Balcom Agency

 As PR professionals watch the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history unfold, we just shake our heads in wonder. Are there any seasoned public relations people at BP's executive table?

It is clear that BP's mistakes not only have damaged untold species, livelihoods, and local economies. Its problems are compounded by the apparent disregard for some of the key principles of crisis communications. Granted, lawyers are now in control because of the likelihood of criminal charges. But early in a crisis is when a company's behavior and communications matter most. Failure to respond quickly and communicate openly in ways that meet the public's needs and expectations will always make matters worse.

1. Accessibility and openness. When a company has a big problem that causes public harm, that company should communicate both internally and externally just as aggressively as it works to fix the problem.

This is one of many principles taught by James Lukaszewski, APR, a leading national figure in crisis communications and public relations. (I've learned a lot from Jim Lukaszewski. His company's website is worth a visit: www.e911.com.)

A public crisis of this dimension demands that a company's top executive step up, communicate, and answer the hard questions. CEO Tony Hayward should be much more visible and accessible to press and to the many publics affected by this disaster. Sorry Tony, you can't have your life back, not for a while.

I believe BP would benefit from allowing TV cameras on its rigs to talk with the workers who are laboring around the clock to repair the leak, drill relief wells and perform other demanding tasks. Workers cleaning up beaches also say they can't speak with press. Now controlling the message is important to a company in a crisis, but within reason. There ought to be a way for the company to demonstrate and describe its cleanup and repair efforts at the ground level.

It would go a long way to rebuild confidence that BP is working tirelessly to try to ameliorate the damage caused by the oil rig blowout and continuing oil flow. It would humanize the company.

2. Responsiveness. Companies have a responsibility to talk about problems affecting the public and to provide important, relevant information as quickly and completely as they can -- especially when health and safety are at risk.

Only this week has BP provided the HD video footage that shows the oil gushing out of the well hole. Scientists and others have been asking for this video for weeks in order to accurately gauge the amount of leakage.

3.  Ethics. If a company is at fault, it should admit its mistake, apologize, and explain as quickly as possible. With an absolute commitment to telling the truth. Granted, this was a complex operation involving multiple companies besides BP. Still, BP owes its employees, shareholders, and all affected parties a huge apology, an acknowledgment of its role in this disaster, and an assurance -- grounded in reality -- that this kind of problem will never happen again.

4.  Engagement. It is important in a crisis to answer the public's questions and volunteer information that may be of interest -- to use a two-way communications model so that the company is not just talking, but it is also listening and responding.

Instead, BP is engaged in an elaborate, costly, one-way advertising campaign. It is talking at its publics through full-page color ads in the New York Times and likely other news vehicles and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars purchasing Google and Yahoo search terms. More direct engagement with the publics affected by the disaster would cost a lot less and be more effective in rebuilding trust in the company.

5. Commitment. Companies need to learn from their mistakes, talk publicly about what they learned, and commit publicly to fixing whatever needs to be fixed internally to prevent big mistakes from happening again.

BP pleaded guilty in the 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery to violating the Clean Air Act. It pled guilty again to another federal violation for its role in causing oil spills in Alaska in 2006. One has to wonder if BP has learned from its mistakes and examined the business practices that have now led to an enormous environmental disaster. In my humble opinion, from this small agency in Fort Worth, this should be BP's first priority.

Last week I officially completed a comprehensive examination process for the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR). Most people have never heard of this certification -- it is the gold standard for a PR professional.

Essentially, the APR illustrates the focus of the public relations profession as being strategic, ethically-based, and managerial.

You may have heard the pejorative label, Spin Doctor, used for a PR professional. APRs cringe when we hear those words. APRS do not spin. We believe in telling the truth and urging clients to do the same. We represent companies faithfully and help them to achieve their goals while also representing the public good.

During the first quarter of this year, 71 professionals in the U.S. took the computer-based examination for the APR and 53 passed it. The nearly four-hour exam is the final hurdle to a lengthy process of textbook study, portfolio preparation, and a presentation before a team of senior APR professionals called the Readiness Review. It's a challenging, time-consuming process, which is why I waited until my kids were old enough to feed themselves to get it done.

