Are You Responsible for Building Trust?

 

As a manager or employee do you understand your responsibilities when it comes to reducing aggression? Or do you contribute to it?

Those of us who have been managers and employees over the past several decades have witnessed probably every conceivable reaction there is from the public.

 I know that during my Federal service and corporate career there were public meetings where I saw unempathetic and out- of-touch presenters who induced either lethargy or plain outrage because they stood up, read their scripts and then fumbled their way to the door. They never acknowledged nor recognized their contributions  to the public’s disinterest or outrage.

 

While serving as an “aide-de-camp” to a corporate CEO and a Colonel for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, I saw members of the public become so incensed at public meetings that I had no alternative but to ensure the safety of my charges by exiting them through the back door of the meeting facility.

 

So, is there a way that ahead of or during the meeting or the event that we can “predict” when someone may become physically violent or disruptive?

 

According to Dr. John Byrnes the answer is yes!

 

Byrnes, a violence prevention expert and founder of the Center for Aggression Management (www.aggressionmanagement.com), says there “are phases” that a person goes through before he or she reaches the point of acting out in an aggressive manner.

 

Although most people typically think or believe that aggression is simply an “explosion” of emotions, Byrnes says that his research shows that there are specific phases a person moves through that when understood allows us to diffuse aggression and the possibility of violence.

 

The Early Warning Signs

 

Byrnes says that a person is usually “triggered” by something in his or her environment. These triggers could be another person, an event, a situation or even an object.

 

As the person’s anxiety level begins to rise, their ability to think clearly and act rationally begins to lessen. Brynes says this is why it is critical to take notice at this stage of the process early on. Otherwise, the outcome can be an emotional explosion and possibly result in physical violence.

 

Most all people across cultures, creeds, sexes and age groups exhibit early warning signs, which serve as signals to you as an observer that they are feeling very anxious about something.

 

These warning signs include:

 

1. Sweating profusely
2. Pacing
3. Nervousness
4. Swearing (especially for those who don’t normally use profanity)
5. Fidgeting excessively

 

As the aggression begins to evolve the person will also begin to lose verbal control — their words will become garbled or their sentences mixed up and unintelligible.

 

There are other clues as well. Look for such signs as:

 

1. Twitching lips
2. Shallow breathing
3. Veins standing up on their necks
4. Facial color changes (‘red’ with anger or ‘white’ with rage)
5. Even barring of teeth!

 

When the person moves beyond these signs, they are most likely to become violent and lash out physically.

 

Early Recognition Can Prevent Violence

 

“It is important to recognize these early warning signs,” says Byrnes, who for the past 15-years has extensively researched aggression management. “When you recognize these early warning signs then you can take action where you can most likely be successful in getting the other person to talk about what’s making him anxious. If you are able to keep someone talking you may be able to keep that person from becoming violent.”

 

Byrnes notes that everyone operates at different levels of communications, and cautions that often times you must be exceedingly patient when dealing with people that are moving toward aggression and don’t speak as clearly as you do, or who aren’t skilled at saying what it is that is bothering them.”

 

However, if a person quickly escalates from these early warning signs to visible anger, assess your own situation as well and determine whether you need to ask someone to step in and help or exit the situation. – LDA

 

Sources: Center for Aggression Management and Safety Check. Dr. L. Darryl Armstrong is a certified aggression management trainer (www.armstrongandassociates.org)

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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ICM Crisis News Annual Report Available

My colleague Larry Smith, President of the Institute of Crisis Management, has released his latest annual report on crisis news for the year ending 2007.

Not surprising the report notes the sub-prime debacle as one of the most far reaching crises of 2007. Overall business crises were down slightly in 2007, compared to 2005, yet still up considerably from the low crisis year of 2004.

ICM has been tracking 16 broad crises categories since 1990. These categories include catastrophes, environmental, class action lawsuits, consumerism actions, defects nd recalls, discrimination, executive dismissal, financial damage, hostile takeovers, labor disputes, mismanagement, sexual harassment, whistle blowers, white-collar crime, work place violence and casualty accidents.

