What internal communicators can learn from Biden’s decision

President Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the 2024 race on Sunday night. This continues a pattern of historic firsts in this contentious and unprecedented election season that includes the attempted assassination of Donald Trump just over a week ago.

While that incident offered lessons on how to communicate at work about political violence, communicators can also learn much about how to navigate uncertainty from the tactics embedded in Biden’s decision, how the comms unfolded, and how to streamline the messaging strategy around next steps in the weeks ahead.

Here’s what stuck out.

1. Telling internal stakeholders first. While some initial reports said that White House staffers were not informed of the decision until they saw it on social media, the New York Times reported that Biden, who was recovering from COVID at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, team informed staffers of his decision via video:

“At 1:45 p.m. on Sunday — a minute before Mr. Biden posted his letter of withdrawal — the president told his most senior White House and campaign advisers on a video call, including Anita Dunn, who manages communications strategy in the West Wing. He read the letter to them and thanked his staff for their service.

“Come to me with the work, and let’s get it done,” the president told them. The posting went online at 1:46 p.m.”

While one minute may seem inconsequential and gestural, this strategy exemplifies a foundational principle of crisis and change comms—informing internal stakeholders before they read it elsewhere.

Even one minute before something goes public, while not ideal, is still advance notice that can help reinforce trust and minimize the likelihood of other speculative narratives running away from the source. This is best practice for when circumstances prevent more stakeholders from knowing sooner.

2. Uniform messaging across leaders creates cohesion. While President Biden’s withdrawal surfaces several additional questions about the state of the Democratic nomination ahead of August’s DNC in Chicago, uniform messaging across party leaders began by paying honor and respect to President Biden as the rare career politician whose decision puts party before self, avoid speculation or endorsement of a potential nominee in the same message, and ended with a call for party unity.

Biden’s letter to the American people set the tone by saving his official endorsement of Kamala Harris as the nominee for a separate message, a notable exclusion that many party members followed in sharing their thoughts about Biden’s decision separately from their backing of Harris.

3. Clear and consistent messaging lighting the way. President Biden’s decision creates unprecedented questions and uncertainties that the Democratic Party will be pressured to answer before its convention next month. Whether it runs with Biden’s endorsement and rushes to nominate Harris as seems most likely, or holds another primary to sustain excitement and engage voters in the process, still remains to be seen.

Whatever path the party takes,  this moment is a crucial opportunity to demystify the process for voters through educational messaging about how the nomination process works, and what precedent exists for nominating a candidate at the convention, which was standard practice until the 1968 election.

Seasoned internal comms leaders know that a consistent cadence of comms, updates and context keeps stakeholders engaged and maintains trust throughout the process. While Biden’s announcement demonstrates a willingness to listen to the chorus of American voters, lawmakers and donors who called for him to bow out of the race, clarity and context must be harnessed across messaging channels to ensure the party remains in conversation with voters come November.

This is an evolving story. We will continue to cover it as more information becomes available.