Training Near Terror

[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications]

On March 22, Bruce Hennes and I were leading a day-long crisis management/media training program in the Netherlands when explosions ripped through Brussels Airport and the Maelbeek metro station. Though the terror struck more than 100 miles south of our training room, everyone’s smart phones immediately began dinging and beeping with spouses and loved ones texting to make sure we were all OK, and that there was no similar incident in nearby Amsterdam.

For trainees – some of whom were from Belgium – the bombings had an immediate impact: they hunkered down over the crisis scenarios we presented with more intensity than perhaps any group I have ever trained. One of the scenarios involved religious extremism and a fatal shooting in the workplace. The first task for trainees was to write key messages reacting to the scenario for use in mock news interviews.

While there is generally a period of thoughtful discussion and disagreement about key messages when we conduct our training programs, I have little doubt that shockwaves from the Brussels terror incident galvanized our group. They focused immediately on prioritizing messages of sympathy and empathy. They agreed another message needed to reassure audiences that they were working with investigating authorities and would do everything in their power to make sure nothing like this ever happened again.

Each participant then got up in front of a video camera and was grilled in a mock interview. For this exercise to be successful, trainees must be willing to suspend disbelief and deliver their key messages as though they are in the midst of a real crisis. On this day, no acting was necessary.

On this day, the sudden jolt of a senseless and abhorrent terrorist act stitched our group together in a common humanity. Heartfelt emotion punctuated the on-camera exercise. Sympathy, disbelief, anger and conviction were all genuinely expressed on video.

As the day wore on, we updated one another during breaks with information pouring in from Belgium on our news apps. Some participants were driving home to Belgium that night. Some were flying home to France, the U.K. and the United States. But all left telling us the same thing: they felt empowered to communicate during an extreme crisis, but hoped beyond hope that they would never have to.