You can read the report at www.crisisexperts.com

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Glenn Beck’s Hospital Video Should Put Every Hospital On Alert

Could it have come at a worse time?

Both political parties want to muck around in the business of health care. Every candidate has the solution and frankly no hospital or medical provider right now wants to be above the radar and yet conservative radio talk show host Glenn’s Beck’s butt surgery made You Tube and the national press and all the media, bloggers and pundits are having a field day with it.

This incident highlights the very reason every organization must have a crisis management plan in place and have the necessary training and resources to implement it.

Young and inexperienced staff need to be trained and practiced and seasoned veterans need to be practiced and reminded of the principles of crisis management.

In case you haven’t yet read it you can read the fall-out from this entire Associated Press story at this link in USA Today -http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2008-01-14-glenn-beck_N.htm?csp=34

If you have not seen his video where he details this experience I recommend you do so immediately! You can find it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX1rLv_hNeI 

Or, simply go to www.youtube.com and search for Glenn Beck Hospital experience.

Then review your crisis communications plans against our FREE crisis communications planning guidelines available at our web site www.armstrongandassociates.org

Time is of essence and we don’t won’t our clients and associates to be caught off guard.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Put a Client’s Fears to Rest Before Beginning Work on the Project

Be sure to identify the fears that prospective clients have about working with you. It takes some effort, but they will be reluctant to use your services until you have:

1. Identified their fears
2. Discussed their fears with them
3. Laid their fears to rest

For example, one of the greatest fears that a client can have is do you have the ability to produce the desired results on a timely basis?

Always provide the client with a schedule that identifies with precision, when the various elements of your work will be completed. The schedule may change once work is underway, yet it serves as a reassurance to your client that you have concern for their most important priority — timely completion of the project.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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A Mutli-part Series: Part 2 – An Assessment of Larry G. Hincker, University of Virginia’s Chief Spokesperson’s Performance

I suspect that when Larry G. Hincker joined Virginia Tech in 1989 he never conceived of the possibility that he would one day be the spokesperson for the deadliest campus shooting in the history of the United States.

Yet, as many professionals have had to do over the years, Hincker stepped to the plate in April 2007 and carried a heavy burden.

More than 400 media worldwide descended on that campus and students, faculty, staff, alumni and families had to be dealt with as efficiently and effectively as possible under the most trying of circumstances.

Hincker, associate vice president of the Office of University Relations, did a number of things well and some things could have been done better.

This column looks at both sides of the assessment and makes some observations.

You must know your audiences

We assess Hincker did a better than average job at understanding all his audiences.

Seemingly, Hincker assessed his target audiences as the students, the faculty, staff, parents, alumni, and his neighbors the people in the region. Although at times apparently working through shock and not really knowing what all he had to do, he did for the most part still understand the need to get accurate information to these audiences and worked toward informing them as best he could.

The program at Va. Tech functioned better than average probably because of the different mediums available to them to communicate to the targeted audiences. The university used e-mail, surface mail, their publications and their web site most effectively.

The web site http://www.vt.edu/ provided a 24/7 immediate way for anyone to connect to the university during the crisis.

Planning provided foundation

The Va. Tech pre-planning for a crisis saved lots of time and allowed for an effective implementation. The plan appeared to have been resilient and Hincker notes that the       ” the simpler the plan the better” speaking to reporter Dr. Frances Ward-Johnson APR in PRSA The Strategist  (Summer 2007).

However, Hincker is quick to note that a plan is essential. It is obvious that no organization could possibly be prepared to handle the extensive media attention that Va. Tech had during this time without a plan.

The old adage “expect the unexpected always” served the university well.

Va. Tech’s plan provided the framework for decision making, for example, although they had planned for a media center in the event of a crisis the center was not sufficient in size to handle the 400 plus journalists and their equipment.

However, the plan forced them to consider alternatives and make decisions to handle the situation expeditiously.

