Customer Service Training: Disaster Prevention & Accountability We all know the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is engaged in the important work to prevent customer service disasters involving extreme loss of life, and because its job is so important to us, the TSA as the big dog in charge has been getting the brunt of the …

Outstanding examples of good crisis management The primary goal of Merrie Spaeth’s “Bimbo Awards” is to give a humorous look at crisis communications gone wrong. Occasionally, though, Spaeth picks out a few examples that stand in stark contrast to her usual fare – those who got things right. Here’s a sample, from her “Bimbo of …

Airline ignores opportunity to communicate and connect via social media You don’t have to look hard to see the prominent role Twitter is playing in major crises. When engine problems forced a Qantas Airbus A380 to make an emergency landing in Singapore last week, passengers were tweeting pictures of the damage as their plane sat …

Boards need to discuss horrible ideas: the idea that your product might no longer be relevant to your target market, the idea that your staff might prefer to work elsewhere, or that your technology might leave you unable to deliver goods and services. These are not issues that management like to talk about and, indeed, …

Chief financial officers have dealt with auditors since the days of the abacus. Smart chief technology officers bring in friendly hackers to test the ability of firewalls to withstand cyber attacks. Facilities managers conduct evacuation drills. However, aside from airlines and a few industries susceptible to high-profile incidents, it is rare to see mandated, periodic …

Remember the scene in Network where the news anchor Howard Beale (played deliciously by Peter French) shouts his famous line, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”? This past summer thousands of Target shoppers expressed that same sentiment online when they found out their favorite general store had donated piles …

When Southwest Airlines said that it's important to them that staff have fun at work did anybody believe them or did it just sound like more corporate mission statement jargon?

From the days of ancient warfare, large armies have struggled with an inherent disadvantage: Sheer size presents an easy target for a quick and nimble attack force. The red-coated, regimented British struggled to fend off undisciplined American revolutionaries. The Vietnam era Americans could not defend themselves adequately from the pesky, unpredictable Viet Cong. In the …

Whether you are part of a small or a large organization, you have the same challenge of finding the right people to be the face and voice of your company. It is likely these front-line people are the only contacts with whom your customers and clients interface when buying or using your products and services. …

[This is a guest blog from “Managing Outcomes,” published by Tony Jaques, Director of Issue Outcomes Pty Ltd, for people who work in issue and crisis management and strive for planned, positive outcomes. You can subscribe to his newsletter at www.issueoutcomes.com.au] Every manager who has ever wanted to beat up on an ill-informed or aggressive …