Category: Organization Development

How poor preparation led to a reputation damaging viral video.

Swedish automaker Volvo is under fire this week after demonstrations of their much-hyped safety systems backfired several times in front of a crowd of journalists. Compounding the issue is the response from the Volvo spokesperson, who violated Crisis Management 101 rules big time with his response after a particularly jarring incident. Check it out:

By (apparently) neglecting to prepare its spokesperson for the fairly predictable possibility of mechanical issues during a demonstration, Volvo has unleashed a viral video that’s drawing loads of negative attention world wide.

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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 Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

A working plan is often the difference between success and failure in crisis management.

The scary thing about a media crisis is that it can happen to anyone at any time. It isn’t always about big business. Even mom-and-pop operations can feel the pain. You almost never see it coming, and it is rarely something you could have predicted. One day, you get a terrible questions like:

* “Is it true your mechanic installed the tire improperly and your service station is responsible for the accident that killed three people?”

Or:

* “Did the employee of your landscaping company really apply the wrong chemical to the lawn that resulted in the death of the child who played in the grass?”

Crisis management is the most important public relations function. Poorly handled, it can cost a company its reputation and perhaps even drive it out of business.

As this quote from an OCALA Business Journal article, written by Ed Gorin, makes clear, every business runs the risk of becoming involved in some type of crisis. While some things are simply unpredictable, the difference between a successful resolution and major reputation damage is often in the planning. By maintaining a workable crisis management plan, your organization is more prepared to resolve issues in a responsible and timely manner, minimizing negative media interest and allowing you to get back to business.

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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 Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

A rogue Twitter user is making waves in South Africa by posting alerts about speed traps set by police. The user, who posts under the name @PigSpotter, has angered local authorities so much that they have charged the person responsible with “defamation, impairing the dignity of another person and ‘defeating the ends of justice.'” CNN was able to land an interview with the author, who had this to say about his motives:

“I am surprised by the amount of media attention. It was never the reason for starting PigSpotter,” said the man, who has more than 17,000 Twitter followers. “Now that police corruption is in the limelight, maybe we can turn the negative into a positive, by working with the police, rooting out the bad apples/corrupt members, we can restore faith into the police of South Africa.”

The police are not making things any easier on themselves, responding with a quote that’s a classic example of repeating negative allegations in the context of denying them, a crisis management no-no:

Mnisi (spokesman for the Ministry of South African Police) denied the charges of police corruption. “We are not out there to punish people,” he said. “We are not being hard or inhumane.”

One person’s campaign can be another’s crisis, and in this case the person (or people) responsible for the @PigSpotter account is causing serious headaches for police with this quest to expose corruption in South Africa. If anyone actually needed more proof, this case is a perfect example of just how much Twitter can amplify a single voice.

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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 Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Chief financial officers have dealt with auditors since the days of the abacus. Smart chief technology officers bring in friendly hackers to test the ability of firewalls to withstand cyber attacks. Facilities managers conduct evacuation drills.

However, aside from airlines and a few industries susceptible to high-profile incidents, it is rare to see mandated, periodic reviews of a company’s crisis communications plan.

This quote, from a PRSA article by Dave Armon, is an excellent way to explain a phenomenon that confounds crisis managers everywhere. Although businesses see the need to test or double-check themselves in many areas, crisis communications plans often sit untouched long after crucial details have become outdated, greatly reducing or completely negating their effectiveness.

As communication options evolve, not only must plans be updated, but employees also need to be trained to take advantage of new platforms and techniques. These days the name of the game is Web-based and social media, and you’d better believe that any organization that has neglected to adapt their planning is taking a hammering when it comes time for crisis management.

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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 Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

As the term social enterprise gains traction in the marketplace, more and more organizations are using that term. There is a real risk that this expansion will dilute the meaning of social enterprise to the point that it means any organization that can claim social as well as financial goals, no matter how vague or meaningless. This has already happened in the environmental realm, where trash haulers call themselves recyclers and oil companies outdo each other claiming to be “greener” than the next.

On that point is a recent blog written by Dionne Chingkoe, where she lists the following “Six Sins of Social Enterprise.”

1. The Sin of the Hidden Tradeoff – Much like a glittering generality, this sin involves presenting a person, product, firm, or service as social by highlighting a single social attribute. For example, an investment that touts a single social factor such as job creation cannot be classified in the same range as a deal with a wholly integrated social mission.
2. The Sin of No Proof – As the name suggests, this sin refers to making claims that have no evidence to back them up. Over time, standardized metrics and a common language will be created, making it more evident when social enterprises are not making a measurable impact.
3. The Sin of Vagueness – This sin involves feel-good language that’s so vague as to be meaningless. For instance, there is a growing trend in the private sector to publish CSR reports that do not contain specified goals or practices.
4. The Sin of Irrelevance – Making a claim that’s truthful but unimportant or unhelpful.
5. The Sin of Lesser of Two Evils – In the social enterprise context, this relates to a greater yet relevant debate on who can list on a social investment exchange. Can tobacco companies that train and employ marginalized people be considered social enterprises?
6. The Sin of Fibbing – This really doesn’t require much of an explanation.

A comment from Jed Emerson mentions a 7th sin, hubris, which involves not only the hype sometimes heard around social enterprise — that it will solve the world’s problems and enable nonprofits/NGOs to stop chasing grant dollars — but also believing that hype. A certain amount of humility is a good thing, that we can actually create all the change we want to see in the world.

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Copyright © 2010 Rolfe Larson Associates – Fifteenth Anniversary, 1995 – 2010. Author of Venture Forth! Endorsed by the late Paul Newman of Newman’s Own. Read our weekly blogs on Social Enterprise and Business Planning. Subscribe to our free social enterprise listserv.

