Category: Organization Development

Don’t clam up when it comes to crisis management

When a crisis hits, communicators need to be ready to clearly explain the 5Ws: who, what, why, where and when, plus the steps they are taking to resolve the issue. Activity to communicate this across owned, social, hybrid and traditional should be carefully planned. Communicators should consider utilizing video to engage stakeholders as it has high search visibility and engagement rates, but most importantly is more authentic than a written statement.

We’ve seen many examples of the suggestion in this quote, from an article on Ben Cotton’s Social Web Thing, being put to work, and it’s undoubtedly the right path to take. Remember the footage of Domino’s employees violating customer’s food that went viral, throwing the company into crisis? That fire was put out by one CEO’s deft video response, which drew a huge audience itself, and kicked off positive discussion about the brand online.

The fact that we do so much of our communication via text today has not diminished the impact of seeing an actual human speaking, but rather enhanced it. When you make that eventual mistake, an accident strikes, whatever it is, stow away the legalese and corporate jargon, and just explain to your stakeholders what happened, who’s affected, and how you’ll fix it. Follow through, and you might even come out of the situation with a stronger reputation than you had before.

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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, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Three crisis pros bring their expertise right to you

The Crisis Show is coming to you live every Wednesday at 7 EST/4 PST! Combining the talents of three top crisis management professionals, Jonathan Bernstein, Melissa Agnes, and Rich Klein, the show aims to cover the hottest topics in the field each week. One bonus of running the show live is that it gives us a great opportunity to connect with you, our readers, and viewers. If you want to be a part of The Crisis Show, hop on Twitter (like you’re not already logged in!) during the broadcast and tag your tweets with #TheCrisisShow, we’ll be watching, and taking periodic breaks to respond right there on the show. Of course, you’re welcome to submit questions or comments at any time, just visit our “Ask the Experts” page.

In case you missed it, here’s the footage from our second episode. (Mea culpa here, please forgive the technical interruption that resulted in the show being a two-parter. It shouldn’t be an issue next time, but as they say…crisis happens!)

Part one:

Part two:

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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, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Thoughtless design leads to crisis for Adidas

When it comes to business, it’s essential to have the ability to step back and look at decisions or products from an outsider’s point of view. If you don’t, being part of the internal process could blind your entire organization when it comes to potential negative reactions to, or results from, its actions.

Adidas found this out first hand last week, when it released an image of an upcoming shoe on Facebook, the JS Roundhouse Mid, that features a bright orange plastic chain and shackle dangling from the heel. Immediately, the Adidas Facebook was swamped by comments blasting the company for being racist and promoting slavery with its shoe design.

How’d Adidas handle the situation? Here’s their initial response, and the follow up that put a halt to the issue, from a PRDaily article by Michael Sebastian:

First, Adidas weighed in with this comment (to Fox News):

“The JS Roundhouse Mid is part of the Fall/Winter 2012 design collaboration between Adidas Originals and Jeremy Scott. The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery.

“Jeremy Scott is renowned as a designer whose style is quirky and lighthearted and his previous shoe designs for Adidas Originals have, for example, included panda heads and Mickey Mouse. Any suggestion that this is linked to slavery is untruthful.”

Notice the company stopped short of apologizing; it didn’t even issue one of those “we’re sorry if someone was offended” non-apologies.

 

Shortly after issuing that statement, Adidas chimed in again, saying it won’t release the controversial sneakers in August and, in fact, issuing the “we’re sorry if you’re offended” apology. To wit (via New York Daily News ):

“Since the shoe debuted on our Facebook page ahead of its market release in August, Adidas has received both favorable and critical feedback. We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available in the marketplace.”

Although Adidas did miss what should have been a fairly obvious fact, that placing shackles on a shoe marketed strongly to an African-American demographic would create loads of ill will, the athletic shoe giant did a solid job of stopping the crisis before it got out of control. The initial response shared facts and explained very clearly that the shoe absolutely was not meant in any way to be associated with slavery. When public opinion continued to spiral downhill, Adidas decided to apologize and pull the plug on the shoe altogether. Although it undoubtedly lost them money in the short term to do so, the reputation saved will be worth infinitely more in the long run.

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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, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

The third annual Millennial Impact Report has just been issued and it is full of important data. The report is issued by Achieve and Johnson Grossnickle Associate and funded by the Case Foundation. The data used to develop the report is quite extensive and drawn from over 6500 surveys completed and focus groups of “Millennial Professionals” aged 20 – 35. 95% of the participants were college graduates. The goal of the study is to develop a better understanding of successful strategies for nonprofits to engage millennials. Because it included both surveys and focus groups in Indianapolis, Seattle, and Washington D.C it has both breadth and depth. Each section features “Takeaways” and I am including those comments and tips in this article. The report is grouped into three categories –

• Connect
• Involve
• Give

Thanks to The Millennial Impact for sharing these great infographics.

