The steps President Donald Trump announced today that he is taking to address crime and other issues in Washington, DC are providing important lessons for business leaders about managing and responding to crisis situations.
“‘I am announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse. This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump told reporters, according to the Washington Post.
Cite Credible Facts
One of the first things to do before responding to a crisis is to ensure you have current and credible facts about the situation.“At a White House news conference, the president painted a dystopian picture of Washington— including “bloodthirsty criminals” and “roving mobs of wild youth”— that stood in sharp contrast to official figures showing violent crime in the city is at a 30-year low,” the New York Times reported.
Immediately set the record straight when others use flawed or outdated information to justify their actions. “The Administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful. There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year. We are considering all of our options and will do what’s necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents,” Brian Schwalb, attorney general of the District of Columbia said in a statement, according to CNN.
Use Appropriate Resources
Use the appropriate resources to address the situation. Trump announced at the news conference that he was ramping up his efforts to impose federal authority for the DC government. He said that is is taking temporary control of the city’s police department and deploying 800 National Guard troops to help fight crime in the Nation’s capital.
“National Guard soldiers are trained for warfare and natural disasters, not for community policing. Every American should be deeply concerned with what they’re witnessing today,” Phil Mendelson, chair of the DC City Council, observed in a statement.
“The Trump administration reportedly reassigned 120 FBI agents to night patrols in Washington, D.C., enlisting agents from Philadelphia and other locations. The Secret Service has also been ordered to conduct ‘special patrols’ in the city, according to Forbes.
Send The Right Messages
Keep in mind the audiences who are affected by a crisis, and the information and messages that they should receive about it. Sending only a single general or generic message about the situation will likely miss the mark. Depending on the nature of the crisis, customized and targeted messages could be more effective. “Crisis response is rarely one audience, one goal. [Trump’s]
announcement serves multiple stakeholders: political base, local leadership, and national media. The lesson for any leader: if you don’t segment your crisis communication for different audiences, you risk losing all of them,” Patrice Williams-Lindo, CEO of Career Nomad, told me in an email message.
Business leaders should be careful in how they craft and deliver those messages out of and guard against alienating stakeholders and other who are impacted by the situation.
Keep People Informed
Don’t surprise officials who will be affected by what you do and say to address a crisis. Keeping those people in the dark could compound the crisis and put officials who should be in the know in a bad light and create unnecessary bad feelings.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser told a press conference today that she had received no advance information from the Trump administration or details of the president’s announcement. That included whether the 800 National Guards that will be deployed are going to carry weapons.
Bowser said that she had “‘one brief call’ with the White House over the weekend about activating the National Guard, so she thought Trump’s announcement would be about calling up the National Guard, not about taking over the Metropolitan Police Department,” the Associated Press reported.
Set Realistic Deadlines
Trump promised today that he would “clean [Washington, D.C.] up real quick, very quickly.” Business leaders should refrain from making commitments that they may not be able keep and setting goals that could be challenging to achieve. Setting and missing unrealistic deadlines can hurt the credibility of those who make them, and make it harder for others believe what they say about the crisis in the future.
Corporate executives should pay close attention to how Trump’s takeover of the DC police force unfolds for additional lessons about crisis management—and help guarantee that they do not make similar mistakes in responding to crisis situations.