ISSUE

When a client went through a merger, bringing two large health systems together into one, we were on hand to lead part of the transition. Beyond aligning staff members, processes and protocols, their internal communications documents needed to be combined into one useful document that would be regularly referenced. Two particular internal documents can set the tone for all other communication work products.  

A style guide helps provide a cohesive brand voice in all communications both internally and externally. It serves as a rulebook for editorial and writing standards.  Style guides provide guidance on voice, tone, grammar, specific terminology, formatting and more.   

A crisis communications plan outlines the roles, procedures and example scenarios for emergency situations or pressing issues that could damage the brand. This plan includes any issue that may need a strategic communications response.  

STRATEGY

Instead of an internal team, it made sense for Ceisler Media to lead this project for both documents and bring our outside perspective to these plans. 

We served as a fresh pair of eyes to blend their style guides and review and update their crisis documents, searching for inconsistencies and clearing up confusion. As outsiders, we spotted things the internal client team may have missed by being more entrenched in the project. We kept the project on track by creating lists of outstanding tasks to ensure the proper internal teams were reviewing and finalizing sections on time. We scheduled regular calls and ran the call agenda to review key sections or flag questions and issues we came across.  

Our staff’s wide range of experience in journalism, political campaigns, higher education communications, nonprofit advocacy, government press offices and more, allows us to look at things through different lenses. We carefully considered what was best for communicating with different audiences.  This uniquely positioned us for blending two organizations’ internal communications plans.  

For example, a crisis communications plan used to mean only including worst-case huge crisis scenarios, but we recommend positioning it to prepare clients more broadly and more proactively.  

We reframed it as an issues management document to anticipate and address potential issues that may pop up for their organization. This playbook is meant to be a starting point, not a document to simply copy and paste from.  It will help frame our client’s thoughts in tense moments where something is threatening or disrupting their organization .  

RESULT 

We edited and drafted the documents to be true living documents with a plan for updating them regularly. The internal team is still solidifying final versions, but they have a clear process to work through final edits.  

Our goal throughout this project was to make the process more manageable and help both organizations stay on track through merging these important internal guidelines.