Podcast
#278: How Frontline Communicators Use Storytelling During COVID-19
#278: How Frontline Communicators Use Storytelling During COVID-19
Trust, while in short supply these days from our leadership, is critical to combat any crisis. COVID-19 is enjoying a second surge with 100,000 new cases now reported daily in America. Hospitals across the country are nearing capacity and exhausted frontline workers are doing their best to save lives.
But without timely and accurate information for the public, the Coronavirus will continue rampaging through our families, communities and economy infecting our health and wellbeing.
Today we talk with two of Banner Health’s frontline communicators, Jennifer Russo, Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Rebecca Armendariz, Senior Director of Marketing and Public Relations. They share their roles in battling COVID by correcting misinformation through the media, raising internal morale with heroic storytelling and preserving their roles as leading healthcare communicators who speak the truth whether the public likes it or not.
They also discuss the importance of an authentic brand story as the platform for your crisis communications guiding how you communicate internally to rally your colleagues and externally to inform the public.
Stories deliver truth that creates trust. If we are to wrestle the pandemic into submission sooner rather than later, it begins with trusting the real leaders in this fight: Our healthcare practitioners. scientists and communicators.
Discussed in this Episode
- The importance of cadence and predictability in your business communication and brand storytelling, especially during a crisis or pandemic
- How Banner told the “why, how, and what” using human stories and what a profound impact that had internally which then, in turn, spilled over externally
- How Banner prepared for COVID and what challenges they faced and still face and more importantly what they are doing to overcome these challenges and you can apply these lessons to your own work and life
- Why acknowledging people’s feelings and providing heart forward messaging in your communications illicit real understanding and therefore action and why storytelling is the best mechanism to do so
Resources & Links
- Banner Health
- Connect with Jennifer on Linkedin
- Connect with Becky on Linkedin
- Connect with Becky on Facebook
- Follow Becky on Twitter
- Follow Becky on Instagram
- Episode #161: How to Bring Clarity and Energy to Your Personal Brand Story
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