by IHC’s CEO, Ian Hainey, exclusively for Entrepreneur ME
Five crisis communication principles every business leader should know
Crises rarely arrive with warning. A geopolitical escalation, operational incident, cyberattack, or reputational issue can place leadership under immediate scrutiny from employees, clients, regulators, the media and the wider public.
In the Middle East’s highly connected information environment, news spreads quickly. Social media commentary accelerates speculation and journalists often request comment within minutes of an incident.
In these moments, communication can become arguably as important as the operational response itself. Leaders are often unsure whether to speak publicly, pause social media activity, or respond to media enquiries. Some remain silent for too long. Others respond hastily without strategy or coordination.
After years working with organisations across law enforcement, public services, aviation, logistics, infrastructure and facilities management, one pattern has become clear: while every crisis is different, the communication principles that protect trust remain remarkably consistent.
There are five principles every leader should understand before a crisis occurs.
- Acknowledge the situation early
Silence during a crisis can create a vacuum and speculation quickly fills the gap.
Leaders do not need every detail before communicating. What matters is acknowledging the organisation is aware of the situation and actively managing it.
After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many international companies suddenly faced operational disruption, employee safety concerns and intense public scrutiny.
Within hours, energy company Shell issued a statement acknowledging the situation, confirming it was reviewing its Russian operations and emphasising its immediate priority was the safety of employees and partners in the region.
At that stage, the company had not yet determined the full scope of its operational decisions. However, the early acknowledgement signalled leadership recognised the seriousness of the situation and was actively assessing its response.
In crises, organisations rarely have complete information immediately. However, acknowledging the situation early reassures employees, partners and stakeholders that leadership is aware, engaged and responding responsibly.
- Communicate with employees before the outside world
One of the most common mistakes leaders make during a crisis is allowing employees to learn about it through news headlines or social media.
When that happens, uncertainty spreads quickly inside the organisation. Employees may begin speculating, sharing incomplete information, or responding to external enquiries without guidance.
Even when details are still emerging, leadership should provide employees with an early internal update explaining what is known and how the organisation is responding. This keeps teams aligned and reduces the risk of misinformation spreading internally.
As global travel restrictions escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Emirates rapidly communicated with its workforce about operational changes, safety protocols and the evolving travel restrictions affecting routes.
Cabin crew, pilots and ground staff received internal briefings and updates explaining flight suspensions, health measures and customer guidance before many of these developments were fully reported in international media.
This ensured employees understood the situation and were able to confidently answer questions from passengers and partners during a period of extraordinary uncertainty for the aviation industry.
- Manage social media carefully during uncertain times
Many organisations struggle with the decision as to whether to continue posting on social media during a crisis.
Routine marketing content appearing online while a serious situation is unfolding can quickly appear insensitive or disconnected. At the same time, going completely silent can also raise concerns if stakeholders expect updates.
The most responsible approach is usually to pause most scheduled promotional content while using social media channels more for factual and operational updates.
During highly sensitive situations, continuing regular marketing can appear tone-deaf. Pausing content gives organisations time to reassess messaging and ensure communications remain appropriate to the moment.
- Respond to media requests with clarity and control
When an incident becomes public, journalists often request comment quickly.
Ignoring media enquiries rarely prevents a story from appearing. It simply means the organisation has no voice within it.
At the same time, leaders should avoid speaking off-the-cuff before facts are confirmed.
There should be a single point of contact for media. Ideally, this should be a public relations professional or former journalist with experience communicating during pressurised situations. This person should have direct access to the organisation’s leadership team and CEO.
The use of holding statements usually remains the first action when a situation unfolds. This allows organisations to acknowledge enquiries while ensuring accuracy during the period of time investigations are still underway.
During the British Airways IT outage in 2017, a major systems failure grounded flights and disrupted travel for tens of thousands of passengers worldwide.
As the disruption began to dominate international headlines, British Airways issued early media statements confirming the outage, apologising to passengers and explaining that engineers were working to restore systems. The airline also directed journalists and customers to a dedicated information page where updates would be posted.
While the technical cause of the outage was still being investigated, the company’s early statements ensured media coverage included the airline’s acknowledgement of the problem and its efforts to resolve it.
- Lead with information, not corporate language
During difficult times,people respond far more positively to sincerity than polished corporate messaging.
Overly legalistic statements can sound defensive or distant. Leaders who communicate with empathy, acknowledging concern for people first, tend to maintain credibility even when circumstances are challenging.
In January 2024 at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, Japan Airlines Flight 516 collided with a Japanese coast guard plane on the runway and caught fire after landing. The airline responded quickly, issuing statements that first expressed deep condolences to those affected and acknowledged the seriousness of the tragedy before discussing operational details. The airline focused initially on the loss of life aboard the aircraft and the wellbeing of passengers and crew who had successfully evacuated the plane.
By leading with empathetically delivered information rather than technical explanations, the airline demonstrated responsibility and human concern during a moment of global attention.
Crisis communications strategy is ultimately about protecting trust
In today’s information environment, organisations are rarely judged only on the crisis itself. What people remember is how leadership communicated when it mattered most.
Clear leadership, timely acknowledgement, responsible social media behaviour and controlled responses to media enquiries can significantly reduce reputational damage.
Crises are rarely comfortable for any leader. But when communication is handled well, they can also become moments that demonstrate credibility, responsibility and trust.
In the long term, trust is often the most valuable asset any organisation possesses – and the easiest one to lose when communication fails.
Based in the UAE for two decades, Ian Hainey is CEO of Integrated Holistic Communications, a Dubai-based strategic communications and marketing agency. He works with high-profile organisations across the Middle East on communications and marketing strategy, including executive positioning and crisis communications across diverse sectors.
