Category: Organization Development

League and players in crisis management mode after new reports of PED use

Major League Baseball still hasn’t quite recovered from the scandals brought about by the steroid era. In fact, The Hall of Fame election earlier this month saw players like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa turned down purely because of their association with performance enhancing drugs as voters sent the message loud and clear that they want to keep dopers out.

Of course, we talk about the steroid era like it’s in the past, but the multitude of suspensions last year, in combination with a new and extremely damaging report, indicate that era could still be continuing to this day.

Compelling evidence

Here’s a quote, from the Miami New Times article, written by Tim Elfrink, that may have blown the lid off yet another PED scandal:

…check out the main column, where their real names flash like an all-star roster of professional athletes with Miami ties: San Francisco Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera, Oakland A’s hurler Bartolo Colón, pro tennis player Wayne Odesnik, budding Cuban superstar boxer Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Texas Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz. There’s even the New York Yankees’ $275 million man himself, Alex Rodriguez, who has sworn he stopped juicing a decade ago.

Read further and you’ll find more than a dozen other baseball pros, from former University of Miami ace Cesar Carrillo to Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal to Washington Nationals star Gio Gonzalez. Notable coaches are there too, including UM baseball conditioning guru Jimmy Goins.

The names are all included in an extraordinary batch of records from Biogenesis, an anti-aging clinic tucked into a two-story office building just a hard line drive’s distance from the UM campus. They were given to New Times by an employee who worked at Biogenesis before it closed last month and its owner abruptly disappeared. The records are clear in describing the firm’s real business: selling performance-enhancing drugs, from human growth hormone (HGH) to testosterone to anabolic steroids.

If the information the New Times has uncovered is indeed accurate, and the paper has documentation to back up its claims, then MLB, and of course the players named, are about to once again find themselves under intense national scrutiny. Coming so hot on the heels of Lance Armstrong’s admission, the public is going to be especially brutal in its demand for honest answers.

The reaction

MLB officials have already trotted out the party line, stating they absolutely do not condone the use of performance enhancing drugs, and have gotten proactive as well, announcing their own investigations into several clinics in the South Florida area.

The players involved are doing their usual, which means lawyering up and vehemently denying any involvement. Of course, their credibility is just about zilch these days, especially considering several on the list have previously been caught using PEDs.

Crisis management advice

Our advice, especially to “brands” like A-Rod? Well, it’s really the same we would give to any CEO or celeb caught red-handed making the wrong decision – fess up.

You did it. Everyone knows, there’s proof, so just tell the truth. Don’t continue to drag your name, as well as the hopes, dreams and trust of fans, most importantly the little leaguers who look up to you, through the mud. Admit what you did was wrong, say you’re sorry and get to work on rebuilding your reputation. Work publicly with the league to better tighten doping controls, make a PSA for the kids, whatever you can do to help, but for goodness sake stop with the outrageous denials, we’re tired of your nonsense.

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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]

Porn problem creates crisis for video-sharing app

Twitter is pushing hard for its new Vine video-sharing app to become an integral part of the way people use its service, but in the midst of the hype it’s already experienced a significant setback.

Apple, which has an extremely close working relationship with the Big T, was initially happy to feature the app, which lets users share six-second video clips, in the popularity-boosting “Editor’s Choice” section of its App Store, but just this morning Vine was unceremoniously dropped from that list. The reason?

Well, an awful lot of people like to share porn on the Internet, and when you hand out an app that lets users record and post video anonymously, guess what they’re doing to do with it? While the tag #NSFW was already quite popular on Vine, the final straw came when someone at Vine accidentally set a pornographic video to “featured” this morning, displaying it in the feeds of all users. Shortly after, the app disappeared from the “Editor’s Choice” section, although it remains in the App Store.

Similar programs, including photo-sharing app 500px and video app Viddy, have been axed from the App Store entirely because of their pornographic potential, which is against Apple’s dev guidelines, specifically the section stating apps “that contain user generated content that is frequently pornographic” are not allowed in the Store.

Now Twitter and Apple are in a difficult position. Does Apple risk damaging its strong relationship with Twitter by removing Vine from the app store (assuming there are no pre-existing agreements between the two regarding the app, and we’ll freely admit that is a HUGE assumption) or does it lose face and credibility with other developers by allowing Vine to remain when it’s dropped others that provided virtually the same service?

