When everything goes well, we tend to communicate effectively. However, when things don’t turn out how we want, there is a tendency to avoid discussion and hope that by saying nothing the problem will fix itself. We often use the analogy of the ostrich putting its head in the sand to describe this. While there are many problems with this approach that we could discuss, the paradox that strikes me is that effective communication is needed more when there is a problem than at any other time.
I recently purchased an NFT (Non-Fungible Token, crypto asset) for a project that had been building for 9 months and had a community of over 100,000 members. There was a pool of 10,000 NFT’s which would be sold at a specific time on a specific date (called a ‘mint’), so with 100,000+ members and hype being built daily around the mint, there was a high chance that the project would sell out. The founder of the project had invested a huge amount of time and money over the previous 9 months and all signs were that the mint would indeed be a sell-out success.
The reality was the opposite. It was a total disaster and only 301 of the 10,000 NFT’s sold during the mint. This was not because people didn’t want to buy them but because of technical issues; the developers had not connected the wallets of the buyers with the contract to sell, so thousands of people were unable to purchase despite trying.
NFT’s mints tend to follow a herd mentality. When people see something selling quickly, they all jump in for ‘FOMO’ (Fear of Missing Out). Once that momentum is lost, the project usually is dead.
Let’s return to the situation and imagine your project of 9 months blood, sweat and tears is collapsing around you because of shoddy work by one of the contractors you hired and trusted. All your dreams of launching a great product and making a good return on your investment are going down the drain in front of your eyes. What do you do?
What the founder of this project did (let’s call him Matt), impressed me and potentially saved the project. What he did many a CEO and Government officials could learn from..
As thousands of community members were trying to mint an NFT and the system was failing, as the social media channels were blowing up with unhappy clients, Matt had the composure to step back from the mayhem and record a short 3 minute video which he then posted to the community. The video included the following information:
1. A profound and genuine apology, sharing both his pain in this moment and the frustration of the members trying to buy into the project.
2. A brief explanation of why this was happening (the problem) and what he was doing to fix it (the solution).
3. A promise from Matt that he would not stop until this was fixed, that he would not disappear, and that he would keep all communication channels open (in the NFT world the opposite happens often when founders take the money and stop supporting their project, it’s called a ‘rug pull’)
4. A thank you to all those who had managed to mint and a promise that he would personally make sure they did not lose any money as a result of having been early supporters of the project.
5. He finished with another apology, a request for understanding, and a repeat of his commitment to fixing the issues and making the project successful.
These 5 steps can be generalised as a communication strategy for when things don’t work out. From the Deepwater Horizon oil leak disaster in 2010, to United Airlines dragging a Vietnamese doctor from his paid seat, to the communication strategies (or lack thereof) from many Governments during Covid resulting in uncertainty and panic amongst their populations, they could all have learnt from the on-point messaging given with humility, honesty and timeliness by Matt. It is how we communicate in times of crisis that defines us as leaders, not how we communicate when everything is going well.
If you found this blog useful, please click ‘like’ below and forward to friends and colleagues to subscribe. If you disagree or have anything to add, please comment!
To catch up on previous blogs and make sure you’re not missing out on some great insights, check out the archives here.