tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63731852473725679752024-02-19T02:09:13.870+00:00Practice Not TheoryA blog for people interested in reputation, social media and crisis management. Learning from others is better than sitting on the sidelines and criticising.Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-60792094502840474492014-11-14T20:11:00.002+00:002014-11-14T20:11:42.319+00:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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CEOs are not trusted by the public. Only 1 in 5 members of the public trust a CEO to tell them the truth.</div>
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The results of the annual <a href="http://edelmaneditions.com/2014/01/edelman-trust-barometer-2014" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f5cc9; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;" target="_blank" title="Edelman Trust Barometer">Edelman Trust Barometer</a> this year were, putting it at best, discouraging. At worst, as all businesses depend on trust, the findings were alarming.</div>
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There is some comfort: these are averages, and there are plenty of examples of CEOs who are great and honest communicators who the public highly trust.</div>
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But another finding of the survey should make us pause. The majority of the public (4 out of 5) expect a CEO to be “front and centre during challenging times”. The findings should inform our crisis planning.</div>
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<span id="more-113" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span>There is a debate from time to time about who should be the spokesperson in the event of a serious incident. There are two schools of thought. One is that it should be the CEO as a matter of leadership and accountability. The other is that it should be someone in the company with a gift of communicating via the media. It is said that effectiveness trumps status in a crisis.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">At Kenyon, our advice is clear. If your company is involved in an incident involving human injury or loss of life, the CEO should not only be visible, he or she should be the principal spokesperson. </span> The absence of the CEO tends to be translated rapidly by the public as “evidence” that the company does not really care. And in the social media age, the CEO should appear on the media as soon as possible.</div>
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The Edelman Trust Barometer’s findings on public expectations supports that view in full.</div>
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There are, of course, down sides to this policy. Media interviews represent high risk.</div>
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George Entwistle, the Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation, found himself under fire for his handling of a row about a programme on an historic child abuse scandal involving one of the broadcaster’s highest profile presenters. But his performance during an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/10/george-entwistle-newsnight-today-interview-reaction_n_2109089.html" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f5cc9; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;" target="_blank" title="Interview on Today with George Enwistle">interview</a> on the BBC’s own Today radio programme hastened his <a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/george-entwistle-resigns-as-bbc-director-general" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f5cc9; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;" target="_blank" title="George Enwistle resigns as BBC Director-General">resignation</a> after only 54 days in the job.</div>
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Gary Southern was the CEO of a chemical company accused of spilling chemicals into West Virginia’s water supply, leaving 300,000 without water. There is no suggestion that Mr. Southern was anything other than a highly capable leader. But he was said to be suffering from pneumonia, and understandably tired and under pressure during a media <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAGixCOj8bg" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f5cc9; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;" target="_blank" title="Interview with Gary Southern">“scrum” interview</a>. He was heavily criticised for sipping water from a bottle, whilst discussing a water shortage, and he walked away from the cameras, only to be summoned back by the media.</div>
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CEOs manage risk every day of their working lives. Interview risks can be comfortably managed – but only through preparation and training.</div>
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Investing time in preparing for a moment when the future of the company and the CEO is at high risk is a no-brainer. It is part of the mitigation of the risks of a crisis interview.</div>
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If you start regarding yourself as a “natural” who doesn’t need this kind of rehearsal, or “too busy,” loud alarm bells should ring.</div>
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There’s no time to do it when a crisis hits.</div>
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<i>This blog was first published on the First Alert Blog of Kenyon International Emergency Services, where Kenyon's highly experienced crisis communications directors blog regularly on the topic of communicating in a crisis. You can follow it<a href="http://www.kenyoninternational.com/firstalert/" target="_blank"> here</a>.</i></div>
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Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-90025161129117945742014-09-24T06:28:00.001+01:002014-09-24T06:28:06.843+01:00Managing Stress in a Crisis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you are not feeling stressed in a crisis, it's almost certainly not a crisis.<br />
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Stress is a normal reaction, and it (in most cases) helps us to respond to the challenge that we're facing. But <a href="http://www.helpguide.org/mental/work_stress_management.htm" target="_blank">managing stress</a> is vital if we are to be effective when trouble hits. Here are ten tips based on my experience of handling many types of emergencies.<br />
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1. If you already stressed before a crisis hits, it's bad news for you and the company. Far too many people are in jobs that stress them out. And that's before a crisis. If you are stressed in a job, you need to fix it. Are you approaching the job properly? Are you too much of a perfectionist? Or a control freak? (I plead guilty) All of these cause harmful stress. It also may be that your company is asking too much of you. Targets that are too stretching. So called "efficiency" savings that mean you are being worked to death. If it's the first, seek help from a trusted coach, friend or colleague to do things differently. If it's the second, get a different job as soon as possible. Prolonged stress leads to very bad health effects, including heart disease, strokes, gastric problems, and early death. You're selling your skills and time to a company, not your life. Don't work for companies that exploit you and risk your health. Earn less and and have a nicer life.<br />
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2. Get enough sleep. In a crisis, you may be expected to function with less sleep. This is fine for a couple of days but beyond that your decision making ability will be severely impaired. Getting enough sleep is the key for success at work in general as well as health. Your crisis arrangements should ensure that everyone gets enough sleep. I've found that getting enough sleep means you can get up in the morning a little earlier and feel more relaxed at the beginning of the day instead of rushing around. It's amazing the difference it makes to your stress level.<br />
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3. Eat properly. Part of your crisis arrangements should include giving someone responsibility for feeding you and the team properly. Not sandwiches and biscuits all day. You can't function on junk food. A CEO I worked for caught me eating a chocolate bar in the middle of a crisis. "I always think over-eating is something to be avoided when you're under pressure", he told me. Half an hour later I went into his office and caught him eating a large caramel bar. "I was advised against overeating by a very trusted authority", I told him (impertinently) as he laughed. But actually he was right.<br />
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4. Manage your behaviour very carefully in a crisis. Don't pass your stress on. Instruct your team to call you out (nicely) for your behaviour. Don't shout at people and if you do, immediately apologise - and in public. It's not allowed, unless you are giving a fire warning or saving someone's life. I have watched people scream at each other continuously during a crisis and it's not going to make a crisis go better. I worked at the start of my career for neurosurgeons who were performing operations in which they had minutes to save a child's life on the operating table. They stayed calm. They were courteous and pleasant. We adored working for them, and would have done anything for them. We spent all our time thinking of how we could do better to support them. I've worked with people who screamed over a bad headline about a TV show that, at best, is there to pass the time of day for bored people. Go figure.<br />
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5. Have a plan. A good crisis plan makes sure that everyone knows exactly the job they need to do. I hope you rehearse your plan regularly. If you do, your stress when a crisis hits will be reduced. It's completely pointless having a crisis plan if you don't rehearse it.<br />
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6. Get decent technology. A lot of the stress I've felt in a crisis has been due to duff technology. Sometimes you need to explain to your CFO that cheap IT is not going to save the company's reputation in a crisis. I met someone the other week in quite a senior role who does not even have a smart phone. In a big company.<br />
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7. Treasure your personal relationships. The crisis is yours, not your friends or your partners. Don't use your friends and partners as punch bags for the tough time you are having. This is especially true in a prolonged crisis. There's only so much understanding a person can give. In a crisis that is longer than a few days, ensure you have ring fenced time off when you are not disturbed. Otherwise you will have no partner and few friends. And more stress.<br />
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8. Separate the critical from the urgent. In a crisis, "stuff" hits you from every angle. Stay strategic, not tactical. Identify the things that will make the most difference, that will make the most impact in protecting the company's reputation and focus on them. Delegate the rest to others. In a crisis, you quickly realise you can't do everything and you certainly can't respond to every request for help.<br />
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9. Keep your team constantly informed and updated. The more they understand what is happening and what you want, the more they can deal with without passing it up to you. Then you have less stress.<br />
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10. If you're a manager, one of your key roles (and legal duties) in a crisis is to protect the well-being of your staff. Make sure the team have proper rest and proper support. Remove people from duty that are showing signs of undue stress - and ensure this is not seen as a sign of weakness, rather that it's about care. Make sure you take a little time to tell them they are doing a good job. One CEO I worked with made a point of coming into the press office in a crisis to say thanks to the team. It was smart - it gave the team a rocket boost in morale and energy. One company saw two members of staff suffer breakdowns after a prolonged crisis. That's a failure of the company not the individuals. <br />
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We don't live in a perfect world. In a crisis things happen we don't expect. And it can be tough even for the most emotionally resilient. Especially when lives are at risk or lost, we want to give our best and give the most we can. But as Robert Jensen, the CEO of <a href="http://www.kenyoninternational.com/" target="_blank">Kenyon International Emergency Services</a>, and one of the world's most experienced crisis managers often says, in a crisis it's not our role to give in to emotions and stress. If we do that, we're not doing our job. Our job is to support those who are affected by the crisis, not to indulge our emotions. It's a great professional lesson.<br />
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<i>(Posted from Singapore)</i><br />
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Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-54213446815188547122013-12-22T20:17:00.000+00:002013-12-22T20:17:20.140+00:00Ten Tips To Make Your Career Swing Up in 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When Sarah Stimson approached me for some quotes for her great new <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-get-job-Sarah-Stimson/dp/1492944289" target="_blank">book</a> (above), it got me thinking about what I would do differently in my career if I knew what I know now. As an experienced recruiter, as well as PR practitioner, Sarah wanted to get the thoughts of a wide range of people who've made all the career mistakes, so you don't have to.<br />
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I've just finished a year working with some very talented young PR professionals on a fast-track course which included thinking a lot about personal career development.<br />
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Here are my own top ten tips to follow if you want to go places in your PR career in 2014.<br />
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1. First of all, subscribe to the following rule. I would prefer it if you had it tattooed on your wrist, but as some employers don't like tattoos, perhaps not. <b> Life is not fair, there is no justice in this world. There is nothing you can do about it. </b>Don't spend a second being preoccupied by it. Get on with your life. People who are less able than you get promoted before you. The lazy get rewarded. The guilty don't get caught. You don't get the recognition you deserve. People take credit for the things you do. Focus on the things you can change and you can do something about. They are almost all things about you. It was the most important lesson I learned from the management guru Sue Aherne when I became a manager. Set yourself free from a life of worrying about fairness. I can give you the answer now. It's not fair.<br />
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2. Take charge of your career. Don't wait for jobs to fall into your lap. Don't wait for your dream job to come along. Make plans. Not all will come about, so have a range of plans.<br />
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3. Don't look for emotional fulfilment through your work. Work is for earning money to live. It's great to enjoy your job, to feel you are doing something worthwhile, and to have great colleagues. But your emotional fulfilment should come from elsewhere. You often see people expressing hurt at the way they have been treated at work, passed over, made redundant, "after all I've done for that company". Your job is just business, it's not personal. Your company is not your family. Do a great job. And have a great life. Outside of work.<br />
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4. Whatever your current job is, do your best in it. Work hard. Don't be a clockwatcher. Be the person that stays late because an important job needs to be done. But not every night. Otherwise you will be taken for granted. People who can't stay late because they have to pick up children often add value by working on something at home that's urgent or coming up with a new way of tackling a task because they used the journey to focus on it. Make sure your manager knows about it.<br />
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5. Be loyal to your manager. Look out for how you can support their goals. There is nothing more appealing for a manager than feeling they have the support of the team. And by the way, never bitch about your manager to colleagues. It doesn't reflect well on you, and a lot of it gets back to the manager. If you really don't like your manager, get another job. Most managers love seeing younger people get on in their career. They love to recommend you for a higher position. You may not even know they have done it.<br />
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6. Be strategic. Be strategic. Be strategic. The default position of PR people is to be tactical. As you rise up the ladder, companies are looking for strategic players. Practice being strategic in everything you do. Know your company's strategy and your department's strategy. If you don't have it, ask your manager.<br />
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7. Be as physically fit as you can. Lose weight. Get enough sleep. A lot of PR jobs are really demanding, and the fitter you are, the better able you'll be to perform in them. I wish I had paid attention to this years ago. <br />
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8. Don't stay in a job for too long. After two years, you should be thinking about where to go next, particularly at the start of your career. If you are great in a job a company will want to keep you there. The problem is that you will get pigeon-holed for the thing you do best and you'll also be taken for granted. Take jobs that are different from the one you are doing. Get a wide range of experience. Don't keep taking jobs that are more of the same, they add nothing to your CV.<br />