Media sensationalism

You and your senior management must be prepared for the media sensationalism that will always occur.

Although Virginia Tech had its share of sensational media coverage, which is to be expected in any situation such as this, overall the media seemed to work well with the university and assisted in some cases I believe in getting their messages out quickly.  

When the media is willing to assist your senior management in setting up and doing press conferences then you have a major advantage.

Our observations

As a crisis communications’ consultant, here are some observations we have:

• Hincker did a commendable job under very difficult circumstances and although he may have deviated from some of the standard approaches to crisis communications at times overall we would give him a solid “B” for his performance.
• Daily organization of information and keeping up-to-date during such a crisis is a major challenge for the spokesperson under any circumstances. The relationships the spokesperson has with the crisis managers is critical and those relationships must be established prior to the crisis.
• Hincker brought in experts when available and needed. He knew the extent of his expertise and did not speculate or pontificate to any degree we can assess.
• He understood that journalists, students, families, faculty and staff were as shocked as he and all the others at Va. Tech were at the carnage and situation. His empathy with these folks, and especially the journalists’ job and their coverage, helped establish needed rapport.
• Hincker understood the need to establish boundaries for the media. His posting of signs to “please respect their grieving process and to not go beyond these doors” was the right thing to do. For the most part the media respected it.
• Va. Tech’s use of their web site and the tie Hincker had with that staff to keep information updated was well executed because they used a “light site” based on previous experiences with crisis’s on campus.
• Va. Tech was behind the curve on getting their text messaging system in place. Although they had a new system that would have effectively used text messaging it was not yet on line when this crisis occurred.
• Hincker knew intuitively when to end the crisis and the ensuing press conferences and did so appropriately. The media agreed with his assessment.
• Hincker understood the need to accommodate the media. He provided them places to sleep in the media center and food and coffee.
• The university understood the importance of accepting pro bono assistance from the services of a local public relations firm.
• Finally, Hincker is very clear that he will not allow his university to be defined by this singular horrific event. He is now turning his attention to repositioning the image of the university back to the important aspects of Virginia Tech.

Larry Hincker’s professionalism and performance was exceptional under the most horrific and trying of circumstances. We commend him and are honored to have him as a member of our profession.

Until next time.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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A Multi-Part Series: Part 1 – An Analysis of the Virginia Tech Crisis — Observations and Recommendations

The deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history occurred this past April.

Students, faculty and staff at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University watched in horror and disbelief on April 16^th as Seung Hui Cho murdered 32 students and faculty members and wounded 25 others before killing himself. The tragedy occurred five days short of the anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School, previously the largest massacre on a campus.

The media and public response was extensive. What made the Virginia Tech’s Public Relations Director’s job even more challenging was that the majority of the students were killed and wounded two hours after Hui Cho had killed two other people on campus.

When a crisis such as the one at Virginia Tech occurs, at the time of the crisis and during it is not the time to be thinking about a crisis plan. During such events a well-thought-out, resilient and flexible plan is critical to survive. Communications must be quick and through multiple channels, and as we will see the channels of communications vary form organization to organization.

I have been asked by numerous colleagues to provide my insights on what went right and what went wrong at Virginia Tech that day because of my background in crisis management.

However, until now I have held back my opinion because I felt that school officials and the task force set up to review the incident deserved time to do a thorough analysis of the entire situation without doing so as many pundits have. Therefore, I chose to not comment during the crisis or immediate following it, although many of my colleagues opted to comment and I respect their decision.

Now, that the task force has completed its work and the media piranhas have moved on to other fodder, I am providing these insights to my colleagues and clients. Hopefully, you will read some thoughts here that may challenge you to review and revamp your own crisis plan.

“Feeding the Bears”

Virginia Tech attempted to be transparent and open by having a number of press briefings as the event unfolded.

In fact within hours after the shootings a press briefing attended to by President Charles Steger was held. He addressed, quite capably in most cases, what information he could in a straightforward yet still quite vulnerable manner.

