Unit 3 · Negotiation, Diplomacy & High-Stakes Talk · Lesson 14
Crisis Communication
Speaking when stakes are high
By the end of this lesson
You'll be able to:
- open a crisis statement that earns trust instead of forfeiting it
- sequence acknowledgement, accountability and action without hiding any
- say 'we don't yet know' without sounding evasive
- answer hostile questions in 30 seconds with a usable structure
Stage 1
Warm-up
Here's what you'll do
Same crisis. Three opening lines. Which one would you actually trust?
You produce
You rank and defend.
- 'We take this incident extremely seriously and are reviewing all aspects of our procedures.'
- 'At 04:17 this morning, our systems failed in a way they should not have. I want to tell you what we know, what we don't yet know, and what we are doing now.'
- 'Reports of the incident have been exaggerated; the situation is fully under control.'
Group extension (optional)
Pairs argue; group identifies which line would survive a hostile front page.
Stage 2
Language Discovery
Here's what you'll do
Four moves of a survivable crisis statement.
You produce
You name and order each move.
Crisis register: ACK / FACTS / GAP / NEXT
Notice that a strong crisis statement always does the same four things in the same order. Identify them in the examples.
ACK: 'At 04:17 today, a deployment error caused the service to fail for roughly 90 minutes, affecting an estimated 40,000 customers.'
FACTS: 'Service was restored at 05:48. Customer data was not accessed. No payment information was exposed.'
GAP: 'We do not yet know the precise root cause; an internal review is under way and an independent review will follow.'
NEXT: 'Affected customers will be contacted directly within 24 hours. A detailed post-incident report will be published within 14 days.'
The rule you'll arrive at
ACK (acknowledge specifically what happened and who was harmed) → FACTS (state what is known, time-stamped and precise) → GAP (state what is NOT yet known without using the gap to hide) → NEXT (state the next concrete action and when the next update will come). Skipping any of the four reads as evasion.
Try three
1. ACK a data leak affecting 12,000 customers.
Reveal
'On 14 March we discovered that the names and email addresses of approximately 12,000 customers were exposed via a misconfigured database. We are sorry, and we want to tell you what happened.'
2. GAP a recall where the cause is uncertain.
Reveal
'We do not yet know whether the fault originates with the supplier or with our own assembly process. Both reviews are under way and will be published in full.'
3. NEXT after a product safety incident.
Reveal
'Owners of affected models will receive a free recall notice within 48 hours. We will publish a weekly progress note until every unit is corrected.'
Stage 3
Vocabulary in Use
Here's what you'll do
Six items for high-stakes public speaking.
You produce
You match each to a real crisis you've watched.
to own (the failure)
to publicly accept responsibility without diluting
"We own the failure. The fault was ours and the response is ours."
(it / this) happened on (our) watch
to accept responsibility by virtue of role
"It happened on my watch and I will not pass it down the chain."
to underpromise and overdeliver
to commit cautiously and exceed
"In a crisis, underpromise and overdeliver — never the reverse."
root cause
the underlying source of a failure
"We won't speculate on root cause until the review is in."
duty of candour
the obligation to disclose fully and honestly
"Our duty of candour means we publish what we find, including what we got wrong."
to draw a line under (something)
to mark the end of an event publicly
"We won't try to draw a line under this until those affected feel it has been addressed."
Guided practice
1. Fill: 'It happened on ____ ____.' (2 words)
Reveal
my watch
2. Fill: 'Our ____ ____ ____ requires full disclosure.' (3 words)
Reveal
duty of candour
3. Fill: 'In a crisis, ____ ____ ____ — not the reverse.' (3 words)
Reveal
underpromise and overdeliver
Stage 4
Speaking Task
Here's what you'll do
Live press statement: 60 seconds, four moves, no theatre.
You produce
You deliver; teacher times each move and flags any missing one.
Pick a scenario. You have 60 seconds to deliver a crisis statement that includes ACK, FACTS, GAP and NEXT in that order. Teacher times each move (aim ~15 seconds each) and immediately flags any concern theatre. Re-deliver if any of the four moves is missing.
Use these
Prompts
- · Scenario: data breach affecting 50,000 users.
- · Scenario: hospital surgical error.
- · Scenario: train derailment, no fatalities but injuries.
Group extension (optional)
In pairs, peer rates each of the four moves separately on a 1–3 scale.
Stage 5
Reading / Listening Input
Here's what you'll do
An 230-word CEO statement after an outage. Mark the architecture.
You produce
Five close-reading calls.
Instructions
You will hear a hospital trust CEO making a public statement following a medication error. For questions 1–6, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase.
