Answers to three big SA questions from the world’s top Crisis Communications pro, “Tylenol” man Alan Hilburg

Say what you will about America, but one thing’s for sure: They have a great deal of experience with trying to make the best of a crisis. In this interview, American crisis communications expert and best selling author Alan Hilburg has some pearls of wisdom for some of South Africa’s most crisis-stricken businesses and issues, including the disgraced construction industry, the troubled Gauteng e-tolling program, and the South African government’s employment record.  Have a read or take a look and see if you agree with Hilburg that, with the right strategy, even a disastrous situation can be rescued. – FD

To watch this CNBC Power Lunch Interview click hereAlan Hilburg

GUGULETHU MFUPHI: Our own businesses in South Africa have lost an estimated 15 billion dollars in revenues as a result of on-going Eurozone crisis and other local economic pressures.  Alan Hilburg who’s the principle of Hilburg Associates joins us now as we discuss what businesses should learn in a time of crisis.  Alan I know that Alec is very keen to speak to you, he referred to the Tylenol issue that took place back in 1987. Alec, if I’m not mistaken, looking at the current environment right now, the  crises in the South African market, the most recent one that comes to mind must be the Marikana shooting. Lonmin was rather apprehensive to comment but later did come to the fore and negotiated with the media. What are South African companies doing wrong with regard to handling media negotiations and discussions when it comes to a crisis situation?

ALAN HILBURG: It’s hard to say what South African companies are doing wrong, I think what’s more important is to say what are they doing right.  Crisis management is first and foremost about business continuity, it’s about protecting the brand and it’s about trust.  So, when you look at those three ingredients, you have to ask yourself is your thinking, is your strategy, is your plan structured to really focus on those three ingredients?

ALEC HOGG: Okay Alan, we’re going to give you a couple of tasks to do for us now, starting off with the construction industry.  South Africa’s construction industry, this is fact, colluded. They were found guilty by the Competition Commission, and  paid a record fine of one and a half billion Rands. They are struggling to rehabilitate their reputation and it has to happen because we are on the brink of a massive infrastructure boom in this country. The government wants to spend four trillion Rand, but it’s a little cautious about doing it with a bunch of colluders.  How would you handle that?

ALAN HILBURG: I think when you look at great companies, what do they have in common; great companies, great brands, they all stand behind great values.  Not knowing what the construction industry’s values are, – one of my favourite questions is to always ask a client what’s missing and I think, in this case perhaps the people who made the decisions didn’t necessarily make those decisions based on their values.  And if that was the case, then this is a wonderful time to re-connect with all the communities that require the trust in the construction industry because of the incredibly important role they play in South Africa.  Somebody asked me the other day what was my impression of South Africa and I said it’s like a masterpiece but it’s a work in progress, and all great pieces of work are works in progress. From the perspective of the construction industry, it would be a wonderful time to step back and say what are the values that we have that guide every decision we make and, perhaps the decisions that were made in the past were not made with the values that they have, or made by people who forgot what those values were. A good starting point is asking what are our values and how how do we communicate those values, live those values, how do we make decisions based on those values.

ALEC HOGG: Well thanks, you’ve just given the construction industry a couple of million dollars’ worth of insight there, hopefully they listen to you.  Alan, question number two. In South Africa we have a government that decided to go ahead with tolling of the roads. Building new roads, in Gauteng which generates 40% plus of economic activity, it now wants the Gauteng drivers to pay a toll. The Gauteng citizens are refusing, they’re refusing to get involved for a host of reasons – how do you handle a hot potato like this if you were in government’s shoes?

ALAN HILBURG: I think what you’re asking is, how do we re-imagine the relationship? I go back to that question we asked right from the beginning which is what’s missing?  If I was going to step in and help in this kind of situation, and you know interestingly we are going to be opening an office in South Africa, the reality of it is that there’s something in the relationship that has created this mistrust. I’ve worked on over 250 crises around the world, beginning with Tylenol through every perhaps major crisis of the late 20th  and earliest 21st Century, and they all have three ingredients – one is mistrust, one is disengagement, and one is flawed decision making.  So you have to ask yourself which of those ingredients is in fact in play here relative to the conversations and the breakdown of the relationship and the breakdown of the understanding between the government and those the government are asking to pay that toll.

