Effective Crisis Management Begins with Promptness and Authenticity

Recent events have offered revealing insights into the processes and practices of some highly visible organizations under extreme stress.

The organizations are FedEx, the United States Marines Corps and Carnival Cruise Lines. Each crisis threatened to change core perceptions about the organizations.

FedEx and the Marines handled their crises quickly and effectively. Carnival Corp.’s team has taken a more restrained, less visible approach in managing the Costa Concordia disaster, but thus far appears to have shielded the world’s largest cruise lines and its other high-profile brands from serious public damage.

Let’s start with FedEx and the Marines, because while their crises were far different, the nature of their responses, and the values they revealed, are strikingly similar.

Recall that FedEx was on the wrong end of a viral video showing one of its delivery people cavalierly dumping a flat-screen TV over a customer’s gate.

Almost immediately, FedEx tweeted that the video didn’t represent its corporate values. Soon after, it posted its own video in which Matthew Thornton III, Senior VP of FedEx Express U.S. Operations, addresses the camera directly, offers a sincere apology to all FedEx customers and reiterates the FedEx motto: “I will make every FedEx experience outstanding.”

FedEx doesn’t dance around the video or question its authenticity. In fact, the first words Thornton speaks are these: “Along with many of you, I have seen the video of our courier. On behalf of all of us at FedEx, please accept my apology. I am upset and embarrassed for our customer’s poor experience.”

Short, simple, and focused on the individual customer. It works.

The Marines became the focus of international scorn when a video surfaced showing four of their own urinating on dead Taliban fighters. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton immediately denounced the actions as “absolutely inconsistent with American values.” Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the Marines, said, “The behavior depicted in the video is wholly inconsistent with the high standards of conduct and warrior ethos that we have demonstrated throughout our history,” and called for a thorough investigation. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta phoned the president of Afghanistan and promised a full investigation.

Whatever your politics, from the standpoint of crisis communications, the matter was handled well.

FedEx and the Marines both recognized that the stakes were high because the world was watching — literally.  They successfully framed the offending actions as deviating from their core values — and in doing so reinforced the values that underpin the two institutions. This requires strong leadership and a reservoir of credibility that stems from a history of excellent performance.

In the case of FedEx, it had a well-earned reputation for reliability and customer satisfaction. Likewise, the Marine Corps is known as our military’s fiercest fighters, but also as men and women of integrity, honor and valor. “The Few, The Proud, The Marines” works as a slogan because it is consistent with what we believe to be true about the Marines.

To their credit, neither FedEx nor Marines delayed in responding. Their swift, authentic response acknowledging the problem and reiterating institutional values limited damage, and very likely enhanced brand value. An audience can accept that you’re not perfect; how you respond to a crisis and execute in its immediate aftermath is your chance to reassure people of your commitment to quality and integrity.

Which brings us to Carnival Cruise Lines. Carnival is the corporate parent of Costa Concordia, the ship that ran aground off the Tuscany coast. The death toll is still rising.

Few organizations are prepared for a crisis as catastrophic as what they are facing, but Carnival — as the world’s largest player in an industry built on perceptions of safety — has stumbled.

First, it declared prematurely that the captain and his crew were heroes. Then it emerged the captain may have left the ship. Carnival announced he was entirely to blame. In the meantime, survivors were telling and retelling stories of chaos and confusion, of crew members trying to crowd the passengers out of lifeboats, of a company so inept that it couldn’t figure out where to send passengers to get them back home. (A Duanesburg, N.Y., family survived the ordeal only to be booked on flights to Albany, Ga., rather than Albany, N.Y.)

Two passengers interviewed on “Today” contrasted the experience with a previous cruise on a Royal Caribbean line, on which the emergency evacuation procedures were communicated and practiced before the ship left the dock. Basic stuff.

To make matters worse, the Carnival CEO, Micky Arison, is “managing” the crisis from his office in Miami, 5,000 miles from the accident site, and issuing statements to the media. Carnival’s share price is suffering; so is the reputation of the entire cruise industry.

Effective crisis communications doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It requires leadership, planning, anticipation, sound judgment, humility and, above all, a brand that, like the mighty oak, has roots deep enough and strong enough to weather the inevitable storms.

- Bill Callen