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9. Network. Network. Network. You should be using every phone call to network. But you need to find ways of networking beyond your current job. Join a professional body. Go to events. If you are invited to something, accept the invitation and be grateful you're on someone's list. Go to the event. Meet people. Become known. It is more likely your next job will come through networking than a job ad. And if you are not socially confident, ask a colleague who is to teach you the simple tricks of working a room. I run a course on networking and I know how many people lack confidence in working a room. I used to be the same and a former boss helped me.<br />
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10. Finally, be on social media. But you have to understand that employers may look at your activity on Twitter or Facebook if it is open to them. Prospective employers definitely will. And people who want to spike your chances will draw attention to your social media to your employer. And employers will judge you. (See rule 1). I don't think what you do in your private life (provided it is lawful) is any of your employer's business. If they want to make it their business, find another job. They are buying your time during work hours. They are not buying you or your life, unless you are taking Holy Orders. However, the clue is in the word "private". It ceases to be private if you publish it. A friend in a big American company told me recently they fire people for discreditable behaviour on social media even where the company was not identified and it caused no public issue. Many companies are very risk averse. (Again see rule 1). <br />
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So are you approach 2014, make it the year that sees your career go in the right direction. Don't tread water. And if you are just starting out, think about getting some agency experience, even if you want ultimately to be in-house. You will learn a lot in a short space of time.<br />
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<i>(Posted from San Francisco)</i><br />
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Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-72292043598413535592013-12-01T02:02:00.001+00:002013-12-01T02:02:23.247+00:00"Citizen Journalist" lessons from the Glasgow Helicopter Crash<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Air crashes are statistically rare. They are even rarer in cities. When a Scottish Police helicopter <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-25165894" target="_blank">fell from the sky</a> on Friday evening, the Clutha Bar, a popular music venue, was packed with 100 people enjoying a local band. The aircraft plunged through the roof of the bar creating a scene of devastation. Eight people were killed and 14 remain in hospital with serious injuries.<br />
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The authorities responded by enacting a major incident plan which they had rehearsed many times. But this was different. This time, Scottish Police would respond to an incident involving the potential deaths of their own officers, and caused by their own aircraft. They responded with public statements which were calm and measured, and I am pleased to say, unemotional.<br />
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There was a slip when Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond issues a statement warning that Scotland must prepare for fatalities, which broke the absolute rule that crisis statements must never, ever, be speculative. You either have something to announce, or you don't. Less is more, and it was enough to say that the situation was very grave.<br />
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There are two reasons for this. Firstly, there were many families with loved ones missing. They had the agony of waiting for news. It was unnecessary to increase the pressure on them for no real purpose. Secondly, it is extremely important that you become the authoritative voice in a crisis. You want people to look to you for information, not to the social media speculators. You are the voice that deals with accurate facts. To my knowledge this mistake was not repeated.<br />
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As each crisis unfolds across the world we are seeing the same trend. The reporting of news is being transferred to social media. We saw this in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAwMOeAQxCw" target="_blank">crash of a Boeing777 aircraft</a> at San Francisco airport (SFO) in July. It is clear that news is now not broken on the conventional news channels. Within 60 seconds of the crash at SFO, a passenger on another aircraft being boarded had broken the news, with pictures. This was quickly followed by video footage taken by passengers on the crashed aircraft as they stood on the runway having escaped death. TV news channels took a long time to catch up, and struggled to add any value to what the public already knew through social media.<br />
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In Glasgow on Friday night, the streets were crowded, and people got out their camera phones in a now familiar routine, taking pictures and posting them on Twitter and Facebook. These were dramatic and quickly retweeted and picked up by the conventional media who used them until they could get cameras and reporters to the scene.<br />
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However, two things arose. Stuart Hughes (@stuartdhughes) summed it up in his tweet: "Awful incident takes place on a Friday night surrounded by digitally savvy people with smartphones. Trad news sources now irrelevant". Sitting in a hotel room in Singapore, I was watching the news unfold on social media and on the international news channels. I was alerted to the story on social media. I turned on the TV hoping for something extra. I didn't get it.<br />
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But a second and important issue arose. We often call people in this situation "citizen journalists". They are, of course, not journalists. They are individuals doing an activity which can form part of journalism, but that doesn't make them journalists. You may bring your partner a cup of tea and wipe his brow when he has a fever. These are activities which form part of the act of nursing. They do not make you a trained nurse.<br />
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As people lay trapped and dying in the Clutha Bar, people took pictures on their smart phones and posted them. There followed an officious discussion online about the importance of asserting the copyright of these pictures and in some cases of getting payment for them when reused. There was encouragement to make sure that news organisations were paying up for them.<br />
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It's time for attitudes and, I believe, copyright law, to change if we are to continue down this road. If it is to be the case that social media is to be the major source for news, it cannot be right that opportunists are allowed to use the fact that they happened to be passing by a tragedy to profit from it. They do not make their living from news photography. They have incurred no expenses in taking the picture. They were by luck (or otherwise) passing by. In essence, at the moment, they are allowed to (and by far not everyone does) profit from the deaths and injuries of others. The practice of asserting copyright on pictures like this stifles the act of making the public aware of important and tragic events that concern overtone. The law should be changed to enable those, including news organisations, who reuse these pictures to inform others to have a "public interest" defence in using them for free.<br />
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Should you disagree with this, let me give you another example of passers-by at this incident. Many, including a brilliant local MP Jim Murphy (@jimmurphymp) risked their lives to go into the wrecked building to help survivors until the rescue services arrived. None, to my knowledge, have so far sent in a bill for their services or made any statement asserting their rights to their personal story. I am a (long lapsed) Registered General Nurse. Registered nurses have a professional duty to render assistance in these situations, when they happen to be passing. They may not, and do not, simply pass by. I have never heard of a nurse in these circumstances asking for a fee, sending in a bill, or even claiming for damaged clothing. They do it for humanity.<br />
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We must be motivated by humanity on social media.<br />
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If social media is to be a democratising source of news, this nonsense about copyright of pictures in a human disaster must stop. It is a disgrace that anyone would seek to assert their own rights from a moment in which others have lost their lives. The law should be changed.<br />
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(Posted from Singapore)<br />
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Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-77671413585568474722013-07-10T18:24:00.001+01:002013-07-10T18:29:07.440+01:00Crisis communications lessons from an aircraft crash in San Francisco<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Travelling by air last year was the <a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/28/2012-was-the-safest-year-ever-to-travel-by-plane/" target="_blank">safest it's ever been</a>. It's said, statistically, that it is safer to fly than to get into your car to go to the airport.<br />
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There are many reasons for this, and they are all to do with a focus on safety over decades - including the design and manufacture of aircraft, and the training of flight crew and flight attendants. <br />
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Asiana 214, a Boeing 777 aircraft flying from Shanghai via Seoul, approached the runway at San Francisco International Airport on 6th July, and as this chilling video (taken by chance by a member of the public) shows, a disaster was about to happen. The aircraft failed to make it to the runway, the tail was ruptured away and the remainder of the aircraft bounced down the runway, out of control. Other videos show passengers jumping down the evacuation slides, as smoke begins to come from the wreckage, and finally the plane is engulfed in flames.<br />
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There were 307 people on board. Early reports of scores feared dead, were rapidly changed as it emerged that to date, 2 had died - 2 young girls from China - with a number with very serious injuries, including likely permanent paralysis. That several hundred people emerged from this catastrophe still alive and with survivable injuries is a testament to design and training and the determination of the aviation industry to learn and apply lessons from every incident. It's also testament to the efforts and discipline over decades at San Francisco International Airport and the local emergency services and hospitals to have emergency plans and procedures in place and for them to be carefully rehearsed, all for an event they hoped would never happen.<br />
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I'm currently in San Francisco, and have been able to look at the media management of this very serious incident at close hand, and want to look at some aspects of this in a few blog posts, as I think there are some great lessons we can all learn.<br />
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The Asiana crash exhibits all the criteria which enables us to classify this incident as a crisis. It was sudden, without warning and catastrophic in nature. It placed the lives and safety of large numbers of people under serious and immediate threat. The survival of the people on board would depend on the response of the authorities at the airport, when their own plans and training would be put under a severe test. One firefighter said he had never attended an aircraft fire, but it was the moment he had spent years training for.<br />
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The second feature common in every crisis is the initial shortage of facts. An emergency is typically characterised by initial shock and confusion, and the purpose of crisis communications is to bring order to this situation by delivering facts and information as quickly and as accurately as possible to interested parties (such as survivors and relatives of those on board) and to the public via the news media, by now clearing news channel schedules in the US to focus exclusively on the crash.<br />
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The golden rule in crisis communications is: timely, accurate and clear information. Authorities avoid estimating casualties for very good reason. Estimates often turn out to be wrong. Accuracy will help you build a reputation as the trusted source of information in an emergency.<br />
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In the initial press conferences which must be held after an air crash, there is a loud and urgent clamour for facts, but this is a dangerous moment, and enormous care is required when giving out facts in the early hours after a major event involving death and injury.<br />
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It's also essential, however, that you work hard to provide accurate facts as quickly as possible. The friends and families of those involved in the incident are desperate for further information, and the news media have a legitimate interest in reporting as fully as they can.<br />
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An early press conference at San Francisco International Airport appeared unscripted and was unclear in the way casualty figures were presented, with the fact there had been confirmed fatalities having to be be prompted by a journalist. Casualty figures are the most important piece of information you have to give in these circumstances and you should give them very slowly and very clearly indeed, and you should be reading from a script when you do so. In the San Francisco press conference, the lack of clarity led to anchors and reporters on CNN having to try to decipher the figures for some time afterwards, adding up numbers live on air trying to make sense of them. Figures need to be clear, and the categories you are using need to be explained very clearly. For example, what do you mean when you say people are "unaccounted for"? (This does not mean that you think those missing are necessarily in the burning aircraft. Injured passengers are taken away as quickly as possible by a wide range of people and means and it takes time to check where they are and their condition).<br />
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The Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_23627478/deborah-hersman-no-stranger-traumatic-situations" target="_blank">Deborah Hersman</a>, could write the textbook on clarity and measured response. She has given hours of interviews and press conferences so far, and her appearances should be studied by anyone who may have to hold a press conference in an emergency.<br />
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Your guiding principles for giving out information in an emergency should be:<br />
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1. Timely. Relatives and survivors as well as the public have a legitimate need for information about what has happened as quickly as possible.<br />
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2. Accurate. It's vital that you are the trusted source of all information.<br />
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3. Clear. You must be very clear about the meaning of information you give. Anticipate how the information might be misinterpreted, and be very clear about what you mean. <br />
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One other feature of the early media management of the accident was that both San Francisco Airport and the San Francisco General Hospital held press conferences at exactly the same time. This led to news outlets trying to juggle between two very important briefings and meant that some of the content of the events was missed. The airport press conference had precedence in the early hours. Authorities must co-ordinate the timings of press conference in this live media age. It's easy to adjust timings so that events follow on from each other. This was corrected the next day.<br />
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None of this is intended to detract from outstanding work at the airport and hospitals in dealing with this sudden catastrophe. It is the kind of event that may happen only once in your professional lifetime. The emergency services reacted quickly and there is no doubt that many risked their lives to enter the burning aircraft to save survivors. Many owe their lives to them, and to the brave flight attendants who survived the crash and despite their own injuries remained on the aircraft helping passengers get off. There's always much to learn after an air crash, but those who are on the front line deserve our respect and admiration.<br />
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And despite a sense of relief here that the casualty figures are surprisingly low, the sight of devastated parents beginning the sad journey from China to San Francisco to bring the bodies of their daughters home is a stark reminder of how accidents change lives forever. <br />
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<i>(Posted from San Francisco)</i><br />
