Back in August, administrators at Iona College realized they had a problem on their hands. It appeared that inaccurate data relating to acceptance rates, SAT scores, graduation rates and alumni donors were being reported to external agencies.
The college announced its suspicions Aug. 30 and said that it would be commissioning an independent audit to determine whether there had, in fact, been misreported data.
Between the initial announcement and Nov. 8, when Iona revealed the complete findings of the investigation and concluded there had been reporting errors, there was little ”“ if any ”“ news coverage of the incident, which Geoff Thompson credited to the college”™s quick and responsible follow-up.
Iona administrators “made a decision immediately toward full transparency,” said Thompson, principal of the Briarcliff Manor public relations firm Thompson and Bender L.L.C., which represents Iona College.
“It wasn”™t easy to untangle that cobweb of what had happened, but it was untangled, the commitment was made, they acknowledged the problem and they put steps in place” to ensure that it wouldn”™t happen in the future, Thompson said. “I would hold that up as an example of how to handle a very difficult and awkward situation in the best way possible.”
In an age when Hollywood star Alec Baldwin can instantly become the top headline for simply refusing to turn off his cell phone as instructed on a flight from Los Angeles to New York, Thompson said that it is increasingly important for businesses to have a crisis control strategy in place.
“Stuff does happen instantaneously,” he said. “Unfortunately there”™s really a strong element of mean-spiritedness just in general. People feel free to say whatever they want, no matter how disparaging, no matter how unfounded.”
When a real “crisis” does arise, Thompson said it is pivotal for businesses to respond swiftly and with the maximum transparency that is allowed.
“The first hurdle is the highest hurdle and the one that businesses have the most trepidation about, and that really is accepting that there is a crisis or a problem that meets the standard of saying it needs to be treated as a crisis.”
After that decision is made, the next two steps are to be forthcoming and honest about what happened and why it happened, and then to determine how to respond to the issue and to prevent it from occurring again.
Whether the subject of a particular scandal or crisis is a business, a politician, a movement, or something altogether different, honesty often can make or break a blooming conflict.
“I think the worst approach is to not present the whole truth,” Thompson said. “I think we often see that very glaringly with political candidates ”“ when they can”™t avoid saying something about a problem and they start telling half-truths.”
While a figure such as Herman Cain might have been able to lessen the impact of the accusations facing him, other organizations ”“ such as the New York and Connecticut power companies that struggled to restore electricity after the Halloween weekend storm ”“ are faced with more difficult circumstances, Thompson said.
“Something like these power outages ”“ particularly the ones in Connecticut that dragged on for weeks ”“ that becomes really difficult because how many times can you say ”˜I”™m sorry?”™” he said. “Hopefully if you”™re in a crisis situation it”™s something that”™s not dragging on for many, many weeks.”
