How NRG Energy adapted its crisis response amid COVID-19 uncertainty

To paraphrase boxing icon Mike Tyson: Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face.

Of course, not even the powerful punches of prime Tyson could match the fury and flurry of blows that communicators worldwide have absorbed over the last month. The combination of hits has left us reeling and rendered many crisis plans obsolete.

Gin Kinney, NRG Energy’s VP of marketing and communications, spoke about updating crisis plans in light of COVID-19 at Ragan’s virtual Best Practices in Internal Communications and Culture Conference. Kinney shared firsthand guidance from her team’s response to the unfolding pandemic. It was no easy task, communicating with the energy company’s nearly 6,000 employees amid such a fluid situation.

“Details were changing daily—even hourly—so communicating messages across a broad, diverse employee base with a unified voice was difficult. We had to rewrite crisis communication tactics on the fly,” Kinney said.