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Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-54664100100989584752013-07-05T07:42:00.001+01:002013-07-05T08:17:18.991+01:00Offenbach in San Francisco and a TV Cook in trouble<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In the opulent <a href="http://sfopera.com/Season-Tickets/2012-2013-Season/The-Tales-of-Hoffmann.aspx" target="_blank">San Francisco Opera House</a> last week, I looked around at my fellow patrons in a packed house for a cast which included the soprano Natalie Dessay, a name which guarantees a sell-out. I pondered on the total worth of the audience in the theatre. Certainly, billions of dollars.<br />
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After the matinee performance, they stepped out on to the streets around the Opera House, which is in a district close to one of the poorest areas of the city, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenderloin,_San_Francisco" target="_blank">Tenderloin</a>. It's necessary to walk past a shocking number of psychotically ill people walking or lying in the streets to get to one's parked car, or the MUNI underground train. It's unavoidable, as the streets are littered with the bodies of people whose faces are twisted with mental pain and torment and they struggle with the voices in their head tormenting them as they shout back at them. Many pace up and down, unable to find relief. I'm told quite a number of them are veterans who have struggled to come to terms with what they saw during service on behalf of the United States. Their presence in the streets of US cities (I'm told by people here) followed a policy of President Reagan of closing the large mental hospitals in the US. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be any care put in their place. If there is, it isn't working, as a stroll along these streets would tell you.<br />
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There was another thing I noticed. All of the people on the streets I saw were African American. It's not that there are not others who are untreated and psychotic. It's just that none of the people I saw were white. The picture of them in the street stayed in my mind and troubled me afterwards. I couldn't see what hope they had of a better life, and I felt it was hard not to conclude that race did not play a part in the cards they were dealt.<br />
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I was reminded of my visit a few days later when I had half an ear on a bulletin on TV which reported a crisis involving a well-known celebrity cook and restaurant chain owner in the US, Paula Deen. The report alleged she had used the "N" word (the most offensive of the racial slurs), and I, half listening, assumed it had slipped out on air. I thought she must either be very stupid or very ignorant.<br />
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As I watched later bulletins more closely, it turned out that Mrs Deen was being sued by a former employee of her restaurant chain, who was making numerous allegations about her, including that she had used racist language. In a deposition for the case, Mrs Deen accepted she had used in the "N" word in the past, although she did say "that's just not a word that we use as time has gone on". There were other allegations that Mrs Deen had said she liked the idea of a Southern style wedding with only African American waiters dressed in white just like the old days (Mrs Deen is Southern). The issue was leaked to an American magazine. It took a while to take off, but take off it did, as general outrage ensued, stoked by the media and social media. She was suspended from the Food Network and lucrative sponsorship deals fell one by one.<br />
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Mrs Deen appeared to make it worse with a video apology that wasn't an apology. Then she was to appear on the Today show. Then she cancelled it. Then she appeared on it. Her tearful sort-of apology was described by a commentator on CNN as the "worst mea culpa ever" and "sentiment towards Paula Deen was worse after the Today interview". "I is what I is", she said, and what she is, isn't much liked apparently.<br />
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Mrs Deen was portraying the worst kind of crisis management. Because she is a famous TV personality, she did not appear to have taken the right advice before appearing and her apology was at best late and equivocal, depending on an emotional performance, and appeared to be driven by her loss of sponsorship, not genuine regret at the hurt she had caused.<br />
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But I was less interested in Mrs Deen's gifts of media management than the apparent outrage at what she had done. Let me be clear: racist language hurts deeply and causes damage. It is not OK, and where it is used, we need to correct it and help those who use it understand the damage it causes. When language like this is used, it is the moment for an unequivocal apology - and most of the public require to know that you understand fully why what you did was wrong.<br />
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But here was a situation where across America people and companies were outraged at the use of a racist slur against African Americans. Well, except several hundred thousand Paula Deen fans who took to Facebook and queued up at Mrs Deen's restaurants to show their support.<br />
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What I couldn't understand was this. Were some of the outraged the same people who stepped over untreated psychotically ill African American people outside the Opera? Where was that same outrage at that point?<br />
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I asked a wise American friend about it. He explained. This story is not really about racism any longer, he said. It's the usual. It started with genuine anger that this word is still being used in America today, a country with an African American President. But now, it's about money and the fall of a celebrity. That is what is driving the news coverage and the crisis. It's not that anyone is saying racist language isn't unacceptable. It's just that they are more interested in the consequences. And people are always more interested in money.<br />
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I felt muddled that a nation apparently outraged at the use of a word was not outraged that African Americans are lying on US streets in torment and if anyone cares, I didn't see it. If that isn't racism I don't known what is. And it's a far worse kind of racism than Mrs Deen, once seen as a wholesome woman, and now regarded as rather silly, appeared to exhibit.<br />
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It was a reminder to me that a crisis is not always at its core what is appears at first to be about. Of course, the root cause (the use of racist language) must be addressed. But once the consequences start to roll, you're in trouble, because you can't address consequences.<br />
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But what causes sudden and widespread offence sometimes surprises us. Social media, frequently a vehicle for sudden and emotional expression, accentuates this sense of overwhelming offence. In this case the offence was real and it needed to be recognised and accepted - and addressed directly. But there's no rule of human behaviour that says that offence must be logical.<br />
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Mrs Deen will bounce back from this. She's a popular woman who made a terrible mistake, and hopefully she's learned something. I hope she realises why it was wrong, and that she will get some good advice on restoring her reputation, and she'll listen to it. But when the public reacts strongly to something you do (and I understand in this case why they did), you have to address the emotion and hurt that they feel, whether you like it or not.<br />
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Here is my advice if you ever get into Mrs Deen's situation:<br />
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1. When you are involved in litigation, scenario plan on all the negative aspects of the case, and try to pre-empt them. Don't hand your pursuers a PR gift.<br />
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2. React quickly and sincerely. Don't assume because you work in the media that you know how to deal with a public relations emergency. In my experience media people almost never do.<br />
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3. Make sure your apology is sincere and is accompanied by action. For example, Mrs Deen could have announced she was meeting with an organisation that fights racism so that she could better understand the issues. It's my own view that emotion (including crying) during TV interviews isn't a good thing and tends to be viewed as insincere. However, I accept that the American market is different. I know you can be over composed but sobbing I think is treated with scepticism in Britain, particularly when it is from performers. In Mrs Deen's case some viewers felt she was crying because she had lost all the deals and her business was falling apart.<br />
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I love the United States and I love Americans (well most of them), but as a British person, I still don't completely understand them. Trust me, there are untreated psychotically ill people on the streets of London, but not in the quantity one sees in US cities. I wish American people would be as outraged about the people they step over as they leave the Opera as they are about a terrible word a TV cook said in her office. Then something might be done.<br />
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In the meantime, Happy <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States)" target="_blank">4th July</a>!<br />
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<i>(Posted from San Francisco)</i></div>
Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-62017779784231687042013-02-20T14:13:00.003+00:002013-02-20T14:15:02.294+00:00THE CRISIS LESSONS FROM A HIJACK ATTEMPT AT TIANJIN AIRLINES <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Passengers fastened their seatbelts on an internal Tianjin Airlines flight at Hotan Airport in the far west of China at lunchtime on 29 June last year. They had no idea they were minutes away from a mid-air drama with an attempted hijacking which would leave two hijackers mortally wounded and passengers and crew injured.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">As the Embraer190 aircraft, with 101 passengers and crew on board, climbed to cruising altitude, six passengers - three at the rear of the cabin and three at the front - stood up and announced their intention to take control of the plane. The crutches brought on board by one of the men were split up to be used to try to break the cockpit door open. One reportedly held a bottle in his hand with a fuse.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The hijackers didn’t expect the degree of resistance they met from an energetic crew, quick-thinking passengers and two policemen who were on board - the six were pinned to the floor, two of them sustaining injuries so serious that they died a short while later.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">22 minutes after take-off, the Embraer landed safely back at Hotan, with police waiting to storm the plane - with little more to do than arrest the hijackers who were reported to be Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic ethnic minority in this area beset by racial tension.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Within minutes of landing what has become a familiar routine in the West hit the Chinese version of Twitter, Sina Weibo. Pictures of the hijackers being restrained on board were posted to a potential 300 million users. They had been taken by another passenger on a cellphone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The authorities may have been caught by surprise, but news agencies such as Reuters reported that agencies such as the police were not even picking up the phone to respond to the media. It was some time before the local authorities (this is a long way from Beijing) and the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority began to make statements. Once Beijing became aware of the seriousness of what had happened, definitive statements followed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This allowed speculation to develop, and in the absence of any official statements, agencies carried a statement from the German based World Uighur Congress, who said that the incident had not been a hijacking but a dispute on board about seating arrangements which got out of control, and that they suspected China would use it as an excuse for a “crackdown” in the region. Given that the Congress spokesman at this stage could not possibly have known what had happened on board, this statement lacked credibility, but in the information vacuum was reported unquestioningly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Chinese authorities felt a sense of enormous relief that the attempt had been unsuccessful, perhaps fearing the global damage this could have done for the country’s reputation for safety in the economically important and expanding aviation market.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The authorities showered gifts of large amounts of cash, cars and even apartments on the crew, the police and the passengers who overpowered the hijackers. This was followed by honours for the police and additional rewards from Tianjin Airlines.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This may have been well intentioned, but the generosity raised questions amongst Chinese people. Some felt it left no room for a debate on whether the deaths on board were nothing more than the result of “frontier justice” (although there is little if any sympathy for the hijackers to be found) and may have been an attempt to deflect attention over whether the incident was the result of failures in the airport security process. A premature statement from the national aviation authority in China saying no-one was to blame for letting the hijackers on board did nothing to inspire confidence in the investigation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But most of all, commentators were critical of the message the lavish gifts and rewards for the passengers would send. The incident could lead to passengers being quick to intervene in incidents best left to the crew, and could have unforeseen and dangerous consequences.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This very serious incident is a reminder of the importance of some of the basics of crisis communications - being prepared for the unimaginable, responding quickly with a carefully rehearsed plan, and communicating rapidly to build and maintain trust. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is not enough to manage an incident effectively. Immediate and competent communication by staff dedicated to this task is critical.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It also demonstrates that no country is immune to the power of social media in an emergency.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When a crisis hits, if your company does not provide rapid information, your critics will.</span></span><br />
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<i>First published in the magazine of <a href="http://www.kenyoninternational.com/" target="_blank">Kenyon International Emergency Services</a></i><br />
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<i>Donald Steel is an Associate Director, Crisis Communications, at Kenyon International Emergency Services and a regular guest lecturer and workshop leader at the China Media Centre of the University of Westminster, London.</i></div>
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Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-52792012522200994432012-09-21T15:18:00.000+01:002012-09-21T15:34:08.519+01:00The power of social media to destroy your reputation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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At the start of <a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/" target="_blank">Social Media Week</a>, where events from London to New York and Hong Kong will focus on the latest trends, I've been reflecting with colleagues on the amazing benefits social media - and email - have brought. But we've also been thinking about the many times social media and emails have been at the root of a reputational disaster.<br />
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In nearly every case there is one good reason behind this - lack of care in communicating, or being a hurry, leading to a lack of care in communicating. Oh, and being emotional, leading to a lack of care in communicating. That's really three good reasons, but boiled down to one, it's lack of care.<br />
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I grew up in a world without social media and email (I know what you're thinking, but I'm much older than I look). If you wanted to communicate, you could either phone (and not everyone had a phone) or write a letter. You had to have an envelope and then you had to get a stamp. Plenty of time to consider your communication before posting.<br />
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In the social media world, you can get annoyed and communicate immediately with large numbers of people. Or have a few cocktails and communicate immediately with large numbers of people. Or have a great joke (that in truth is an offensive joke) and communicate with - and offend - large numbers of people.<br />
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The immediacy of social media and email is a great advantage but also a massive risk.<br />
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Who can forget poor <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0z5k0mc5yk" target="_blank">Congressman Weiner</a> who tweeted a highly indecent picture of himself to a young woman he had never met but forgot to type the letter "D" in the message, so the picture was seen by thousands of his startled followers. Think of the days of snail mail. You would have to take the picture, get it developed, get a print, put it in an envelope, get a stamp, mail it....plenty of time to reflect, for the excitement to wear off, and to think better of such a stupid thing for a public figure to do.<br />
