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Sunday, September 18, 2005

Responsibility goes with crisis management.

They're not telling me anything!
That all-too-common cry was heard repeatedly for days, even weeks, following Hurricane Katrina--a painful, classic example of lousy crisis management and crisis communication on many levels. The exact opposite is happening now with Hurricane Rita.

The most fundamental component of crisis management is fast, effective communication. The void in communication creates more fear, stress and outright panic. And this compounds the event, whatever that adverse event might be.

Responsibility goes with crisis management. It’s not just the responsibility to reduce lawsuits or protect stock advisories, it’s the responsibility to humanity. Crisis management is not just a buisiness, not just a skill or trade. It also is a service to the people affected by our business, organization or government.

When planning (I can only hope each of you has a detailed, practiced and reviewed plan) responses to crises, how often does that sense of responsibility enter the discussion? I’m willing to bet it’s not often enough. There isn’t a religion I’m aware of that doesn’t admonish us to be kind to our neighbor, to help each other. How does your crisis management plan take that into consideration?.

No, it’s not a given. It must be spelled out in the written plan that there is concern for the effect on people, whether disaster victims, stockholders, accident victims or terribly inconvenienced customers. Putting it in writing and making it a point of discussion is an ethical consideration too easily overlooked when the greater concern seems to be protecting budgets or politics.

Certainly protecting financial stability is important to crisis management because employees are another group of individuals to consider. And we owe our jobs in public, media or stockholder relations to the business, organization or government for which we work. A little self-interest is to be understood. But where do we draw the line between our jobs and internal politics?

For most of us who have even a modicum of morality, caring about the effect of our crisis management on the people likely to suffer from incompetent communications allows us to sleep at night. Or perhaps you're not sleeping too well?

Why not, and what can YOU do about it?

--FULL ENTRY--

4:08 PM | 0 comment(s)

Thursday, September 15, 2005

When is it too late to take responsibility?

If you compare the relative success of the Tylenol vs. Exxon Valdez incidents, the guy who steps up the fastest wins. The one who holds back will be the fall guy forever. Hurricane Katrina communications are a case in point.

This is another take on “controlling the message by being first with the message.” In the communication fiascos following Hurricane Katrina, an angry mayor and a petulant governor trumped the news over the federal government’s various spokespersons. The mayor and governor complained loudly and emotionally about lack of federal support. The feds said they were doing all they could, but didn’t say what that was.

As the news media pointed out, visible federal actions did not match their words.

There’s no need in this blog to go into what did or did not happen, who is or is not to blame. The point is it took two weeks for someone to take responsibility for misfires. Now the president has said, and I paraphrase, “to the extent that the federal government failed, I take full responsibility.” In a well choreographed dance, the governor and mayor followed suit. All this followed the replacement and subsequent resignation of FEMA Director Mike Brown.

The president said it first, but is it too late? (I keep hearing Brenda Lee's version of “I’m Sorry, So Sorry” playing in the background.)

Is it too late for anyone to be credible? I think so. I think long-term damage has been done to the federal response program, and the governor and mayor will try to keep the blame focused on the feds because the governor and mayor face re-election. Ahh, what I wouldn’t give for a statesman, not just a politician.

What is the public perception? Who believes what? Who believes whom? What do you think? And let’s keep partisan politics out of this. Just look at the communication skills, or lack thereof.

--FULL ENTRY--

2:39 PM | 6 comment(s)

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Universal truths from Katrina

I, like most of you, am overwhelmed by what we have watched on television for the last week. I worked for FEMA for seven years, and I’ve seen dozens of horrible disasters, including those where I wasn’t sure whether my own family members were OK.

The one universal truth: If It’s your family, it’s the worst possible disaster.

Why didn’t everyone evacuate?

The second universal truth: we all avoid reality when it is too unpleasant to accept.

Who is to blame? We can’t begin to know that now.

The third universal truth: it is human nature to blame someone, anyone. Not ourselves. Not our god. So we have to find another target—usually those working the hardest to help because they are the handiest. They are the ones we are counting on to rescue us.

Blame is a nasty game. Right now, it’s a major waste of time. And I’m so exasperated with the news media I love who are trying to lay blame, even putting words in naïve people’s mouths. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour had the cojones and experience to tell CNN to quit interrupting and trying to get him to blame someone. He was thankful for the cavalry that had ridden to his state; and wasn’t going to waste time blaming what wasn’t there yet. But the poor people stuck in the Superdome were all too glad to lash out. Can we blame these people? NO. Can we question the news media? YES. What could the media have been doing to be part of the solution, rather than the problem?

I spent a day in Austin welcoming evacuees to our city and our shelter as the stepped off the bus from the airport. I looked into the eyes of people who were, to a person, traumatized. My job was to take their pets from them for safekeeping. I had to convince them their pet would be well taken care of, that when they had a place to stay, we would bring the pet to them, wherever they are.

I had to say this many times over to some people. Why?

Another universal truth: under conditions of extreme stress and duress, one can’t necessarily hear what is being said. A few hours later, those people will ask where their pet is. They won’t remember. We gave them business cards with the phone number for the Humane Society. [None of these animals will be euthanized. They will be cared for at the shelter or fostered till the family is ready.]

I used to tell new FEMA field staff not to get frustrated at sayin the same thing over and over and over again during a disaster recovery. It’s OK because people can only hear what they are ready to hear. Eventually, they WILL hear what you are saying.

This is where we segue into the media and PR blog.

Before a crisis starts, you must have established a deep well of goodwill. That means you have been giving out good, helpful information over a period of time, and you have followed up with good, helpful actions. Your words must match your actions. This is branding at its core.

When tough times come, people have to be inclined to trust what you are saying. But you have to say it first!

This is part of the problem in Louisiana right now. The first story was how many people did not get out of New Orleans and how badly they were suffering and that it was the federal government’s fault. Nothing that is to come is likely to fully change that impression.

FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security may be able to mitigate the message that they were not prepared and were not up to the task, but they will be playing defense the entire season. Politics and good manners play into this. Can FEMA blame the victims? Blame the Louisiana government? Blame the Louisiana and New Orleans emergency management agencies? Blame Congress for underfunding? Doesn’t play well.

So the honorable thing to do now is plow ahead with the work to be done and deal with reputation later. If the time comes to admit fault, do it with honor and grace and statesmanship.

Universal crisis communications truths to be learned from Katrina:

• Establish an adequate reservoir of trust BEFORE you need to dip into it.
• Be the first with your message.
• Repeat the message till it's heard.
• Make your actions before and after a crisis match your message.
• Take it on the chin when it’s for the better good, and get ready for the next one.

Can you see how this would apply to your association? Your business? Your political candidate?

--FULL ENTRY--

9:47 PM | 2 comment(s)