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Communication Crisis for the Catholic Church
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.
The Catholic Church has become the latest poster child for how
not to communicate in a crisis. Thanks to church leaders inept handling
of the ongoing pedophilia problem with certain priests, Enron and
Arthur Andersen have gotten some breathing room.
The question of how to communicate when you or your organization
has clearly done something wrong has been addressed here before.
The Harvard Business Review has dozens of case studies on crisis
communication. Yet, officials in the church have ignored the most
fundamental rules of communication and are clearly paying the price.
The first rule of communicating in a crisis is to act quickly and
decisively without mincing words. However, it took the church too
long to acknowledge that there was a problem with certain priests
who had sexually abused children. Further, because the church took
so long to go publics, it appeared that church leaders didn't acknowledge
the seriousness of the problem and were not that anxious to do anything
about it.
The next rule of crisis communication is to speak in a unified
voice with a clear and credible message. That's not what happened
here. While the Pope is supposed to be the CEO of the church, what
he was saying on this issue was often contradicted by individual
bishops. Some church leaders said they would turn over any priest
who was accused of sexual abuse to civil authorities. Others said
they would continue to handle the issue internally and only disclose
the name of an accused priest when they thought there was "credible"
information. Mixed and contradictory messages in a time of crisis
produce nothing but more problems and confusion.
When in a crisis, it is important to be proactive in your communication
(as opposed to reactive), which often allows you and your organization
to set a context for the public debate instead of allowing your
critics to do it. The Vatican as well as diocesan officials only
expressed concern for assaulted children when case after case was
exposed in the press. Not only did the church fail to show enough
concern and empathy for the victims (another must when your mistakes
have caused innocent people to suffer), but they engaged in scapegoating
and blame-shifting. Church leaders implied that they were being
victimized and targeted by the media who they said were exaggerating
the problem.
Another important rule is to not let the lawyers control what you
say in public. Lawyers are obsessed with limiting liability and
preventing possible jail time. Lawyers advise their clients, be
it the Catholic Church, Arthur Andersen, Enron or Bill Clinton,
to be less than candid using vague and ambiguous language. They
argue about things like the definition of "sexual relations."
They play word games. The problem with this legal strategy is most
people know that something went wrong and that someone must be held
accountable. Lawyers often tell their clients not to apologize in
public. That's terrible advice. The church should have started apologizing
15 years ago on this issue, but apologizing in a crisis isn't enough.
The key is to acknowledge responsibility and make a commitment to
take clear, corrective action to rectify the situation. The longer
it takes for you to do that, the bigger the hit you are going to
take in public.
Bottom line? Catholic Church leaders have only one choice. Disclose,
acknowledge responsibility, apologize to victims and pray that Catholics
and others are willing to give them a second chance.
Dr. Steve Adubato coaches and speaks on the subjects of communication
and leadership and is the author of the book "Speak from the
Heart." Write to him at The Star-Ledger, 1 Star-Ledger Plaza,
Newark, NJ 07102, visit his Web site at www.stand-deliver.com,
or e-mail him at sadubato@aol.com.
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