In our last post, we discussed the importance of mapping your stakeholders. Now it’s time to really understand them. And the whole thinking for this series was spurred by this column about where people get their information. While Kith is politically agnostic, all of us have worked in politics at some point and we understand that people are political. They have beliefs. Those beliefs are shaped by so many factors, including location, education level, ethnicity, sex, religion, and social circles. And, according to the aforementioned article, that shapes how and where different people get their information.
And your stakeholders are shaped in the same way.
That means figuring out:
- What they care about
- What they fear
- Where they get their information
- Who they trust
- How and when they consume news
This is what we call perspective-taking. It requires empathy and discipline. You have to suspend your own frame of reference and see the world through theirs.
Don’t fall into the symmetry trap. What feels clear, urgent, and credible to you inside the organization may feel confusing, suspicious, or irrelevant to the outside world. You have to translate. You have to adapt. You have to invest.
One of our clients did the work and it paid off during an event that could have been publicly embarrassing and financially impactful. The crisis directly impacted their employees and they knew that they had to get information out fast. But, because they had done the work they knew that their employees would receive information via email but only respond by phone. So they sent out an email and a toll-free number. Why? Because they knew that was a key component to mitigating the crisis.
So not only did their employees feel informed, they felt cared for, included and respected. That’s a win in anyone’s book.
Kith facilitates crisis preparedness workshops that will help your company attain the clarity, trust, and speed you need to respond confidently – no dithering! – to any crisis. We’d be happy to have a conversation about how we can help your company be ready to chart an effective course to reputation protection.