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Men do stupid things, but social media and email allows the stupid things they do to be seen by lots more people.<br />
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The two employees at a Dominos Pizza franchise (one was a woman, the rare exception to the "men do stupid things" rule) who made a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaNuE3DsJHM">disgusting video</a> at work and posted it on You Tube thought it was funny. It cost them their jobs and their company millions of dollars. They wouldn't have done it if they'd known what was going to happen. In the old days, making this prank video would have taken so long you would either have got bored or thought better of it. Now digital and social media makes it easy to do crazy things. Since the incident <a href="http://www.dominos.co.uk/" target="_blank">Dominos</a> has led the way in recognising the need to engage your employees on the risks of social media as well as the benefits. They make great pizzas, too.<br />
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Stupid emails get people into trouble every week. Emails are not confidential. They get forwarded, sometimes maliciously. One manager was baffled when a confidential business strategy leaked out. It had apparently only been sent to 7 people in highest confidence. It had actually been forwarded to over 80. <br />
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People put extraordinarily private and personal things on email that find their way into the public domain, or in court papers under the document discovery process. The item of gossip you added as a "PS" may end up being read out in court. Best to save it for a drink after work.<br />
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None of these happened in the days of snail mail.<br />
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But before we cancel all our social media subscriptions and close our email accounts, stop! We just need to manage these risks by using a few simple rules:<br />
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(1) Never post in haste. Think about what you post.<br />
(2) Never post when you are angry or upset.<br />
(3) Be extremely careful about humour.<br />
(4) Don't forget the law applies to social media. Watch out you don't defame someone, or comment on a case that is currently before the courts.<br />
(5) Words can hurt. Could your post hurt someone, even if that's not your intention? If so re-write it.<br />
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You can sum these up in two words: take care.<br />
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A few times recently, I've been reminded that email is a crude form of communication. It's written quickly and easy to misunderstand. Use email to communicate factual points but never feelings. It's often better to call someone on the phone. And write every email or social media post thinking the whole world might see it. Because they might.<br />
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If you do post something you regret, follow it up as soon as you can with another post. Something like: "That last post came out wrong. I'm sorry about it. It might have offended people and I didn't mean to" is disarming and honest and in practice, unless your post is unlawful and grossly offensive, is likely to be accepted by users who've all done the same thing themselves at least once.<br />
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With all these precautions in mind and armed with our new iPhone5s, we're off to Social Media Week to hear about the positive power of social media. I can't wait.<br />
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Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-32961057777337247792012-06-05T09:40:00.003+01:002012-06-05T18:18:40.957+01:00Ronald Reagan on Trust<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
President Ronald Reagan had a great trust phrase: "Trust, but verify". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an admirer of Reagan, put it differently: "Don't trust. Verify."<br />
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The foundation of every reputation is trust. In a crisis, all communications actions should have one aim: to restore and build long term trust in the company or organisation.<br />
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How are reputations verified? The answer, of course, is not in what you or your company says. It is in how you behave.<br />
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If you wish to be more trusted, you must behave, always, in ways that will cause you to be trusted. You can never take a vacation from the business of building trust. What you say is important, but how you behave is more important.<br />
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It's been the lesson of the financial crisis. Many have not understood that the issue of bonuses, for example, is one on which reputations will be judged and trust verified - or not. <br />
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There's no sign that most banks and other financial institutions understand this.<br />
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We have a great example this weekend of someone who has spent a lifetime exhibiting the kind of consistent behaviour that causes high public trust. The Queen's <a href="http://www.thediamondjubilee.org/" target="_blank">Diamond Jubilee</a> is a moment for the public to express their admiration for one of a small number of public figures that are truly trusted today.<br />
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(Posted from Singapore)<br />
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<br /></div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-65881653792597101102012-05-29T04:58:00.001+01:002013-07-28T10:12:09.776+01:00Go straight to the top and work down<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Writing in Newsweek magazine (May 21) former US Secretary of State and retired US General Colin Powell reveals an astonishing fact. Senior officials at the Pentagon knew of the existence of highly damaging photographs of abuse, torture and humiliation of detainees by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad in 2003 - but didn't tell the White House. As Powell writes: "A fuse was burning, but no one made the senior leadership aware that a bomb was about to go off".<br />
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The eventual publication of the pictures damaged the reputation of the United States across the world and hugely increased hostility in Iraq, especially amongst the public, who the US were trying to win over. It was a PR disaster.<br />
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Powell reflects that after his deep shock at the photographs, he was astounded that the implications of the pictures becoming public did not set off alarm bells at the Pentagon and then the White House. "Nearly four months on", he writes in Newsweek, "no-one had elevated the material up the chain to the Secretary or the President. If that had happened, the problem would not have been magically solved, but the people at the top would have had time to decide how to deal with the disaster and get to the bottom of it. The President was not told early."<br />
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And he gives a lesson that should be part of every crisis rehearsal: "Leaders should train their staffs that whenever the question reaches the surfaces of their mind - 'Umm, you think we should call someone?' - the answer is almost always, 'Yes and five minutes ago'. "<br />
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His golden rule for his staff is the same as I was taught at the BBC many years ago by a senior executive: "I don't like surprises. Tell me everything. Especially when you think I won't like it." And I did.<br />
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It's an extremely wise CEO that adopts this approach. I've never in my career been ticked off by a boss for ringing him or her to say I'm worried about something, even when it seems on the face of it minor. Most frequently, you're thanked. The reputation of the CEO depends on the company being well managed. The PR teams are often the eyes and ears of the CEO. It's our job to brief the CEO, even when we fear the reaction of giving him or her very bad news about a mistake in the company.<br />
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Don't even wait till the morning if you think it's urgent. And in most companies, a daily call first thing in the morning between the CEO and the Director of Communications makes sure things don't slip through the net.<br />
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A crisis is always better managed when you know it's coming. Colin Powell's Newsweek article is a must-read for PR practitioners.<br />
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<i>(Posted from Jakarta)</i></div>
Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-2263510248506665572012-04-18T14:27:00.000+01:002012-04-18T14:27:24.649+01:00Fly on the wall or spider waiting to eat you?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIeR5RUMH_kp74CsRCV7KuW687uO3UxBf9JkuH_ODNX8GAqgc1bSUsF1byHdu8Nc4XbQecLDogVMX8S-UzX47R_jVvD1uE9wb-yKoXNZJYVtKs8ByrL9l6_5Iq5f6acTkl8sn6qbwHgc/s1600/london-underground-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIeR5RUMH_kp74CsRCV7KuW687uO3UxBf9JkuH_ODNX8GAqgc1bSUsF1byHdu8Nc4XbQecLDogVMX8S-UzX47R_jVvD1uE9wb-yKoXNZJYVtKs8ByrL9l6_5Iq5f6acTkl8sn6qbwHgc/s320/london-underground-logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/" target="_blank">London Underground</a>, the largest and oldest underground system in the world, recently invited television cameras from the BBC to film their operations, warts and all, for a new fly-on-the-wall series (to give it its posh title, an observational documentary) <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cmsfd" target="_blank">The Tube</a>.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">They did have some experience in this field. They had done a similar series on ITV and some one-off programmes.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The BBC series was special in that it documents the story of the Tube as it prepares to welcome millions of visitors to London for the <a href="http://www.london2012.com/" target="_blank">Olympics </a>and the <a href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/TheQueenandspecialanniversaries/TheQueensDiamondJubilee2012/TheQueensDiamondJubilee2012.aspx" target="_blank">Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen</a>. The system is already bursting at the seams, as any Londoner will tell you, and billions of pounds is being spent on modernising the creaking train system, track and signalling.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Consenting to a fly-on-the-wall series is a high risk strategy. You have to accept that the cameras will see poor service as well as great service, and things that go wrong as well as things that do right. In fact, the programme makers will seek out things that go wrong. It inserts what’s called “jeopardy” into the programme that keeps viewers hooked in - will the track maintenance staff finish on time to start the service in the morning? If they don’t, hundreds of thousands of commuters could be late for work.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This kind of programme was made famous by the BBC with series like “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_School" target="_blank">Driving School</a>” which made a star of the hapless but loveable Maureen Rees who had failed her driving test numerous times. During the series, viewers could see why.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Another, “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airport_(TV_series)" target="_blank">Airport</a>”, ran for ten series and went behind the scenes of London’s Heathrow Airport. It told the remarkable story of the airport, and the airlines and the passengers and staff who used it. And most of all, the airport and airline staff. It made a celebrity out of <a href="http://www.johnnymansproductions.co.uk/Jeremy-Spake.pdf" target="_blank">Jeremy Spake</a>, the Aeroflot Station Manager at Heathrow.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Like The Tube, viewers were able to see the extraordinary lengths staff go to to try to do a good job under pressure. And the unbelievable abuse they suffer at the hands of a stressed out public. And on the Tube, the lengths people go to to avoid paying the fare. </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There’s a brilliant line from an officer from the London Underground Fare Evasion team to a passenger caught dodging the barriers: “It’s a pay and go system, Sir. You just went.”</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Royal Opera House in London fared <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/flyonthewall-victims-always-get-bitten-so-why-do-they-do-it-1322424.html" target="_blank">rather less well </a>when it invited the cameras in for a BBC-2 series called “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_(television_documentary)" target="_blank">The House</a>” The Opera House wanted to explain to the public why they needed public subsidy and how they spent it. Far from being enthralled, the public viewed much of the behind the scenes rows and shenanigans as indulgence at their expense. It damaged the House badly and it took a long time to recover.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There are a number of things you have to consider before taking part in such a series.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">First of all, the programme makers will insist they retain editorial control. This doesn’t mean you have no say (for example you may wish to exclude material for security reasons, and that is reasonable), but it will mean the public sees things that happen behind the scenes that are less than perfect.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Secondly, you must get widespread and informed consent before agreeing, including talking to your staff and trade unions. People sign up to come to work, not to be on TV, and they must have the right to opt out. Staff who do take part will need your help in thinking whether they are happy to filmed at work only. Sometimes programme makers will want to talk about their home life and how it fits in and sometimes film them at home, leaving for work, etc. You will also need to talk to all your contractors, suppliers and partner companies. It’s a huge job, and this will take months.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You need to think about how filming will affect customers and how you can inform them it is happening. They have the right to privacy too, and must be able to opt out, where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. In large premises, you can place signs at entrances informing them. What’s surprising is how many people seem happy to appear on TV even when they are seen screaming at staff.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The programme makers will want to discuss with you how they will deal with very sensitive issues. These might include a death on your premises (in the case of The Tube there was an extremely moving and sensitive edition on the subject of suicide on the lines, which included interviews with drivers who were badly affected by it).</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And remember in the age of multichannel TV, the programme will be shown over and over again for many years, in many countries. Your branding may have changed, the staff may have moved on, but the programme still keeps playing. And you can’t usually change that. A long running and popular series on EasyJet, called “Airline”, is still playing every week on cable channels 13 years after it was made in 1999.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You will need to assign PR staff to work with the team full-time before, during and after filming, which may take place over many months.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What’s my verdict on The Tube? It shows a staff who, on the whole, really care about the passengers and do an amazing job with the daily pressure of the stressed, the drunk and the aggressive on an overloaded system. Not everything is perfect. But viewers make judgements on what they see overall. I certainly look at staff on the Underground in a different light now I’ve seen what they do. I think the series was a triumph.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">(Posted from Dubai, United Arab Emirates)</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div></div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-23010066324693119112012-04-14T19:35:00.000+01:002012-04-14T19:35:22.265+01:00Achieving the Perfect Pitch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When the pressure is on to place a story, your heart sometimes sinks at the thought of cold calling a long list of journalists and programme makers.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Having experienced life on both sides of the fence, believe me, your heart sinks when you receive such a call.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It may be that we want to assure the client that we have pitched their story to the widest range of media, but if the story isn’t picked up or broadcast, we have neither achieved exposure or value for the client.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Over the years, I’ve observed that one of the most common errors we make - and its not just the junior team - is that we pitch to papers we don’t read and to programmes we don’t watch or listen to. And then we are surprised when our calls are not taken with enormous enthusiasm.