Crisis Management Lessons From The Planned Shake-Up Of The CDC

The planned re-organization of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was announced yesterday by Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky provides business leaders with timely lessons about managing crises at their companies and organizations.

“To be frank, we are responsible for some pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes, from testing to data to communications,” she said in a video distributed to the agency’s roughly 11,000 employees,” the New York Times reported.

Crisis management and public relations experts weighed in with their observations of what the CDC got right—and wrong—in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Admit Your Mistakes

“It's remarkable for a huge government organization such as the CDC to admit to failures on this level or on this scale, and I think that Walensky's public statement and the CDC's current stance is commendable, "Andrea B. Clement, a media relations and communication expert.

“I think that this shake-up is necessary to fully restore credibility and the public's trust, and to ensure a more effective and efficient response to future health crises.

“In my opinion and experience, the key takeaway and lesson here for leaders is the importance of accountability and transparency in communication and crisis response, as well as consistency,” she observed.

‘Show Accountability’

“Another takeaway from the CDC shake-up is that to recover from mistakes or missteps made in the public arena, your organization must show accountability,” Clement said.

“[S]how that you are going to make it right—that you're going to implement the necessary changes to alleviate issues in the future. If you make mistakes in the public eye, you've got to acknowledge it and show that you're making positive changes to fix internal issues in order to re-build trust among your audience and clients,” she counseled.

Speed Matters

“Having a team dedicated to communicating with the public is a crucial part of managing a crisis, especially during a global pandemic, Danielle Grossman, a senior media consultant at Sevans PR, commented in a statement.

“The most effective leaders understand the importance of addressing the crisis immediately rather than waiting until the crisis is over. Yes, this was an overwhelming and unprecedented situation, but taking a more proactive approach to disseminating information would have been more effective,” she observed.

“Even though the CDC has admitted to its shortcomings, it's a little too late. Business leaders should take their situation into consideration when planning their own crisis communications strategy. Responding quickly and taking responsibility is an important part of dealing with any crisis, especially one of this magnitude,” Grossman concluded.

The CDC and the government in general “are not built for speed, and this [reorganization] will fall flat if swift, meaningful and visible change does not occur,” Denise Graziano, strategic advisor and expert in organizational communication and change, said in a statement.

Avoid Contradictory Messaging

“Contradictory messaging is not only confusing, it erodes trust over time if it continues. I think perhaps it would have been more effective messaging at the time if the CDC had not been so quick to definitively discount masks as a preventive resource, for example,” Clement said.

“When company messages are contradictory or in sharp contrast to prior messaging, it makes your company appear very disorganized and could even make your audience of employees/clients/followers feel as though the people in charge don't know what they're doing,” she advised.

Earn And Maintain Trust

“When it comes to matters of crisis, health or otherwise, transparency, clarity of communication, accountability, speed and accuracy are necessary to earn and maintain trust…this announcement will be meaningless unless tangible improvements are made,” Graziano noted.

Update Crisis Management Plans

“Many businesses talk about updating their systems and processes but before Covid-19, no one expected a worldwide emergency such as a global pandemic to hit,” according to Nikki Pak, founder and communications and engagement professional at Winning in Work, a management training company, said via email.

“For some businesses, they have gone back to business as usual, but the smart ones are learning the hard way from the past two years and are putting actions in place to ensure they aren't caught out again,” she explained.

Be Proactive

“The Covid 19 response wasn't solely the fault of the CDC but they are the first agency to hold their hands up and pro-actively say they are making changes before they were told to,” Pak pointed out.

Explain Changes

“Explain what changes the organization is going to make to show that it learned from [its] mistakes and how it is preparing to do better in the future,” David Thomson, president of the Thomson Communications public relations firm, said via email.

“Walensky highlighted some major changes for the CDC that include hiring more staff for a team that responds to public health emergencies, releasing data and scientific findings more quickly, and to ensure the CDC’s messaging is in ‘plain language,” he pointed out.

“In terms of following the guidelines to best manage a public crisis, the CDC said all the right things. Now it is time for them to walk the talk and prove that they truly learned from their mistakes and don’t repeat them going forward,” Thomson concluded.