There's always been an otherworldly quality about Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. It's as if he exists on a cloud, largely out of touch with and only occasionally looking down at we mere mortals. Well, that's about to change.
His response to the current imbroglio provides yet another textbook case for what not to do in the throes of organizational crisis. He violated four standards for effective crisis management, and did so with an arrogant, almost breezy indifference that lends new meaning to the term "cloud computing." Those of us who have handled major crises learned a long time ago to:
1. Get Ahead of the Story: Act as early as possible under the circumstances, though certainly not until you have sufficient enough calibration of the crisis. Don't create unnecessarily large gaps between public disclosure of the problem and your organization's response to it. Facebook knew about theses issues two years ago and, until last night, remained disturbingly silent for five days after the story spun out of control. This created a void into which everyone confirmed their deepest suspicions and deposited their greatest fears.
2. Be Human: Yes, Zuckerberg apologized. That's essential, except he just doesn't seem sincere about it. It feels forced, as if he was doing us a favor. Be accessible, come clean, assume responsibility, and admit the "mistakes." They're all going to be discovered anyway. Besides, the public can be quite forgiving if they feel that you "get it" and are being on the level with them.
3. Offer Remedies: With an appropriate dose of humility, tell us what you know, what remains to be determined, what lessons have been learned, how you will solve the problem, and what specific actions you are taking to ensure it never happens again. In doing so, and as part of the remedy, it's important to commit to updating the public on a timely basis.
4. Take Care of Your People: Employees are your most important audience, by far. Don't keep them in the dark, as Facebook did for so many days. Yes, whatever you tell employees will leak through social media and to external media, but this only underscores the importance of getting ahead of the story right away. Within hours, an organization in crisis needs to communicate something substantively and tonally correct to its employees and immediately thereafter to the world at large. The damage Facebook has now done to its internal climate is incalculable and will take a very long time to repair.
Zuckerberg and Facebook may finally be forced to leave Cloud City. They and all the rest of us may ultimately benefit from this experience, but it's going to be rocky, raucous ride.
His response to the current imbroglio provides yet another textbook case for what not to do in the throes of organizational crisis. He violated four standards for effective crisis management, and did so with an arrogant, almost breezy indifference that lends new meaning to the term "cloud computing." Those of us who have handled major crises learned a long time ago to:
1. Get Ahead of the Story: Act as early as possible under the circumstances, though certainly not until you have sufficient enough calibration of the crisis. Don't create unnecessarily large gaps between public disclosure of the problem and your organization's response to it. Facebook knew about theses issues two years ago and, until last night, remained disturbingly silent for five days after the story spun out of control. This created a void into which everyone confirmed their deepest suspicions and deposited their greatest fears.
2. Be Human: Yes, Zuckerberg apologized. That's essential, except he just doesn't seem sincere about it. It feels forced, as if he was doing us a favor. Be accessible, come clean, assume responsibility, and admit the "mistakes." They're all going to be discovered anyway. Besides, the public can be quite forgiving if they feel that you "get it" and are being on the level with them.
3. Offer Remedies: With an appropriate dose of humility, tell us what you know, what remains to be determined, what lessons have been learned, how you will solve the problem, and what specific actions you are taking to ensure it never happens again. In doing so, and as part of the remedy, it's important to commit to updating the public on a timely basis.
4. Take Care of Your People: Employees are your most important audience, by far. Don't keep them in the dark, as Facebook did for so many days. Yes, whatever you tell employees will leak through social media and to external media, but this only underscores the importance of getting ahead of the story right away. Within hours, an organization in crisis needs to communicate something substantively and tonally correct to its employees and immediately thereafter to the world at large. The damage Facebook has now done to its internal climate is incalculable and will take a very long time to repair.
Zuckerberg and Facebook may finally be forced to leave Cloud City. They and all the rest of us may ultimately benefit from this experience, but it's going to be rocky, raucous ride.
Image courtesy of CNN Money.