When the world is on fire, what should the CEO say?

Wars, political tension and global crises are entering our lives and our offices faster than ever. We show up to work already informed, worried, or emotionally shaken by events happening thousands of miles away. And through all of it, leaders are torn: should I say something, or is it smarter to stay quiet?

In theory, business and geopolitics live in separate worlds. In practice, they’ve never been closer.

Employees don’t come to work as a blank slate anymore. Wars, political conflicts and major social events are no longer happening “somewhere out there.” They’re in our phones, our Teams channels, our coffee and smoke breaks, and the worry spreads like a pandemic.

Ukraine and the Middle East are burning, the world is being rocked by an energy crisis and trade wars, and on top of that, we’re getting hammered by economic problems right here at home. And here comes the same question again: should leaders say something?

For those of us in internal comms, the ones who actually create the communication, this is one of the most delicate situations in the job. If you stay silent and play dead, you come across as cold and indifferent, or scared and hiding something. On the other hand, companies aren’t political institutions, and you really shouldn’t be doing geopolitical analysis or predicting the future.

If you’re stuck in that dilemma, here’s the essence, and the solution: in situations like this, communication’s job isn’t to explain the crisis. It’s to help people get through it.

Step one is to sit down and define what the real impact of the crisis is on your company and your people. Do you have colleagues in the affected regions? Does anyone have family there? Is anyone traveling right now, or stuck because of cancelled flights? Sometimes the impact is direct and visible, sometimes it’s quiet and easy to miss.

Once you’ve defined that, the next step is to help your leadership. The golden rule of crisis communication: in a crisis, the CEO provides context and the line manager provides support.

The most common mistake companies make is expecting the CEO to fix an emotional situation across the whole organization with one email. They won’t.

The CEO has an important role: setting the frame and the tone. Showing that the company is aware of what’s going on, and showing empathy. Giving context on how the situation affects the company, showing resolve and readiness to take the necessary steps (if any are needed), and explaining where employees can get support.

That’s the context. Real support for employees always happens at team level. People don’t talk to the CEO, they talk to their manager. Which is why, in these situations, the line manager is often a more important communication channel than the CEO.

The problem is that many companies assume managers will just know what to say. They won’t. And not because they don’t care. Most of them want to show they care, but they’re not sure what’s appropriate to say, because they don’t want to come across as taking a political side, or cross a line into their people’s private lives.

That’s why one small thing can make a big difference, and it’s called an info pack, or a short communication framework for managers. On two pages, give them the basic information and context, add a Q&A, example situations and suggested answers. Sometimes a single simple sentence is enough: “I know there’s a lot going on in the world right now. I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.”

That’s not a political message. It’s a human one.

In a crisis, people need support. If your company has mental health or employee assistance programs, now is the time to actively communicate them, or bring them back from the dead. And if you don’t have any, your first line of support will be your line managers.

But for managers to be able to have these conversations, they need one more thing: a clear source of information. That’s why the second key principle of crisis communication is having a single source of truth. When employees don’t know where to find reliable information, the rumor mill fills the gap fast, and you end up with an even bigger crisis.

So create one clear place for information that helps everyone in the company. A place where employees go to find information, where managers know what they can point to when talking to their teams, and where the comms team keeps rumors and confusion in check. That single source of truth can be a portal, a newsletter or another channel, as long as its job is to make life easier for employees, managers and communicators alike.

If we’ve learned anything in the last ten years, it’s that change is constant and crises just come knocking. Communication doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be relevant, clear, calm and human. Being ready and agile is crucial, which is why good structure is worth its weight in gold.

Because when a global crisis walks into your company, the company doesn’t need a stance on geopolitics. But it does need a stance on people.