This article covers the Involve aspect of the report. The companion article at Marion Conway – Nonprofit Consultant, Great Research for Nonprofits: Millennial Impact Report – Part 1 – Connect discusses the “Connect” aspect of the report. Check back for an article that will be published in both blogs on the “Give” results.

I like to write about research reports, butI always add my own commentary as I go along. So I warn you in advance – it isn’t just an article summarizing the report. You have to suffer through my remarks too. Sorry. There is a lot of meat in this study and if you are interested in extending your reach with Millennials you will find a lot of useful information here.

You can download the whole report here.

I have been writing about engaging Millennialsfor a long time. Too often, nonprofits consider this group to be of “low donor value” but they have a lot to offer and shouldn’t be written off. I have a 27 year old son and so I have a personal sample of one to add to the study. My assessment – This study is dead-on correct. And…. I think a lot of this applies to older folks too – not just Millennials. I bet you will identify with much of what is in the report. However, objective data always boosts my confidence level.

Here are some key overall findings and assessments from the report:

Millennials want to be taken seriously as donors, volunteers, and leaders for causes they care about. Young donors are fully immersed in technology, but they are also invested in timeless values. They want to give and to serve. They want involvements that engage their minds as well as their hands. Most important they are interested in building authentic, personal relationships with nonprofits. Millennialshave high expectations o for themselves and the nonprofits they support. My note: Corporate employers are learning the parallel or is same things and adapting to deal with their younger employees.

Study Findings on “Involving”

The 20-35 age span is a time of major transition. There is a lot of change in lifestyle, interests, available time and more. But as they transition from college to a career and eventually a family, the ways in which they are willing to be involved will vary. It is important for nonprofits to create a continuum of volunteer engagement from micro-volunteer projects that take little time, one-time volunteer projects, opportunities to volunteer with friends or family, and leadership roles that utilize their professional skills. Millennialsare interested in leadership roles in nonprofits, even if they can’t commit a lot financially right now.

Volunteer

63% of surveyed Millennials reported they volunteered for nonprofits in 2011. By a margin of more than two-to-one, Millennials who volunteer for nonprofits are more likely to make donations. So how do they find out about volunteer opportunities? Here’s how they answered this question:

HOW WOULD YOU PREFER TO LEARN ABOUT VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES?

• Friends and Family 81%
• Email 72%
• Website 67%
• Facebook 55%

My note – This makes it sound easier than it really is. It may be easy to contact a Millennial via these channels but you better have a clear, concise description which sounds like the work will have impact and you have your act together.

Takeaways

“I want to know exactly what I will be doing as a volunteer. Organizations need to be clear about what the organization is about and how the volun­teer job ties into it.”

Tips to increase volunteer involvement:

• Provide one-time and long-term options
• Explain how the volunteer services benefit the organization
• Utilize Millennials’ professional skills
• Be clear about time commitment and duties
• Provide group volunteer opportunities for families and friends

WHAT SPECIFIC TYPE OF VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES DO YOU PREFER?

• Use my professional skills 48%
• Interaction with services 47%
• Event Planning 45%
• Work with friends/Family 40%
• Board Committee 40%
• I’m not picky 20%

The best way to lose Millennial volunteers? According to focus group feedback, a bad experience or a situation in which volunteers’ time was used badly will turn Millennials off from future volun­teering. Be clear in your expectations and the time needed of volunteers before hand.

Board, Committee Positions and Professional Skills

The focus group feedback was clear – “Don’t stick us at the kiddie table” and don’t think that social media is my only skill. Participants said that they do not want to be the token “youth representatives” on a board. They want to engage in authentic leadership, with real tangible impact on the organization. When asked if they were in a leadership position either on a board, young professional group or committee or interested in joining one, 77% said they were either in a position or interested in joining.

My note – Millennials are an untapped resource of skills, energy and willingness to step up. Just as young professionals who are working in nonprofits are anxious to have more responsibility and independence to do things their way, young professionals are anxious to be full partners in leadership. This can be a win-win for the Millennial and the organization. Their work can provide them with valuable experience and networking opportunities and your organization can benefit from their hard work and skills. This can truly forge long term relationships.

I saw this with my son who was appointed to the search committee for a new pastor for our church. I think people thought it was nice to have a young representative. They soon found out that he was very skilled and considered himself a full partner with the older members of the group. Since then he has been elected to the church Board and chairs the property committee. People talk to him as a church leader – not as someone who represents young people. He has established himself as a respected leader. He is fully engaged and confident in his own skills. He has also been recruited to be a member of a nonprofit board but he has concerns about time commitments and his ability to give what he thinks a Board member should. Yes, I am a very proud mother talking, but I think there are lots of Millennials that can bring so much to nonprofits and are overlooked as prospects for leadership positions.

