Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 26, 2016 | Worcester Business Journal 15 Honor and celebrate our Fuel Her Fire Awardees Join G irls Inc. as we reminisce on t he past successes and reveal t he plans for t he next Century! Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA CentenniGirl Celebration kicks off our "WITH YOU IN HER CORNER" Capital Campaign ensuring local girls can participate in the Girls Inc. Experience for years to come. Meet today's GIRLS, tomorrow's LEADERS, who will inspire you to raise your paddle and help us build the foundation for the next 100 years! P lease Join us at G irls Inc. ST RO NG Pamela and Maurice Boisvert SM ART Maureen Binienda Princilla Minkah Valerie S. Loring CentenniG irl Award fallonhealth O'CONNELL & O'CONNELL, P.C . ATTORNEYS AT LAW STRONG Sponsor SMART Sponsor BOLD Sponsor Award Sponsor Media Sponsor Thank you to our generous sponsors BO LD Meaghan McCarthy Sponsored by the Women's Initiative of United Way of Central Massachusetts For more information, or to reserve tickets, visit our website at www.girlsincworcester.org or call (508) 755-6455 ext 21. Honesty is the best policy When polled, WBJ readers said the worst approach a company can take when faced with a legal and public relations crisis – like Saint Vincent Hospital in August with reports about the wrong patient having a kidney removed – is to ignore the situation. They said it is better to be responsive and honest. F L A S H P O L L What is the best way to deal with a public relations crisis? Get out ahead of it - the worst thing to do is stay silent. 44% "PR101: Companies need to control the narrative by taking immediate corrective actions and highlighting those actions in their communications (social media, website) and in the press. It's not enough to just say, 'Sorry' and hope it blows over." COMMENTS: "Have a response ready, and update on a daily basis. There are no more news cycles, it is 24/7. Check sources but respond as soon as you see any mention of the situation." removal operation on the wrong patient. The hospital responded by say- ing the actual misidentification was performed outside of the hospital and didn't involve Saint Vincent staff. The Department of Public Health said it is investigating the incident. Erica Noonan, a spokesperson for Saint Vincent's parent company, Tenet Healthcare, said releasing any informa- tion relating to the hospital is tricky, because of strict patient privacy laws. "In healthcare communication, our priority is protecting the privacy of the patient," Noonan said. "We are subject to extremely strict federal [healthcare] privacy laws, as well as public expecta- tions that we will treat patient privacy with the utmost caution, so release of any information is not a simple matter at all." Lawyers vs. PR team When crises occur, a tension tends to build up between lawyers who want to make sure the facts and the legal lia- bility issues are ironed out versus the public relations teams that want to stay ahead of the fast-paced news cycle, Radigan said. "The argument against lawyers is something like we're slow and too plot- ting in the process, and aren't as con- cerned with public perception of how a news story may occur, whereas PR professionals emphasize expediency," he said. "There's a balance you need based on what the circumstances are." Outside of the actual courtroom is an arguably equally important court – the one of public opinion. And in the court of public opinion, you can screw up pretty easily by not taking responsi- bility for mistakes, or by lying, Donnelly said. "It's always much better to confront bad or controversial facts right away, and then move on, rather than let the facts dribble out over time, because that keeps the story going from one news cycle to the next," he said. Don't duck for cover One of the worst things a company can do when an issue arises – either internally or through the media – is duck for cover, Ball said. He said the first thing he tells any- one he comes into contact with is to have a crisis plan in place before any- thing bad comes close to happening. The plan would ideally look at the company's vulnerabilities, in order to assess what can be done in that moment to prepare for or even pre- vent a crisis. For example, if your building was to burn down, would your insurance plan allow you to open up somewhere else? Ultimately, a company's success isn't determined by whether or not crises happen – it's how they respond once a problem arises, Ball said. Not responding, or thinking some- thing will just blow over, is the worst way to respond, he said. "A number of organizations think problems are going to go away by themselves," he said. "A lot of times their response is 'This is going to blow over. This is not going to be a big deal, and we can make it through this.'" They're usually wrong, Ball said. Do: Have a plan in place before anything happens. "That plan should be very com- prehensive. It should look at a number of things, including procedures in crisis, who would be on a crisis team ... what the vulnerabilities are, and what can be done now in order to prevent crises." - D.B. Do: Respond. "It's really important when a crisis does occur, or any kind of serious event occurs, to get out in front of it right away." - D.B. Do: Understand the situation. "Companies owe it to interested parties and sharehold- ers, before they know what they're commenting on, before they attempt to address any issues or stories out there, to understand the situation." - D.R. Do: Have your public relations team release accurate information. "Nobody pays attention to the retraction – they pay attention to the headlines." - D.R. Do: Get information to a reporter well before his or her deadline. "I want to talk to a reporter far enough in advance so the reporter can absorb the information and come back to me before the deadline if they have questions." - J.D. Do: Learn from your mistakes. "Organizations after the crisis can sit down and dis- sect what happened, and try to prevent it from happening again." - D.B. Don't: Lie. "It undermines your credibility and the credibility of the organization." - J.D. Don't: Divert from the message "Make it clear to other people that the organization has to speak with one voice, and others shouldn't comment." - J.D. Don't: Respond to the message, lead the narrative. "If you are just responsive to reports, sometimes you lose a valuable opportunity to correct media misinformation that may be out there that can hurt a company's reputation." - D.R. Don't: Ignore the media in times of prosperity. "If it's a negative situation, and they don't have all the positive background, their reporting won't be the complete picture." - D.B. Don't: Be afraid to tell the reporter information he or she doesn't already have. "Think in advance about what's important. There can be situations where there are very important things that a reporter doesn't know, but you want to share with the reporter." - J.D. Don't: Think it will just blow over. "I can think of many instances when the company went out of business because they weren't prepared to deal with the situation." - DB Legal crisis do's and don'ts What to do – and what not to do – when your company comes under fire, as told by David Ball, James C. Donnelly Jr. and Douglas T. Radigan. Respond honestly when the issue comes up but do not create more publicity than necessary. 56% 0% Stay silent to downplay coverage. "Remember -- the cover up is always worse than the crime." W

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