alert

Degrees of Seriousness

If the hazard is extreme, we might expect multiple signs, ropes, prosecution threats, and a skull and crossbones warning of death. If the potential risk is minimal, we might anticipate a yellow sign reminding us to pay attention. Placement, colors, symbols, and words escalate or minimize the level of caution we are attempting to communicate.

How does your enterprise communicate a call to action? Is there a scale that ranges from summer camp registrations starting in a week to the state legislature hearing a bill that will cut off a majority of your cause’s funding? If you do not have a readily accessible scale, the message might be lost in a time of high need.

Warning!!! NSFW!! Caution!

Nothing worthy of emergency importance is posted here. 

What is the mindset we adopt when the alarms sound to go on alert? How do we use our emergency broadcast system to support our team? Is it deployed with sobriety and forethought, or does every abnormal event qualify as breaking news? It is easy to draw attention, but the arduous dip we must travel is achieving trusted engagement. Is it worth the effort to serve with fidelity, or easier to adopt the role of shock and awe ringmaster?