GUGULETHU MFUPHI: Alan when it comes to the importance of public relations, many people think that yes, it’s a… what’s the word that I’m looking for here Alec, maybe people who play with other people’s minds or…

ALEC HOGG: Propaganda?

GUGULETHU MFUPHI: Propaganda, there we go, that’s one of them.  But do you think public relations is taken importantly by corporates in South Africa or does this often come to play when there’s a crisis to handle?

ALAN HILBURG: It’s a very good question. I’ve been doing this for 35 years and my experience is that you can go to the lumber yard and buy a piece of wood and write crisis management, and paint crisis management on it and say you’re in crisis management.  This is a very, very, very professional profession and it requires not the traditional public relation skills or tactics, it really represents a process that is built around first and foremost critical thinking and it’s the ability to see around the corner, it’s the ability to see what no-one else sees.  And so I think the industry – and I know the Public Relations Society of South Africa is trying to do everything in its power to elevate the quality of the professional, and from the standpoint of South Africa’s development and from the standpoint of South Africa’s future, I think elevating the quality of the communications professional, because communications is not about press releases, communications is really about getting people to listen.  That’s important in every relationship, and if you get people to listen and you have the values and the experience that builds relationships of trust, that’s the secret ingredients to succeeding in strategic communications. Public relations – just the name public relations is probably perceived as being of less substance, and in reality when you practice crisis management at the level that at least my 35 years have been, you’re respected for providing a real strategic value to your client because it is about business continuity, it is about trust and about protecting the brand, it’s not about a press release or a statement that will get you through today till tomorrow.

ALEC HOGG: Your entrance into the South African market, Alan, is long overdue, I’m sure you are seeing that there’s rich opportunities, it’s a wonderful field for crisis communication but I’ve kept the last model, or last example, for you for last.  This is the South African government came to power in 1994, a year later, idealistically introduced labour legislation that was way out of step with what was going on in other parts of the world, the consequence of that and that labour legislation has been voted 146th out of 146 countries by the World Economic Forum every year.  The unemployment in South Africa is 26% and likely to continue rising, those are the official figures – unofficially probably higher.  When you guys in America had your great depression, unemployment peaked at 20%.  So we now have a situation where a government has painted itself into the corner, it has labour legislation which it enacted when it was maybe less mature, it has a partner in government which has labour as part of its partner, which makes it rather difficult to change, but it has a country where people are out of work; how do you start unravelling that in a way that you don’t lose face?

ALAN HILBURG: It’s a great question, I’m sure it’s a question everybody wants the answer to and I’m not sure there is a silver bullet here.  I’ve been, over the 35 years, working in so many difficult situations and have worked in a number of countries helping brand and market the country, and what I find is that when political parties forget that their existence is really to do what’s in the best interest of the country, and every decision… I talked earlier about values and I think it will be an interesting discussion for the different political parties to compare values.  Because I find that when you can find a way to agree to agree as opposed to simply disagreeing because  you don’t believe in what the other party stands for, and having a lot of experience in this, I find that you will always be apart.  And I remember years ago, being involved in a labour, a very sensitive labour negotiation in Italy, which is a very difficult country to negotiate with or in, we go to the last meeting and it was a very, interesting meeting. We had been battering heads for six months and the managing director asked me what I thought he should do. I said you know it’s very simple. Take your shoe off.  And I reached down and I took my shoe off and I held it and I said give your shoe to your counterpart in the government and give your shoe to the counterpart in labour and let’s exchange shoes, because until you wear those shoes you really don’t know what it feels like to be their position.  He said “is that it” and I said “no. Do one more thing, ask your counterparts to argue your position and you argue their position.”  All I’m trying to do is to suggest that there are many, many ways to create breakthrough, and if you’re willing to listen, which is the basis of all communications, you’ll be surprised that you can find which points that you can agree on.  As long as what you’re discussing is in the best interests of the country . When I got here, someone asked me it’s your first trip to South Africa, what do you think?  And I said I’m emotionally overwhelmed because I’ve never seen such a land of opportunity and I really believe in the future of South Africa.

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