Be prepared with a holding statement - Fine Point Communications

The impulse in any emergency is to act, rather than to think. This is one reason schools run emergency drills so frequently: to help employees and students develop instinctive responses. Otherwise, surging adrenaline and heart rates may trample composure and rationality.

School communicators are called to act differently in an emergency than everyone else on campus: They must inform and reassure people about what’s happening while also taking care of their personal safety — all amid the clamor of alarms, walkie-talkies and ringing phones.

Calm and composed thinking is a must. That’s why wise communicators know to have a holding statement ready for a crisis — a message that has been prepared and blessed ahead of time, generally in a quiet moment. With this preparation, they can simply act when things get hectic.

But what goes into the statement? When and how should a school call upon it? And is one such statement sufficient?

A deliberately unfinished message

Any holding statement should say as little as possible while giving the audience need-to-know information — all without provoking unnecessary concern.

Keep it short, and keep the language simple and the information basic. Where appropriate, convey the school’s concern and/or caring about the situation, and explain any planned follow-up actions.

Speed is essential for any crisis communication: Being the first to tell others about a situation not only boosts credibility but also allows you to frame the situation. Having a holding statement ready enables you to inform others more quickly.

However, a holding statement should be seen as a template, not a finalized message.

After all, the school will need to offer a few details about what happened, which can be gathered only in the moment. Communicators, then, should leave blanks in the holding statement.

Even with these gaps, the template should be previewed by school leaders and officials such as legal counsel for their feedback. Once approved, it then goes into storage for use at the right moment. (We recommend both keeping the original on a shared drive and printing out a copy.)

The goal of a holding statement is not 100% accuracy about a given crisis. Instead, it aims to forecast the general shape of that crisis.

A school dealing with a water main break, for example, may have to send students home. There generally are policies for such interruptions, and the holding statement would outline these few, straightforward steps.

In an emergency, a communicator can grab the holding statement, update it with the “known knowns” and get the message to the Head of School for approval in just a few minutes.

A well-stocked library

At Fine Point, we recommend schools develop not just one holding statement that serves all kinds of situations. Instead, a library of statements, with each message anticipating a particular scenario, will prove more helpful and easier to finalize quickly.

The actual templates will differ for each school. A Texas school probably doesn’t need an earthquake holding statement, but a message anticipating a tornado warning would be highly useful.

To build this collection, communications should prepare statements for both the likeliest and the most damaging crisis situations. Here are a few common scenarios to prime your brainstorming:

Severe weather affecting the school
A chemical spill on campus
A cybersecurity intrusion
Traffic disruptions around campus
A public safety incident off-campus

If you’re new to holding statements, start with drafting messages for these and other likely situations, which typically carry lower stakes. Closed roads around campus will annoy people but generally won’t threaten health or reputation.

Consider creating variants for different scenario outcomes: A winter storm that drives a two-hour delay will need a slight different message than one closing school for at least one day.

And don’t forget to review your library occasionally. Make a summer to-do of looking over your holding statements to identify updates that are needed.

Tougher situations to anticipate

Once you are used to the format, you’re ready to approach the more difficult, “keep you up at night” situations.

Begin by listing examples of crises that have affected schools like yours, drawing from news headlines, buzz among co-workers or tabletop exercises.

With this list, prioritize the situations that would most harm both your community’s trust in the school and the general reputation of the school. These don’t necessarily involve violence: A widespread cheating incident, for example, would likely affect trust and reputation.

These scenarios should anticipate news media interest. In fact, you may want to prepare separate holding statements for your internal community (parents, students, faculty and staff) and for reporters who want information.

Communicators have said for years that they want more training and preparedness with crisis messaging. Taking part in tabletop exercises is one way to practice the necessary skills. Writing holding statements is another.

Finally, be aware that outside help can provide schools with both training and preparation.

For example, Fine Point offers a crisis-communications retainer option to independent schools, through which we can prepare a library of holding statements and work closely with on-campus communicators. If this sounds interesting, reach out for a conversation.