Already Vine has taken one step to keep its spot, blocking the hashtag #porn from being used, but as we all know the denizens of the ‘net are far too clever to make that an obstacle for long.

New details in the story are still emerging as we publish this post, but we’re looking forward to watching the crisis management moves these two giants of the modern tech world make over the coming days.

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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]

Legal actions against an entirely different company create crisis management scenario for vendor

You don’t always have to do something wrong to land in crisis, just ask nutrition supplement vendor Herbalife, whose shares dropped a worrying 11% as a result of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s actions against a completely different organization.

Here’s the story, from a Financial Times article by Dan McCrum:

Shares in Herbalife began falling during the morning when investors learnt the Federal Trade Commission was to hold a news conference later in the day to reveal action against a pyramid scheme which at that stage it did not name. They rebounded when it emerged that the commission was targeting Fortune High Tech Marketing, a Kentucky direct seller which is unconnected with Herbalife. Later shares began to fall again.

Herbalife does operate by selling to a network of individuals who then re-sell product to friends, relatives, etc., which makes it easily associated with pyramid schemes, and in fact the company has some vocal detractors who claim that’s exactly what it is.

This is a great example of a known risk. Much as companies that drill for oil can expect to face troubles related to spills, or doctors can anticipate the possibility of a malpractice suit, Herbalife should be well-prepared to cope with the possibility of being confused for, or even prosecuted as, a pyramid scheme.

Known risks are actually some of the easiest to prepare for in terms of crisis management. You often have the luxury of examining similar situations in the past, and can evaluate what worked and what didn’t for others. Of course, many known risks have potentially volatile outcomes, and as such the stakes are high, so take your advantage and work it!

Put the most solid plans possible into place, practice them thoroughly, and you can leave your mind free to focus on business at hand knowing you’ve done all you can to prepare for the possibility of trouble.

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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]

Vulnerability audits key to finding the right direction with crisis management planning

So, you’ve seen one nasty case study too many and you’re finally ready to get proactive with your crisis management.

You’ve got pen and paper (well, probably more like laptop or tablet) in hand and are ready to crank out that awesome, airtight crisis management plan, but wait, how exactly do you make it as awesome and airtight as possible?

It all starts with a vulnerability audit. Here, in a quote from Employee Business News, Bernstein Crisis Management president Jonathan Bernstein explains how you get started:

Conduct a vulnerability audit

Look objectively at all the things within the entire organization that might make it more vulnerable to a crisis in general or to a specific crisis, advises Bernstein. Look for red flags in every functional area because a crisis can occur anywhere. A vulnerability audit could, for example, uncover that a website is unable to handle a sudden surge in traffic that typically accompanies a crisis.

From where the cleaning crew leaves their soap buckets to security procedures for transferring proprietary data, you’ll find vulnerabilities in many more places than you might expect.

Typically we ask organizations to make their own list before we arrive, and while a thoughtful organization may have noted 10-15 vulnerabilities, they are always shocked when we find pages worth of trouble waiting to happen.

You can’t prevent every single crisis, but you can greatly reduce the chances of encountering one, as well as the impact of any you don’t avoid. Start your planning off with a vulnerability audit and you’ll be headed in the right direction.

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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]

New strain of virus ups importance of specific crisis prevention planning

Reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that a new strain of the disease norovirus, known for causing “nausea, forceful vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain” has crossed over to the U.S. from Australia.

According to the CDC, the new strain of norovirus accounted for 58% of reported cases of the virus last month. Frequently called “stomach flu” or confused with food poisoning, norovirus is a nasty disease that frequently takes those affected out of commission for one to three days and, as with most diseases, is particularly hard on children and the elderly.

CDC stats show 1 in 15 Americans will catch some type of norovirus each year, and the virus causes over 70,000 hospitalizations and 800 deaths per year in the U.S. alone.

Norovirus presents the most significant risk to organizations such as hospitals, long-term care facilities, daycare centers, schools, hotels and cruise ships because it spreads so quickly from person to person. What can you do to protect your business, employees and customers?

