There’s just no pleasing some people!
Returning to the Toyota crisis for a final comment, yesterday’s news item on Radio 4 is worth a brief mention. Toyota is facing a new safety issue, this time with their SUV’s, and it’s been all over local and international news sites all week.
Still nursing wounds from their earlier safety issues with the Prius, Toyota Executives were very quick to respond this time around and openly conceded they had a problem. But all this was far too quick and too transparent for some commentators. The Today Programme remarked that their actions simply smacked of a PR stunt, designed to demonstrate just how well the company had learned its lessons of the past. Never!
Interesting….this demonstrates why it’s important for any crisis communications to be “in character”. If you have developed a reputation for dealing badly with an issue and then realise the error of your ways and change, this may be cynically (and wrongly) perceived.
So even if you do follow all the golden rules of crisis management to the letter, past actions will continue to dog your image. Tread carefully then….
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