Stop the spread of negative corporate culture
The spectacular collapse of the News of the World following the exposure of a multitude of criminal actions within the organization holds many lessons, perhaps one of the greatest of which was discussed by Jonathan Hemus in an Insignia Talks blog post:
Your corporate culture has the power to create or prevent crisis
Reports from ex-News of the World journalists and other sources indicate that reporters were under enormous pressure to come up with the next scoop, whatever it took. This would likely lead to an atmosphere where the end result is all that matters: this is exactly the culture in which crises can flourish.
In a corporate environment, similar issues can arise. A blinkered focus on the bottom line – “I don’t care how you do it, just hit the number” – or an unwillingness to hear about problems which may hint at broader failings – “just sort it out” – are examples of this.
The best crisis management is crisis prevention: this requires leaders to set and exemplify the right culture.
This problem has run rampant in reporting as the 24/7 Web news cycle puts ever-heavier demands on reporters to grab more eyes than the competition.
Reporting is not the only business that is at risk from this behavior, though. In recent history, we have only to look at the massive financial and real estate crises to see where cultures of “improve the bottom line at all costs” led to devastating financial damage for all involved, and nearly-irreparable reputation damage for many banks and investment groups.
As part of your crisis management upkeep, it pays to periodically do a culture assessment in order to learn more about your own organization. If you don’t like the direction things are headed in, define where you would like to be and start the change in mindset from the top down.
It’s not easy, but it could be the difference between success and failure.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/
Comments 2
Thanks for sharing your views on the News of the World. It was a crisis that perhaps was predestined to come, but perhaps not explode in the way it did.
I reminds me of what Cristophe Roux-Dufort wrote in his article on the Devils is in the Details, who claims that many crises start with culture and small anomalies that no one really notices until the point of no return. That said, it also culture that determines how well a crisis is handled.
Josh, you are right. Performing a regular assessment of the company's corporate culture can be eye opening. We offer this tool that leaders can use to begin to self assess. https://www.corporateculturepros.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Interactive_Self_Assess.pdf