Corporate scandals can blow up from internal issues into full-blown PR crises in a matter of hours. How organizations react to these challenges often defines their long-term reputation and survival. Let’s now step through key lessons from real-world crises that could help businesses weather turbulent times.
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Immediate Acknowledgment and Transparency
The first day after a scandal can be critical. Owning problems and keeping things open usually helps the organizations recover better than the ones trying to hide or diminish problems. Consider Johnson & Johnson’s swift actions after the 1982 Tylenol crisis: they recalled the product and communicated openly with the public to establish a golden standard in crisis management.
Take Swift and Decisive Action
In the situation of a reputation crisis, an organization should respond quickly. The urgency of proving commitment to the cause of the scandal should be clearer. For instance, after the scandal on emissions, Volkswagen focused on electric vehicles and sustainability. Hence, actions toward change are conspicuous.
Authentic Leadership Communication
In every crisis, leaders should come out first. Their communication should be:
- Realistic and sympathetic
- Uniform in all media
- Solution-oriented rather than excuse-oriented
- Updated regularly
Implement Systemic Changes
Reputation management that has worked well goes beyond mere damage control. Organizations should make the right adjustments for improvement to prevent similar crises in the future. These can include any or all of the following:
- Revised internal policies
- Enhanced compliance measures
- Improving oversight mechanisms
- Increased staff training
Act Your Way to Redemption
Actions speak louder than words when it comes to reputation recovery. Therefore, organizations should:
- Promise changes that can be measured
- Ensure that updates will come regularly
- Involve stakeholders in the process
- Demonstrate long-term, and not short-term commitment to change
Takeaways from the Crisis
Each crisis provides a means for the organization to learn. Organizations should:
- Engage in thorough post-crisis analysis
- Document lessons learned
- Review crisis response procedures
- Train teams on new procedures
Focus on Stakeholder Relationships
Communication must be sustained and open with all stakeholders. Those include:
- Employees
- Customers
- Investors
- Regulatory bodies
- Media
Reputation recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. When firms go through the pain and humiliations of meeting a crisis together, such are considerably more likely to come out stronger and more resilient. The key to good reputation management lies far beyond merely being able to live through an immediate crisis but would perhaps be far better used as a catalyst for positive organizational change.