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

It’s about being prepared

When a crisis is hot, stakeholders want information. It doesn’t matter if your main office is sitting under 10 feet of water, people are going to expect responses both on the phone and through Twitter, and they will count on an explanation being posted to your blog and Facebook wall in a matter of hours at most, with a full resolution coming not long after. Check out this quote, from a SoCal Professional article by Cindy Rakowitz:

What happens when there is a natural disaster? There are injuries, there are hundreds missing and the city is in shambles.

As a business leader, you have to disseminate information immediately. The messages must be succinct and cohesive for multiple constituents to understand and respond quickly. This is why individuals and organizations should make crisis planning a priority. Emergencies are not only limited to physical disasters. Rapid response is also required for crises such as civil disorders, labor unrest, criminal charges, death, illness, system failure, scandals, indictments, convictions, lawsuits, hostile takeovers and bankruptcy.

As the quote explains, there are a myriad of factors which can throw your organization into crisis, and all of them will require high-speed communication from you. If you’re not prepared and ready to respond immediately when a crisis breaks, you’re taking unnecessary reputation damage, largely due to the fact that items can now enter the news cycle almost instantly, or skip the traditional route altogether and snowball into a monster situation on Twitter or other social media platforms in a matter of minutes.

Plan for what you can expect, and do your best to prepare for what you can’t. Add to this crisis simulations and media training sessions meant to locate and plug any gaps in your planning, and when it comes time for crisis response, your reputation, and your bottom line, will thank 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, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Don’t let confidential information slip out!

As a spokesperson, the last thing you want to do is drop confidential information in a public forum, especially if you happen to be speaking on behalf of the U.S. military regarding something like, ohhh…international spying practices. When the commander of United States Special Operations in South Korea, Brigadier General Neil H. Tolley, had a tongue slip of epic proportions while being interviewed at a defense conference, it set off a serious crisis. Here’s what went down, from a NY Times article by Choe Sang-Hun:

Last week, The Diplomat, a Japan-based foreign affairs magazine, quoted General Tolley as telling a defense industry conference in Tampa, Fla., on May 22 that American and South Korean soldiers had been dropped behind North Korean lines to spy on the country’s vast network of underground military facilities.

 

“The entire tunnel infrastructure is hidden from our satellites,” he was quoted as saying. “So we send [Republic of Korea] soldiers and U.S. soldiers to the North to do special reconnaissance.” The United States Defense Department and the American military in South Korea denied the report. In a statement, they said it had “taken great liberal license with his comments and taken him completely out of context.”

While the knee-jerk reaction of the military was to deny the entire report, more statements were yet to come:

“Quotes have been made up and attributed to him,” their statement said. In a later “clarification statement,” however, General Tolley said, “After further review of the reporting, I feel I was accurately quoted.”

 

“I should have been clearer,” he said, adding that he had been trying to “provide some context for potential technical solutions.”

Despite the attempted explanation, you can bet that North Korean forces were on high alert for any possible activity near their borders, and the already-substantial tensions between the involved countries were dangerously elevated. In addition, the move probably sunk Tolley’s career. He was replaced just days after the incident, reportedly as “a normal part of the general officer assignment process.”

Editor’s Supplement from Jonathan Bernstein: “Back in the day” when I was in US Army Military Intelligence (yeah, oxymoron, get over it), I was trained in how to infiltrate/exfiltrate enemy lines and to train others (i.e. spies) to do it for me as their case officer (the Army name for the position is Area Intelligence Specialist). I was painfully aware of gaffes like this (and worse) that got some very fine men and women killed. General Tolley deserves more severe sanctions than a reassignment, in my opinion.

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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, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Learn crisis management from the pros

Tonight marks the premiere of The Crisis Show, a broadcast featuring the talents of Bernstein Crisis Management president Jonathan Bernstein, crisis/litigation expert Rich Klein and social media pro Melissa Agnes. Together, they will take a look at the major crisis management cases of the day, provide an overview of tactics and practices for organizations around the world, and answer viewer-submitted questions.

We’ll be streaming The Crisis Show via Google Hangouts to our YouTube channel every Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST (4 PST) starting today, June 13, so join in! If you can’t make it live, all past episodes will be archived right there on YouTube for your convenience.

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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, and 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]

Editor’s Note: If you don’t want to see an un-PC and offensive-to-women image that we didn’t create, don’t read further.

Who left that guy in charge?

