Few leaders go through their careers without managing a major crisis. The language used by business and political leaders in a crisis often reveals how well prepared they are to get their people out of the wilderness.
Leaders who refuse to face reality should be mindful of the bright, inexperienced chemistry student who once warned: “When you smell an odourless gas, it is probably carbon monoxide.” When reality catches up with organisations in trouble, many leaders obsess over the language they use in order not to cause panic in those most likely to be affected by an impending crisis.
The humourist Jean Kerr once said: “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it’s just possible you haven’t grasped the situation.” I do not believe any business or political leader can honestly claim that they could not see a crisis coming when astute observers warn of impending economic downturns. But today’s obsession with doctored crisis management communication has destroyed the benefits of plain talk to prepare people for the heavy lifting that has to be done to get out of an impending crisis.
Great political leaders do not mince their words when faced with a crisis and the arduous task of convincing people of the need to face austerity so that they can come out of a difficult phase.
Winston Churchill was not just an outstanding leader. He was one who mastered the art of communication to enable people to accept the harsh realities ahead of them. In his speech in the House of Commons in 1940, he told parliamentarians and the British people: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
After the 2008 financial crisis, the word austerity and its synonyms, like belt-tightening, seem to have been banned from political rhetoric. Even leaders of businesses facing challenging times prefer to use understatement and euphemisms to avoid the harshness of words like ‘redundancies’ and ‘pay cuts’.
Organisational psychologists develop different theories about why our brains believe lies even when we have been told the truth. Leaders’ credibility is often questioned as some are known to lie.
Once we have heard misinformation, it is hard to uproot even when we want to know the truth. We are susceptible to misinformation that fits into our worldviews or social identities. This will make us fall into ‘confirmation bias’, the tendency to look for and favour information fitting what we already believe.
Today’s obsession with doctored crisis management communication has destroyed the benefits of plain talk to prepare people for the heavy lifting that has to be done to get out of an impending crisis
No crisis can be left unaddressed forever. The moment of reckoning is never far away. For instance, financial reality has hit Britain. In the face of a global economic storm fuelled by the war in Ukraine, the government must grapple with the huge debts incurred by the rescue packages for the COVID pandemic and the energy crisis, as well as the impact of high inflation and borrowing costs.
Some political observers believe that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is a cool-headed pragmatist who believes in the principle of sound money and the goal of restoring fiscal stability. He may not be using the politically sensitive word ‘austerity’, but he is not promising the British people that they can still have their cake and eat it.
In an interview with The Times, Sunak said he understood the ‘anxiety’ of households across the UK amid rising inflation and a cost-of-living crisis – with the UK also facing an estimated £50 billion black hole in public finances. He argues: “It’s right that we are honest about the trade-offs we face – everyone now talks about borrowing, everyone appreciates that the government cannot do everything.” He even abandoned populist promises he made during the chaotic campaign to become prime minister.
Leo McKinstry, a Northern Ireland historian and political journalist, said: “Sunak, like his chancellor Jeremy Hunt, recognises the lessons of history. They know economic progress must be built on firm foundations, not a sea of debt. But that means they must make some tough choices. There is no alternative to prudence nor a magic money tree in Whitehall. It is going to be rough. The truth is that everyone will have to contribute more if we are to maintain public services.”
Spin doctors and corporate communications experts are not the people leaders should look for when called to resolve a major crisis in their organisations. The language of crisis management must be one characterised by straight talk, even if, in the end, not many will be grateful for being told the truth.