A consortium of nine professional communication organizations, the UAB oversees the APR program. The biggest of these organizations is PRSA (Public Relations Society of America), which has a thriving chapter here in Fort Worth. You can learn more about the APR, by visiting www.praccreditation.org.

The APR process aims to improve the practice of public relations by assessing competence in 60 areas of knowledge, skills and abilities -- everything from research and communications theory to strategic planning and media law.

Only 19 percent of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) members have earned the APR. There are about 4,300 active practitioners worldwide with the certification. In the Greater Fort Worth Chapter of PRSA, 29 of its 149 or so members have earned the APR. And two are senior staff at Balcom Agency:  myself and Kim Speairs, APR, account services director!

Give us a call and find out how the APR makes a big difference every day in how we help our clients achieve their goals: whether they be to improve sales, retain employees, attract volunteers or gain endorsements. We'd love to hear from you.  

After learning about the earthquake in Haiti late last night I just shook my head. How is it that this tiny little country gets beaten down with every kind of imaginable abuse: AIDS epidemic, cruel and corrupt leaders, mass drownings in shark-infested waters, extreme poverty, and now THIS?

A 7.0 earthquake smack in the middle of the capital city that topples government buildings and destroys the infrastructure?? How can a people endure?

I hope Haitians experience an enormous outpouring of donations and volunteers. I want to share with readers the group I'm donating to: Partners in Health. Started by Paul Farmer, a good friend of my sister's from Duke University, PIH is on the ground in Haiti right now caring for the wounded and really needs funds for medicine, bandages, equipment ... you name it. PIH provides primary healthcare to the poor year-round in Haiti and other countries. Here's the website if you are as moved as me to give: http://www.pih.org/home.html.

I'm chair of the ethics committee for the Greater Fort Worth Chapter PRSA (Public Relations Society of America). My big responsibility, and really my only responsibility in this volunteer position, is to put together a program focused on ethics in the fall.

All along I have wanted this program to be highly interactive -- to really challenge us to carefully think through situations we face everyday in our profession that call into question our values and ethics. Now it's just around the corner and I'm very excited!

On Wednesday, Sept. 9, we will run a full morning and lunch program with guest speaker Alan Hilburg called "“Building a Recession-Proof Brand Communications Strategy Through Ethical Decision-Making.”

We're asking everyone who plans to attend to be prepared to think through -- and share  -- real situations and challenging questions.

We will work in small groups of four, following a conversational process that Hilburg helped develop called "World Cafe." Sounds cool, huh? Brings to mind a little cafe on the Rive Gauche, smoke wafting from your Gauloises as you rereading your Camus and gaze at the stylish passers-by .... Back to Fort Worth.  The program will be held at the Petroleum Club in our usual 39th floor setting overlooking the city. 

Here's Hilburg's description of World Café:

"a conversational process based on a set of integrated design principles that reveal a deeper living network pattern through which we co-evolve our collective future. As a conversational process, the World Café is an innovative yet simple methodology for hosting conversations about questions that matter. These conversations link and build on each other as people move between groups, cross-pollinate ideas, and discover new insights into the questions or issues that are most important in their life, work, or community. As a process, the World Café can evoke and make visible the collective intelligence of any group, thus increasing people’s capacity for effective action in pursuit of common aims.

❧ Seat four or five people at small Café-style tables or in conversation clusters.
❧ Set up progressive (usually two) rounds of conversation of approximately 20 minutes each.
❧ Questions or issues will focus on ethics, ethical judgment and ethical decisions in life, work or community
❧ Each table has a host.  Both table hosts and members to write, doodle and draw key ideas on their tablecloths or
to note key ideas on large index cards or placemats in the center of the group.
❧ Upon completing the initial round of conversation, one person remains at the table as the “host”
while the others serve as travelers or “ambassadors of meaning.” The travelers carry key ideas,
themes and questions into their new conversations.
❧ Ask the table host to welcome the new guests and briefly share the main ideas, themes and questions
of the initial conversation. Encourage guests to link and connect ideas coming from their previous
table conversations—listening carefully and building on each other's contributions.
❧ By providing opportunities for people to move in several rounds of conversation, ideas, questions,
and themes begin to link and connect. At the end of the second round, all of the tables or
conversation clusters in the room will be cross-pollinated with insights from prior conversations.
❧ In the third round of conversation, a new question is posed to deepen the exploration of the focus and again participants switch tables to synthesize their discoveries, .