Spot the symptoms

Norovirus has many of the same symptoms as the flu, another virus that is commonly ignored until half the workplace is out sick and you’re working with a skeleton crew. Teach employees how to recognize symptoms early, and that it’s better to stay home than risk infecting the rest of the workplace. It costs very little to put things like remote-office programs in place to help minimize any lost productivity.

The CDC’s Norovirus homepage has plenty of helpful information to share as well.

Stop the spread

Remind employees that it’s critical to not only the health of customers or clients, but also their own, that they religiously follow proper procedure regarding regular hand washing, cleaning of produce, cooking of meat, and the disinfecting and washing of any even potentially contaminated surfaces, including laundry.

You can’t count on your employees to be diligent about this on their own either, if it takes instituting log books or random inspections then don’t hesitate to do so. There may be some grumbling, but it won’t be as loud as the one coming from their stomachs if they catch a case of norovirus!

Be prepared to talk

If, despite your best efforts, a norovirus infection sweeps your office, ship, school, etc, people are going to want answers. Be prepared to explain not only exactly what happened – from how the virus got a foothold to how many people were infected or hospitalized – but also what you were doing to prevent the situation in advance and what your plans are to minimize its changes of happening in the future.

The real danger for your organization in this type of crisis is in the chance of appearing incompetent, uncaring or unprepared – all pitfalls that are easily avoided. If you put real time and effort into planning, train everyone to handle their roles properly and remember to sprinkle a heavy dose of compassion through your communications with stakeholders and statements to the media, then you will be well equipped to weather a norovirus crisis.

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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]

Lack of training and compassion shows in airline’s weak crisis management

When Dave Schneider was asked by Delta to check his baggage, including a $10,000 Gibson ES-335 guitar, he went along with it because, well, how else is a traveling musician supposed to get around?

Upon arriving at his destination, Schneider was devastated to see his guitar severely damaged, and even more upset when Delta personnel offered him a measly $1,000 for repairs. While Delta officials hemmed and hawed about handing over a proper settlement, Gibson guitars swooped in to boost its own reputation on the back of Delta’s failure. Here’s a quote, from a Ragan.com article by Matt Wilson:

Gibson guitars, on the other hand, scored a PR coup by inserting itself into the story. Though it had nothing to do with the incident, it stepped in and offered repairs on the old guitar as well as a brand new one.

 

“Gibson reaching out to me, that’s the cherry on top of the best musical nightmare ever,” Schneider told Yahoo news.

Delta’s failure to react properly is even more jarring in light of the fact that another major airline had a recent, and extremely public, experience with the same issue. In this quote, from the same Ragan article, Bernstein Crisis Management president Jonathan Bernstein explains:

Jonathan Bernstein of Bernstein Crisis Management says airlines ought to be acutely aware of problems that could arise from damaging musical instruments after musician Dave Carroll’s song “United Breaks Guitars” went viral in 2009. The YouTube video for that song is approaching 13 million views.

 

“All airlines should know how to respond quickly and compassionately to such an incident,” he says. “But apparently Delta didn’t.”

After weeks of back and forth Delta did cough up for the guitar and offered Schneider two free passes, but how eager is he to hop back on a flight with the company that just gifted him with a month-long headache?

Learning from the mistakes of others in your field is perhaps THE premiere way to bolster your own crisis management ability with no negative consequences. Immediately after the United incident in 2009 all major airlines should have been installing flexible policies and training front-line employees to cope with damage done to high-dollar items that are damaged in-flight. By failing to do so, Delta comes off as uncaring and irresponsible, not traits that we’d like in any organization tasked with carrying us 30,000 feet in the air.

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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]

“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

This post is part 2 in a series of posts dedicated to the committed stakeholders I’ve worked with over the past year, who continue to inspire me to follow their example of helping others. This post continues where we left off from my previous post on tips to build relationships with stakeholders, inspired by lessons learned and a recent fundraising letter I received from my alma mater.

Share a vision

Remain positive and communicate a central idea—a vision that will take your program

onward and upward. The fundraising letter gradually built up to this vision: “everyone deserves

a chance.” Build relationships and talk to participants and staff to help build a mutual vision

that resonates and revitalizes.

Encourage participation in the evaluation, regardless of amount or type.

Every bit counts. Key stakeholders can participate in different ways.

