later. Silence fills the vacuum with rumors 2. Say only verified facts; state the unknown as "we don't know + when we'll tell you" 3. Speak from the affected party's perspective — an apology is an apology, no excuses 4. One spokesperson to unify the message — scattered statements escalate the incident The core message must not exceed 3 sentences. It's delivered only when every employee can repeat the same sentences. ## All-hands structure Good news → bad news → numbers → next steps. Leave half the time for Q&A and run an anonymous question channel in parallel (block questions and a rumor channel appears). ## Change announcement = why – what – impact – next steps Resistance comes not from missing information but from uncertainty about "what it means for me". Lay out the impact scope (roles, timeline) first, and open the channel for objections together with a deadline. ## Message quality check After drafting, test it: have one employee from another team read it and ask "what changes?" If the answer forks three ways, you still have two messages. Don't read a speech — write it as if spoken, and lock the repeatable lines (the core 3 sentences) into a table. ## Output 1 announcement script (core 3 sentences + rationale), 5 anticipated Q&A questions with answers, blueprint of the 4 change-announcement elements.