It only makes sense, if you’re launching a new product at a major industry expo, you want a nice shot of it on Twitter. This is commonplace, and indeed a highly recommended practice. Not only that, but it seems pretty tough to screw up, right? Not if you’re computer hardware specialist ASUS. Here’s the post that kicked off the organization’s crisis management troubles, from Computex 2012 in Taiwan:

Did someone let the local college frat run the ASUS feed for the event? This is just so mind-blowingly unprofessional that it’s almost unimaginable that someone actually posted this to a corporate Twitter feed. Of course, if you read this blog with any regularity you may not be as shocked. It does seem that organizations pull off the impossibly dumb on a regular basis.

The post immediately spawned a torrent of negative sentiment across the Web (summarized nicely in this Storify by Mashable) that led many customers to announce that they had scratched ASUS products off their list of potential next-buys.

ASUS caught the issue fairly quickly, deleted the offending post, and sent the following Tweet:

We apologise for the inappropriate comment on Twitter earlier. We will take steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

Tim Smalley, digital marketing manager at ASUS’ Global Corporate Marketing Division, also sent this statement directly to Mashable:

First of all, please accept our sincere apologies for causing offence to many of Twitter’s users – it was never ASUS’ intention to offend anyone, let alone be sexist.

We have spent some time investigating this since it came to our attention and, due to the hectic schedule around Computex and the fact a number of third parties had access to our social media accounts during this period, we realize that someone has made a deeply regrettable mistake. We have taken steps to ensure that this does not happen again.

The problem with this statement is that it leaves one asking, “what steps??” It’s easy to make a generic statement, but this is going to come back and bite the organization right in the ASUS if anything from the company Twitter draws the ire of stakeholders in the future. To really make this a strong statement, ASUS should have explained what steps it has put into place to prevent offensive posts and avoid kicking off another crisis management situation.

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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, and 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]

Practice makes perfect

Police forces the world over are embracing the importance of communication for crisis management, reputation management, and community building. Here’s one example, out of far-off Trinidad & Tobago, from a Guardian Media article:

Senior officials of the Police Service embarked on an intensive three-day training workshop yesterday on how to communicate better during a crisis and improve media relations as they seek to enhance the image of the organisation. This was revealed yesterday by ASP Joanne Archie and public information officer of the Police Service, Sgt Wayne Mystar, during yesterday’s daily media briefing at the Police Training Academy, St James.

Not only are they training (and gaining reputation points in the community for announcing the fact, no less), but they’re also being smart about it, ensuring trained leadership brings the lessons they’ve learned back to the rest of the troops. Check out this quote from Archie:

Archie said the workshop was in keeping with the 21st-century policing initiative “to make the Police Service a more competent, caring, professional and committed organisation.” She said the training would go a long way to prepare senior officials on how to better communicate with the media, as well as ensure the timely delivery of accurate information. Archie said succession planning would be used to ensure other junior-ranked officers also were trained on how to communicate with the media, once that initial workshop was completed.

All in all a pretty solid effort. One important step that’s missing is communication directly with the public. In case you didn’t know enough about Trinidad & Tobago to realize just how Internet-connected its residents are, SocialBakers.com lists 37% of the total population as using social media, with a whopping 94% of web users engaging in social media use. Social media accounts have been used to great effect to increase community participation and reduce crime in cities large and small, and the stage is certainly set here. Put that in place, with the proper support, of course, and you’ve got a strong program that will help the police force better serve their public.

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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, and 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 positive reputation is a powerful crisis management tool

The best reputation repair plan starts before a crisis occurs (but keep reading even if that ship has already sailed!). Be where your customers are, with an established presence that give people a reason to trust you. This might mean regular updates to a blog, Facebook, Twitter and more. If you spend the time to acquire advocates there, when a crisis occurs you will likely already have those people in your corner. Likewise, any negative press will be easier to monitor and respond to when it takes place on those channels than on those on which you have no presence. Jumping on to these platforms in response to a crisis is better than ignoring it, but if you have a history there, your words will carry a lot more weight.

This quote, from a Scalable Social Media blog post by Alisa Meredith, is a beautifully precise explanation of exactly why you’ve got to be active on social media in order to protect your organization’s reputation.

While establishing a web presence and keeping it maintained can seem like a daunting task, it’s not as difficult as you may think. One of the biggest hurdles facing many organizations is the question of how to keep their accounts active. Here’s the deal – even for the most talented of writers, the juice just isn’t flowing every day. The key here, especially for execs and others with packed schedules, is to create a list of posts when you’re feeling creative, and schedule them in advance to keep things running through times you don’t.

With time, care and effort, you can position your own organization as a prime news source within your industry, a powerful position that will greatly enhance your crisis management and allow for more effective reputation repair in the chance that it is sullied.

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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, and 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]