Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 19, 2015 14 NEWS test-rigging scandal came to light. When an organization is cop- ing with a scandal, it's important to have a CEO who knows her way around a media interview. To that end, training is key. "In the contemporary age of so- cial media and instantaneous re- porting and 24-hour-a-day news, the costs of bad communication are so much higher than they were in the past that I think it would be imprudent for companies not to media train the senior staff who might find themselves in a posi- tion of speaking to the media," said Yaroslav Baran, principal at Earn- scliffe Strategy Group in Ottawa. "I would highly recommend media training for everybody in any company who either is at the CEO level or is designated to have a public or media interface." A good investment? Media training is a key invest- ment in mitigating risk, said John Perenack, group head of com- munications at StrategyCorp in Toronto — if it's not done and done correctly, there can be dire consequences to the whole organization. "From an outward perspec- tive, there's a loss of confidence in the management of the company when the CEO is in that kind of situation and fails the test. If you're a publicly traded organization, that could be reflected in your stock price. Even if you're a pri- vately held organization, that has an impact on your customers and how they perceive you," he said. And if a CEO steps into the spotlight of a tragedy or scandal and flubs the interview, it can be a death knell for the company, said Baran. "A combination of arrogance and lack of experience and igno- rance can be lethal to a company when you go in with a cocky atti- tude, not realizing how big a situ- ation is and how delicate it is, and how important it is to respond appropriately." There can be serious inter- nal repercussions as well, said Perenack. "When you think about the human resource aspect of this, if the company is facing a real exis- tential threat — like, for example, Volkswagen right now — within the organization, and the CEO fails the test in a public interview, repercussions are felt through ev- ery level of the organization. e confidence in 'Do we have the right leadership in place to weath- er this storm?' 'Am I going to have a job?' (is threatened). at's what the stakes are — they're very high." ese days, "media" is a much broader concept than just a couple TV cameras or newspapers, said Diana Bishop, a Toronto-based media trainer. "(Before) people were just deal- ing with the traditional media — and now there's this whole new element of social media," she said. It's not just reporters you may have to contend with — there could be a veritable army of blog- gers banging down a CEO's door as well. "We have to have that con- versation — can he say no? If it was CTV news calling, he would probably feel that that is OK be- cause it's traditional media. But he doesn't know what to do when a social media person calls, who is technically not trained as a profes- sional journalist, but has probably more breadth and more (of an au- dience) than another publication," said Bishop. "So it's gotten more complicated." Too little, too late One of the most important con- siderations is making sure execu- tives are media trained before a crisis ever erupts, said Perenack. "Being prepared ahead of time is actually extremely important. And that begins not with the media training but actually with, 'What are we going to say, what is our position and what are we go- ing to do?' "When someone speaks to the media, it's not so much about 'Are you saying the right words?' it is 'Are you perceived to be acting in the right way, in the best interests of your customers, shareholders, the community — whoever you're impacting?'" If a real crisis hits, there's no time for a crash course, said Baran. "If you're, say, Volkswagen right now, it's not like you can put the world on hold and say, 'I'm go- ing to go for a two-day refresher course.' at's why it's good to have that base. You don't want to be starting from scratch if you have a significant scandal on your hands." By the time an executive team actually needs media training, there's a good chance it's already too late, said Perenack. "In the past, you might have been able to take a day to get back to a reporter — it was a longer timeline. Nowadays, things hap- pen so quickly, especially with the immediacy of social media and the immediacy of wanting to know what an organization thinks about an issue right when the is- sue is breaking. It doesn't give you the luxury of saying, 'OK, I'm go- ing to take a day to figure out how to get media trained and then get back to the journalist.' So the way the media cycle is compressed and the acuteness of it is increased," he said. "You have to be prepared ahead of time because, oftentimes, it's too late if you're not." Also, organizations should con- sider training a range of spokes- people — not just the CEO, said Perenack. "Of course, the CEO should get it, but when your company's facing an issue or your organiza- tion's facing an issue, it's not al- ways the CEO that you want to put out there in front of an issue right away. It's important to have really a scaled response, and have multiple levels of spokespeople available, depending on what the topic is," he said. "Once you go to the CEO as a spokesperson, there's really no one else to go to. You only want to go to them as a last resort in a crisis situation." What should training look like? Good media training should ex- amine any scenarios the organiza- tion might actually face and "war game" them out through realistic simulations of interviews, said Perenack. Also, there is always value in understanding how the media conducts interviews