Following a crisis, many businesses try to paint nasty incidents in a brighter light. It’s a natural reaction, but it’s not the right one. In a Ragan.com article, marketing expert Dan Harvey gave some advice on how to do the responsible thing, and in the process keep your reputation intact:
Be open
Don’t try to put a positive spin on a crisis situation or deny responsibility when your organization is clearly at fault. Even the slightest hint that you might be hiding the truth will greatly damage your credibility.
The public has always been expert at spotting dishonesty. The difference now with social media is that your dishonesty will be discussed in great detail by thousands of people.
In addition, don’t be afraid to let your emotions show. If you are genuinely upset by a crisis, let people see that. It is always a good thing to show that you are human, too.
You need only check the trending topics on Twitter to see examples of this on a daily basis. If the public does somehow miss your dishonesty, the media will be more than happy to point it out, over, and over, and over and…you get the point.
Be honest about mistakes, and make sure to let everyone know what you’re doing to fix them. Stick to that, and you’ll be on the right road for crisis management.
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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We primarily think of crisis communications in terms of events that happen to our business, things like lawsuits, faulty machinery, or employee unrest. When dealing with events such as violence or death in the workplace, however, it’s wise to slightly alter your approach.
In a PR Daily article by Gil Rudawsky, Ramonna Robinson, VP of GroundFloor Media and law enforcement media contact for the Columbine shooting, offered her advice on how to cope with tragedy:
Your first priority is to the victims. They should get the information first, whenever possible.
Be professional with the media, but don’t be afraid to show emotion. The media can be removed from the tragedy and focused on covering the news. That doesn’t mean you have to be.
Work as a team with other law enforcement agencies. Everyone should be providing consistent information at the same time.
Zip up the leaks. This will keep media from playing sources off one another.
Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know or “that’s confidential” at this time.
And provide a briefing schedule and stick to it. Consistency helps build confidence.
How you conduct yourself in the wake of tragic events will have a major impact on your reputation. Moreso, it will have an impact on those involved, and their families and loved ones. Plan thoroughly, and tread carefully.
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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“No one felt safe from anyone anymore. Many more millions died as brother turned against brother in the War Against Terror, and countries turned within, no longer wanting anything to do with the rest of the world; their world was enough. Then the terrorists exacted their revenge and used the Internet, the one link some countries still had to the outside world, and caused global-based economies to fail and countries to fall apart.
“Scientists glimpsed a doomed planet. Ineffective population controls spelled disaster for the entire world. Billions died in famines. Hundreds of millions died from air and water pollution. Still more millions died from criminal violence in their overcrowded neighborhoods. Surprisingly global warming and rupturing the ozone layer in the earth’s atmosphere never created the disasters that scientists had been predicting for the last century. For once, politicians were willing to listen to the scientists, who thought computers could do a better job running the world.
“Even though democratic governments were willing to give up governing themselves in order to feed the people, it was too little commitment, too late.” — In Makr’s Shadow
The above quote is from the Prologue of my science fiction novel, which isn’t out yet; I hope to finish final editing this summer. This isn’t a promo for that book, but rather an ominous look at something that concerns all of us, not only as trainers, but I think as members of the human race. I do mean to be dramatic for a reason; it’s important. Those who know me know I can be a sarcastic cynic at times or poke fun at what I think needs a nudge toward reality. This is my reality moment.
The idea is to be ready for the next war, but I don’t think we are.
We used to have a saying in the military, and I think we still do, “we train for the war we don’t ever want to have.” But who can predict the future? The idea is to be ready for the next war, but we have no idea what form it will take. I am surprised to learn there are people out there at least trying to figure that out. Still, can you train for that any more than you can train to read minds?
I ran across a Mark Twain saying, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Interestingly enough I saw it used when talking about fighting cyber attacks, and it makes perfect sense. In a special issue of Government Executive, an article called the Wrong War by P.W. Singer and Shachtman who said, “The insistence of applying Cold War metaphors to cyber security is misplaced and counterproductive,” make perfect sense. We have a tendency to fight wars like the last one we fought. What it seems we are just learning is that it doesn’t work very well. I don’t think this is just us silly Americans; the whole world has experienced this for ages. After the war starts and the fighting begins we realize our error and look for different ways to fight. The side that does it best is usually the victor. We always never want a war like the last one, and yet we always fight it the same way as the last one. Even the war against terror, we’re trying to fight as a conventional war with rules. One day, we’ll get it or we already have and folks are working in ways we are thankfully unaware. Well, now we have a war we are trying to fight like we did the cold war.
