Category: Organization Development

A botched practice run can create a very real crisis

It’s great to see so many organizations hopping on board with social media as a crisis communications tool, but the rush is leaving many open to mistakes as well. For example, when testing new notification systems in mid-April, Connecticut’s Department of Transportation forgot one important rule – either don’t test in a live environment, or make sure people know that it is indeed a test.

The DOT sent two tweets that, because they looked exactly like the typical posts going out from an account similar to, and using the same hashtags employed by, its statewide traffic update account, had stakeholders very concerned indeed. The first read:

Cleared: (31914004) Ferry Update: Chester Ferry ran out of fuel and went out to sea.#cttraffic

…and the second was just as bad:

Cleared: (31914003) Ferry Update: Rocky Hill Ferry sank to the bottom of the river after being struck by the Chester Ferry. #cttraffic

The mistake was quickly caught by members of the media, and the DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick gave a horrible statement, further compounding the situation:

“We were doing some test tweets from a separate account. They weren’t supposed to be going live. We were backfilling with some funny ones while we worked out how to add the ferry information to our Twitter feed.”

We’re not sure who would consider passenger ferries sinking to be “funny”, but we certainly wouldn’t want them running any transportation we were trusting our lives to.

If you’re doing to be publishing reports of negative situations for testing or training purposes, it’s best to do so in an offline environment. If you must do it live for some reason, make very certain that the words “THIS IS A TEST” appear prominently. In fact, even if you’re working with good old-fashioned pen and paper, we strongly advise putting something to the effect of “MOCK SCENARIO – FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY” in large, boldfaced font right smack at the top of the page.

Practice makes perfect, but if you’re not careful it’s entirely possible your practice could create the very type of damage you’re seeking to avoid.

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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]

Infographic shows just how vital a firm grasp of social media is for crisis management

Social media has become THE go-to tool for crisis management of all kinds, from smoothing out boardroom fiascoes to disaster relief. We came across a great infographic, from the experts at EmergencyManagementDegree.org, that shows how social media has been used for crisis management in the midst of several types of situations:

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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]

Don’t put others down to promote yourself

If you’ve ever been tempted to leave a negative review on a competitor’s Yelp page, or make a habit of spreading bad news about other businesses, this week’s Crisis Management Quotable is for you:

“Never make negative comments or spread rumors about anyone. It depreciates their reputation and yours.” – Brian Koslow

In fact, not only is it no help to your reputation management efforts to depreciate others’, but it could also land you in a whole lot of trouble. Already courts have ruled to unmask anonymous reviewers in a couple of cases, and it’s not difficult for a solid web forensics expert to discover who or where those negative reviews are coming from if someone’s willing to pay to find out.

If you want your business to be more successful, if you want to see more clients or customers coming through the door, strive to BE a better business than your competitors. We’re not saying you shouldn’t promote yourself, but doing so by putting others down will only lead to trouble.

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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]

Why give unhappy stakeholders more reason to think ill of you?

One of the most damaging labels to wear as an organization is that of hypocrite, especially if you’re already nearly universally hated. Cue the IRS, which took a roasting last month after it was revealed it awarded cash bonuses to over 1,000 employees who owed back taxes!

SFGate’s Stephen Ohlemacher reports:

More than 2,800 workers got bonuses despite facing a disciplinary action in the previous year, including 1,150 who owed back taxes, said a report by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The bonuses were awarded from October 2010 through December 2012.

George’s report said the bonus program doesn’t violate federal regulations, but it’s inconsistent with the IRS mission to enforce tax laws.

Organizations in some industries are going to take flak no matter how responsible and well-run they are, making it even more crucial that they analyze every move with an eye for crisis prevention in order to avoiding diving deep into the negative in the reputation department.

The IRS is already disliked even when it does everything right – it can’t afford the perception of favoring employees who have committed offenses for which the IRS takes us to task.

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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]

Another crisis management case, brought you to by the power of the smartphone

Social media strikes back for airline passengers once again, this time with Air Canada as the organization under fire. As Dwayne Stewart sat waiting for his flight to be ready, he observed two of the airline’s baggage handlers dropping excess carry on luggage from the top of a 20-foot boarding platform to a bin down below. Of course, Stewart didn’t just observe, he notified Air Canada what was going on via Twitter, and then uploaded the video to YouTube:

To the airline’s credit, it did take action, telling CTV News that the two employees would be terminated following the outcome of an investigation, and delivering the following statement:

“Their actions clearly contravened our standard baggage-handling procedures which require gate-checked bags to be hand-carried to the ramp,” Air Canada spokesperson Angela Mah said in a statement to CTV News. “We take matters involving the protection of our customers’ personal possessions very seriously.”

How many more examples do we have to see before everyone from ground-level employees to CEO’s understand that in this Digital Age, the camera is always rolling?