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take the celebrated BBC Radio 4 programme, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/womans-hour/" target="_blank">Woman’s Hour</a>. It’s a triumph of the first order to get your story on this diamond of a programme. But the programme is so popular (and long running) because the team are rigorous about the material they select for the programme. It has to be right for their listeners and it has to be relevant and extremely interesting. There’s no plugging (indeed one of the presenters Dame Jenni Murray can be heard to tell guests “that’s enough plugs thanks!” And the agenda of the programme regularly changes and moves on in time with, and sometimes ahead of, the audience. You are only going to know what will interest the Woman’s Hour team if you listen to the programme regularly.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In an agency or in-house team, it’s a good idea to make a list of the programmes you might pitch to and allocate each team member to take a list of them and watch or listen to the shows on a regular basis. Each team member could write a short report on each title, when it is published or on the air, who presents it, the kind of topics they are interested in. Then if a pitch is to be made to the programme, that team member’s up-to-date advice is sought, or even better that person always pitches to the programme. You won’t have time to listen every day, but with catch-up services online, it should be possible to listen once a week.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And make it a rule that you never pitch duff material to journalists or programmes, just to tick off a list. Nothing will wreck you relationship with them more quickly than that. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Once you have hit on a topic that is of interest, of course, there’s a lot you can do to make your pitch more attractive and creative.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There’s so much interest in this kind of skill in Singapore and surrounds that we’re holding a <a href="http://www.prtraining.sg/Pages/AchievingthePerfectPitch.aspx" target="_blank">course</a> on it on 1st June - Achieving the Perfect Pitch</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You don’t have to be born with the ability to pitch a story. You just need some skills. And for all but the most gregarious, some help to build your confidence!</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(That’s enough plugs thanks - Dame Jenni Murray)</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(Posted from Dubai, United Arab Emirates)</span></span></div></div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-32130493757113459152012-02-23T23:08:00.000+00:002012-02-23T23:08:35.101+00:00The Jazz Fans who got sex instead<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">When half a million listeners to the UK's Jazz FM station were relaxing last Saturday evening to the cool sounds the station normally produces, they were shocked to hear what appeared to be the soundtrack of a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/feb/20/jazz-fm-gay-porn-gaffe?CMP=EMCMEDEML665" target="_blank">very explicit soundtrack</a> to a gay pornographic film. I did not personally hear the broadcast (and luckily for the station, it appears not to have made it on to You Tube), but we can assume from the description of the incident that it went beyond comments like "Hey I love your sweater, is that this year's Ralph Lauren? Can I buy you a drink?"<br />
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There's a sense where this can seem funny. It makes water cooler chat. But as a former radio presenter, let me tell you that people do not like unexpected profanity on air. And they don't like sex soundtracks on air at any time, especially on a jazz station with such a loyal following. It's serious for the station. It also puts their licence to broadcast under threat. Broadcasting indecent material is a serious breach of the UK broadcasting regulator rules and could lead to the licence being revoked.<br />
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If faced with a crisis, don't panic. Just do the right thing. Jazz FM did exactly that.<br />
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Firstly, they <a href="http://www.jazzfm.com/2012/02/apologies/" target="_blank">apologised</a>: "Unfortunately, we had an unauthorised access to the live feed on Jazz FM on Saturday 18th February at 7.15pm which resulted in a highly regrettable incident. Please accept our profound and sincere apologies for any offence that may have been caused and rest assured we have taken steps to ensure there will be no repeat of this incident." The statement is signed by Mike Vitti, the station's head of programmi<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">ng. It's good to personalise apologies, although the executive then puts himself in the firing line, so Mike was brave and took responsibility. Consumers like that. The statement was not hidden but put on the website in bold type. They also apologised on air. It felt like they meant it.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">They also issued a media statement: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"There was some unauthorised activity and inappropriate behaviour in the studio on Saturday evening – activity we take extremely seriously. A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">n investigation regarding this matter began immediately and should it be necessary, disciplinary action will be taken against the individual concerned." They told the media the problem was caused by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"unauthorised activity and inappropriate behaviour in the studio". </span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">The line in the statement that they have taken steps to ensure this never happens again suggests they already know how it happened. If they don't it's a hostage to fortune. But announcing an investigation is always the right thing to do (and incidentally, important in the UK to comply with fairness requirements of employment law should disciplinary action follow).</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Clear, unequivocal statements, but not over the top. And keep the emotion out, which the management will undoubtedly be feeling.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Jazz Fm's prompt actions have resulted in a serious issue being contained. Issues not dealt with become crises.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">When I was being trained as a presenter in commercial radio, Sandy Wilkie, then the head of Radio Tay in Scotland gave me the most important piece of advice. "Never say or do anything in a room where there is a microphone or camera present that you would not want the world to hear. Even if you think it isn't connected. Because it might be. Accidentally." It's advice that every broadcaster and also guest should have inscribed in their brain. If they did hundreds of mishaps every year would be prevented through this basic mistake.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">There might be one more problem for Jazz FM. If the company which produced the "material" which was inadvertently broadcast identifies it, they will sting the station for a copyright fee. Because the broadcast wasn't cleared it will be punitive. It doesn't matter whether the broadcast was intended or not. However, quite how they will tell it was their film is beyond my expertise.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Footnote on deaths in Syria:</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">The deaths of Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlick in Syria are a grim reminder of the cost journalists, photographers and those who support them face in supporting democracy round the world. When the BBC opens its new <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadcastinghouse/" target="_blank">News and Radio Centre </a>in central London this year- the largest live news centre in the world - it has on its roof an art work by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaume_Plensa" target="_blank">Jaume Plensa </a>from which a laser beam will shine high into the sky each evening for two minutes (with the permission of the Civil Aviation Authority). Inaugurated by the Secretary-General of the UN, it is a visual and moving memorial to all who have died (not just those from the BBC) in reporting news. The risks journalists face is something that is one of the most underreported issues. It's the kind of journalism that has and will always really matter.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">(Posted from Singapore)</span></span></div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-51397460396531783582012-01-29T22:36:00.001+00:002012-01-30T01:41:25.959+00:00Why some PR arguments can't be won<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Few came forward in defence of Stephen Hester, the CEO of the <a href="http://www.rbs.co.uk/" target="_blank">Royal Bank of Scotland</a>, when it was announced he was to be <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16782787" target="_blank">paid a one million pounds (USD 1.5m) bonus </a>this year. The bank is effectively in public ownership (83 per cent) after it was bailed out by the Government. Mr Hester was hired to restructure the bank and manage it back to privatisation.</div><br />
The Chairman of the Bank, Philip Hampton, publicly waived his £1.4m share bonus, either to deflect criticism (it hasn't) or to avoid public vilification.<br />
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Mr Hester didn't start with the public rooting for him. Banks did not fare well in the latest <a href="http://trust.edelman.com/" target="_blank">Edelman Trust Barometer</a> (banks and the financial sector remain the two least trusted industry sectors for a second year), and even less popular than banks are....bankers. They're seen in Britain by most as the cause of the current financial crisis.<br />
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Labour blames the Tories, the Tories say they inherited the contract from Labour. The public are telling politicians to intervene - we own the bank - the Tories are effectively saying they don't like to, but they've told the bank how much they disapprove.<br />
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The arguments for Mr Hester's bonus go like this:<br />
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1. He is being bonussed with shares which do not pay out till 2014, so it is a long term incentive plan.<br />
2. Mr Hester took a drop in conditions when he came from his previous employer to come to the public service.<br />
3. If Mr Hester is successful he makes money for the taxpayer when the bank is sold.<br />
4. Mr Hester is doing the job he was hired to do, doing it well and is entitled to a bonus under his contract, if we didn't want to pay him a bonus, we should have said so when we hired him.<br />
5. You would have chaos in RBS if Mr Hester left, and that wouldn't benefit the taxpayer (Iain Duncan-Smith). <br />
6. Mr Hester's pay reflects progress in categories agreed with shareholders, and strongly geared to the recovery of RBS (RBS statements)<br />
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The argument against are:<br />
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1. Mr Hester is a public servant, and no-one in the public service should be paid this kind of bonus (in fact no-one at all should be paid this kind of bonus).<br />
2. It's not fair.<br />
3. The bonus highlights inequality in society (<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-29/hester-comes-under-further-pressure-to-turn-down-rbs-bonus.html" target="_blank">SNP leader Alex Salmond</a>)<br />
4. It's not fair.<br />
5. RBS has failed to lend enough to small businesses (Matthew Oakshott, Lib-Dem MP)<br />
6. It's not fair.<br />
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This is a classic no-win situation for RBS. It's easy to see why in the arguments above. The arguments for Mr Hester's bonus are rational and linked to agreements the Government signed. The arguments against are emotionally driven. Putting it simply, the public doesn't like it. They are under severe financial pressure and are driven by a feeling of "unfairness". Defining "fairness" is of course an almost totally subjective exercise, depending on how much you are benefitting from the alleged fairness.<br />
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For example, the decision to cap public welfare benefits in the UK is seen as "fair" by those members of the public in work (and therefore funding it) and "unfair" by those in receipt of benefit. If there's any rational argument that will shift these positions, nobody's thought of it yet. On this and the bonus issue, the strength of public feeling for the welfare cap and against Mr Hester's bonus is overwhelming.<br />
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To all of the pro-Mr Hester arguments, the answer is always the same: "that may be true, but it's still too much and I don't like it."<br />
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Rational arguments, at least in the short term, do not win over emotionally driven reactions to issues. That does not mean you should not make the arguments, but it is very important, too, to acknowledge the feelings of those who are on the other side of the argument. You can only stick it out and hope that emotions will calm, or that someone else comes along with an even bigger bonus than you to take your place. Or you can give in, effectively conceding you were wrong. Even if Mr Hester did this, he'll get little credit from an angry public.<br />
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You build trust by your behaviour, not your words. <br />
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This is an issue that will be faced over and over again as Europe slides towards recession and large remuneration packages are revealed. I haven't met anyone in the last week who supports Mr Hester's position. The phrase you hear most often is "they just don't get it" and "I thought we were all supposed to be in this together?"<br />
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Instead, RBS are left with little option now but to meet an emotional reaction with a rational argument - and it won't work.<br />
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The late and deeply popular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_The_Queen_Mother" target="_blank">Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother</a> was not only someone who "got it" but who was an expert in public relations before the term was even invented. She was famous for visiting bombed areas, especially the East End of London and the Docklands with The King. But when Buckingham Palace was itself bombed, she famously said "I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face." She was really saying, "you see, we're all in this together". <br />
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STOP PRESS: Just as this blog was published, it was announced that Mr Hester would not be taking his bonus following the public outcry.<br />
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</div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-5104689429171929972012-01-19T21:14:00.000+00:002012-01-19T21:14:16.433+00:00"An Unforgettable Holiday with Costa" - the crisis lessons begin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"As soon as you step onboard, you will realise what an unforgettable experience your holiday at sea with Costa will be", extolled the <a href="http://www.costacruises.com/" target="_blank">Costa Cruises </a>website, nearly 24 hours <i>after</i> 3 people died (at the time) and 40 were still missing in a catastrophe for the Costa Concordia.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are many lessons to be learned from the Costa Concordia accident, both in crisis communications, and in dealing with passengers involved in an emergency.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But the overwhelming lesson is that your organisation must be prepared for the unthinkable. "Where loss of human life or serious injury is a possibility, having a robust crisis plan is <u>not optional</u>", veteran comms doyenne and ex White House staffer <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/maryjojacobijephson" target="_blank">Mary Jo Jacobi Jephson</a> has said. "And where loss of human life or serious injury is a possibility, rehearsing your crisis plan is <u>not optional</u>."</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQxP-lz6hRToh9W5o5Mx1CgX3VydoE7FYTH9bp9M1IJ1M2CqwH_Ch95vHzC7_CBv_yrGe8CyWDn__NRntRW0_EOA-FZ9dSmMVOoLRYaIYI5iSbu69s7W3MT_jFFlftf6wgiTt6SgtUB4/s1600/simoncalder882336225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQxP-lz6hRToh9W5o5Mx1CgX3VydoE7FYTH9bp9M1IJ1M2CqwH_Ch95vHzC7_CBv_yrGe8CyWDn__NRntRW0_EOA-FZ9dSmMVOoLRYaIYI5iSbu69s7W3MT_jFFlftf6wgiTt6SgtUB4/s1600/simoncalder882336225.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>"There are echoes of the Titanic" - Simon Calder</i></span></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">T<a href="http://lbc.audioagain.com/index.php?sid=1&player=showchannel&channel_id=292" target="_blank">he Simon Calder Travel Show on LBC Radio</a></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As veteran UK travel journalist <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16558910" target="_blank">Simon Calder told BBC News</a>: “It is unbelieveable. A lot of people in the cruise industry are just astonished that this should happen to a 21st century ship when everything is designed with safety in mind. There must have been an extraordinary sequence of events....the ship was listing dangerously and people were jumping into the water, and I'm sorry to raise this, there are echoes of Titanic which happened a hundred years ago.’</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Your crisis plan must work in situations you think will never happen.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For Costa Cruises and its parent company <a href="http://www.carnival.com/" target="_blank">Carnival</a>, it seemed that even the things that could be planned for hadn’t been enacted. 24 hours after the accident it still appeared possible to book a cruise on the Concordia on the Costa Cruises site, with a cruise the following week round the Balaeric Islands being offered at less than half price. The front page of the Carnival Cruises (Costa’ parent company) website was still extolling “Look what the carnival breeze blew in” a day later with a tiny link to a statement about the tragedy at the top left of the page.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The pages were changed later.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, an easy lesson. Make sure that your organisation's website can be suspended in the event of a tragedy. Prepare "vanilla" pages that can quickly be populated with information about what is happening and are right in tone. When a ship with 4,000 passengers falls over, it's time to show that your priority is those who are affected.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After any accident, of course, there must be business continuity in the rest of the business. But care, compassion and taste come first - always.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But it does require you to have a robust plan. Involve your web and social media teams in every rehearsal - no exceptions.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It also helps not to have a public row with the Captain of a lost ship about culpability in public. It can sound like you're trying to say "it wasn't our fault". At best, extremely unattractive. But more of that another day.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">(Posted from London)</div><br />
