Graphic communications in a crisis.

• Author: Bestor, Michael C.

Although it is easy to create graphs using computer spreadsheet programs, finance officers must remember to ask: Is this graph communicating the message effectively?

Graphs have always been useful for communicating the meaning of data and explaining that meaning to others. Prior to the age of the personal computer and development of sophisticated software, they had been so difficult to produce that they were used only infrequently. Today's spreadsheet packages and graphics programs make the process so simple that new uses for graphs have become very practical. The double-edged sword of these programs is many types of graphs that are produced easily can just as easily bury the message in the cleverness of the graph. In the face of a sudden crisis of confidence, the City of Golden, Colorado, used common spreadsheet graphics to communicate the key issue to a skeptical public. The first tool chosen to communicate the message, however, might have doomed the messenger. Revised graphics resulted in increased public understanding and confidence in city management.

Needed: Effective Communication

At 3 p.m. on Thursday, February 8, 1996, the City of Golden's water filtration system experienced a major malfunction requiring the issuance of an immediate boil-water order telling citizens their water was not safe to drink. As the water plant operators worked around the clock to isolate the cause and identify a solution, public works crews operated free drinking water distribution sites throughout the city. Then the Denver radio "shock jocks" broadcast a call from an irate citizen who claimed the city had lied to him: on Thursday morning he was told the water was safe to drink, "How come all of a sudden the water was not safe to drink when it looked the same as the day before?" He could only conclude the city had been lying all along, and the talk shows eagerly devoured that line of thought.

The water crisis itself was a physical problem that was being addressed. The problem was discovered and a solution was designed. More immediate, important, and difficult was the crisis of confidence brought on by the appearance that the city had been hiding a health risk.

January had been a difficult month for the water department. Since New Year's Day, customers had been complaining about the brown color of the water delivered to their taps. The city's water source contained record high levels of dissolved manganese, which is a common mineral packaged in...