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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]

Here a few inspiring social enterprise ideas discussed at the recent national Social Venture Network conference. (Source: Forbes article by Devin Thorpe)

1. Be Political. While 92% of Americans favor disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients in their food, objections from the powerful food industry are so strong that only through collective advocacy will this change. Continue reading “14 Insightful Social Entrepreneur Ideas”

Facts and figures make clear the need to include reputation in crisis management planning

It’s undeniable – having a positive reputation not only helps your bottom line, but also significantly reduces the risk of crises causing permanent damage. The time to start working on that reputation isn’t in the middle of crisis management, however, but before trouble ever rears its ugly head.

Not convinced? Maybe the stats in this Ciceron infographic will sway you:

In our experience, the cost of properly preparing for reputation threats falls FAR below that of recovering from a full-blown crisis situation. Don’t be left saying, “we should have been ready”, start putting your plans together today.

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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]

Incredibly racist recording creates mid-playoff crisis

In the midst of their 2014 NBA playoff run, the Los Angeles Clippers are mired in a massive crisis. An audio recording of a man alleged to be Clippers owner Donald Sterling in an intensely racist 9 1/2 minute conversation was published by TMZ Friday, and the basketball world has been on fire discussing the controversy since.

Here is just a sampling of the disturbing comments made by the man alleged to be Sterling, reportedly speaking to his girlfriend regarding her sharing photos on Instagram posing with Magic Johnson:

— “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?”

— “You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games.”

— “I’m just saying, in your lousy f******* Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with black people.”

— “…Don’t put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.”

The Clippers have responded with the following statement:

“We have heard the tape on TMZ. We do not know if it is legitimate or [if] it has been altered. We do know that the woman on the tape — who we believe released it to TMZ — is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would “get even.” Mr. Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings. It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life. He feels terrible that such sentiments are being attributed to him and apologizes to anyone who might have been hurt by them. He is also upset and apologizes for sentiments attributed to him about Earvin [Magic] Johnson. He has long considered Magic a friend and has only the utmost respect and admiration for him — both in terms of who he is and what he has achieved. We are investigating this matter.”

If you were left feeling less than convinced, we’re right there with you. First sign that the organization is grasping at straws is the line, “We do not know if it is legitimate or [if] it has been altered”. Well, SOMEONE does, namely Sterling himself. Their second mistake was attempting to discredit the source of the recording. It really doesn’t matter what the tipster’s motivation was, what matters is what we all heard.

Further weakening Sterling’s case is the fact that he has a long history of racist behavior, including being reported by many past players and colleagues for using racist language and being forced to pay some $2.72 million to settle allegations that he discriminated against African Americans, Hispanics, and families with children at apartment buildings he owns in and around Los Angeles.

It remains to be proven whether it was indeed Sterling’s voice on the recording, but already major figures in the NBA and sports pundits everywhere are quite understandably screaming for Sterling to be punished, if not removed from the league altogether. In a press conference Friday night league Commissioner Adam Silver stated that, although he wishes to give Sterling due process, the NBA will rush to reach a conclusion in the matter.

We’ll be watching closely to see how the league, and in turn the Clippers as an organization, react.

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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]

A different way of thinking about preventing social media crises

We’re constantly searching for ways to gain greater insight into our field and how we can do crisis management more effectively. In that search, we came across an intriguing theory from Jerimiah Owyang, author of Social Readiness: How Advanced Companies Prepare, who suggested that organizations apply a system based on the psychological concept of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to the development of their social media programs.

Sound a bit confusing? Don’t worry, there’s a resource which makes this concept much easier to understand – the below infographic, created by Patricia Redsicker:

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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]

Are San Jose airport officials making you feel secure?

The story of the teen who managed to sneak into San Jose International airport, cross the tarmac, and climb into the wheel well of a waiting plane – and then actually survive a flight to Hawaii, is making headlines around the world. It’s sensational, and it also raises an awful lot of fears. In other words, media gold.

Of course, the microscope is on San Jose International officials now, as they attempt to explain how a teenage boy managed to bypass millions of dollars in security technology and the supposed heightened awareness of the post-9/11 airline industry to access an extremely vulnerable area of a passenger plane undetected.

Airport spokeswoman Rosemart Barnes gave the standard line that they are cooperating with law enforcement and concerned about the boy, and threw in the message (repeatedly) that the airport’s system “meets and exceeds” all federal requirements. Barne’s statements didn’t leave anyone feeling too reassured, especially after she dropped this gem:

“Despite this, no system is 100 percent, and it is possible to scale an airport perimeter fence line, especially under cover of darkness, and remain undetected, and it appears this is what this teenager did.”

Aviation Director Kim Aguirre didn’t do much to help stakeholders feel protected either, telling reporters, “if we see any gaping holes, we will work to fill them.”

Uhm, Kim, how about the gaping hole this kid just slipped through?

We’d much rather hear something to the effect of, “this incident has brought a gap in security to our attention, and we’re doing everything in our power to seal it up while locating any other potential flaws in the process.” The denials and weak excuses in the face of a clear issue conveys a lack of competence, not the image you want to be sending when you’re desperately trying to do crisis management on the international stage.

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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]