To ensure that capacity building by a non-profit will be successful and actually achieve the outcomes that it plans to accomplish, there are things it must do for this to happen.

• Consult with target population – Non-profits are created to fill a need, and so it is important that the initiative be driven by the people who will use the services provided by the non-profit. They are the experts on what the issues in the community are and hold the key to how these problems can be resolved.
• Involve the community – It’s important for your target population to feel a sense of ownership of what your organization is trying to accomplish. So, encourage them to get involved by volunteering for events, as board members, as volunteer manpower to get things done that the organization can’t afford or in whatever capacity they wish to be involved.
• Build Trust – The constituents of your organization must trust you to be willing to provide input and to participate. You build trust by not making hollow promises that you may not be able to deliver on, by following up to ensure that tasks being done by others are completed, and by building positive relationships with your clientele. If you show sincere interest and caring, you will begin to build trust.
• Set achievable goals – Your target population will generate a whole list of issues they want dealt with. However, it is important that you choose your first issue as something that is achievable without it taking too much time. You want to be able to work with your constituents to achieve a goal quickly and successfully because success breeds success. The more people in the community that hear you and community members have successfully achieved goals; the more likely they are to buy into the organization and want to be a part of that success.

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

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Twitter continues to prove its worth as a crisis management tool, often surpassing traditional media sources because of its flexible and easily accessible nature. In a recent blog post, Jessica Ziegler, social media strategist and Vestor Logic’s Director of Social Web Design, described how Twitter took the lead during last week’s Colorado wildfires:

From where I sat it took a while to get any of that information. The TV station websites were on it pretty quickly, but it was bare bones info, a few sentences. The newspaper sites had nothing until much later.

Enter Twitter. Immediately the hashtag #boulderfire was pumping out up-to-the-minute information and photos. The Twitter community in Boulder immediately rallied and began putting residents in contact with people who could help. They kept the information flowing in a constant stream.

By the next day local businesses began using Twitter to offer goods and services to residents displaced by the fire: offers of meals, places to temporarily house pets, hotel rooms. Soon messages of encouragement and thanks to the local firefighters and police began appearing.

Examples like this can be found with nearly every crisis and disaster these days. Whether the incident is local or worldwide, someone has started a hashtag and volumes of information, first hand reports and images are being distributed via Twitter long before traditional media can get on the story.

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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 Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Tracking the statistics for a non-profit is an important part of fulfilling accountability measures of funders. Every non-profit should have a statistics gathering strategy. This will ensure that data is gathered accurately and becomes a part of the regular activities of your non-profit.

Your statistics gathering strategy should include:

• Who will do it – It should describe specifically who in the organization will be responsible for day to day statistics gathering for each program and service and who will be responsible for compiling the overall statistics for the organization. Be sure to include this task in the appropriate staffs’ job description.
• When it will be done – Deciding on when statistics will be gathered is an important part of ensuring consistent handling of data. You may want to set daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly deadlines for statistic submissions.
• How to gather the data – The strategy should outline what tools will be used to gather and manage the statistical data. It should include copies of the tools that are going to be used, such as a template.
• How the data will be used – Spelling out exactly how the data can be used is important. Once you have decided how you will use the data, be sure to draft a policy to guide the use of this data. This ensures that all staff are aware of acceptable use of organizational statistical data.
• Where the data will be stored – There are decisions that must be made such as will the data be stored solely electronically, or will the organization prepare a yearly report that provides the statistical data from that fiscal year, so that it can be shared with funders or potential funders in hard copy.

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

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Writing reports for funding received is as important as writing your initial proposal. Too often we forget that our funders are very dependent upon written reports to provide accountability for their own activities and actions. It is through details of these reports that they are able to promote themselves and convince more people to invest in them, which may result in more funding for your organization over the long term.

But there are components that it is important to include in your reports to your funder that will allow them to use the tools you provide in your report to their most efficient and effective capabilities. So when you write a report, include the following:

• Outcome measurement chart- This tool will allow your funder to see the progression of your plan, activities and outcomes at a glance. So make sure you keep it updated throughout the lifetime of the project to ensure you don’t miss any valuable lessons learned by your project.
• Testimonials – Funders love testimonials. So if you can get written testimonials from clients who have participated in the project and felt their lives were impacted in a positive way, this is probably one of the greatest marketing tools that you and your funder could have.
• Lessons learned – It’s vital for a funder to know that their investment left some kind of a lasting impact. So if you include lessons learned, it means that you have learned valuable information that both you and your funder can share with others who may hope to try to implement the same type of project that you have done.
• Financial Report – Every report to a funder must include a financial report and in many cases must be accompanied by copies of receipts. Your financial report becomes a part of your funders accounting system and is an important piece in them being able to meet their financial accountabilities to their contributors, government and consumers of the grants they provide.

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

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If I were to ask you if your company or organization had a crisis plan, more than likely you would answer, “Yes.” That’s because managers are increasingly becoming aware of the need to be prepared when something goes wrong.

On the other hand, if I were to ask if your crisis plan stipulates detailed steps to be taken in each of a number of very specific situations at various levels of severity, I’d be willing to bet your answer would be “No.” That’s because far too many crisis plans are generic rather than specific in nature, that is, the plans refer to what to do in a crisis or emergency in general, as if one size fits all. Well, it doesn’t.

This quote, from an article by Carole Gorney of The Cline Group, describes a commond finding when a crisis manager begins work with an organization. As the article states, every organization is vulnerable to many types of crises, and they are often varied enough to require customized crisis management plans. Although there will always be disasters that you simply could not have seen coming, taking the time to sit and brainstorm not only on every likely possibility, but also detailed ways to handle those possibilities, will make your crisis planning infinitely more effective.

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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 Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]