Audience: employees
Message: We regret what’s happened. We are working to control the situation and plan to keep you fully informed.
Tone: formal
Timing: 10-12 minutes, depending on insertion of crisis details

Hello. We’ve asked you to lay aside your work for a few moments to attend this meeting today under very disturbing circumstances.

I’ve been reading a lot of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts cartoon strips—not necessarily for laughs but for some poignant insights on the human condition. To express exactly how I feel and how I know some of you feel today, I want to share four cartoon strips collected over the years that bear directly on our situation here.

The first strip shows Lucy with baseball cap and glove in center field, waiting,… calling for a fly ball. She’s yelling, “I’ve got it. I’ve got it. I’ve got it.” But then the balls drops to the ground a few feet behind here. She stalks off the field with, “I’ve been wrong a lot lately.”

That’s my sentiment exactly. We’ve been wrong lately. We thought we had taken care of the problem of
[Insert overview of the troublesome situation or issue.]

The second cartoon is Snoopy sitting on top of his doghouse peering into space. An airplane approaches and then passes overhead. “He hates me,” thinks Snoopy. Someone asks “How do you know he hates you?” Snoopy sighs, “I can tell.”

The last frame shows the rooftop of his doghouse riddled with bullet holes.

Likewise, we have no doubt about what the public sentiment is with regard to us and this crisis situation.

The third cartoon shows Linus and Lucy. Linus tells Lucy, “I just talked with Charlie Brown’s mom. He’s not any better.”

Lucy screams back, “He’s not any better? That’s crazy! He’s got to get better.!! What’s wrong with a world where someone like Charlie Brown can get sick and then not get any better?” Lucy finally stalks off with, “I need somebody to hit!!”

The public, like Lucy, needs somebody to hit for this situation. And we’re a likely target. And frankly, I could use a punching bag or two myself about now.

The final strip shows Sally talking to herself about a school homework assignment. She says, “This is my report…. I sat up all night working on it…. Well, actually, I didn’t sit up all night working on it…. What I did was I sat up all night worrying about it…. There is a big difference!”

Like Sally, we know the difference between worrying and working, but there’s little we can do about the damage at this point.

To sum up: We took all the precautions that could be expected against something like this. Obviously, the precautions weren’t enough. A lot of somebodies out there don’t like us a lot right now. They and we need to hit somebody. We’re worrying and we’re working—and we do know the difference.

We’ve called you together to give you the facts as best we know them. The facts are these:

[Insert the details of the incident/accident/situation, including the facts about who, when, where, why, how, and how much.]

To paraphrase newspaper publisher and Congressman William Randolph Hearst: “[We’ve tried] to be conspicuously accurate in everything…. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it’s more interesting.” As incredible as the details may seem, to the best of our abilities to investigate, this is what has happened.

We regret the situation. More than concern with the profitability of our company, we’re concerned about the long-term effects on you, our employees, and on the public. We know there will be specific concern about
[Insert details that show you understand the impact of the problem.]

We do feel that we have the immediate problem under control. I want to outline the steps we’ve taken to date and what actions we’re considering and investigating to try to prevent a recurrence:

[Insert details of immediate actions and future plans under consideration.]

We know of no stronger action to take in this situation. We think you’ll agree that we took precautions against all the possibilities that we could foresee,… that we have acted responsibly in response to the crisis,… and that we have the welfare of you, our stockholders, and the general public in mind as we plan our future course.

We know that you as employees will personally feel the brunt of some of the public’s reaction. And we regret that. We simply ask that in dealing with any outrage from those you come in contact with—our customers, suppliers, other staff—you remember that they feel a lot like Lucy. They just need somebody to hit.

But we encourage you to talk back. We’ve presented the facts to you in a very straightforward manner today. First, because as employees, you have every right to know that your management has acted responsibly.

And second, we’ve given you the facts so that you can pass them on to those business associates and neighbors who ask questions of you.

I assure you that as other details become available, we will pass them on—either with memos, internal reports, or press releases. We will keep you informed every step of the way as we resolve the immediate crisis and then develop preventative procedures.

Feel free to direct any questions to (contact name and phone number), who will be the most informed person in our organization. We simply ask that you be patient as she and her staff try to research and respond to your questions.

Last, I just want to say how much we will count on your help and how much we already appreciate your support in this difficult time.