Prudential's Communication Strategy Provides Lessons for All by Steve Adubato, Ph.D.

No corporation or organization expects to face a crisis or potential crisis in their workplace. But in the post 9-11 world, the best managers and leaders have come to anticipate and plan for the unexpected.

Consider the case of Prudential Financial who remarkably wound up on a list of prime terrorist targets of Al Qaeda. How Prudential handled this situation and communicated to its many stakeholders provides a variety of lessons for other organizations.

--The CEO must be actively involved right from the beginning. Prudential CEO Art Ryan got a call on Sunday, August 1. Within hours he was meeting with his top security and operations people to make critical decisions and gather more information. Further, Ryan appeared on television with the governor and other top government officials representing Prudential. In addition, he communicated directly with Prudential personnel via e-mail to keep them in the loop. Simply put, CEOs cannot delegate certain high-visibility and critical communication responsibilities when the heat is on.

--Of all your audiences, employees are number one. Bob DeFillippo, Prudential's Chief Communications Officer, says "Employees are a critical audience and need to be well informed. “We knew it was important early on to keep our employees informed about what was going on. We needed to show them that we were making Prudential a safe place to work.”

--Don't be paralyzed by fear. Share vital information even if it makes some people nervous. DeFillippo says, "I don't know if you could ever have too much information in a situation like this." I don't necessarily agree with that statement because people can be inundated with information to the point of not being able to decipher what is most important. However, Prudential clearly didn't hold back sensitive and difficult to hear information. Their candor made a difference.

--Face to face communication is critical. While technology can help quickly facilitate information sharing, there is no substitute for the personal, human connection. Prudential immediately held town hall meetings lead by Hank DeGeneste, vice president of global security. According to DeFillippo, all questions were fair game and each session was well attended by employees. Further, these sessions were videotaped and aired on PruTV, an internal communications system reaching employees who were unable to attend.

--Establish a toll free telephone number employees can call at any time to get the most up to date information on the situation. Prudential has such a system in place and on that Sunday had a message for all employees calling in informing them that the building would be open for business. In addition, when workers arrived at the Prudential building, there was an e-mail message from Art Ryan providing more detailed information.

--Make sure your actions match your words. It's one thing to say security is going to be "beefed up," yet it is essential to back up those words in very visible ways. Within hours, additional security was called on to the scene. They were stationed in front of the building where cement barricades were also installed. Further, visitors entering the building went through "airport level" security checks. Simply put, pleasant sounding rhetoric won't get the job done.

--Everyone has to be communicating from the same page. One of the biggest dangers in these types of situations is having mixed messages being sent by company officials. So far, that hasn't been the case with Prudential, since virtually all communications are approved by senior management before they are released. Such a system won't regulate office rumors and "water cooler" talk but it goes a long way to ensure that consistent messages are communicated at critical times.

Dr. Steve Adubato coaches and speaks on the subjects of communication and leadership and is the author of the book "Speak from the Heart." Write to him at The Star-Ledger, 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, NJ 07102, or click here to contact him through this web site.