Archive for the ‘Public Relations’ tag
Working With Inexperienced Employees
Everyone hires what they believe to be qualified employees. We spend hours creating elaborate job descriptions, listing all the qualifications needed to get the job done. We spend hours crafting the best interview questions for the interview process. Then we advertise for candidates from the best apprentice programs, technical schools, junior colleges, colleges, universities, and competitors. We may even pay to have each potential employee tested, so we know as much as we can about the individual, to make the best hiring decision possible.
The organization make a hire. But then what? We may have a new employee orientation program to get them up to speed about the organization. Orientation programs can only go so far. We then put the new person on the job and promptly ignore them and wonder why the person isn’t working out as we hoped.
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More… Simple Communication
We meet people everyday and it is as your mother probably said, “You only get one time to make a good first impression.” People being the way they are, if not given enough information, will fill in the blanks and then form an opinion. In most cases it is real simple things that can help you make a good impression, especially if you are the boss.
If you are the boss or a person at a higher level the simplest thing you can do is make sure you tell the person your name. I have seen it happen many times. The underling get introduced and the person at the higher level is cordial, but they do not introduce themselves. Simply say, hi I’m Bill Smith not Mr. Smith, not, Ms. Jones, not Dr. Murphy, etc. Simply, “High I’m Bill Smith.
The person will probably say, “I know who you are,” but if you don’t the person is more than likely to think, “He thinks he is so important that I am supposed to know who he is.” It is a small distinction, but a big one. If you want your organization to see themselves as a team, act like you are a part of the team.
Crisis Communication
Every business will end up in a situation where the business will be in a crisis that affects the organization publicly. The crisis the business faces could be a recall of a product you make, a recall of a product you sell, or an indiscretion by an employee to name a few. The key, like any business situation is to be prepared to communicate to all your constituencies. The worse thing that can happen is fail to communicate and alienate customers, suppliers, or employees.
Don’t let the public fill the company’s communication gaps
The simple truth is the organization needs to take control of the situation to insure the correct information and enough appropriate information gets to the public. If you do not communicate the information, the public will fill in the gaps for good or bad. If you have a good reputation, people will tend to give you the benefit for a while, but that will not last. Ask any prominent politician that has run into problems. Most of the time people will forgive some transgressions, but when the “spin” gets too heavy people revolt. If your organization does not have a strong reputation the crisis can kill the business.