Advice for managers on how to handle media storms internally.
When an organization is hit by a scandal, where the storm rages, the reporters line up and the headlines seem endless, leaders often focus on the external handling of the case. The internal handling is overlooked and the human aspects for employees, middle managers and yourself as a leader are ignored, which can have fatal organizational, financial and human consequences. Here are some tips on how you as a leader should NOT handle a scandal internally - and what you SHOULD do to ensure that both you and the organization can get through this difficult time in the best possible way.
The core leadership task
While you probably don't expect to use this advice, I would recommend that as a leader, you orient yourself to the management discipline of dealing with a scandal. Organizational scandals are on the rise and this is not likely to change in the near future. The increasing transparency from social media and technological developments means that the walls between an organization and external parties such as customers, citizens, investors have become more transparent.
At the same time, our demands and expectations of organizations are evolving: it's no longer enough to create great products or drive a policy decision forward: we expect ethics to be at the heart of everything leaders and employees do. So what exactly do we mean by 'a scandal'?
A scandal can be seen as a set of events that suddenly and unexpectedly attract increasing media attention and public interest. The incidents are negative in nature and lead to criticism and negative consequences for the organization. But it's not just about media attention or criticism: a scandal is moral in nature, rooted in a breach of our expectations of organizational behavior and what is seen as 'good' or just 'okay'. As a result, scandals have significant financial costs - but also internal costs in terms of loss of loyalty, commitment and motivation among employees, as well as the high human costs that come with it. The loss of trust in the organization and in you as a leader can take a long time to recover. An increasing number of managers are going to learn how to deal with this - so what can you do?
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Leadership in crises and scandals
At LEAD, we work primarily with the dynamics that play out on the inside of organizations, with a particular focus on the psychological, managerial and organizational aspects of crisis management. Since no two crises are the same, we always tailor our services to fit the context and needs of each individual organization.
5 mistakes in the internal handling of scandals
Many leaders rush to hire communications advisors when they're in the middle of the storm, which is also really helpful when dealing with irate journalists and potential political parties. However, if you overlook your leadership role within the organization, you may be able to calm the immediate storm - but the house has come crashing down and the walls have splintered along the way. Here are five common mistakes to avoid:
- 'Sit it out': You wait for it to blow over, hide and fail to address the real consequences of the scandal. The consequences grow while you remain apathetic and fail to act.
- Compartmentalize: You dismiss the critical voices, making it an isolated, local problem to avoid blame for the unethical behavior. This prevents you from taking responsibility and seizing the opportunity to learn from this in your own management practice.
- Minimize: You underestimate the reactions of employees, especially those who may not have been directly involved in the key behaviours at the heart of the scandal. They're confused, unsafe and looking to you for direction. The potential loss in loyalty, engagement and motivation is overlooked and has unintended consequences.
- 'Muzzle': You rush to move on, trying to shift focus to a success or proclaiming that: 'we won't talk about it anymore'. You move on before the organization is ready and get out of sync with your own organization.
- 'Oversteer': You overreact by maximizing control, management, distrust of employees' decisions, skills and ability to take responsibility. The scandal has a negative impact on trust and culture in the organization.
