Home Library Translate
A A A
Share »
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on LinkedIn
Connect »

Blog: Crisis Management

Menu

  • This Blog's Home
  • Guest Writer Submissions
  • Policies
  • To Subscribe to a Blog
  • About
  • Feedback

Make Your Apology Mean Something

By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on October 3, 2012

Don’t slack on this essential crisis management step

Crisis management has really come a long way in a short time. It wasn’t more than a few years ago that the standard corporate reaction to “at fault” crises was to zip your lips and lawyer up. Now, it’s pretty well accepted that one of the most important aspects of resolving a crisis is admitting your faults and delivering a meaningful apology.

Although author Chris Mittelstaedt used the quite-unlikely scenario of an escaped circus elephant destroying a citizen’s rose bushes in the following quote from an Inc. article, his suggestions are very much on point. How do you avoid having your apology feel like a vague corporate brush off? Read on…

Get specific about your actions. Affirm your commitment to a long-term positive outcome.

Immediately: Replacement of rosebushes. I would like to bring in a rosebush specialist to meet with you tomorrow and work with you on choosing replacement bushes to be installed next week. Our team of gophers are experts in digging and planting, and we are asking our ladybug department to stay behind for an extra week to make sure that no aphids take root after our planting.

End of the month: Follow-up. At the end of the month, after the bushes have had time to root down and become adjusted to your soil, I would like to send in a team of sparrows to conduct aerial viewings and to test the pliability of the rose stems as a final inspection. Once this is approved, please let us know that all is well in your garden.

Long-term commitment to customer happiness: If in the future you have issues with your roses, I would be happy to follow up with one of our experts to see how we can help make sure that your plants stay healthy.

Take a close look at those steps, because they go far beyond what pretty much anyone out there is doing. It doesn’t stop at “we’re sorry,” it doesn’t even stop at how they’ll set things right. When an organization goes out of its way to literally ensure that the crisis it caused will never create further stress for you, how could you stay mad? You won’t, and that’s the whole point. Give your apologies meaning, and even when you do mess up, you’ll leave people talking about how great your organization really is.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

« Previous Next »

Search Our Site

Meet this Blog’s Co-Hosts

Jonathan L. Bernstein, founder and Chairman of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of crisis management – crisis response, vulnerability assessment, planning, training and simulations.[Read more ...]


Erik Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management. Erik started with BCM in 2009 as a writer and subsequently became social media manager for the consultancy itself as well as for a number of BCM clients before moving to the president position. [Read more ...]

Recent Blog Posts

  • Are You Prepared For 2021? New Crisis Management Survey Out Now
  • Crisis Preparedness and Response Is About To Get Tougher
  • How to Create a Crisis Management Plan to Respond to a Cyber Breach
  • Audi’s ‘Insensitive Ad’, or Why you always ask how else an image could be interpreted.
  • The Road To Crisis Recovery
  • Preparing DURING The Pandemic
  • Coronavirus: What You CAN Control
  • Southwest’s COVID-19 Crisis Communications And What You Need To Be Doing
  • Crisis Manager On The Spot…Quick Coronavirus Crisis Communications Tips
  • A Hallmark Apology

Categories of Posts

  • Avoid the Apology
  • college crises
  • communications
  • conflict resolution
  • Crisis Assessment
  • Crisis Avoidance
  • crisis communications
  • crisis management
  • Crisis Management Quotables
  • crisis planning
  • crisis preparedness
  • Crisis Prevention
  • crisis public relations
  • Crisis Response
  • crisis training
  • customer service
  • cyber attacks
  • cyber bullying
  • cybersecurity
  • data breach
  • Dealing With Media
  • Digital Media Law Project
  • disaster crisis management
  • disaster prevention
  • Disaster Response
  • disease crisis management
  • emergency management
  • Erik Bernstein
  • ethics
  • Facebook
  • food industry crisis management
  • hackers
  • hacking
  • Higher Education
  • hospitality
  • HR
  • information security
  • Internal Communications
  • internet crisis management
  • internet security
  • Jonathan Bernstein
  • Journalistic ethics
  • Law
  • Litigation PR
  • litigation-related crisis management
  • Media Relations
  • media training
  • online crisis management
  • Online Reputation Management
  • political crisis management
  • PR
  • preventable crises
  • privacy breach
  • privacy violation
  • Public Relations
  • recall crisis management
  • Reputation Management
  • Risk Management
  • SEO
  • social media
  • social media crisis management
  • social media policy
  • social media reputation management
  • sports crisis management
  • violence prevention
  • vulnerability audit
  • Weiner Awards
  • workplace violence

Blogroll

  • Bernstein Crisis Management Blog
  • Jonathan Bernstein's HuffPost Blog
  • The Crisis Show

Related Library Topics

  • Assessments
  • Business Insurance
  • Computer Security
  • Coordinating Activities
  • Crisis Management
  • Employment Laws
  • Ethical Analysis
  • Lawyers (Using)
  • Managing Change
  • Marketing
  • Media Relations
  • Organizational Communications
  • Planning
  • Public Relations
  • Risk Management
  • Safety in Workplace
  • Bernstein Crisis Management Blog

Library's Blogs

  • Boards of Directors
  • Building a Business
  • Business Communications
  • Business Ethics, Culture and Performance
  • Business Planning
  • Career Management
  • Coaching and Action Learning
  • Consulting and Organizational Development
  • Crisis Management
  • Customer Service
  • Facilitation
  • Free Management Library Blogs
  • Fundraising for Nonprofits
  • Human Resources
  • Leadership
  • Marketing and Social Media
  • Nonprofit Capacity Building
  • Project Management
  • Quality Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Spirituality
  • Strategic Planning
  • Supervision
  • Team Building and Performance
  • Training and Development
About Feedback Legal Privacy Policy Contact Us
Free Management Library, © Copyright Authenticity Consulting, LLC ®; All rights reserved.
  • Graphics by Wylde Hare LLC
  • Website maintained by Caitlin Cahill

By continuing to use this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.X