Especially in times of crisis when speed and accuracy are of paramount important, it is critical that your message can be delivered through layers of the organization without misinterpretation. In other words make your message ‘media proof”.
Inside the organization, managers play a key role in making this happen. Don’t forget to give them both the information and the context they need to communicate with their direct reports in a way that makes sense.
I recently came across a document in my files that is 18 years old and it still makes me laugh every time I read it. It is the organizational equivalent of the childhood game of broken telephone.
The lesson, is simple – make your message and its intent clear so that it can be delivered through multiple media (people, networks, etc.) and maintain its integrity. Like most things, simplicity is difficult.