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</div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-48874964185959693662011-12-19T14:05:00.000+00:002011-12-19T14:14:34.049+00:00Wake up to what your employees are doing on social media<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">News that school districts in the US are <a href="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/ohio-district-limits-teachers%E2%80%99-use-of-social-media" target="_blank">banning teachers</a> from having contact with their pupils (and in some cases ex-pupils) on social media has caused a rumpus. Some say it is a restriction on free speech, whilst others point to the fact that 80 teachers in Missouri alone lost their licences in the last four years through sexual misconduct with pupils, some of which began on social media. One district in Cincinnati in making a policy tried to make themselves look as if they were ahead of the curve. They said social media was "growing" and they wanted to set a "forward thinking policy setting some parameters". The "parameters" turn out to be a total ban on teachers relating to students on social media or via instant messaging.<br />
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This may or may not be a necessary policy. I'm not qualified to judge. But social media isn't just "growing". It's here. It's ubiquitous. And students have been using it for several years. Who invented Facebook again? Oh yes, a college student. Several years ago.<br />
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The dear folks of Cincinnati may be trying to dress up their slowness in getting a social media policy as "forward thinking" but at least they've got one.<br />
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I'm amazed as I speak at events round the world and ask delegates how many people do not have a social media policy for employees, how many hands go up.<br />
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The incident in 2009 at <a href="http://www.dominos.com/" target="_blank">Dominos Pizza</a> in the US, where two low-rent employees made a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/business/media/16dominos.html" target="_blank">disgusting video </a>at work which was posted up on You Tube (and viewed a million times within days) was a wake-up call to organisations that they need to discuss with their staff the benefits and risks of social media. Dominos used the opportunity to re-engage with their staff worldwide on this topic. Employees need to understand why rules are needed. Few employees start work each day wanting to do a bad job, or wanting to badly damage the company.<br />
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When designing a social media policy for your organisation, talk to your employees first and listen to them. You don't have the monopoly on wisdom.<br />
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Your social media policy will vary depending on the kind of organisation you run.<br />
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If your company is concerned with the preparation or service of food, if you allow camera enabled cellphones in the workplace, you are risking your entire business. Employees should surrender their cellphones before starting, and reasonable use of the house phone for urgent family members is easy to allow. <br />
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Although less about social media, there are similar considerations if your employees use computer screens at work that show potentially sensitive information, such as financial information, which could be captured.<br />
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You should also think about whether you want to allow employees to say where they work on social media. If they do, their behaviour, much of which is their business, will become yours.<br />
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In some jobs, because the employee is prominent or front-of-house, it may be obvious the person is your employee and they need to take special care in what they write.<br />
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A number of years ago a broadcast journalist boasted on social media of the number of women he had slept with. It was such a huge number, you marvelled that there had been any time to appear on air. The broadcaster thought it brought discredit to them because everyone knew who this individual was.<br />
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It's not just the fact that your employee works for you that raises issues, it's whether they talk about their life at work. It might be fine, for example, if you run a cool coffee shop, to see one of the baristas enthusing about his work and his customers. But what if he talks disparagingly about an especially irritating customer? Or a co-worker that gets on his nerves? Not so good.<br />
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In some companies, by talking about their life at work, employees can inadvertently disclose security arrangements, or private company procedures, without realising what they are doing.<br />
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One dedicated but exhausted US teacher sounded off on Facebook about her pupils (she had had a very bad day) not realising the privacy settings had changed. What she thought were private remarks were seen by everyone, including her pupils. Despite a blameless long career, she was fired. Best not to talk about work online.<br />
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The important thing about having a social media policy for employees is not to restrict them, it is to make them think about what they are doing. Employees on the whole like knowing what's expected of them. They like being engaged on issues so they understand the risks and how to get it right.<br />
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One of the first organisations off the blocks in the UK was the<a href="http://www.bbc.com/" target="_blank"> BBC</a>, who were concerned in the early days of social media that staff might express political views on social media and threaten their reputation as a strictly impartial broadcaster. Their <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/page/guidance-blogs-personal-summary" target="_blank">social media policy</a> is used by many companies as a template.<br />
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Develop your own policy, but do it now!<br />
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(Posted from Changi Airport, Singapore)<br />
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</div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-60370294460770225372011-12-15T13:32:00.000+00:002011-12-15T13:34:53.195+00:00Liege and the importance of the press conference<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/qoP8hOdro_4/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qoP8hOdro_4&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qoP8hOdro_4&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br />
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The terrible aftermath of the<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16161746" target="_blank"> shootings in Liege</a> on 13th December are a reminder that all local authorities must have plans in place to deal with the unimaginable.<br />
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The press conference (above) held by the authorities on the 13th outlines the scale of the shocking minutes of terror, injury and death for local people.<br />
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<a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/" target="_blank">The Straits Times</a> in Singapore devotes a page this morning to a decade of shootings across Europe, including the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbria_shootings" target="_blank">2010 attacks in Cumbria</a>, North West England in which 12 people were shot dead, and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks" target="_blank">deaths of 69 young people</a> on the island of Utoya, Noway in July. The Straits Times calls the Liege shootings a "chilling addition to a long list of similar attacks that have blighted Europe over the last 10 years". The paper notes the Liege shootings come alongside the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/13/florence-gunman-shoots-street-vendors" target="_blank">shooting of two Sengalese men</a> in Florence, Italy by a far-right author, who then killed himself.<br />
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The page provides ample evidence as to why every local authority must have a major incident crisis plan. Any such plan must include potential arrangements for a press conference. It's where things sometimes go wrong.<br />
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A press conference is an efficient and fair way to distribute information in an emergency. It will establish your organisation as the authoritative source of information about the incident. It is a way of dispelling rumour with facts. It also enables you to publicly show care and compassion.<br />
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There are some useful things to check as part of your plan.<br />
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1. Identify a suitable location for a press conference and an alternative should that location not be available. It's a good idea to consult local TV colleagues who will be glad to help you with advice as to the suitability of a location for TV positions and links. Remember today most 24 hour news channels will carry press conferences "live" and will not thank you for holding them in a location which makes this difficult. The venue needs to be co-operative enough to make itself available at very short notice, so it is better, but not essential, if it is a public building.<br />
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2. Your venue must be suitable in size and dignity to host a press conference which may be to announce large numbers of deaths. Think about whether there can be a raised platform, and a raised platform at the back for TV cameras, and whether you can have a backdrop (in London the Metropolitan Police do this very well). There is no time to do this on the day.<br />
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3. Identify the personnel you would need - types and numbers of people - and don't forget you will need security to ensure only authorised media are admitted - be careful that there may be people who wish to disrupt the event. You will need staff to record the names of those attending, as you may wish to contact them afterwards.<br />
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4. Work out how you will advise the media that there is to be a press conference. Be careful not to commit too far in advance as you will lose credibility if a press conference is trailed on TV and doesn't happen. The media are entitled though to adequate notice to make technical preparations. It's helpful to tell media, for example, that while you don't know the exact time of a press conference yet, if there is one it will be in "x" building. Then they can begin logistical preparations. But be careful not to promise a press conference which may not happen.<br />
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5. Have "toblerones" (name cards for tables) ready to put participants names on them on the press conference table in your crisis tool box. Most media present will not be familiar with the participants and it helps TV viewers, too.<br />
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7. Training - it's very important that as part of crisis training, you include training in handling a press conference. Mock press conferences are easy to stage and senior officials should be mandated to attend this type of training at least once a year.<br />
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These arrangements will get you off to a good start in the event of an emergency and will help you avoid some basic pitfalls - like holding press conferences on a pavement, which should never happen.<br />
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(Posted from Singapore)</div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-88616983848152181142011-12-14T06:44:00.000+00:002011-12-14T06:53:14.431+00:00Product tampering always an emergency<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIrFRX-yvoX0l3yyGvTkR4xZvlwPnxO20RB3WWa0ySenjD8T57AL9TuIUpoO5MtJJhJSOVUWckBOqWNB9e47GwF2i4_2i8QfzMHiLbfN0z29Q36fTn7rBZ7GW5i1XeOMOI9cS5N4ifME/s1600/article-0-0F01808700000578-699_468x351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIrFRX-yvoX0l3yyGvTkR4xZvlwPnxO20RB3WWa0ySenjD8T57AL9TuIUpoO5MtJJhJSOVUWckBOqWNB9e47GwF2i4_2i8QfzMHiLbfN0z29Q36fTn7rBZ7GW5i1XeOMOI9cS5N4ifME/s320/article-0-0F01808700000578-699_468x351.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<a href="http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/215340/3/Syringes-found-inside-clothes-at-Cartersville-Walmart-store" target="_blank">News</a> breaking on 30 November that customers of a <a href="http://www.walmart.com/" target="_blank">Walmart</a> store in Cartersville, Ga, US, have pricked themselves with needles hidden in clothing products was yet another example of product contamination and the need for companies to respond quickly to such an event.<br />
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14-year-old Courtney Worthington was trying on some pyjamas bought for her by her mother in the Walmart store when a hypodermic needle pricked her finger and foot in an alarming incident for the teenager. A second shopper, Patricia Heidrick, reported she had been pricked by a needle hidden in women's apparel at the same store. Further needles were found in other clothing products.<br />
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Apart from the injury, the risk of contracting HIV from a contaminated needle (should they turn out be to be so) is real. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-exposure_prophylaxis" target="_blank">Post exposure prophylaxis treatment</a> should be given within 72 hours of suspected or possible HIV infection (and preferably within one hour) and it is expensive. Monitoring over a period of months is required.<br />
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Walmart responded quickly. They said they believed this was confined to one store. There was initial confusion as to whether the company would pay the customers medical costs relating to the incident (a big issue in the US where costs are high - one estimate is USD 1300 for the prophylactic treatment alone). According to one report, <a href="http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/215340/3/Syringes-found-inside-clothes-at-Cartersville-Walmart-store" target="_blank">Mrs Heidrick said Walmart wouldn't talk to her about medical costs.</a> A Walmart spokesman said "Walmart has reached out to Ms Heidrick. If any our our customers were harmed, we will gladly pay for any valid expenses."<br />
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The tampering so far does appear to be confined to one store and it's not yet clear who is behind this potentially serious criminal action.<br />
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What are the principles when handling product tampering or contamination?<br />
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They were established in the <a href="http://practicenottheory.blogspot.com/search?q=tylenol" target="_blank">Tylenol</a> crisis in the 1980s in the US, a defining moment in dealing with product tampering.<br />
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1. Customer safety must come first. If there are suspicions of tampering, immediate action to protect customers must come before anything else, whatever the price tag, if you want to maintain trust in your brand. Amazingly, on December 6, <a href="http://www.kcoy.com/story/16201127/more-hypodermic-needles-found-hidden-in-clothing-at-wal-mart?clienttype=printable" target="_blank">more needles</a> were still being found in clothing at the store. The probability is that the metal detectors being used to check stock were not sensitive enough to pick up the needles (or the culprit was still planting them). Either way, it's not good news for customer trust in Walmart. Close the section and search the items one by one, by hand if necessary.<br />
