Monthly Archives: May 2011

Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Corporate World

Published on 30th May 2011 by . Leave a Comment

Ancient wisdom has modern applications

While it’s widely accepted that solid internal communication is a cornerstone of strong companies, when it comes to putting down the dollars the vast majority balk at including this vital tool in their crisis management and public relations planning.

In a recent blog post, PR pro Becky Sheetz-Runkle applied the teachings of battlefield philosopher Sun Tzu to internal communication, illustrating exactly why it is so important:

Sun Tzu called for clear communication for armies to function smoothly and avoid threats:

“If the army is confused and suspicious, neighboring rulers will take advantage of this and cause trouble. This is simply bringing anarchy into the army and flinging victory away.”

As with much of Sun Tzu, the application for business is clear. Misinformation and rumors spread like the diseases they sometimes become. In good times and especially challenging times, it’s easy for suspicion and speculation to impact the morale and the productivity of people. As Sun Tzu warns, it leads to loss.

Care and treatment of people on literal and metaphorical battlefields is essential. Employees can’t feel valued if they aren’t being communicated with effectively and meaningfully:

“Pay attention to the soldiers’ well-being and do not fatigue them. Try to keep them in high spirits and conserve their energy.”

Sun Tzu knew that an organization that moved as one, understood the strategy and had a healthy fighting spirit had the advantage. Do the decision makers you work with share that outlook? If we follow the money, we can see that many put very little stock in communicating with the troops, and they do it to their detriment.

While the specifics can be complicated, the objectives are not. Keep employees free of the stress that rumor and innuendo bring by engaging in two-way communication with them, and encouraging them to communicate amongst themselves. Oh, and they work better if they’re happy and not exhausted.

Simple, right? But are you putting it into practice, or just nodding “yes?”

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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He’ll Be Back

Published on 25th May 2011 by . Leave a Comment

Schwarzenegger down, but not out

Ex-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to make the best of a very bad thing when he humbly admitted his having fathered a child with a former staffer.. Had the timing been different, it would have undoubtedly dented his political reputation, but considering the fact that he’s no longer in office, experts, including Bernstein Crisis Management President Jonathan Bernstein, give him good odds on recovering enough to stay in the movie business.

A quote, from a Fox News story by Holly McKay:

“Arnold can’t save face in the short-term. He’s now regarded as zipper-challenged, just as Bill Clinton was many years ago,” said crisis management and public relations expert, Jonathan Bernstein. “And like Mr. Clinton, he can rehab his image by getting involved in good works and not engaging in dishonorable behavior. Unless, of course, he wants to have an image of being a ‘bad boy’ from now on.”

Bernstein said that in the long run, Schwarzenegger’s target movie audience probably won’t be deterred by his wandering ways.

“Arnold’s Hollywood genre is action flicks, and action flick fans won’t care what he did. If his movies are good, people will watch them,” he said.

Arnie’s built up a pretty solid cushion of good will over the years. The press will enjoy this for a while, possibly stretching it out if news is slow, but soon enough it will all be history.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Coping with Social Media Attacks

Published on 23rd May 2011 by . Leave a Comment

A proactive stance can stave off baseless allegations

Social media has forced a change on crisis management and public relations as a whole, altering the way we communicate and respond to situations drastically. As the following quote from a TrendyMinds article explains, what was a hard and fast rule as little as ten years ago may be your ticket to disaster today:

As a general rule, organizations and businesses do more harm than good when they allow a deluge of falsehoods to go unanswered. That’s right—the old adage of legitimizing baseless attacks is BS, in my humble opinion. By holding back, you’re missing an opportunity to get your message out AND you’re allowing someone else to define you in their words. Secondly, we’re in a whole new world of mass communication. It used to be much harder and more expensive to do widespread damage to a person or company’s reputation. Back in the day (you know, the 90s), people had to either put money behind a paid advertising campaign or convince a news outlet to cover your accusations. Now, it’s as easy as hopping on Twitter and Facebook to get the rumor mill cranking and create a buzz.

This is exactly why you need to have a social media infrastructure in place, to monitor, measure, and respond to attackers.

The first step is obviously to detect the beginnings of trouble – the angry customer, the agitated ex-employee, etc. Organizations should respond as quickly as possible in an effort to neutralize the issue, but in the case of a social media attacker, this is often not enough. After that effort, close monitoring is required to determine whether this will stop at one person venting, or whether others will pick up and repeat the messages or similar sentiments. Should this occur, social media efforts must expand to both respond to allegations and work towards creating good will among stakeholders and the accuser’s own circle.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Backup Plans

Published on 18th May 2011 by . Leave a Comment

One question can save your crisis management efforts

Don’t be surprised if in a few years’ (or a few months’) time some current White House, CIA and Pentagon staffers write how-to treatises on crisis management. According to news reports, the planning for the assault on Osama bin Laden’s compound included contingencies for possible engagement with Pakistani police and military units. These contingencies included two additional Black Hawk helicopters stationed just across the border in Afghanistan, ready to engage in a firefight in case the commandos in the two lead assault helicopters came under attack in the compound.

President Obama insisted upon these two additional helicopters “about 10 days before the raid,” according to the New York Times.

That speaks volumes to the thoroughness of the assault’s crisis planning. Up until the last moment, the U.S. strategists kept asking the crucial question in crisis planning: What else can go wrong? Initially it was thought that the U.S. could talk its way out of a confrontation with Pakistani forces in case they responded to the military action on their own turf. Somebody—the president, apparently—then asked, “Well, what if that doesn’t work?”

This quote, from a PR News Online article, shows that, however much we may love to malign its abilities, on some subjects the government’s crisis management still excells.

The question, “what if that doesn’t work?,” is at the very core of crisis planning, and smart business thinking in general. Every plan needs a backup, or even better several, so you can change paths depending on which direction the situation moves in.

What this does is incorporate flexibility into your plans, and it’s this ability to change when something isn’t working as planned that will allow your company to make mistakes without taking damage as a result.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Letters from Sony

Published on 10th May 2011 by . Leave a Comment

Communication is critical for crisis management

The heat is still on following the massive data breach at Sony, but the company has pulled things together, and last week somewhere in the area of 100 million users were officially notified via mail that their data had been compromised. With a weak start to crisis management for the situation, largely due to poor communication, a move of this size is a good sign. The campaign will definitely help Sony, but it could have been better, as this quote from SmartMoney’s Pay Dirt blog explains:

Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, was put off by the technical and sometimes confusing “corporate-speak” in Sony’s letter. “The theft itself undermines Sony’s perceived competency,” he says, “but I think they did a good job, overall, of factually communicating how they were getting back on top of the situation.”

The task now will be for Sony to convince customers, both current and potential future, that its system is more secure than ever before. Of course, maintaining good will while that system is created is crucial, so constant communication will be key in the meantime.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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