Encourage stakeholders to give the gift of time. Seek new ways to involve them. Invite them to share their responses to evaluation-related drafts such as surveys, evaluation plans and especially evaluation reports. Offer evaluation-related training to increase your organization’s capacity. I have found our community partners and volunteers to be incredibly valuable allies in planning evaluations. They have experienced the needs that the programs address. They are experts in their own rights. I am so thankful for their heartfelt advice and the gift of their time.

Time it right.

Isn’t timing everything? The letter arrived in my mailbox during the holiday season, when some may be more inclined to give. Consider signs of readiness to participate in evaluation-related activities. What is the energy level of the group?¹ How enthusiastic are people?

Be willing to listen.

The fundraising letter related a firsthand account of a student’s story. Do your best to hear from program participants directly. Evaluation offers a more objective and systematic way of collecting this information. I appreciate the value of gathering evaluation data from interviews and focus groups, that is, qualitative data: such methods offer a glimpse into participants’ lives and can lead to insights that a survey cannot. This is what I enjoy most about the work I do—getting to know the real people whom we serve.

“Stop, look and listen.”

I’ve been learning recently the need to:

1. Stop! “Stop myself”—my own preconceived notions, plans and ideas¹.
2. Look! Observe body language and context of people’s comments¹.
3. Listen! Stopping and looking helps me to listen to what is really being said and to what is not being said.

Sharing the stories of people we’ve listened to has the potential to impact program decision-making.

These are 7 ways that a fundraising letter’s message stayed with me. I hope these seven tips also help us strengthen our relationships with our own evaluation stakeholders.

Many of us desire to give back to our communities in some way. We desire to reach out and touch the future—to play a part in bringing about tangible outcomes that make the world better place. Let’s nurture that desire to give in the stakeholders of all our evaluations.

¹ Krueger, R. (1988). Focus Groups: A Practical Guide to Applied Research.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, grant writing and facilitation. Contact her at priyasusansmall@gmail.com. See her profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasmall/

Dangerous glitches create nasty crisis management scenario for plane manufacturer

Boeing’s Dreamliner 787 has been billed as the marquee aircraft for passenger lines the world over, but a recent string of scary electrical errors has led authorities in many countries, including Europe, Japan and India, along with our FAA, to ground the planes.

Crisis communications at work

To its credit, Boeing’s crisis management has been strong thus far. In a statement, CEO Jim McNerney expressed his intention to be a part of solving the problems alongside the FAA:

“Boeing is committed to supporting the FAA and finding answers as quickly as possible. The company is working around the clock with its customers and the various regulatory and investigative authorities. We will make available the entire resources of The Boeing Company to assist.”

McNerney also reiterated his faith in the Dreamliner, and offered assurances regarding the craft’s return to service:

“We are confident the 787 is safe and we stand behind its overall integrity. We will be taking every necessary step in the coming days to assure our customers and the traveling public of the 787’s safety and to return the airplanes to service.”

He even included a frequently overlooked aspect of crisis communications in his statement – a dose of compassion for the affected airlines and their passengers:

“Boeing deeply regrets the impact that recent events have had on the operating schedules of our customers and the inconvenience to them and their passengers.”

Others in the company are speaking out in support as well. Chief engineer Mike Sinnett told reporters that he flies on Dreamliners all the time, and is 100% confident the plane is safe.

As far as communications, Boeing is doing well. However, despite claims that they will stand behind the company, its customer base may already be shrinking. Only 24 hours after stating it would not change its existing order of 15 Dreamliners, Qantas airlines has dropped its order down to 14. Not yet an extremely worrying issue on its own, but Boeing execs have to be praying that this isn’t the crack in the dam.

The weeks ahead

There will be endless questions asked of Boeing over the course of the FAA investigation, estimated to take several weeks at best. In order to avoid the introduction of damaging rumor and innuendo the company will have to maintain a strong presence, sharing as much information as possible with its anxious customers, the traveling public and the media that serves them both.

Stock up on coffee and call in the reinforcements, Boeing PR, the next month could be rough.

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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]

There is so much written about fundraising, engaging the Board in fundraising, online fundraising, saying thank you, thank you, thank you, being donor centric, etc.. Yes, it is all vital to nonprofits. It’s not the only thing that nonprofits need to focus on today but it is the area getting the lion’s share of attention. I’m guilty too. But just as the federal government needs to focus on revenue, expenses and better efficiency, nonprofits needs to look at the whole package too.