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2. If you are a chain, you must have a clearly understood emergency system of alerting all branches if tampering is suspected.<br />
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3. If you sell something, even is tampering is not your fault, it is your responsibility - so be seen to take responsibility for sorting it out and protecting customers.<br />
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4. Care and compassion are the guiding principles of dealing with affected customers. Ms Heidrick <a href="http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/215340/3/Syringes-found-inside-clothes-at-Cartersville-Walmart-store" target="_blank">didn't seem to feel she had Walmart's full support</a>. The word "valid" in Walmart's statement is odd. I would have made this statement unequivocal. If a doctor recommended prophylaxis (which they may not, there are significant side effects) I would have paid for it without question and I am sure Walmart will. Try to make unequivocal statements.<br />
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5. Walmart did the right thing by getting out there and making clear public statements. They may have had police advice that it was likely this was an isolated incident and it's reassuring to say so, but be careful. Like the Tylenol crisis, the trouble may spread and then your credibility is damaged. This story was active on Twitter with alarmed customers, it's not immediately clear that Walmart were involved in the conversation.<br />
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6. It's important you tell customers afterwards what you are going to do to prevent the issue happening again. In this case, that is going to be difficult. After Tylenol, tamper proof medicine bottles were introduced which gave the public confidence.<br />
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Walmart is a giant company with a strong reputation. They have incidents and a well-oiled machine for dealing with them. So far it looks like this incident is contained. It's important not to over-react in where the situation is a local one, but the health and safety of your customers must always be your first priority. If you do not have their trust, you have no business.<br />
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(Posted from Singapore)<br />
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</div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-70489821665734508982011-12-07T00:36:00.000+00:002011-12-07T00:36:29.749+00:00The power of explanation in a crisis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">In a crisis, people are more likely to co-operate with instructions if they know the reason why.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZZQpO8EFA7V1EeOovQKqRKcp_GrzKwbXpstDpMTY21ttNm-lQPL8E9dK4tXW7H8fvIZdKjCTJkIfvcDrkBLUwX9aTVNCVkdBINgQTDcw6vP79l92glD51g1-n9j0w_pM48IFS7LOEvI/s1600/Dubai+from+room" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZZQpO8EFA7V1EeOovQKqRKcp_GrzKwbXpstDpMTY21ttNm-lQPL8E9dK4tXW7H8fvIZdKjCTJkIfvcDrkBLUwX9aTVNCVkdBINgQTDcw6vP79l92glD51g1-n9j0w_pM48IFS7LOEvI/s320/Dubai+from+room" width="239" /></a></div><br />
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On an overnight flight from London to <a href="http://www.dubai.com/" target="_blank">Dubai</a> this week on the way to speak at the <a href="http://www.iqpc.com/Event.aspx?id=582698" target="_blank">IQPC CMO Congress</a>, our sleep was interrupted by a call over the PA. "If there is a medical doctor on board will you please make yourself known to a member of the crew." (I'm often surprised that there is almost always a doctor on board every aircraft - there are either a lot of doctors in the world, or the ones that there are travel a lot). There was a medical emergency with a passenger.<br />
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A doctor duly came forward and the decision was taken to continue to Dubai, where we were met by an emergency medical team and ambulance. <br />
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Have you ever noticed that when a plane reaches the gate, people seem to leap out of their seats as if a spring had propelled them upwards? They rush to get their stuff from the overhead lockers like their lives depended on it. Then they stand in the aisles for ten minutes waiting for the airbridge to connect. It's a global ritual, and people are very competitive about it.<br />
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On this occasion, the pilot came on the PA as he taxied from the runway. He explained that a passenger had been involved in a medical emergency and we were going to be met by a team. Would we all help by staying in our seat with our seat belts on so the team could have free access to do what they needed?<br />
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And everybody did. There were no complaints, no muttering and no tutting, even though people's sleep had been disturbed and we were feeling a bit crotchety. Because the passengers knew that by doing this they were helping the sick passenger and the crew.<br />
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It struck me that this is also true in a crisis.<br />
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In an emergency, of course, your message has to be very simple. If the building is on fire, the fire alarm is a way of shouting "get out" at people. No need for pleasantries.<br />
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However, in many crises, the need is less obviously so urgent. It's important we tell people why we need them to do things. In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings" target="_blank">7/7 London bombings</a>, for example, we asked people to stay in their buildings and not go on the street. We explained this was because there could be other bombs. They understood the reason and they stayed in.<br />
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A simple explanation can be very powerful. "Do this" and "this is why". Unless there is a threat to life - then it can just be "do this" but later when things are calm, tell people "why" you asked them to do it.<br />
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Arriving at the <a href="http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/properties/DubaiIfc/Default.htm" target="_blank">Ritz-Carlton hotel </a>in Dubai at 8am I was exhausted. The bell boy beamed. He got my name from my luggage tag and addressed me personally. I got to the reception and told the receptionist I was dead beat. A broad smile broke across her face. "That's something we can fix right away", she said. OK, it was the Ritz Carlton, but the cheapest of hotels can manage a smile. It's one of the most powerful communication signals. And it crosses every language and cultural barrier.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMDKD-zzH9TLCGy2nu3SzJpR7lMe8ic_yh3_LT8T6AkwSLxhwDwWsKymr5VoKjaR9GXYDft7ZjEYso85ENfcORB2rQK3yBN55H62zOTQOsBm_h4QFTUSPo5ZH_-ErXKkCrGwhn8MLVNI/s1600/Ritz+carlton" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMDKD-zzH9TLCGy2nu3SzJpR7lMe8ic_yh3_LT8T6AkwSLxhwDwWsKymr5VoKjaR9GXYDft7ZjEYso85ENfcORB2rQK3yBN55H62zOTQOsBm_h4QFTUSPo5ZH_-ErXKkCrGwhn8MLVNI/s320/Ritz+carlton" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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(Posted from Kuala Lumpur International Airport)</div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-73488845360076407582011-09-04T16:56:00.000+01:002013-07-28T10:13:21.338+01:00A headache for Nurofen Plus and the lessons from the Tylenol crisis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Allegations of contamination or tampering are an emergency for a pharmaceutical company.<br />
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The core element of every reputation is trust, and the trust bar is set very high indeed by consumers when buying or being dispensed drugs in the pharmacy.<br />
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The most famous example of this was the <a href="http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall02/susi/tylenol.htm">Tylenol crisis</a> in the United States in 1982. Tylenol was the most successful over the counter medication, with over 100 million users. It was discovered that someone had placed capsules in boxes contaminated with deadly cyanide. Seven people in Chicago were reported to have died after purchasing tampered boxes and taking the medication. How the company dealt with the crisis has become one of the most famous example of crisis management. It could have finished the company which made Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson.<br />
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Now it's been reported that 5 boxes of Nurofen Plus in the UK made by <a href="http://www.rb.com/home">Reckitt Benckiser</a> contain prescription only anti-psychotic or epilepsy medication. If it is sabotage, it's not yet clear why someone is doing this. No-one appears to have been harmed by this, and doctors say the risk is low.<br />
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When I began my career in Britain's National Health Service, a study of a new pain-killing wonder-drug was being carried out on the medical wards. The drug Ibuprofen was so successful in patients with the severe pain of chronic arthritis that some physicians were calling for the study to be curtailed and the drug to be licensed without further delay. It both relieves pain and is anti-inflammatory. The drug became commercially known as Nurofen and is now available over the counter. We take ibuprofen for granted but it is a remarkable and useful drug - and very safe.<br />
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It's important to know that Nurofen is marketed as Nurofen, Nurofen Extra (which is simply higher dose ibuprofen) and Nurofen Plus which is a capsule mixed with Codeine to deal with strong pain, for example after a dental procedure like an extraction. (Nurofen Plus is not available in countries which prohibit the import of medicines containing codeine). The present recall only affects Nurofen Plus.<br />
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In a major operation, all packs of Nurofen Plus have been recalled from pharmacies and consumers are being asked to bring any packs they have to their local pharmacy.<br />
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A product recall is highly expensive for a company. In this case the company ordered an immediate product recall. It was the right thing to do. No consumer will buy medication they think may cause them harm. The huge expense of a product recall is necessary for public safety, but also to protect the brand's long-term reputation. In this case the recall has knocked the story off the news agenda.<br />
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The recall is a reminder of the lessons learned in the Tylenol crisis in the early eighties. <a href="http://www.commcoreconsulting.com/aboutus/commcore_team.html">Andrew Gilman</a> was one of the team who worked to restore the reputation of Johnson & Johnson after the crisis.<br />
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It is such a powerful crisis lesson that he returns to it again and again, including in his <a href="http://www.commcoreconsulting.com/blog/labels/Tylenol.html">blog</a>.<br />
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When a company is faced with a possible contamination problem, what are the crisis rules:<br />
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1. First of all, consumer safety always comes first, last and always - as Reckitt Benckiser have demonstrated by their actions.<br />
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2. Secondly, take control, or someone else will.<br />
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3. Go beyond what you are legally required to do.<br />
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4. Spend money and effort getting information out there quickly. Don't hide from the media. The Andrew Gilman lesson: transparency and clarity. <br />
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5. Contact people affected. Care about them. Not just for PR.<br />
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6. When the problem is resolved tell consumers what you've learned and how you will prevent a recurrence (In the Tylenol case, investment in new tamper-proof designs).<br />
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The cost of all this might nearly break the company. But the sentence for companies who fail to respond is oblivion.<br />
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Consumers judge your company not on what happens to you, but how you respond to it.<br />
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(Posted from London)<br />
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Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-68659083741005158602011-08-27T03:16:00.000+01:002013-07-28T10:13:53.884+01:00Social media and curry: protesting Singaporean style.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Actions have consequences. Its a rule of public relations, crisis communications and of life.<br />
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I had the rule reconfirmed to me last night talking to a businessman in a bar in <a href="http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/traveller/en/experience.html">Singapore</a>. As soon as I said I was from London he brought up the recent riots. It was all calm now I said. He had arranged a trip to London next month to see some shows and enjoy the capital. 'I've cancelled it", he said, "we don't like to travel anywhere that's not safe".</div>
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His cancellation means another empty hotel room, theatre tickets not bought, restaurants not visited. In other words, jobs and foreign exchange. I wondered how many people round the world had done the same. The recent riots in London are having economic consequences.</div>
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Singaporeans value their safety.It's probably the safest country in the world. Singaporeans themselves are peaceable in the way they conduct themselves. Their courtesy and respect for others and their welcome to visitors is hard to match.</div>
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They are showing that in the way they plan to demonstrate over a local controversy that's arisen about immigration. Curry in its many forms is the <a href="http://om-paramapoonya.hubpages.com/hub/curry-noodles">national dish </a>(a visit to Singapore is a must for the food alone). An immigrant family from China <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/22/uk-singapore-curry-idUSLNE77L01020110822">complained about the smell of curry </a>from a Singaporean Indian family's home. The local mediation service got involved and suggested the Singaporean family only cooked curry when their neighbours were out.</div>
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When local people got to hear of it, it raised feelings about immigration in this cramped island. There are some locally who feel immigrants are taking jobs and housing, a familiar argument across the world. </div>
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How do Singaporeans demonstrate? Although many are angry, with courtesy of course. A Facebook page was launched to highlight the issue and last Sunday 50,000 Singaporeans cooked or ate curry to show solidarity with the local Indian family. By showing their solidarity in this way they hoped, in the words of the local woman who suggested it to "cook and share a pot curry and get to embrace and appreciate our culture".</div>
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The police did not need to be called, except where too much curry was cooked and more mouths were required to eat it.</div>
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The timing of the protest is interesting. Immigration was a key issue in the recent Singapore General Election, the first in which <a href="http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/thoughts-on-social-media-and-singapore-general-election-2011-62208492.htm">social media</a> played a significant role.</div>
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Today Singaporeans cast their votes in the <a href="http://www.elections.gov.sg/">Presidential election</a>. It's a non-partisan campaign. Although the President's role is largely ceremonial, the election is being seen as a referendum on the government.</div>
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(Posted from Chinatown, Singapore)</div>
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Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-41179171051231757622011-08-25T23:59:00.000+01:002011-08-25T23:59:29.576+01:00Generation Y and their quarter-life crisis!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">"You don't need to be a great communicator to promote popular policies" said Singapore Minister for National Development <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Khaw-Boon-Wan/109685849050129">Khaw Boon Wan</a> when opening the annual Government <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Public-Communications-Conference-2011/139096159508081?v=info">Communications Conference </a>in Singapore this week.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhINkZlsshlcbcxxaveoibZlojY54EmWIEPGNn6Uk-rXTyuihzy01Z_JEOAw6z-rtDt08feInv1HRenTr_z6yJCS2Utds7psSMiPFPrUG4N5DcU_q-GfAsUj7W-k4z63UZtWN6GUB3xI/s1600/Prof-khawBoonWan.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhINkZlsshlcbcxxaveoibZlojY54EmWIEPGNn6Uk-rXTyuihzy01Z_JEOAw6z-rtDt08feInv1HRenTr_z6yJCS2Utds7psSMiPFPrUG4N5DcU_q-GfAsUj7W-k4z63UZtWN6GUB3xI/s1600/Prof-khawBoonWan.gif" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Minister Khaw</i></span></div><br />