…that doesn’t begin to cover the magnitude of cyber espionage possible in both corporate business and government…
While all wars and death are bad, the annihilation of entire civilization on this planet is worse. It is possible and people are at this minute trying to do just that, and for what money, power, revenge–all the usual stupid precursors of war. This war is being fought now. Although there exists a distinction between an “exploit and attack” that revolves the use of a malicious action cyberspace. An attack is equivalent to use of force with conventional weapons and the serious loss of lives and destruction; an exploit is less deadly, but crippling in another way–economically. Financed by countries, there have already been two genuine cyber attacks used in such a way as to bring a country’s defenses down, according to James Andrew Lewis who writes about the threat: when a “virus destroyed critical equipment in an Iranian nuclear facility and when “Israel reportedly crippled Syrian air defenses during a raid on a suspected nuclear facility.” These are dangerous times.
And, that doesn’t begin to cover the magnitude of cyber espionage possible in both corporate business and government, let alone criminal identity theft for the purpose of stealing just your money, but who you are.
For once, Hollywood, isn’t far off.
For once, Hollywood, isn’t far off. Remember the “fire sale” in the last Die Hard movie, when cyber criminals literally took control of computer systems running, not only our infrastructure, but also the power grid? We could write several books on the subject but let’s stay closer to home. I think I’m scaring myself.
The need for cyber threat and cyber security trainers is qreat. Countries are doing what they can to develop stronger regulatory laws and hire the experts to ensure the safety of the Internet and their own internal electronic systems, security companies are looking to develop innovative ways to help. Training, of course, is always at issue. At all levels, not just government, small and large business, corporate conglomerates, International companies, non-profits, and individual finances, the toll of any breach of security can be staggering.
One pair of cyber criminals made $2 million in one year from “click” fraud (not sure what that is but I see people hacked everyday on Facebook),
the FBI reported cyber criminals made $72 million from people paying to remove phony malware from their systems.
A gang in Russia robbed $9.8 million from a U.S. bank over a Labor Day weekend in 2008.
It is reported that million dollar crimes like these happen everyday, but are “rarely reported.”
While there are experts out there training cyber specialists and “hackers” to beat the cyber criminals, that’s not to say they couldn’t use our help in addressing this problem in our training. We talk to a company about training needs. Even if we aren’t doing the actual cyber security training, see if it doesn’t help to remind the workers we are dealing with, especially whose job is to deal with the cyber world directly, that, as cool as this is in the movies, it is a very real threat to our existence. I think companies will appreciate we understand the world we and they share. In my book, the result after the terrorists bring down individual countries, people are so tired of war that they give up and turn everything over to the winner: the cyber world to run the world. Let the cyber servers determine what is needed to save the world from itself. Then, try and get it back.
Did you know there are only 50 Internet providers that account for all the infected computers worldwide? We thought the world was small already. And, the threat is evolving everyday, and so must we, or lose the battle.
I Googled a few folks who list themselves as trainers and cyber specialists who can fight this cyber war, but I would caution anyone to look as deep as you can at any organization listed on the Internet, especially in this arena. No offense to the companies waging the war, but they should know better than us that the threat takes on the images we trust the most. I also included some government agencies like Homeland Security. So, here’s the list:
And, the threat is evolving everyday, and so must we, or lose the battle.
Finally, just my thoughts on a topic of concern to everyone. I often talk about how we are so busy we sometimes forget to do the basic or obvious. I try to remind you–if I haven’t forgotten myself. Easier yet, I think to forget what’s invisible. Let’s not.
As always my opinions are my own. I welcome your comments, ideas and extra information. I’m always willing to learn. I write about people mostly–training, working, communication here, but also on the arts on my website. I am a speaker and trainer. I try my best to motivate others to learn what’s important in your world or mine. I am available at your convenience. For a look at the human side of training from my Cave Man perspective, please check out my book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development. Happy training.
I read. I read a lot. I read a lot of books, blogs, magazines, whitepapers, and articles on a variety of topics related to HR, talent management, training and development, metrics, leadership, and management (I am sure there a few more I missed). I have read a million buzz words in the past several years and hundreds of works that discuss why HR will never have a seat at the table. In fact, I have written a few of these works myself. Recently, I keep reading and hearing a phase (you know all those free webinars which are really just audio white papers that allow for a few minutes of questions at the end) over and over.
