Month: March 2014

When you own a business, the actions of your employees, even when not at work, can reflect poorly on you.

Earlier this month, a New York tattoo artist employed by the Red Legged Devil tattoo shop owned by Chris Torres posted a picture to Instagram of him tattooing his dog, which was under anesthesia for a separate medical procedure.

Animal rights proponents quickly figured out that Torres employed the man who had done the tattooing, and headed to the Red Legged Devil Facebook page to voice their displeasure, along with threats of action with the SPCA and other legal authorities.

In terms of crisis management, Torres started in the right direction, then went waaaay off the mark.. His initial response was to distance himself from the incident, making it very clear the shop was not involved in any way. Unfortunately, his attitude was utterly unapologetic and insensitive – something that might fly in the tat biz but not when it comes to crisis communications.

Even worse, after initially distancing himself he leapt right back into the fray on Twitter, fighting to support his employee’s questionable decision using a full arsenal of bad logic and elementary school insults:

@mister_smiley @mikeisthereason you guys are aware that the ASPCA tattoos dogs & cats once they’ve speyed or neutered them, right?

— CHRIS TORRES (@CHRIS_TORRESNY) March 5, 2014

@sugarrrxo nice eyebrows…did you paint them on with a roller?

— CHRIS TORRES (@CHRIS_TORRESNY) March 6, 2014

Torres dug himself a deeper and deeper hole as he repeatedly engaged in the type of back-and-forth arguments that social media crisis management pros warn against via both Twitter and Facebook, as well as dropping this absolute bomb of a quote in an interview with Gothamist.com:

Reached for comment, Red Legged Devil owner Chris Torres was emphatic that the decision of his employee, Mistah Metro, to tattoo his dog had nothing to do with him. “The dog wasn’t tattooed at the shop—what [employees] do on their own time isn’t my business,” he said.

Perhaps not, but Torres still has plenty of opinions on the matter. “People are still offered jobs after being pedophiles,” he said. “I don’t know why everyone is treating this kid like he raped a 12-year-old.”

If anyone was still on the fence as far as Mr. Torres and his shop, we can guarantee that quote left them firmly on the opposing side.

Despite his vehement defense, Torres did wind up firing the employee responsible for the dog tat, leaving himself down one employee and up a whole host of haters thanks to his complete and utter lack of respect or self control.

You can’t completely prevent employees from doing things that aren’t so smart, but you can handle it properly when it happens. Plan ahead, stay cool, and you’ll minimize the impact. Become an angry, ranting insult machine and, well, we warned you…

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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]

Rapid response mitigates damage from potentially devastating incident

Anyone in the hospitality business will tell you that bad behavior by guests has the potential to create crises, but what if that behavior wasn’t happening in a hotel suite, but rather in someone’s home?

That’s exactly the situation Airbnb, the travel website where users book stays in individual’s guest houses, extra rooms, boats, really anywhere a bed will fit, faced after host Ari Teman discovered his Manhattan apartment was not being used by a wedding guest as he had been told, but rather to host an orgy that was open to the public and advertised via social media.

With reports of Teman’s condom and liquor-filled apartment making headlines on the ‘net, the need for a response was dire, and Airbnb stepped up to the plate big time. In a massive improvement from its reaction to a 2011 case in which a guest trashed a host’s apartment, Airbnb leapt immediately into full-on crisis management for this one.

Gawker was in contact with Teman, and got the story:

To its credit, Airbnb’s response to Teman was quick, almost absurdly so. Within 24 hours, per an email provided to Gawker by Teman, Airbnb had sent a locksmith to change his locks, made plans to put him up in a hotel for a week, and wired him $23,817

Not stopping there, Airbnb also delivered a very strong statement to media outlets, many of which circulated it verbatim or added it as updates to their original coverage:

Over 11 million guests have had a safe and positive experience on Airbnb and problems for hosts and guests are incredibly rare, but when they happen, we try to help make things right. We were appalled when we learned about this incident and we took immediate action to help this host. The individual who rented this space has been permanently removed from our site. We’ve reimbursed the host for damages to his apartment and ensured he has a new place to stay. In the days ahead, we’ll continue to work with the host to assist him with his additional needs and we will work cooperatively with any law enforcement agencies that investigate this matter.

A potentially sticky situation (pardon the pun) solved by prior planning and powerful crisis communications, well done Airbnb.

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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]

Every business serious about Change needs to create a Change Vision which is an expression of the reality and the intention. Done well, a Change Vision Statement will send a strong message for everyone in your business to rally and support the business in its transformational journey.