Round One Questions:

1.  Write a definition of what constitutes unethical communications?
2.  What is poor ethical judgment?

Round Two Questions:
1.  What are examples of unethical language?
2.  What contributes to unethical behavior?

Round Three Questions:
1. Describe the most unethical business situation you are aware of?
2. What are your most significant barriers to maintaining your own values when confronting unethical business situations?

Round Four Questions:
1. If you were going to create a PRSA Code of Ethical Communications, what would be the three most important elements of that work?
2. What are the greatest challenges in getting this Code adopted?

Please join us for this important, engaging learning opportunity at the Petroleum Club! The program begins at 9 a.m.; breakfast and networking at 8:30 a.m. Find out more and register at www.fortworthprsa.org.

More about the speaker:

Alan Hilburg, president and CEO of Hilburg Associates, is an award winning author, filmmaker, teacher and senior advisor in organizational transition communications and marketing. Now based in Northern Virginia, Hilburg lived in the DFW for many years when he served as president of the former Bloom Co. Hilberg is perhaps best known for his leadership, for over 30 years, as one of the world's leading strategic institutional branding counselors assisting  senior executive teams and boards of directors survive organizational transitions (crisis, litigation and the introduction and socialization of principles of values-based decision-making) while maintaining the continuity of their institutional brand objectives.

I can’t believe I’m writing this. Five years ago I boycotted that behemoth retailer because of its poor treatment of employees. At that time, nearly half of the children of its workers were either uninsured or on Medicaid. Numerous lawsuits around the country alleged that the company forced hourly employees to work overtime without pay.

So here’s why I have come around:

This company has smart leadership. It conducted a reputation survey and discovered – (surprise, surprise!) – it had become a corporate demon in the eyes of its customers.

The company realized it needed a complete transformation from the inside out. The company’s leading public relations executive clearly had a seat at the table. This true pr pro knew the company had to change its actual business practices, rather than simply polish its image.  Leslie Dach, Wal-Mart's head of corporate communications and a former Edelman PR executive, helped the company understand that what mom said is true: Actions speak louder than words.

Here's what Wal-Mart has done to win over its customers and stakeholders:

1.    Its leadership has championed a real commitment to the environment. For example, it launched a high-profile campaign to sell fluorescent light bulbs, conducted a solar power initiative in California, and spent gobs of money retrofitting its stores to use more renewable energy. Just today, the Wall Street Journal reported the company has unveiled a new environmental labeling program for all the products it carries. This will help shoppers see the full environment costs of making each product in a simple rating system.

2.    On the healthcare front, Wal-Mart formed a coalition with union leader Andy Stern, once one of the company’s leading critics, to explore solutions to the country’s health insurance crisis. (Hopefully the company is doing more for its employees on this front but I don’t have the facts on this.)

3.    Wal-Mart has distanced itself from other business groups and stuck its neck out to support an employer mandate for health insurance, favored by the White House. Critics say that because Wal-Mart knows such a mandate is inevitable, it is simply positioning itself ahead of other big corporations for political and competitive advantage.

Well, of course! Wal-Mart is playing to win. And it is smart to know the value of good public relations.

Good public relations does not “spin.” It helps companies look in the mirror and learn how the outside world truly perceives them.  It helps companies understand that business practices must sometime change in response to the changing values and expectations of its stakeholders.

At this stage, the company’s public relations team should be basking in a glow of accomplishment. There’s no need to “spin” because the truth is out: Wal-Mart is a company to admire.

Does your company have in place a good crisis communications plan? Is it collecting dust on a shelf or where your chief spokesperson and other top executives can find it at a moment's notice?