HR is Dead.
I have heard this in whitepapers, webinars and even in comments to blog posts and answers to questions located on forums (thanks to Google reader, I get all things HR). It appears that there are some college students that think the field is a poor choice for a degree. Go with the MBA, I read. Others are using the phrase to spark interest in reading their whitepaper which explains that HR is not really dead. Instead, HR as an administrative function focused on compliance, policing and controlling expenses in all the wrong ways is dead. And, recently I also keep hearing how HR is not a profit center. It’s a cost center and HR programs get cut when costs need to get cut.
Is HR Dead?
I don’t think HR is dead at all. I do however, think that HR needs a marketing campaign and those on the inside (all the HR pros out there complaining about not having a seat and being hated because we are not a profit center) need to step it up. HR is exciting and it is a great profession and a great degree choice. There are so many opportunities for HR to make strong financial impacts in organizations. There are so many ways to build programs that move the organization in a positive financial direction. Here’s a few steps you can take to get you there.
Lose the victim mindset
Embrace your role as a financial contributor to the organization
Become a student of your business and your industry
Learn financials (You can start with a class or seminar, but I would go straight to the finance guys in your organization.)
Tie behaviors to results
Measure the right things
Tie the metrics to the company’s revenue (How do the results of your engagement survey tie to business results?)
Study successes and failures in your organization. What common themes can you find within each?
Find a network of HR folks that get it.
Present information in the language used by operations, marketing, and/or finance
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 or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.
At first blush, venture capital sounds appealing. In theory, they can provide us with that hunk of cash we need to launch our great idea, and then when we succeed they can make a decent return while we make a big difference in the world. We just need a business plan to show them how profitable we’ll be and then they’ll invest in us, right? Continue reading “Financing Fantasy #2: Venture Capital”
Many companies, having delayed their entry into the Twitterverse, are rushing to join the party. The problem here is the old adage “haste makes waste.” To help prevent your feed from becoming a no-fly zone, check out these tips on how not to use Twitter from the B2C blog of Jeff Androsko:
Having a Poor Follower / Followed By Ratio Check out the amount of people you follow and how many followers you have. Is the scale tipped in favor of those you follow? Though this may go unnoticed to you, it may not to others. They’re going to ask, “Why does this person have 17 followers but follows 839?” This golden ratio may turn your reputation into a spammer and turn off potential followers. Be careful.
Feed Clogging (it’s for the birds) Hey megaphone! Don’t tweet everything that pops into your head. If your followers start seeing tweet after tweet about your upcoming trip to Comic Con, guess what… you’re going to lose a few folks.
Becoming Carlos Mencia with Tweets A grand way to fulfill your Twitter jerk status is to bite off of other people’s tweets (like Carlos Mencia with jokes). The retweet feature (RT) is there for a reason. It’s great to like other’s contributions, but give credit by mentioning them if you’re going to share it with your followers.
URL and Hashtag Vomit Want to share that YouTube video with the URL which contains 28,000 characters? Tighten it up! Free services like TinyURL and Bit.ly will help you not look like such a n00b… because let’s face it… no one wants to be a n00b. Hashtags (#hashtags) are ways to share common interests and related tweets. Just use these sparingly. The general habit is to find a trend you like and tweet every 20 seconds. #slowdowntiger
Having a Potty Mouth Just like any other social network, anything you say can and will be held against you… in a court of Robocop. Keep your tweets intriguing, professional yet relaxed, innovative and friendly.
Remember that, while Twitter is a strong marketing platform, you’re trying to build relationships here. You can’t treat your feed like a 140-character billboard. Talk only about yourself, and you’ll soon find there’s nobody there to listen.
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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Citibank, like many others, was a victim of the recent flurry of computer hacking attacks that left customers confused and worried that their personal information and bank accounts were at risk. While several affected companies chose to focus on sending traditional paper mail statements regarding the attacks, Citibank went social, as described in this quote from a Walker Sands blog post by Meghan Reilly:
Like many other Citibank victims, I turned to Twitter to relieve some frustration. I composed a tweet about the fraudulent purchases on my credit card, and also mentioned my disappointment with Citibank’s fraud prevention efforts. Ten minutes later, I received a mention from @AskCiti, the official Twitter ID for Citi Customer Service:
“@MeghanReilly314, Saw ur tweet re: fraud & I’d like to ensure everything is being handled. Pls DM ur ph# & best time to talk.”
