Month: September 2013

How will the organization handle the revelation of Scout-on-Scout abuse records?

The Boy Scouts of America is surely ramping up crisis management efforts as it faces what could be another major blow to its reputation, with a Florida judge ordering the first known release of documentation regarding Scout-on-Scout abuse. The Sarasota Herald Tribune’s Elizabeth Johnson reports:

A local judge has ordered Boy Scouts of America to produce records documenting Scout-on-Scout sexual abuse from the last decade.

Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judge Peter Dubensky’s order, filed in June, is the first known of its kind requiring release of Scout-on-Scout abuse documents, says Sarasota attorney Damian Mallard.

The decision came as part of three ongoing lawsuits filed in Sarasota County on behalf of three separate victims who claim they were sexually abused by fellow Scouts on overnight camping trips.

The suits allege the organization was negligent in not sharing information regarding Scout-on-Scout abuse prevention, reporting, or really, from how it reads, any policy on the subject at all, despite being aware enough to keep records of incidents.

At this point the Boy Scouts have already been in all kinds of hot water related to discrimination and past sex abuse coverups, so it’s a bit late for them to “do it right,” per se. Their only choice here is really to minimize damage, and it shows in the statement issued by the organization’s director of PR:

“The abuse of anyone, especially a child, is intolerable and our thoughts and prayers go out to those who may be a victim of this type of reprehensible behavior. While we can’t comment on the lawsuit, we extend our deepest sympathies to those involved. The safety of our youth members is of paramount importance. Recognizing that youth protection requires sustained vigilance, the BSA was on the forefront of developing youth protection policies and continues to develop and enhance efforts to protect youth through clear policies, as well as training and education programs for scouts, parents, and adult volunteers. The BSA has continuously enhanced its multi-tiered policies and procedures, which include background checks, comprehensive training programs, and safety policies, like requiring all members to report even suspicions of abuse directly to local law enforcement.”

As the Boy Scouts have discovered, it’s tough to get out from under years of bad behavior. In fact, we can tell you from experience that, without fail, it costs far more in both time and money to recover from crises than it ever would have to prevent them in the first place. Of course, you can keep fooling yourself with that, “it can’t happen to us” attitude…until it does.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

“Where the hell have you men been,” asks the colonel in a 1981 Bill Murray comedy film, Stripes. (video)

“Training, Sir,” he answers, drawing out the word “training” until it sounds ridiculous. And funny, of course. The troops, feeling responsible for their sergeant’s hospitalization and under the “emergent” leadership of Murray, had worked all night preparing for the training competition. The Colonel allows a demonstration of this undisciplined training. The comic result is that it “ain’t half bad.” In fact, the Colonel wants these men on a special mission because they have shown such initiative in training themselves.

All that was needed were the three keys steps of organizational development training strategies to move them along and, of course, leadership, attitude, and desire.

It’s easier than you think. Most employers and employees consider training itself bothersome, even unnecessary, while the opposite is true. Yes, it seems the awesome, yet tedious task to planning out organizational development training strategies, while there is real work to be done. This returns to a necessary foundation–a re-start–a re-group–a rethink of how an organization reaches its goals and achieves its mission, often a long time after it was conceived.

That being said, since planning organizational development strategies consist of only three simple things, let’s get started. Knowing that it has to be done, leaders have to use all the charisma with which they are endowed to ease pain.

We all know how important learning and training is for the organization, and if that organization is growing and evolving, even more so. So, how do you deal with organizational growing pains? Expansion isn’t always the answer in order to keep the company functioning at optimum level; in fact, there is a point where the company gets too big. We talk about “red-tape” in government. Same here.

We go back to the company vision and goals to kick-start organizational development strategies. Our simple keys are tactical in nature. Smaller bites to create the Strategic system.

1. Remember that company vision and those goals to make it a reality? What are the company goals? Now that there are more people involved, what steps must be taken to optimize learning, the current amount of knowledge held now and the rate of usage? How much time will you have to accomplish what has to be done and how many people are needed per unit to accomplish a single goal.
2. What is the company division of labor or how does it divide the work? You aren’t really starting over–although sometimes it might be easier. I suggest have someone do just that. Working alone or with a partner, draw up an organizational plan based on what they know so far. Everyone else work with the current division of labor, departments and divisions achieving the goals now. Naturally, you have to look at relevancy and experience to the work being done, but also at rates of success. Ask questions like would training help or is a re-organization needed. Which would be best over time. Finally, remember the two-person team working on organizational plan on their own? Compare the two plans. Any insight? With key staff members looking at protecting turf sometimes the information is skewed and a fresh look brings a reality into play. Now, the units should be assigned the work that is most relevant, making the total operation more efficient. Over time backups and redundancies will happen as people are transferred and promoted.
3. What is the company flexibility factor? Can you tell the difference between someone who is having trouble learning or is learning at a different rate with someone who needs an attitude adjustment? That’s a tough call if it gets that bad, but with the degree of flexibility allowed in a large company, bad attitudes should not be a problem if they weren’t already. A certain amount of flexibility by management over this period and stated as such will show the employees that management cares about them, and that is always a plus. Convinced it will be good for the company overall and good for them because they will be doing work that is best suited to the job they do, you can’t go wrong.