and the tech- niques journalists use. "Being able to understand how to work in the environment — which is unlike any other environ- ment you typically find in social interaction — is a critical step," he said. Executives need an under- standing of how the media works and how to stay on message — providing soundbites on the topic, not PhD dissertations, said Bishop. Ideally, media training will take place on an ongoing basis, said Perenack. But it depends on the specifics of the organization. "Ideally, what it should be is, on an ongoing basis, you're look- ing at the threats and issues that your organization may face — and are we prepared for them? en (it's about) looking at what are the skills and abilities of our spokes- people who we've identified?" he said. "It's very strategic to look at what we might need to say in any given situation, and what are the skills of our spokespeople… and then let's build a training pro- gram that matches those needs specifically." Different people have different levels of natural talent for me- dia relations, said Baran — but it's definitely a skill that can be learned. "I don't believe that good me- dia relations are necessarily some kind of gift that some people are born with and others aren't — it's not artistry. I've always seen it as a craft that anybody can work on and anybody can improve and anybody can become good at with training and practice," he said. "It's amazing how much better people can become when they take that approach to it." Not just about crisis response In an age where personal branding has become the watchword, me- dia training isn't just about crisis response, said Bishop — it can also be an opportunity for lead- ers and executives to learn how to promote their organization and their own skills. "Most of them are promoting themselves… because they are starting to think, 'What am I go- ing to do with my particular lead- ership role?' ey consider it part of their leadership role that they might have to interact with the media," she said. And for executives, media might not be limited to traditional outlets — it may also include be- ing on a panel at a conference or giving a presentation about their area of expertise, she said. "A lot of people want to do TED Talks or TEDx Talks — this is very big right now," said Bishop. "e personal brand has become a re- ally important piece to this whole training." It's no longer only about prepar- ing for a crisis situation, she said. "ey actually want to be pre- pared to promote their philoso- phy or their company, and how they are different in the market- place. So they are looking at it now as an opportunity to promote themselves." An effective solution? But will people suffering from mental health issues be convinced online is as good as face-to-face encounters? Years ago, the Internet was considered the Wild West when it came to credentials but now there is evidence, beyond anec- dotal, that shows the high-quality nature and efficacy of these self- directed modalities, depending on the severity of the symptoms, said Radkowski. "Some people are not able to leave their home, for whatever reason, especially if they're on disability, so it becomes a viable option for them. Basically... re- search is showing this is equal or comparable… to a lot of tradi- tional models, and this one is far more accessible, it's far more cost- effective, it's a 24-7 option versus 'OK, I might be able to book an appointment with a counsellor in two weeks' time.'" The stigma around "online" has changed over the years, said Stenson. "Face-to-face is a really good modality but it's not the modal- ity that everybody wants, and we have now the opportunity to create choices for people that just weren't there before." If someone has a severe men- tal health diagnosis or psychiatric episode, there needs to be other involvement, for sure, she said. But not everybody has access to these services, so it's a helpful re- source. It's not a tool for people in crisis, she said, but for people who are functioning OK. ese online tools may be ef- fective as a pre-emptive step if an employer is having an anti-stigma campaign or just doing general education or orientation, said Ann Morgan, a Toronto-based disability solutions specialist who attended the session. "is is helpful maybe to pre- vent and increase awareness and educate but this is not the answer — this does not remove or elimi- nate your responsibility as an em- ployer to have a psychologically safe and supportive workplace, and (as) managers to be aware and show you care." Many managers assume an EAP will take care of employees or they don't see it as their respon- sibility or an opportunity to step up and show they care, she said. "Most mental health concerns are dealt with as a performance management concern." The bigger problem is how managers can first broach the conversation with troubled em- ployees, said Morgan. "We don't have the communi- cation tools that would make the digital tools optimal, and I think that if we skip to focus on digital tools, then we may think that the human communication tool's not necessary. And without that, the digital tools are not going to be as effective or I don't think they're going to meet the need, or may even backfire." Tools pre-emptive first steps ONLINE < pg. 9 Do training before crisis hits MEDIA < pg. 1 "e way the media cycle is compressed and the acuteness of it is increased." Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn at an industrial technology fair in Hanover in April. The leader faced considerable criticism in the wake of the revelations around VW's faulty emissions tests and eventually resigned in September. Credit: Wolfgang Rattay (Reuters)

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