The recent spate of public apologies in the political, business,religious, education and entertainment arenas provides plenty for crisis communicators to analyze. It’s easy to start with “I’m sorry.” Then come the tough questions: What are you sorry for? Can you say either too much or too little?
As crisis communicators we often advise clients that in certain instances a rapid and sincere admission and apology for a mistake or worse can be an essential first step to turning around a controversy. (Of course, where potential liability or other charges are concerned, it will also be reviewed by legal counsel).
If you search around you’ll find “best practices” tips on how to apologize, but several are quite dated:
- Public apologies have become the subject of so much scrutiny there’s even a watchdog website (SorryWatch) that analyzes them.
- Virginia Gov. Northam’s playbook apology appears to have been premature before he studied the actual photo he apologized for.
- Apologies alone must be reinforced by transparency and firm commitment and accountability to remedy any harm.
- Operating under the umbrella of social media requires a new mindset. Responding to the proliferation of negative viral memes about a public figure’s or a brand’s transgression – sometimes instigated by orchestrated partisan attacks – requires monitoring, listening, and engaging rather than simply issuing prepared statements.
We recommend the following tips to high profile figures and brands in today’s volatile communications environment:
- Revisit personal and organization social media postings and scrub them of potentially offensive content before an apology becomes necessary. Get inputs from several sources.
- Reach out by phone–or in person–to key stakeholders and allies before they feel obligated to take a public position on your transgression. The goal is to get them to hold off as long as possible from piling on while you issue a public apology.
- Don’t apologize until you can state your version of the facts with conviction, and explain how you are going to make the situation right.
- We’ll be watching to see how the current list of apologizers fares in the court of public opinion over the long-haul.