I have just written an article for my blog at Marion Conway – Nonprofit Consultant, Does Your Strategic Plan Have a Financial Strategy – It’s Crucial, which discusses the importance of financial understanding – especially in small nonprofits. Here are some highlights discussing specific issues faced by small nonprofits.

A common situation in small organizations is this: the finance department consists of a bookkeeper, the executive director’s background is as a program manager and there are no accountants on the Board. Many of these organizations are continually at the edge of a fiscal cliff and deal with ongoing crisis with staff cutbacks or skimping in other ways that actually hurt the organization. Even small nonprofits need to have a sound financial strategy.

Some action steps should include:

Develop more financial management understanding. The Executive Director should take courses and workshops and develop as much financial management expertise as possible. The Nonprofit Finance Fund has chapters throughout the country and offers excellent workshops.

Recruit accountants and financial managers to be on the Board and get them on the finance committee. Develop a list of things for the finance committee to tackle besides developing a budget.

Look at your expenses by program and assess financial viability, effectiveness and relationship to your core mission. I’ve seen several organizations with programs that outlived their viability and only when reviewed in depth were they eliminated.

Understand risk. Understand your insurance policies. Evaluate in terms of cost and coverage.

Establish a line of credit – This is especially important if your funding source makes payment only after services are provided and reports are filed.

Have a rigorous system of maintaining records and issuing invoices and necessary reports for payment promptly. Here again, I have seen nonprofits get in financial emergency situations because they are not prepared to file prompty, complete reports required for government payments for services already provided.

Develop a reserve – There isn’t a simple answer to what is the right reserve level. It depends on your vulnerabilities and accepted risk levels. That’s why you need someone with some financial prowess on your Board. Don’t abuse a line of credit – use it only as intended.

It is important to analyze programs individually. Consider financial health, relationship to mission, effectiveness of the program and infrastructure being used. I have seen many programs that were supposed to pay for themselves that didn’t. They were a drain on the infrastructure and management and sometimes not closely aligned with the mission. If a program is underutilized, what is the reason? Are there better options in the community or have you just not marketed it properly? Has a program outlived its value? Undertaking financial analysis should be only one component of an overall analysis – but make sure it is an accurate one and not a mythical one. It is more important to have high quality for the programs you offer than to keep all of your programs operating. That’s strategic. And being strategic means keeping an open mind about change.

See the case study at my other article at Marion Conway – Nonprofit Consultant

Resources

For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

Financial Scan – Guidestar and the Nonprofit Finance Fund have partnered to develop this software tool that can help you understand your financial health, provide comparisons with your peer group and offer the base for doing real financial strategic planning. Learn more about Financial Scan here

Transforming Nonprofit Business Models and other resource developed by the Nonprofits Assistance Fund – Learn more here.

Books
Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability
by Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka, and Steve Zimmerman

The Nonprofit Business Plan: A Leader’s Guide to Creating a Successful Business Model Plan
by David LaPiana

Free Articles

Free Management Library

The predictions are in. Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP has published Predictions for 2013: Corporate Talent, Leadership and HR-Nexus of Global Forces Drives New Models for Talent. You can view the entire report here.

The findings of the research reported confirm that we are experiencing a skills gap. The research further finds that leaders recognize a need to develop their leadership pipeline and cite this as a critical obstacle to growth. Additionally, the findings show that organizations have struggled to attract and engage those in their 20s and early 30s. So the prediction is a need for HR to focus on Learning, Leadership and Planning.

More specifically, some of the things identified as having high importance according to research with senior leaders are the following:

• Retaining Key Employees
• Leadership Bench Strength
• Identifying Talent Gaps
• Manager Capabilities to Develop Employees
• Filling Talent Gaps
• Promoting Career Development
• Building a High Impact Learning Organization

The critical needs according to the prediction are in talent management and development. How do these line up with your current skill set within your HR team? Is your team ready for this? Or do you have a skill gap in the very team that should be championing this within the organization? If the answer is no, now might be the time to adjust your goals for 2013. HR needs talent management too!

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz