All Entries in the "Interviews & Profiles" Category

Here a crisis, there a crisis…

Everywhere a crisis?  The news cycle seems to take us from one crisis to another…. sometimes close to home, other times far away, but brought closer to us by the global, 24/7 news cycle. In an instant, with the red banner of “breaking news” we can be taken around the world to the site of a tsunami, a mass shooting, a devastating weather situation, or a salmonella outbreak. Usually, while the situation may touch our heart, it does not require us to take any corrective action.

But one day, it may. And, if it did, would you, and your company, be ready? Will you have a tight plan already in place on how you will handle the insistent call from a reporter for a statement, the television camera outside your door, or at your home; the phones ringing, the emails stacking up, and the steady din of social media.

Do you remember any of these scenarios?  A patient is the victim of wrong side surgery, and it’s not the first time this has happened. Customers with food poisoning from tainted seafood. The treasurer of an organization indicted for embezzlement. An employee’s spouse brings domestic abuse and violence into the office. A worker sustains an injury due to equipment failure. A teacher is arrested for DUI. A 100 year flood takes out an entire mall.

These are all real occurrences in RI over the last few years. While they run the gamut in severity, they share one key element – there was a crisis unfolding, in a moment’s notice, and it was one person’s ultimate responsibility to know what to do. Words had to be written. A trained spokesperson had to be chosen. Legal consult had to take place. A position had to be decided upon. Internal communication needed to happen and it’s never fast enough, followed by rapid response to the external audiences.

Ask yourself this: would YOU be ready? Do you have a Crisis Communication Plan? Is it up to date? Do you review it yearly? Here are some components you should think about so that you will be ready if something truly negative, big or small, comes your way.

1. Plan ahead. The time to plan for a crisis is before you have one.
2. Spokesperson. Usually, but not always, the CEO. And a backup spokesperson. Who will be the “face” of your company to the public, to your employees, and to the media? Who will stand with you, who are your allies?
3. Your crisis communications team. This team should have total access up and down the chain of command.
4. Your message. What you will say? How you will say it? Will you need specific, current documents?  Audio visual such as photos, charts, printed materials, etc.  Do you need video conferencing?
5. Control the conversation. Speak first to your inner audience to bring everyone on the same page.  Develop a question and answer mechanism. Speak early and speak often. Never leave people wondering in silence – that is when assumptions get made, and usually they are wrong.
6. The media. You are at their mercy. Avoid “off the record” or reporter “exclusives” – these can be used, but you should have professional advice in doing so. A good PR person has trusted allies in the media, built over time and with experience.
7. More media…. Remember, each media outlet has unique needs. Radio needs short soundbites.  Television needs visual. Print will usually follow broadcast in deadline, and want more in depth, new information. Online media have their own needs, too. Showing knowledge and experience when dealing with the media positions you as professional in handling the situation.
8. Social media. Get on top of this quickly. You will want a brief statement acknowledging the issue, letting people know when they will hear from you again. Monitor the broader social media outlets – in today’s world, this is the easiest way for your issue to “go viral” in a matter of minutes.
9. Ethics. Usually, the most honest, the most transparent, the better. You will have to decide quickly on full disclosure, or not, and how will you state why not and when more information can be forthcoming.
10. After it’s over – it’s not over. Recovery planning and moving forward – the last step in your plan.
11. Remember, too, that crises aren’t always public – they can be wrapped around pending legislation, or a looming financial crisis, a possible union strike, etc. The percolating before the public exposure is still very much a crisis requiring planning.

The last point I’d make about Crisis Communications Planning is you are not alone. There are experienced professionals to help you. Ideally, you already know who that person or firm is, and they will not have a learning curve to get to know you or your business – they will be able to jump in, fully accessible, and in a crisis that means 24/7, home phone, cell phone, immediate text messaging & email access, and right by your side.

Remember, a crisis is not something that happens only to someone else. Usually, it is not a question of if, but a question of when. Be ready with your plan, your people, and tackle it head on, then move strategically forward. People will watch how you handle yourself under fire, and if you do it effectively, you will earn respect and admiration from both your internal and external audiences.

Remember the flooding of the Warwick Mall? A press conference standing knee high in water? Showing the awful damage. Telling it as it was, giving some sense of timeframe for rebuilding, one that no one wanted to believe was true; speaking to the welfare of the employees and how they would handle loss of wages, exterior signage with slogans heralding the rebuilding, an up to date website, immediate access, community visibility of the CEO, periodic radio interviews, and a celebration at every stepping stone in recovery. I can still remember the utter devastation, and the steady CEO in a suit and bright orange tie with the Governor and congressional delegation by his side. Some people just do crisis communications as second nature, and they get it all right.

Management Has a Right to a Peaceful Workplace Too!

What I am talking about is something that is considered taboo and even politically incorrect, certainly by union leadership and others who spread the self-serving myth that workers have to be protected from management. The premise being that people who work their way up from “worker to management” somehow magically become power hungry and a threat to those they supervise.

Well sometimes the opposite it true. Sometimes it is the supervisor or manager who has to be protected from a rogue worker who is intent on being as disruptive as possible, for whatever reason.

While this may be a foreign concept to those who have never been in management I guarantee anyone who has management experience is nodding their head in agreement at this very moment. They can relate.

The Gallup organization released a study a while back that identified three classifications of employees: Highly Engaged, Moderately Engaged and Actively Disengaged. In the typical company 29% of the people are highly engaged; 55% are Moderately Engaged and 16% are Actively Disengaged.

It is those who make up the 16% that this article is focused upon. Gallup describes these people as ones who are actively working against the organization. These are people who, for whatever reason, have chosen to be disruptive to management and their own colleagues. They often do this by avoiding work, challenging anything they don’t approve of, chronically complaining and stirring up co-workers who were otherwise content. The amount of stress and distress these people cause is significant, especially to their managers.

And while I have seen my share of bad management styles, most are a result of a lack of training in the human and group dynamics that one must understand in order to effectively engage and lead people around them. However, most of the bad employee antics I have seen are not a result of someone not understanding how to be a good employee.

The impact these people have is often magnified by the manager initially trying to avoid directly confronting the worker so as not to be considered a “hard-ass” or over-reactive. Then, once the manager decides to act, the process they must follow is laborious; often taking weeks and months to document EVERYTHING through a series of verbal and written warnings. This adds significantly to the manager’s workload and steals precious time which must be made up by their working late to get their regular jobs done.

Meanwhile the rogue employee is free to engage in multiple rounds of guerilla warfare using tactics that range from being moody, acting passive/aggressively and even “behaving” for a while which often results in their manager stopping the disciplinary process or even resetting the discipline clock in an act of good faith that often comes back to haunt them.

All of these tactics are purposeful and masterful acts of manipulation of a good hearted person working within a well intentioned system designed to protect workers from the exact type of abuse and anxieties the miscreant is purposefully inflicting upon others. 

Understanding the Mindset

So how does one handle one who is not only determined to be disruptive, but who is also clever enough to know the restrictions placed on management?

Well, you have to out think them. But to out think them you must first understand how they think. At the expense of oversimplifying things constantly disgruntled people fit into two basic categories:

1.  Those who feel victimized, are emotionally immature, and who lack the communication skills and/or the self confidence to address situations maturely. They may also openly pout and shut down. They see themselves as Eeyore.

2.  Those who feel victimized, are emotionally immature, are angry and aggressive, who bend truth and situations to justify their actions and who openly challenge anyone who won’t give them what they think they should have. They see themselves as a heroic Joan of Arc fighting against evil oppressors.

They both are also primarily self-centered and think the world should bend to them. When it doesn’t they make those above, around and below them pay. Because of their self centered view of life they also tend to become self-righteous which serves to allow them to justify any actions they take while keeping them conveniently able to play the role of victim.

However one of the most underhanded, but effective, traits they share is that they are manipulators of people, situations and of the truth. This often catches their managers by surprise because most people, yes even management, are honest, open and seek to move peacefully through life without creating unnecessary dramas or hurting people.

Countering Tactics – Truth, Transparency, Accountability

The first thing I do when I have identified one of these folks is that I prepare myself to encounter their manipulative and emotional based tactics. Those are two favorite tools the “Eddie Haskill’s” use to disrupt things, to keep you off balance and to secure their advantage. If you understand their game and steel yourself to resist their pull you have taken the first step in turning the advantage to your side.

I then “rise up” to a high level of professionalism and work hard to stay there. Emotion and deception is their weapon. Therefore, intellect and honesty is my counter. At the same time discipline is their weakness. This means that if I make discipline my strength I begin to build even more momentum.

I then slow….every….thing….down and I seek to clearly understand what is going on. Fast-talking and confusing issues is another tool of theirs. So I remove it from them by asking questions designed to help me methodically attempt to put their puzzle pieces together. I calmly ask for clarity on anything I don’t understand. One of my most effective phrases is: “Help me understand that better.” This allows me to hear them out if they are being honest or flush them out if they are being manipulative.

Manipulators hate being made to make their stories, their viewpoints or their thinking make sense because they have carefully created story lines that make them appear. So when you slow them down, they get tangled in the loose ends of their stories and the advantage further shifts in your direction. This is because the only thing manipulators dislike more than not getting their own way is being caught in their act.

Since lies are the manipulator’s friends that means that truth is their enemy. So seek truth. Use it. Stand for it. Because the light of truth has the same affect on the manipulator as the light of day has on the vampire. It repels and weakens them both.

In time not only will they learn that lying to you is going to be a painful experience for them but they will also learn they can’t manipulate you and in that, you begin to define that your culture is one of honesty. In doing so you are making a clear statement to them and others that neither lying nor liars are accepted or acceptable. Hopefully they respond positively to your stand for integrity and you are able to help them to save their jobs.

As you can imagine there is always more to learning how to become impervious to these workplace “vampires” who suck the energy, time and profits out of those very companies that fund their livelihood. But hopefully this information will give you a fighting chance against them. It sure works for me. 

When Did Your Problems Start?

You don’t work out, so you get stiff and lose energy…  You lose energy and get stiff so you don’t work out…  So you don’t work out, lose energy and get stiff, etc. etc…

When did this start for you? For many people, working out or playing sports of some kind was at one point in our lives a regular practice. What changed? Was it the desk job that made you sit all day? Was it the kids that took the time you used to spend at the gym? Was it money? An injury or illness?
Whatever it was, its here now and unless something changes, it’s here to stay. And it only gets worse. None of us are getting younger. But have you thought about how that affects your work? Your productivity? Or simply your quality of life? Here are some stats to consider:

• Employees in poor health take 9 more days of sick leave over healthy employees
• Employees in good health are 3 times more productive than employees in poor health
• Employees that exercise on a daily basis are more alert during work hours and they are less likely to get tired during the workday
• Healthy employees are able to concentrate more on their jobs and they make 60% fewer errors than employees in poor health
• If an employee will exercise at least once a week, they will reduce their average number of sick days from 10 to 5

And it’s not easy. Working out is painful, your body enjoys a situation called homeostasis, and it really doesn’t want to change. Research shows that it takes six weeks of an activity for it to become a routine. So what are you doing for the next month and a half? There’s a reason we idolize those with ripped abs and rippling muscles, it’s really hard to accomplish! There are a million reasons not to work out, but there are a couple of really good ones to start. So where do you start? You start by finding out where to start. If you were sick would you go to a doctor or just read about it in a magazine? 
If your car blew a gasket would you take it to a mechanic or your buddy that can change his own oil? 
If you needed a dress or a suit made, would you go to a tailor or just ask the guy that dresses well?

You hire a trainer for their expertise. You find someone that has a degree and experience. Someone that really understands both what you’re looking for and what you may not know you need. The trainer that is well versed in physiology, kinesiology, nutrition, movement mechanics with a dash of psychology mixed in. 

You don’t hire a trainer because he or she looks good in a t-shirt or because they happen to have good genetics or played sports in high school or college. You don’t hire one who really, really likes to work out so they figure they’ll try it as a career or worse a burned out banker or lawyer that’s coming off a mid-life crisis. And you certainly don’t hire one that took a course online or went to a weekend seminar and claims they’re an “expert”.

Money is tight for everyone these days. This is precisely the reason you should be able to think of your trainer as an investment or an education, so the value becomes more apparent. Your health has a premium, you might not know what it is yet, but if you take the time to care for it, you may develop a new appreciation for it.

21 Point Checklist for Your Website and Social Imprints

Now that you have your website or blog up for a while how often do you check it? The other day I was on a social website and realized one of our logos was an old one. It got me thinking – How often do you check your website / blog and social imprints? Google likes freshness and you should change your website often or at least part of it (like the blog). If it is an extensive website how often do you check all the pages?  Here are some tips for things to check from time to time.

• The “About You” Page – Over time you will want to update this as things change. You may have “ABC” in business for 2 years but it may now be 3 or 4 years. Time to update!
• The FAQ Page – You have one right? Frequency Asked Questions. As time goes on and you do receive questions from questions. It signals a great time to update that page. If you are selling through your website, the less asked questions will bring more time for sales to happen.
• Your Links to Social Sites – Are you still on those social websites? Are your logos updated there? Have you been active or left it and forgot it? Also check your bio and other pertinent info on those sites. Did you get rid of a line of product and it is still listed on another site? Oh yes, that can happen easily.
• Keywords – Are your keywords still relevant today? Are people still finding you through them or is it to refresh them too? Google has a great keyword tool you can use for free to check. (it is in Google adwords)
• Video’s – Are your video formats still working live? There have been some changes with formatting so you may want to be sure your videos still play and are not missing from the page.
• Resource Page – If you have a resource page be sure those businesses/listings are online still and do not produce a dead link for you.
• Dates – Do you have dates on your website for stock or other areas? They too may need an update and can catch you off guard. I sometimes will do a search for “out of stock” to check on those or by name of a month.
• Ads – Do your ads still go to the proper place? No need to add more broken links to your sites because of an ad. If they ad has an offer, is it still good?
• Blog Comments – Have you approved or replied to your comments on the blog? Check to be sure you haven’t forgotten one. (Another easy thing that can slip by you)
• Testimonials – Have you had someone thank you for service or product? Have you included it in your testimonial?  They may not always come easy so be sure to add them when they do.
• Duplicated Content – This has become a big NO-NO to Google now. It can really wreak havoc on your site in search. You can check via Copygator.com or Plagiarisma.net which allows you 5 FREE checks per day. (This is really important if you had guest bloggers do a blog post for you – they may have used one from another place they submitted on the web.)
• Facebook Cover – Did you update it for last season and have not since updated it? Time to make a change over there. Some Facebook pages change weekly or with the season. You may want to think ahead and make images for the upcoming seasons. The size is 831 x 315 pixels. If you don’t have access to Photoshop you can use PicMonkey for free to design yours.
• Twitter Profiles – Have you converted your Twitter design to the new profile image? You will need to upload a custom image that is 1252 x 626 pixels. You will have more room for copy but it looks best if you don’t totally fill it up. You may want to simplify the background too with this new image. Give yourself 15-30 minutes to update once you have your new image so you can preview and play around.
• LinkedIn – When have you been there to update? They too have made changes and offer a new look for companies. You can add all your products to LinkedIn to showcase them.
• Google Plus – Have you made your business page yet or converted from the Google Places? If you have made one you may want to update your images there as well.  You can also add a lot of info with links from there. And add some along the way as things will change.
• Pinterest – Did you start to pin and forgot about it? Pin away your updates. This social site has really given traction to some retailers. Food is a huge category as well as bridal and home. Be creative. Use some of your new images to pin.
• Social Buttons – Are all your social buttons on your website or blog so readers can follow you? Be sure the links are working properly too. Are your share buttons still working?
• De-Clutter – Has your website or blog become cluttered since you first started? Clean it up! No one wants to read or buy from a cluttered website. Too many things flashing or too many ads can be overly distracting.
• Spelling – Spelling can get you every time. There is a site you can submit your website to and it will check for you. It is called Spellcheck.net/website-spellcheck/  They will email you the results.
• Have Someone Else Give It Look- Another pair of fresh eyes can always find something different. Ask a friend, relative or business associate to give your site a quick look.
• Is Your Site Mobile? If you are using WordPress it is an easy fix, be sure to have a responsive theme. Mobile is no longer an option; it really is becoming a must for websites.

You can no longer just build a website or blog and forget about it. There are so many out there and fresh quality content has become king. Don’t get yours lost in the crowd.