It may be time to brush up your crisis action plan this summer, and here are a few pointers to get you started:

1. First, determine what would be a true crisis for your organization. What would disrupt its normal operations and invite unwanted scrutiny from the media, neighbors, civic leaders, customers or other stakeholders for a prolonged period of time?
2. Aim for a clean, simple plan that's just a few pages long. The shorter the better so you can act fast.
3. Focus first and foremost on the practical, step-by-step aspects of your company's response.
4. Decide who should be contacted in the event of a crisis. Know exactly how these individuals can be reached 24-7. Create a list with contact information, and give the list to all who need it.
5. Determine who will be on your crisis response team and who serve as the subsitutes.
6. Generally, the CEO should be the company's spokesperson in a crisis -- after all, the buck stops with him or her. One exception is when the CEO is deeply enmeshed in the crisis (such as if he's been charged with a crime).
7. When the crisis hits, your public relations or communications counselor must quickly examine and prioritize your organization's target audiences with whom you must communicate, starting from the inside and working outward. This is a list that typically includes employees, shareholders, suppliers, customers, regulators, neighbors, civic leaders, and the news media.
8. Then, communicate, communicate, communicate. Even if you have no new information, get out there and communicate that there's "nothing new to report, but the company is doing everything it can to"  ... etc.
9. If people suffered harm, it is critical that your CEO or other spokesperson convey genuine concern and empathy for the victim(s). While an attorney may warn against doing so for liability purposes, your company's reputation is on the line. The CEO's humanity will go a long way to restore the confidence and trust of your stakeholders.

Yesterday I ran into yet another reporter friend who's been laid off recently -- she's one of the most affable and talented women I've met from the Dallas Morning News. I ache for her and all the others who have committed years of their lives to journalism. Those with pink slips must be wondering if they've gotten their last paycheck as a reporter.  We're witnessing right now the mass bludgeoning of a noble profession (when practiced ethically and responsibly -- and forget the blowhard commentators on TV -- I'm not talking about them). 

I'm talking about the folks that stay until midnight at School Board meetings for the final vote on budgets. The professionals who  dig deep to make sure that budget doesn't include junkets to Florida by school superintendents and their lovers (yes -- that was me back in 1989 as an educator reporter for the Roanoke Times & World-News.) I'm talking about Watergate.  About the mistreatment of injured vets at Walter Reed Hospital. Closer to home, the revelations at JPS of substandard care. We wouldn't know about all these things & countless other abuses of the public trust were it not for well-trained, hard-working, tenacious journalists.

I shudder to think what's going to happen in towns and cities across the U.S. if there's no solid core of well-trained journalists in each community. I'm enough of a Calvinist to believe that every person has potential to cross over to the dark side. Those in power face the strongest temptation.

Here in Fort Worth we need to keep the Star-Telegram alive and thriving. If not, I'm hoping and praying that a major philanthropist steps forward. Perhaps laid-off editors and journalists can band together like they did in St. Louis and start a local online news site: http://www.stlbeacon.org/. 

I spoke several months ago to one of the Beacon's editors. "Sam Zell was right when he said the business model that used to support print and broadcast doesn't work anymore," she said in a speech early last year. "Citizen journalists are incredibly valuable in enriching this diet. But they can't entirely substitute for a press corps which gets trained and paid to ask tough questions and feels obliged to represent all sides fairly. We started the Beacon because we care about taking the best of traditional journalism forward while melding it with the best that New Media has to offer."

A question for Fort Worth: do we care about this?

Headed over to a PRSA luncheon today to hear Beth Harte, one of the leading thinkers in social media and integrated marketing communications. Look forward to hearing what she has to say.  There's such a frenzy right now among public relations professionals to be on top of the latest social networking tool -- but it is so important for us to keep perspective. Twitter, Facebook, Ping, Digg -- these are all tools. They are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. Public relations is still, and always will be, all about connecting with the people and groups that are important to an organization's health well-being. It's about relationships. We connect, inform, inspire, and listen.

I feel so validated! Advertising Age's Jonah Bloom writes about PR being ON THE RISE and the need for a clearer understanding of PR principles and ethics. 

Bloom is spot on -- especially in dispelling common misunderstandings:

"You can't control the message. Despite the popular tabloid moniker, your PR person isn't a doctor and shouldn't be spinning. PR helps you communicate something demonstrably true. If you need to know how the message will look when it is shared with the public, stick to ads ... "

A good read. http://adage.com/columns/article?article_id=136530.