1The CEO opens by acknowledging that the error happened on the trust's _____.
Reveal
watch
2The statement confirms that _____ patients were affected by the incident.
Reveal
a number / specific figure (listen for the exact count)
3The CEO admits the trust does not yet know the _____ of the prescribing breakdown.
Reveal
root cause
4An independent review will be led by a former _____.
Reveal
Chief Medical Officer
5Families will be contacted directly by the _____ team.
Reveal
patient safety
6The next public update is promised within _____ hours.
Reveal
48 hours
Show audio transcript (CEO statement — 'On yesterday's outage')
Yesterday at 14:09, our payments system failed for approximately two hours. During that window, roughly 70,000 transactions could not complete. I want to be the first to apologise to every customer and merchant affected. The fault was on our side. It happened on my watch. We have so far established that the outage originated in a misapplied configuration change rolled out at 14:07. We have NOT yet established the full chain of decisions that allowed that change to reach production without the safeguards we believed were in place. An external review will examine that question, and its findings will be published in full, including any criticism of the leadership team. In the meantime, we are extending direct contact to every affected customer within 48 hours; reversing any incurred fees; and pausing all non-essential deployments until our review of the safeguards is complete. I will provide a further update by close of business on Friday. We do not yet deserve to draw a line under this. We will when those affected agree we have.
Stage 6
Analysis Task
Here's what you'll do
Find the temptations the writer resisted.
You produce
A short note listing three things a weaker writer would have done.
List three lines a weaker crisis statement would have included that this one doesn't (e.g. 'we take this seriously', 'this is unacceptable', vague review promises). Discuss why each weakens the statement.
- · Where could the writer have hidden? Why didn't they?
- · Why does naming the timestamp matter?
- · What does 'including any criticism of the leadership team' buy?
Group extension (optional)
Pairs draft a 'corrupted' version of the statement; group rates which is most damaging.
Stage 7
Communication Challenge
Here's what you'll do
Hostile press conference: 8 minutes, 4 questions, calibrated answers.
You produce
Each answer ≤30 seconds, structured ACK/FACTS/GAP/NEXT or a defensible subset.
You = CEO. Teacher = journalist. Crisis: factory accident, two serious injuries, cause not yet known. Teacher asks four escalating questions. You answer each in ≤30 seconds, including (where appropriate) all four moves. You may NOT say 'we take this seriously'. Wrap with a 60-second statement.
Three minutes prep on what you know, what you don't, and what you can promise.
Use these
Deliverable
A recording or transcript + a journalist's one-line verdict on credibility.
Group extension (optional)
In groups of 3, second journalist asks harder follow-ups; observer scores each answer on the four moves.
Stage 8
Exam Connection
Here's what you'll do
C2 Proficiency Listening Part 2 — sentence completion under formal register.
You produce
One ACK + one GAP sentence drafted live.
C2 Proficiency — Listening Part 2 (sentence completion from formal talks)
Task: Crisis-register sources are common in C2 listening; candidates miss key words because they expect ordinary speech.
Strategy: Listen for ACK / FACTS / GAP / NEXT as anchor points; the testable words live inside them.
Mini-task
Imagine a hospital trust statement after a medication error. Draft and read aloud ONE ACK sentence and ONE GAP sentence.
Distractor warnings
- Crisis register sounds slow and formal — candidates expecting ordinary speech miss the testable noun.
- ACK and GAP sentences contain near-synonyms ('responsibility' / 'accountability'); only one is the exact word on the page.
- Numbers are often the answer in Part 2 — listen for figures and time-frames, not adjectives.
Examiner comment
"Use ACK / FACTS / GAP / NEXT as listening anchors. Testable words almost always sit at the end of a clause inside one of these four moves."
Stage 9
Writing / Production
Here's what you'll do
160 words. A statement that survives a hostile front page.
You produce
A 160–180-word crisis statement handed in.
Write a 160–180-word CEO statement after a (real or invented) incident. You MUST: (a) include ACK, FACTS, GAP and NEXT in order, (b) avoid all concern theatre, (c) name a specific next-update time, (d) use at least three target items.
Word count: 160–180 words
Must use
Stage 10
Reflection & Homework
Here's what you'll do
End of L14. Two questions, one prep.
You produce
Spoken 30-second reflection.
Reflection
- · Which of the four moves do you find hardest — and why?
- · When did you last hear a leader use concern theatre — and what would the honest version have sounded like?
Homework
Find a real crisis statement from the past month. Score it ACK/FACTS/GAP/NEXT on a 0–3 scale. Bring to Lesson 15.