This is not to be confused with a company Mission Statement that may already exist within the business. A Change Vision should be crafted specifically to gain support and gather momentum relating to the Change Agenda.

To help you come up with a “Killer” Change Vision for your business first you need to understand a few things about what motivates people to take action about a business situation. Though this entirely depends on individuals, it’s safe to deduce that in general:

• A few people are inspired by a desired outcome.(e.g. number 1 in your market segment, or first to launch product XX)
• Some are inspired mainly by avoiding an undesirable outcome. (e.g. company shutting down / redundancy / retrenchment)
• Most people however are motivated by a combination of both.

Try to come up with a Chang Vision Statement that addresses both the desired positive outcome and the “to be avoided” negative outcome in your business today.

10 Things a “Killer” Change Vision Statement should accomplish

A CI Vision Statement Should:

1. Be Short and to the Point
2. Be Motivational and Inspirational
3. Captivate the intended audience
4. Be Timeless (must still be applicable months or years into the Change Journey)
5. Be a Unified Voice of the business (not a departmental opinion)
6. Identify with a Common most urgent goal
7. Cross Boundaries and Diversities
8. Create a Sense of Urgency
9. Be A Call to Action
10. Be Genuine, Believable and spoken straight from the Heart

Having created a compelling Change Vision Statement, what’s the best way to share it with everyone across the business? Do you just hang a poster at reception?

We’ve helped develop one for immigration solicitors london

Don’t say one thing to your customers while you’re telling shareholders another…

Target’s massive data breach last year, in which some 70 million pieces of customer data, including names, addresses, and credit card numbers, were stolen by hackers, shook shopper’s confidence and created lower-than-predicted sales during the crucial holiday season. Although the company faced some initial stumbles, its crisis management, including messaging regarding the situation and steps taken sent directly to affected customers and placed in stores, seems to be turning things around.

That is, of course, unless the retailer does something stupid. Something like, ohhh…informing the Securities and Exchange Commission that “it is possible that we will identify additional information that was accessed or stolen, which could materially worsen the losses and reputational damage we have experienced” while they’re busy reassuring the public that the trouble’s past.

Oh, that just happened in Target’s annual 10-k report? Well bollocks.

The instinct to start shouting from the rooftops that you’re past a crisis as soon as possible is completely understandable, but if you stop and think, what really looks worse – saying you’re in the clear and then having to announce you were wrong, or keeping everyone informed as you work through an issue until it’s really and truly resolved?

Target’s drawing shoppers back in, but if the problem is discovered to be bigger than reported you can bet the news won’t be tucked away in a SEC filing, and you can doubly bet that those customers who just barely put their shaken confidence back in the Target brand will be taking their money elsewhere.

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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]

The way you handle stakeholders can make fans for life…or create crisis

We focus a lot on preventing crisis stemming from those outside our organizations via social media, and for good reason, but it’s important to remember that issues involving employee interactions are one of the most common causes leading to a need for more serious crisis management.

In an eHotelier.com article, Daniel Edward Craig shared this wisdom on preventing social media crisis from within:

Businesses are well aware of the perils of external attacks, but often the real threat comes from within. We have never been more vulnerable to errors and misjudgment on the part of employees.

As an example, in 2012 a major international hotel brand was assailed on social networks after a front desk employee allegedly mocked a disabled U.S. army veteran who requested assistance during a power outage. He got down from his room by throwing his wheelchair and suitcases down three flights of stairs and sliding down on his behind. Then he went straight to the media.

Staff must understand that social media has raised the stakes. The costs of mistreating customers are significantly higher. Employees and managers must be trained and empowered to identify and resolve issues onsite before they escalate to online channels.

Not that it was a good idea to mistreat customers before, but frankly it was possible for members of your organization to have the occasional ugly run-in and get away with it. Now, between social media and the ever-present smartphone, any such incidents are likely to be recorded, documented, and immediately shared with a massive network full of potential stakeholders.

It’s not that the customer must always be right, but the consequences for slips in behavior have been magnified to a point where a single mistake holds the very real potential to permanently damage your business.

How do you prevent such mistakes? The best way is to create crisis management plans that include clear instructions on how disgruntled stakeholders are to be handled, and then train employees on tactics they can employ when it comes to both agreeing and disagreeing with the opinions or demands of said stakeholders.

Nobody’s going to force you to do it, but unless you’d like to provide some nice fodder for this blog we’d suggest you get on the ball.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]