It's a annual gathering of the top communicators in Singapore's public service and an eclectic mix of speakers (including me) were brought to The Grand Hyatt hotel for an intensive day of reflection and discussion. The Minister's presence underlined the importance the Government places on communications. He said that the real challenge comes when communicators are required to explain significant and complex change to the public, such as healthcare reforms undertaken in the country.<br />
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Here are some of the top quotes that I managed to capture (there were so many I couldn't write quick enough).<br />
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Minister Khaw was formerly the Minister for Health and handled the SARS outbreak. His golden rules from the crisis were: :Be transparent, honest, nothing hidden even if it is painful for the public to know, no secrets - let the arguments dictate the policy not the other way round; do not over-reassure, it's OK to say I don't know yet and never pretend to know; always show empathy and care and it's OK to admit worry; trust and credibility are key to crisis leadership."<br />
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<a href="http://www.burson-marsteller.com/About_Us/Global_Leadership/Lists/Leadership/DispForm.aspx?ID=34">Karen Hughes</a>, Global Vice Chair of Burson-Marsteller and Former US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy & Public Affairs and Counsellor at the White House to President Bush:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6zd3GoDUjIVDuEHvADrDZHby2oimwlIdJ6l8esFOGC3OxuXZPFg98tntFB9Y8wjhN5E-JqlK3oiYQ2TQpXIAX8wi1bl2r_CvzKGOFfml6SHUuIU7KZNumdSTd3pccSaAqxCk-69vp2A/s1600/hughes+headshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6zd3GoDUjIVDuEHvADrDZHby2oimwlIdJ6l8esFOGC3OxuXZPFg98tntFB9Y8wjhN5E-JqlK3oiYQ2TQpXIAX8wi1bl2r_CvzKGOFfml6SHUuIU7KZNumdSTd3pccSaAqxCk-69vp2A/s1600/hughes+headshot.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Karen Hughes</i></div><br />
"Define yourself or you will be defined by somebody else. Probably your critics."<br />
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"Effective decision making involves strategic communication. The President is the Chief Communications Officer".<br />
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"The 5 C's of effective communication are clarity, conviction, compassion, consistency and credibility".<br />
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"You don't have to be the wittiest to be a great communicator, but you do have to be the clearest".<br />
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"If clarity is say what you mean, conviction is mean what you say. A credible message is not just what you say, it's what you do."<br />
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Koh-Buck-Song/103760012995777">Koh Buck Song,</a> author and CEO of Integrative CSR Consulting:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgez0CZmrDmnVQTtq7geSapEtZ6DVfu2Ed2ryT4khFn5iAijJ3t5HcIAvGENvpGGobEvXkgLNjOGvmqPasj4uC3rjyhRcGT9e37ZPDOUkYTtyvbnzQ2KnwoksHHWX0SF667kW99XkYAEc/s1600/www.siiaonline.org.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgez0CZmrDmnVQTtq7geSapEtZ6DVfu2Ed2ryT4khFn5iAijJ3t5HcIAvGENvpGGobEvXkgLNjOGvmqPasj4uC3rjyhRcGT9e37ZPDOUkYTtyvbnzQ2KnwoksHHWX0SF667kW99XkYAEc/s1600/www.siiaonline.org.jpeg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Koh Buck Song</i></span></div><br />
"Saying 'It's not in my job description' is not in your job description!"<br />
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"Brand keloids happen (that is, incidents that scar your reputation). You should not try to change them. They happened. They are there. Leave them alone and after time people will stop noticing them and see the real you."<br />
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<a href="http://www.digital-government.net/rodrigobecerramizuno.html">Rodrigo Becerro Mizuno</a>, MD, Government Industry Worldwide Public Sector, Microsoft:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMH-AxV8_4cXF7iirttbBGbRo17yOQEQ6dWRO2EbJ5C_Kn1t_-0_5cZGFgjqjovEUfnJwO_epVZLm2J9RJM4T72myS7zkGhV4yqU0gtLgZOp40_zkaI3CGcKurPQ1SQh5AqYR37pjM7PQ/s1600/ROD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMH-AxV8_4cXF7iirttbBGbRo17yOQEQ6dWRO2EbJ5C_Kn1t_-0_5cZGFgjqjovEUfnJwO_epVZLm2J9RJM4T72myS7zkGhV4yqU0gtLgZOp40_zkaI3CGcKurPQ1SQh5AqYR37pjM7PQ/s1600/ROD.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Rodrigo Becerra Mizuno</i></span></div><br />
"Generation Y are now talking about having a quarter life crisis".<br />
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<i>Karen Hughes is the author of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ten-Minutes-Normal-Karen-Hughes/dp/0670033057">10 Minutes From Normal</a>" and Koh Buck Song's books include his latest "<a href="http://www.marshallcavendish.com/marshallcavendish/genref/Brand-Singapore-_B24225_Singapore.aspx">Brand Singapore</a>".</i><br />
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(Posted from Singapore)</div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-6687757923791007732011-08-24T06:44:00.000+01:002011-08-24T06:44:54.515+01:00Difficult decision after death of pilot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q2kikaKcxwc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
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<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">250,00 people crowded into the seaside town of Bournemouth, on the south coast of England, last Saturday for the <a href="http://www.bournemouthair.co.uk/">Bournemouth Air Festival</a>. The star turn was the <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds/">Red Arrows</a>, the jet formation display team of Britain's royal Air Force. They are amongst the most skilful pilots in the world. Only the elite of the RAF can be considered for duty in the Red Arrows.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">After a breath-taking display over Bournemouth, the Red Arrows returned to land at Bournemouth International Airport when one of the jets, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging, failed to pull out of a banking manoeuvre and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028303/Red-Arrow-crash-Pilot-Jon-Egging-dies-steering-jet-away-Bournemouth-homes.html">crashed</a>. Flt Lt Egging, who was 33, was killed.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The Air Festival was due to continue for a second day the following day.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">After such an incident involving loss of life, organisers of events have a difficult decision to make. When is it necessary to stop the event after such a tragedy?</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">There are reasons that an event might be halted:</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><ol style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"> Safety: If the accident raises fears the event is not safe then there is no question that the event should be stopped. The safety of the public comes first. </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Had the event happened at the Festival and not at the airport, this would be non-negotiable. The organisers will almost certainly have urgently consulted with the Royal Air Force and the Civil Aviation Authority over this.</span></span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Taste: Organisers must take a view on whether it is in good taste to carry on with an event for public entertainment after a fatality. The views of the family and the Royal Air Force may well have been sought.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Public feeling: after a death, there may be such a strength of public feeling that gross offence might be caused by the continuation of an event. This does not appear to be true of this event. The public hugely admire and respect the Red Arrows, and accept that what they do carries risks</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Contractual obligations: in an event of this nature, there will be many legal contracts stipulating what should happen in the event of cancellation. It is inevitable that financial considerations play a part, but they should not override the considerations in 1, 2 and 3.</span></li>
</ol><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">In this case, the organisers decided that the event should go ahead, and astutely invited the public who were coming on the second day to wear something red as a tribute, which they did. This had the effect of making members of the public who felt uneasy about going to the second day of displays to feel that they were doing so as an act of tribute. Most who did so will have felt sincerely for the family of Flt Lt Egging and his RAF colleagues. A minute’s silence was also held and a tribute film shown before the second day’s display commenced. A book of condolence was opened. This was all fitting but not mawkish.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">It was the right decision. This was an accident away from the display and a tragedy. Flt Lt Egging’s widow gave a moving tribute to her husband’s skills and bravery. She did so with RAF support and supervision and she clearly wanted to. Enormous care should be taken when exposing the immediately bereaved to the media and the backstop position is normally complete privacy.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">These decisions have to made quickly and they are never easy.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The recent fatal accidents at pop concerts in <a href="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8287456/belgian-storm-leaves-one-dead-at-rock-fest">Belgium</a> and <a href="http://www.examiner.com/homeland-security-in-chicago/update-indiana-sate-fair-concert-death-toll-climbs-to-5-including-one-chicago?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+chicagonewsnetwork%2FmuPU+(Chicago+News+Network)">Indiana</a> are a reminder that large scale public events carry serious risks. Organisers must have a well thought through crisis plan and must rehearse it. Such a plan must contain plans for mass communication with the public who might be planning to attend.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Meanwhile the Red Arrows will not be performing until further notice, pending a Ministry of Defence investigation. The team’s aerobatic feats have thrilled countless people. But this can never be worth the loss of a single life. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">(Posted from Singapore)</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div></div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-45493980345812819602011-08-23T01:48:00.000+01:002011-08-23T01:48:55.492+01:00Diana Lamplugh - a natural communicator<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOXFM5qiot0iS2eTYM1DBDeWtiLfhzcGpp4OS_CUNbSYgNJoaEu1IV8_A2Q6_56hMKxIDJJadWlltbFwu2PIIovvJn-XpOo1YTY53utyZ1WMnWPhcUkhkEohvRld2mCzcU_JE7NSh7cU/s1600/diana_lamplugh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOXFM5qiot0iS2eTYM1DBDeWtiLfhzcGpp4OS_CUNbSYgNJoaEu1IV8_A2Q6_56hMKxIDJJadWlltbFwu2PIIovvJn-XpOo1YTY53utyZ1WMnWPhcUkhkEohvRld2mCzcU_JE7NSh7cU/s1600/diana_lamplugh.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The death of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8709919/Diana-Lamplugh.html">Diana Lamplugh </a>represents the loss of one of the most natural and selfless communicators in Britain of the last 20 years.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mrs Lamplugh’s daughter, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/suzy-lamplugh">Suzy</a>, was an estate agent in London. In 1986, she went to show a flat to a prospective purchaser called “Mr Kipper”. She disappeared and was never seen again.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">She was assumed to have been murdered, but neither her body nor her killer have ever been found. The case received enormous media coverage at the time, because of the sudden and almost casual nature of Miss Lamplugh’s disappearance.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mrs Lamplugh would have been justified in sinking into years of grief, self pity and perhaps bitterness. We would all have totally understood. But she did not.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">She set about establishing a Trust - the <a href="http://www.suzylamplugh.org/">Suzy Lamplugh Trust </a>- to explore areas of safety of women working alone, including nurses, midwives, police officers and even office cleaners.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mrs Lamplugh became a familiar and popular figure on television, radio and in the press for her tireless advocacy of the trust and a commentator on women’s safety. She was always a welcome guest on programmes of any kind.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">She was a very appealing communicator - sincere, forthright, and never a hint of self pity, and had the right to be heard because of what she had been through. Never strident or unmeasured. Always warm. She was someone who could persuade the highest levels to listen.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Sincerity and integrity are underrated values for communicators in today’s reality obsessed society. They shone through in Diana Lamplugh and I hugely admired her. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Thank you, Mrs Lamplugh. Rest in peace.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">(Posted from Singapore)</span></span></div></div>Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373185247372567975.post-84338279652285958412011-08-16T21:06:00.000+01:002013-07-28T10:14:27.557+01:00English Courts acknowledge the power of Facebook in riots<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Two young men have been <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582">jailed for four years </a>at Chester Crown Court for inciting rioting and looting on Facebook in the recent outbreak of civil disorder in England. The swiftness of this justice (the men pleaded guilty) and the length of the sentences has surprised many and is intended as a powerful signal to the public that the courts are aware of the strength of public feeling.<br />
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These are severe sentences - the longest so far handed out in the civil disorder - and longer than sentences given for actually rioting and looting. They are a recognition by the Court of the power of social media to organise violence on a large scale.<br />
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But as well as being used to promote violence and disorder, social media has shown itself to be a powerful tool for the police in identifying and tracing criminals.<br />
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The swift actions of the courts fit a good pattern for crisis management and communications.<br />
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Leadership and decision making should always drive communications. Communications without action lacks integrity and will never be strategic.<br />
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The ideal order is Communicate - Decisions - Communicate - Action - Communicate:<br />
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1. Communicate - acknowledge the problem and express feeling and empathy with those affected<br />
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2. Decision making - decide how you are going to deal with the crisis (in this case tough swift consequences for looters and rioters after the riots)<br />
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3. Communicate what you are going to do (ie the decisions)<br />
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4. Take the action you have decided upon (in this case swift justice)<br />
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5. Communicate the actions you have taken.<br />
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Britain is currently in the next stage of this process:<br />
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6. Decide what you are going to do to prevent a recurrence of the crisis situation<br />
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7. Communicate what you have decided.<br />
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8. Implement your decisions<br />
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9. Communicate how you have implemented your decisions.<br />
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Things go wrong when this order gets jumbled up. Communicating without decisions being taken (as was the case in the riots when the decision makers were on holiday and were slow to get off their sun loungers) or taking decisions and failing to communicate them. Often decision-makers cannot agree and communicators are exposed when they do not have clear messages.<br />
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Life in England is returning to normal. Tonight on the BBC, there is a nail-biting competition which has had me on the edge of my seat. It is a <a href="http://www.greatbritishbakeoff.com/">cake-baking </a>competition, and the winner must bake a perfect cup cake. It is such a great antidote to all the violence and anger of the past week. (Getting excited about baking is an English thing).<br />
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Meanwhile we do not forget the innocent citizens who lost their lives in the riots - including three young men who were <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-14471405">killed </a>as they stood guard over a place of religious worship in Birmingham, and a man who was <a href="http://www.ealinggazette.co.uk/ealing-news/local-ealing-news/2011/08/12/riots-flowers-and-tributes-to-remember-ealing-s-fallen-hero-64767-29225861/">murdered</a> as he tried to put out a fire in Ealing West London. <br />
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Those who incited the violence and others who were rioting and looting will be out of prison before long and can rebuild their lives. When the news crews move on, the families of those who were murdered will serve a life sentence of loss and bereavement.</div>
Donald Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981013364064880449noreply@blogger.com0