Waikato Business News May/June 2021

Front-foot it or
cross fingers?
Does anyone else feel like May was crisis
month? The HMC team sure had our fair
share of issues and crises come across our
desks recently.
Complimentary Ed
19.1x6
part – that companies (just
like people) make mistakes
sometimes.
And, you’ll put a lot of
goodwill in the trust bank
when you admit you’ve done
wrong, apologise to those
hurt and show proof of how
you are rectifying the situation.
And don’t forget to circle
back at a future date to let
people know how the situation
has been resolved and
why your organisation and
your people are better for it.
Since issues are on my
mind, I thought I’d talk
about one subject that
comes up repeatedly when
working with boards and
leadership teams to manage
reputational crises, in
particular.
Inevitably, as reputational
issues emerge, there are
going to be facts and stories
that will damage your organisation’s
reputation if and
when they become public.
So, how do you deal with
those facts? Do you frontfoot
them and lift the veil
yourself by making them
public? Or do you cross fingers
hoping media, staff or
stakeholders don’t uncover
them?
From my experience, in
nearly every situation the
best way to deal with a reputational
issue is proactively
and with honesty.
I told a client recently, it’s
like tearing off a plaster. Just
do it, say it, and let’s deal
with it.
Taking the “front-foot”
approach is far from easy
- but doing the right thing
in life rarely is, right? The
initial announcement will
be tough and you’ll need
to brace yourself for what
comes next. But the great
thing about front-footing a
negative situation is that you
control the timing, which
allows you to prepare for just
about anything that comes
your way.
There are four good
reasons to front-foot
a reputational issue:
Gives you time to plan
PR AND COMMUNICATIONS
> BY HEATHER CLAYCOMB
The best thing about
front-footing an issue is that
you take control and you can
plan when and how you’ll
make the announcement.
Work through what you’re
going to say and think about
all the communications
Heather Claycomb is director of HMC Communications, a
Hamilton-based, award-winning public relations agencys.
you need to do. This might
include staff briefing notes,
emails to key stakeholders, a
media release, social media
posts, a website story and
more.
Once you pick the day and
time, take the leap. Then,
make sure your spokesperson
– your Chair or CEO
– has cleared the decks and
is ready to talk to staff, take
phone calls and do media
interviews.
Being available is incredibly
important so you don’t
look like you are hiding from
the bad news.
Avoids a defensive position
Social media and the 24-hour
news cycle means crises
break online at any hour of
the day or night. And when
that happens and bad news
comes to light unexpectedly,
you’ll quickly be put in the
defensive position. And
anyone who’s played sport
knows it is difficult to ‘win’
when you don’t control the
ball.
If you’re caught unaware
and start bumbling around
asking your colleagues or
advisors, “what should we
say?,” there’s never going to
be a good ending. Get on the
offensive instead.
Demonstrates integrity
Your staff, customers and the
community where you operate
understand – for the most
Shows you’re not hiding
anything
Public outrage can quickly
gain momentum and skyrocket
out of control when
people think an organisation
is trying to hide something.
And when you don’t respond
immediately when a negative
situation comes to light, people
will automatically assume
you are hiding something.
Be as transparent as you can
in times of crisis and it will
help you weather the reputation
storm.
So, if I’ve convinced you
that front-footing is nearly
always the best strategy, when
is it not the right approach?
When individual privacy
issues are involved, or when
there is a legal process taking
place are two such instances
which add complexity that
must be taken into account.
In summary, however,
remember that crossing
fingers is rarely the
smart thing to do when a
reputational issue rears its
head.
Instead, put on your big
kid boots and front-foot it.
When good employees go bad...
Senga Allen
Managing Director
Everest – all about people TM
What happens when
one of your stars
begins to underperform?
What do you do?
Have you ever considered
it could be a bit of the old
“chicken and the egg” conundrum
– what comes first bad
management or bad employee
behaviour? In the long run
it may not actually matter,
but there is a mutual culpability
that must be addressed.
For employees, under-performing
behaviour can manifest
in lots of different ways
– increased absenteeism,
just doing enough to get by,
low energy levels, decreased
interaction
with co-workers, reduced
contribution to projects, negativity
slipping into conversations
– and the list goes on!
For employers, a visible
lack of “good management”
can have a significant impact
on the workplace. Research
shows us that money isn’t the
primary motivator for leaving
a job. In fact it’s about 10th
on the list. The biggest single
reason good employees leave
is because of the behaviour
of their direct supervisor. So
what contributes to ineffective
management?
• Lack of direct communication
and information
• Lack of clarity and the
provision of standards/
expectations
• Lack of positive reinforcement
or acknowledgement
of successes
• Lack of face-toface
communication
– these days
there appears to
an over-reliance on passive
communication techniques
such as electronic
media to convey critical
information rather than
sitting down face-to-face.
For employers,
a visible lack
of “good
management” can
have a significant
impact on the
workplace.
Direct face-to-face communication
might also enable you
to find out if there are other or
external factors which could
be affecting their performance.
If a good employee
starts to perform poorly we
need to examine why. Typically
stars don’t get up
one morning and make a
decision to under-perform.
Consider the
following when
diagnosing
what might be affecting your
star employee:
• Does the employee have
the capability to do the
task – if they did it before,
then they can do it again.
• Has the employee been
trained on the correct way
of doing the job – how
long ago was the training?
If they’ve carried out the
tasks correctly in the past,
then it’s likely they can do
it again properly.
• Does the employee use
the skill often enough to
remember how to do the
job next time?
• Does the employee know
he/she is doing it correctly/incorrectly?
What quality checks are in
place to give the employee
feedback on their performance
– who is responsible
for giving that feedback?
• Are you punishing exceptional
performance? By
this I mean – do you
swamp your star with lots
of extra projects because
they are always capable of
taking on more?
• Are you rewarding poor
performance? Has your
superstar been switched
off because they regularly
stand by and watch you
rescue poor performing
employees by handing
their work over to good
employees – rather than
dealing with the problem
employee?
There are always genuine
reasons why performance
slips away – our role as business
owners and managers is
to find out why.
That might also include
looking in the mirror and
asking questions about
our own management
techniques.