Dear Freepers,
Risk communication is literally a science of how to talk to people in times of high concern and low trust. And we all see plenty of examples of folks getting cross with each other on Facebook, by email and Zoom.
Sadly, 70% of all communication is non-verbal, so social distancing really makes miscommunication easy right now.
With that as a prelude, let me give you some short fundamentals on how to use risk communication principles to get your point across.
People want to know you care, before they care for what you know.
Be empathetic.
Speak clearly and calmly.
Express optimism.
You have 27 seconds to state your case.
Every message has to have three supporting facts and/or credible facts/outside sources/allies.
Example
“I know you are concerned about your job; the Nation’s leadership is too. The President’s team is working to coordinate federal response, the Congress is funding emergency economic measures and businesses everywhere are using creative strategies to stay at work and solve this health emergency. Together we will catch up and get ahead of the virus, and we will put a healthy, protected nation back to work as soon as we can.”
(You don’t have to agree with the example above; it is just an example.)
A lot of relationships will be broken over how we responded (poorly) in this period; some perhaps deserved so because of foolish actions but many not because of foolishness but because poor communication skills. (We can get to forgiveness later.)
I hope this short primer helps.
All I want is accuracy and the whole truth.
I simply DO NOT CARE if the person “cares”.
Sheesh. What pussies people have become.