It must be remembered that the President, and everyone on the campus, was dealing with their own personal reaction to this tragedy and that always complicates how well a crisis can be handled.

The university’s communication team, led by Larry G. Hincker, the chief spokesperson attempted to maintain transparency hoping to leave little room for speculation and rumor.

Yet, when you rely on a QA format (never good when you don’t have confirmed information, or new information) for your press briefings, as opposed to simply making a confirming statement about facts, or providing time lines and informational handouts, you expose yourself to criticism from the media, the public and other stakeholders.

Remember you have to “Feed the Bears” as consistently, or at least as often, as you can during a crisis and if they know the feeding schedule and you adhere to it life will be easier for everyone.

Inform the key stakeholders 

Always inform your primary audiences as quickly as possible

The university sought to unite the community and their students by as promptly as possible informing students, their families and the greater community of memorial services to honor the victims and by providing counseling services for the survivors.

However, this was on the back-end of the event.

On the front-end of the crisis students, faculty, staff and the community were not informed adequately and quickly in my estimation of the possible threat. This lack of urgency, driven by the fact that law enforcement speculated that the initial two shootings were the result of a domestic dispute between the shooter and those involved, led to the loss of valuable notification time to other potential victims.

There was an hour between the first shooting and the start of classes where text messaging and e-mail could have been used as one means of informing the audiences. 

It is critical during the crisis management planning process to assess carefully, prioritize and then determine appropriate channels that will allow you to communicate to your primary audiences as quickly as possible during times of a crisis.

My friend and associate Larry Smith, President of the Institute of Crisis Management, Louisville, Ky notes (The Public Relations Strategist, Summer 2007) rightfully so that the first thing to collapse during a crisis are the telephone and computer servers because of the demands placed on them. As usual he is absolutely correct.

Yet, evolving technology and the different communications patterns of the Gen X, Y and Z folks demands that all institutions, especially colleges and universities, assess how best to utilize the systems that these students use to get information.

Text messaging is one of the primary ways that these students communicate these days and technology is now available that can reach all those who wish to be reached by texting, if, and this is a big IF planning and data basing is done in advance.

Potential users of this technology would obviously need to secure telephone numbers in advance and keep it updated — granted this is a daunting task yet one that must be part of the future planning processes.

If you question that texting is becoming the preferred mode of communications, just look at the recent revelations in the killing and wounding of the students in New Jersey. All four students were just minutes prior to their attack, text messaging one another even though they were in close enough proximity and could have talked with one another.

Always maintain control

“In the first few hours of a crisis you have no questions you can answer,” Smith says.

Although well intended, when the president of Virginia Tech opened his first press conference the best he could have done was to read a prepared statement and then notify the media when he would return.

When he opened the floor to questions to the media, he simply had no answers to share. This made him and his staff look as if they were not in control of the situation.  When given openings such as this the media will expect information that you can’t yet deliver.

Never open the floor to questions until you have verifiable information you can share.

Expect the unexpected

When the crisis hits you can be assured that the media will be there. Often times quicker than you could expect and coming from distances and in numbers you never planned to accommodate.

More than 400 outlets worldwide had to be dealt with at Virginia Tech. More importantly, traumatized students, faculty, staff and families all wanted answers quickly.

Plan length is not an indicator of anything

Too many organizations have lengthy, convoluted and hard to follow written crisis plans that they never bother to practice, or even tabletop drill. Get rid of them and start all over!

The length of a plan is irrelevant, what is important is that the plan is workable, do the people that need it have it, and have they been properly trained and consistently drilled and practiced on the plan?

Plans, frankly for the most part are meaningless, because in a real-life, real-world crisis you must be resilient, flexible and have the ability to roll-with-the-flow and most plans are not designed this way.

Planning, practicing and rehearsing plans, however, when done well and with thought forces the people that have to deal with a crisis to consider all their options and how best to organize to handle the crisis when it does occur.

A good plan is simply a road map that gets you started on the right path forward.

I will share additional insights in the next posting.

Until next time.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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