Shrinking image?

Posted by Tom Gable

The news media, auto industry analysts and elected officials have been aggressive in going after Toyota for its delays in responding to a growing crisis about sudden acceleration in some of its models from gas pedal and floor mat issues.

NPR opined that “the carmaker that could end up doing long-term damage to the sterling reputation it has painstakingly built up for several decades.” It cited a slow response time in dealing with the problem and communicating.

Critics in the story noted that “the worst-case outcome for the company would be if any of the investigations uncovers evidence that Toyota has been aware of the problem for longer than it has admitted.” This implied that Toyota may be hiding something.

The theme turned up in a Los Angeles Times story:

The pedal maker denies that its products are at fault. Some independent safety experts also are skeptical of Toyota’s explanations. ‘We know this recall is a red herring,’ one says. Sudden-acceleration events in Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been blamed for at least 19 fatalities and 815 vehicle crashes since 1999.

Critics jumped on quickly to ask for specific timetables. The Toyota CEO was largely silent (a Japanese TV crew caught him at a financial conference in Davos, Switzerland, where he made a short apology). Toyota then pulled its brand advertising, ran public service ads in major daily newspapers around the country, hired a PR firm and started communicating.

When Toyota went public with a PR blitz, they used their head of U.S. sales rather than CEO. Some said this seemed to indicate that Toyota wasn’t dealing with the issues at the highest level.

“We deeply regret the concern that our recalls have caused for our customers, and we are doing everything we can — as fast as we can — to make things right,” Jim Lentz, Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, said in a statement on Monday (Feb. 1, 2010).

Although late in responding by crisis PR standards, Lentz did the classic: recognize the issue, apologize, empathize and then set a vision for the fix.

Over the years, in dealing with crisis communications issues involving everything from religious scandal, to threats to public safety, to corporate and organizational implosions, Gable PR has found that three basic principles should guide your actions in every crisis situation:

One – Be honest and stick to the facts. Do not speculate, hypothecate or exaggerate. Those impacted by the crisis deserve nothing less – and your reputation may be damaged irreparably if you aren’t truthful and authentic.

Two – Think strategically about the long-term. It is too easy to be reactionary, get caught up in the grinding short-term pressures of the situation and scurry to respond to those demanding answers from every quarter. What do you stand for? What are your core values? Are your responses to the crisis consistent with these values? How will your actions today be viewed a year from now? Five years from now?

Three – Maintain unified and consistent communications during implementation of your plan. Nothing will erode your credibility faster than conflicting messages coming from different sources within your organization (be aware that the media – and class action attorneys in some cases – will pursue every angle in search of controversy, unethical behavior or criminal intent).

Toyota can get beyond this crisis, recover from short-term damage to its brand and regain the trust and respect it enjoyed by investing in image as a part of corporate strategy. What will Toyota stand for in five years? Quality, customer care, engineering, design, reliability, value? All of the above? Whatever the vision, the next step is developing a strategy to provide ongoing evidence to support the vision. This goes beyond manufacturing to every way Toyota touches its customers and future customers.

In the era of instant communication, organizations need to take an immediate look at the issues it faces. Gable PR uses a crisis communications check list for starters. In less than an hour, we can work through the issues and determine priorities and critical tasks for action, including the speed of response.

For Toyota, it may have done a fast analysis and then decided to go slow in responding for internal or legal reasons. For the “new Toyota,” it should establish procedures for responding at warp speed to any outside concern. Instead of two days to a week, how about two hours or less, even if it’s to say “we are working on this and will get back to you as soon as the facts are in?”

For energizing every corner of the organization, the management schools have many cases for going beyond PR and establishing operating principles to live by in evolving the culture. What directions will Toyota give to its design and engineering teams to analyze what happened with the pedals and mats and develop new approaches to quality control? For the future, if a problem occurs once a new model rolls out, have rapid response teams with the power to analyze issues and make fast decisions on resolving the problem and then pro-actively communicate the new direction with an integrated PR program.

A pro-active internal approach builds support and understanding, then provides the foundation for launching the pro-active communications program. Educate internal audiences first. Develop a consistent messaging strategy, from the basic level of how dealers will answer their phones and respond in the future. Establish procedures for Tweeting updates as they occur and linking to Web sites for more details. Even if working on the image over three to five years, build a sense of urgency into the culture. Empower people to think about continuously improving every aspect of the business every day. By setting a new standard and vision, Toyota can then set in motion the critical business practices and cultural commitment to walk its talk over time – and finish a lot better than it started.

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