What Should You Do?
Tell the truth fast: When it’s your job to communicate the correction, do it as fast as possible. Of course you want to be prepared when facing employees or the media, but too many organizations wait too long to come clean. When you do, you then have more questions to answer than the original ones, in addition to being viewed as trying to hide the facts.
Don’t say you know if you don’t. According to Dorie Clark, author of Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out, recognized as a “branding expert” by the Associated Press, Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, a former presidential campaign spokeswoman and a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review and Forbes, be sure that you don’t say you know what happened if you don’t. Leaders frequently make the mistake of wanting to have all the answers. If you’re still sorting out the facts, say so. If the investigation is still in process, admit that. Otherwise, you may be accused of covering up the main problem. At that point, your critics will cry that “the cover-up is worse than the crime”.
Only three things you can say: According to Clark, you really only have three choices when you are speaking during a disaster.
1) We didn’t do it. Be sure this is true before you say it;
2) We did it but it was justified. Prepare this explanation and make sure that it’s believable; and
3) We did it and we’re sorry. If this is the answer, be sure the apology is fully offered. Don’t say things such as “we apologize if anyone was offended”. Check out my article about how to issue a real apology.
March 11, 2019
