Preparing Leaders for a Crisis
What does an influential church do when they realize they lack a plan for responding to looming crises?
They schedule training with crisis preparation experts who understand their unique challenges.
The Challenge
Faith-based organizations are facing a myriad of challenges today. Our team specializes in helping Christian organizations, leaders, churches and schools navigate their crisis situations.
Having seen the burgeoning need for Christian leaders to be better prepared for communicating—especially during a crisis—Guardian developed a custom spokesperson training with best practices for engaging audiences, navigating media and avoiding the pitfalls of nonstrategic communication.
In this case, we were tasked with equipping church leaders for high-pressure media interviews and teaching the fundamentals of crisis avoidance, preparation and management, so they could face these situations with confidence and maximize their roles as spokespeople.
The Strategy
Our spokesperson training module has been developed over many years, combining the wisdom of our experience with customization for each client to help ensure the training meets their specific needs.
In addition to our training, we led an extensive mock interview session with various questions from a variety of news sources. Spending half a day presenting the training, and then shifting into mock interviews sessions, the team was equipped through an immersive and collaborative experience.
The Outcome
After the training, the leadership team shared they now felt prepared to respond to a variety of crisis situations. They were far more comfortable in communicating their key messages and anticipating how their answers may impact the church’s reputation.
This combination of preparation and having the right perspective will help lead them to good spokesmanship and a stronger brand reputation in the future.