I was pleasantly surprised that Citibank was managing Twitter as a customer service and crisis management tool. This tweet immediately changed my perception of Citibank, as well as how I felt about the identity theft I experienced from their data breach. I was confident that everything would work out and Citibank had the attack under control.
Most people just want to know they’ve been heard. Taking to Twitter not only allows you to acknowledge this, but to move the conversation from public to private with ease, where you can then direct each issue individually, making for better service and more satisfied customers.
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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I just finished blogging at MarionConway.com about giving your website a facelift this summer. That article included some basic design advice and some quick and easy ideas that you don’t have to wait to implement. As I sometimes do, this is a companion article and if you like this one I suggest you read It’s Summer – Give Your Website a Quick Facelift at my other blog.
This article is about the importance of knowing as much about your website as possible from an user perspective and putting that information to work. There are lots of SEO (that’s search engine optimization) experts and articles. I am not an expert and this article isn’t about SEO – well not really. I promise not to use any jargon without explaining what I am talking about.
When I lead social media for nonprofit workshops I always start by talking about how your website is your base and you have to start there and get your website in order before you develop a strong social media presence. The reason for this is that much of what you want to do with social media is drive people to your website where they can learn more about you and upcoming events, sign up for your newsletter and, of course, donate.
But how do people find you on the web? Do you know? You should know. It is easy enough to find out. Check the analytics for your website. The what? Yes, your website almost certainly has analytics but if your webmaster is the only one who knows about it it doesn’t do any good. Most platforms that websites are built on have statistics reporting built in. These statistics about your users are called analytics. You can also use my favorite, Google Analytics. Google analytics can very easily be added to your website by adding a simple script – and it is free. Your webmaster can do this in less than five minutes. Analytics programs tell you all sorts of useful information such as:
-How many visitors you have each day, week, month and year
-Cities, states and countries your visitors come from
-Referring sites – Other websites that have a link to your website and someone clicked on that link
-Search words/phrases that people typed in and your website came up in search and they visited the site
-What was the landing page – not just the home page – that the visitor reached when they first came to your site
-Who was the service provider – Frequently this may just be something like Verizon. But it can also be the name of a foundation or company if they host their own website.
This information is crucial for nonprofits and small business to understand their website from a visitor’s point of view. Not everyone comes directly to your site. Its possible that a significant percentage of your visitors come via other routes and you should know about it.
Another question is your website coming up when people search on certain words and you hope the find you?
What You Might Find Out This is an exercise that I do live with workshop participants – when we are in a room with wifi. Type into Google search words that you would like your website to come up for. Examples might be “Shakespeare NJ” and indeed the Shakespeare Theater of NJ comes up first. But when I type in homeless shelters NJ, HUD articles, and newspaper articles come up before any actual homeless shelters. Then a few well known ones begin to appear. But some of the biggest ones do not appear. They needs to use the words that people search on more frequently on their websites – and especially in article headings.
Maybe people are landing on a page that should be getting more attention and updating.
Where is your traffic coming from anyway – Is it from facebook? LinkedIn? Is it from your partner websites? Did someone mention you on the web or highlight a link in a news article? These sources should be thanked and perhaps there is the opportunity to return the favor.
Understanding what makes you website visitors tick when it comes to your website can be very valuable information. Don’t leave this information behind.
In the midst of using multiple media channels, it’s easy to get stuck in “transmit-only” mode, posting your own messages and not interacting with stakeholders. Doing this is a mistake though, especially when it comes time for crisis management. Instead, you should be striving to achieve as much two-way communication as possible, as this quote from a blog post by Ogilvy PR’s Laura Halsch explains:
Engage: In a crisis, Twitter provides another venue for you to answer questions, raise issues and engage in a dialogue. Respond to questions and comments from customers, influencers and media, and especially those people who have been directly impacted. Your Twittering employees should be briefed on the issues, and if they can’t address a specific question, they should be equipped to send complaints to someone who can.
Twitter presents a huge opportunity because your responses can be 100% visible to the public, making for great PR when the world sees you’re doing the right thing.
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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