Whenever people are involved, it’s always best to involve them in the decision-making process, or at least gain buy-in. The employees will be forced to take time out of their work schedule and managers who write their evaluations will have to let them, hopefully, with positive reflection. And, everyone is closer to success. The next steps of implementing the training should come easier.

*Just a short note to let you know I have shut down my website and re-named my Acting Smarts blog to Shaw’s Reality, which reflects my more eclectic writing these days and I use in place of my website. Still doing some acting, directing and performance criticism; however, I am more involved in writing these days and want to focus there. I promise straight talk and not to encrypt or decrypt, or be cryptic about anything on my site, which is meant to enlighten those who read between the lines. Harry’s Reality is still on sale at Amazon will be available through all other ebook distributors and directly through Smashwords after September 30th.

Happy training.

For more resources about training, see the Training library.

The fourth annual Millennial Impact Research report was published in July and it inspired a flurry of articles about this important topic for nonprofits. This report deals exclusively with the relationship of Millennials with nonprofits and how to engage them and increase their engagement level with you. At my blog, Marion Conway – Consultant to Nonprofits I wrote an overview of the report covering the highlights and takeaways for the three main categories of the report: connect, involve and give. Here’s the link:

Millennial Impact Research Report – Highlights and Takeaways

The Millennial Research Report has many in-depth features including brief videos of respondents. It is very accessible and well organized and I encourage you to see the whole report if you are interested in engaging this demographic – 18 – 34 year olds with your nonprofit.

One of the best features of this report is its recommendation section – called Millennial Impact Benchmarks. The Millennial Impact Benchmarks provide a path that any organization can follow to develop its culture toward Millennial engagement. The system is three phases levels—Millennial Inviting, Millennial Immersion, and Millennial Impact each describing how you can work with Millennials to connect, involve, and give at each level.

Here is a description of each level:

Inviting – Millennial Inviting is the first level of Millennial engagement. No matter its size or the resources of your nonprofit, every organization can adopt the strategies and cultural changes to take the first step and involve Millennials

Immersion – Millennial Immersion is the second level of Millennial engagement. Organizations that reach the benchmarks of this level have designed programs with Millennials, not just for them. At this stage, Millennials are actively participating in unique ways to help the cause enhance awareness and outreach efforts of the community.

Impact – Millennial Imoact is the third level of Millennial engagement. The ultimate goal – the pinnacle of a Millennial engagement strategy – is to provide leadership, service and truly transformational opportunities for Millennials to affect the direction of the community.

http://www.themillennialimpact.com/benchmarks

The full Benchmarks section with four detailed grids can be found here.

An important way we make progress on any front is to assess where we are, set benchmark goals to attain and develop and follow an action plan. This reportk provides a roadmap for doing just that in engaging with Millennials. There’s no time like now to begin.

Marion Conway

THINK before you communicate!

[Editor’s note: Thank you to reader Kim May for bringing this case to our attention! If you see a topic you think would make for a good blog post, send it on over to erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com]

Would a picture of a dead dog with a concerned-looking man performing CPR make you want to buy a running shoe? Seems like a pretty obvious no, yet somehow Pearl Izumi execs gave the go-ahead to run an ad depicting just that in Canadian Running magazine. Have a look at this ad:

Crisis Management 101 dictates that an organization, before doing any type of communication, considers how it may be received by stakeholders. It’s no secret that animal lovers can be fiercely protective, many people still carry wounds from lost pets, and animal rights groups do not hesitate to make a scene over even perceived cruelty to our furry friends, meaning this was one VERY predictable crisis.

While publishing the initial ad was an undeniably foolish move, Pearl Izumi went all in once it recognized the need for crisis management. An sincere apology was posted to its Facebook wall, and the company shared a couple videos from, and donated a cool $10,000 to, the Humane Society.

The steps Pearl Izumi has taken should help neutralize the reputation damage it was taking, and it’s certainly nice for the Humane Society to get a hefty donation, but it has to hurt a bit to think that, if their advertising folks had spoken with their PR people about potential downsides, the situation could have been avoided altogether.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]