Creativity Readiness in Crisis Communications: How Crisis Communicators’ Ability to be Creative is Impacted at the Individual, Work Team, and Organizational Levels

Abstract

In recent years, the global environment in which modern organizations operate has been dominated by a 24-hour news cycle, rapid information flows, demanding increased sensitivities to diverse populations, and intense scrutiny upon every level of the organization. The evolving informational habits have heightened the pressures on organizations and how they deal with crises, which has reshaped the field of crisis communication. In this complex and global environment, the ability to be creative has been named one of the key components to differentiation and survival. Based on a necessary paradigm shift for crisis communication, where uncertainty and chaos are embraced, I argue that organizations that are Creativity Ready have the ability to be more adaptive and better prepared to respond to unexpected situations. Thus, this study sought to understand how crisis communicators strike a balance between crisis planning and the necessity of being flexible and creative in the face of crises. By designing and applying of the Creativity Readiness construct to branding discourse related to creativity as found on corporate websites and Twitter feeds, as well as crisis communicators interviews, this study maps out to what extent crisis communicators operate in an environment conducive of creative behaviors. Overall, it was found that, in crisis communication, creative work happens mostly out of necessity––at times when plans fail or are simply not enough to appropriately deal with a crisis. Crisis communicators and their organizations have not yet truly carved out a space where creativity is fostered, supported, and expected.