MALAWI JUDICIARY: A Reputation in Crisis

The Malawi judiciary is facing an unprecedented reputational crisis, triggered by Alexious Kamangila's exposé of judicial misconduct. Whether the approach is right or not is a matter of another surgical exploration someday. Some consider this approach as reinforcing mindset change, the revolutionary way. Kamangila's intent, he insists, is not to damage reputations but to reclaim the judiciary's integrity. This seismic event has sparked a national conversation, eroding public trust and confidence in the institution. This too is a reputation crisis on the leadership in the establishment. Allegations of inaction have surfaced, raising questions about the leadership’s ability to enforce discipline and restore order within the system. 

The crisis continues to unfold like a slow-burning fire, fuelled by allegations of corruption, nepotism, favouritism, court files vanishing into thin air and judgments pending for over a decade. The judiciary's leadership initial silence allowed the situation to escalate, permitting the narrative to be shaped by the public. Their late (perceived) inconclusive response has already created doubt in the minds of many Malawians – most who have come forward with an avalanche of testimonies and evidence as 'victims' of the courts and the justice system (real or perceived). This reactive approach created a vacuum, enabling stakeholders to fill the information void with speculation and criticism. The public dissatisfaction with published statements, when it came out, leaves many drooling for more. Equally, the fact that parliamentary committee on legal affairs does not have certain procedures in place exposes an infantile and laissez faire approach to matters of such national significance - begging for more to be done as a nation.

Most leaders perceive crisis moments as catalyst for problems and their imminent downfall - and not as an opportunity for resetting, relearning, and creating fresh starts. This crisis presents that opportunity now, and the buck stops with the leadership in the judicial establishment. They ought to take responsibility and explain clearly and concisely how they view act of corruption in the system - real or perceived, and how they will continue galvanising not only the judiciary but the overall legal fraternity on professionalism and ethical conduct. In crisis management, this is a classic case of "issue escalation," where an organization's failure to address a problem promptly allows it to metastasize into a full-blown reputational crisis. The judiciary's long inaction has enabled the crisis to transition from a "reputation threat" to a "reputation crisis," characterized by widespread stakeholder disaffection and loss of legitimacy. It will not be surprising if this turns into a campaign with people physically on the ground – not what most would phathom given the time of the year. 

We must face reality that the judiciary will no longer ring-fence itself from scrutiny. The  leadership must recognize that its reputation is intricately linked to the public's perception of its integrity, impartiality, and effectiveness. Reputation management principles dictate that organizations must prioritize transparency, accountability, and stakeholder engagement during crises. I have a strong belief that the leadership in the judicial establishment holds the latitude to resolving this matter before it turns into a long-standing national campaign. To mitigate this crisis, the judiciary should adopt a ‘proactive’, ‘stakeholder-centric’ approach. This entails:

•⁠  ⁠Conducting an urgent, credible, and transparent investigation into the allegations,

with known timelines

•⁠  ⁠Communicating findings and actions taken, to stakeholders

•⁠  ⁠Implementing reforms to address systemic vulnerabilities

•⁠  ⁠Engaging stakeholders through open dialogue and participatory processes

•⁠  ⁠Demonstrating a commitment to accountability and zero tolerance for misconduct

(real or perceived)

The judiciary's leadership must acknowledge that reputation recovery requires a long-term, sustained effort. The best is to start preparing what the future looks like and allow actions that demonstrate the desire to recoup public trust and rebuild its damaged reputation. This involves fostering a culture of transparency, professionalism, and accountability, as well as investing in stakeholder relationships and communication infrastructure. 

Ultimately, the judiciary's ongoing response and actions to this crisis will determine its reputational trajectory. By embracing crisis management best practices and prioritizing stakeholder engagement, the establishment can begin to rebuild trust, restore its reputation, and reaffirm its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

The time for action is now. Will the leadership rise to the challenge, or will the judiciary's reputation continue to spiral down the rabbit hole?

#crisiscommunication #malawi #crisismanagement #reputationmanagement #crisis #publicrelations #crisiscommunication #crisisready #staeholderengagement

The Boeing 737 MAX Crisis: Is the future certain?

The unforgiving nature of crises and the volatility of business operating environments in the modern era leaves corporations and executives fallible to reputational damaging effect of event of crisis proportion. 

Within a space of nearly 5 years, Boeing has suffered yet another blow to its reputation following another of its 737 MAX model failures.

On Friday, 5 January, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 Flight 1282, operated by Alaska Airlines was reported to have had a cabin panel blown off the plane’s fuselage, leaving a gaping hole in the plane, and depressurising the plane's cabin. Luckily enough, there was no loss of life in this incident - all 174 passengers and 6 crew members landed safely. The incident was shared on social media several times, emphasising the power and Influence of Social Media in Crisis Management.

Already grappling with financial repairs from the incidents involving a Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018, and another involving an Ethiopian Airline Flight 302 in March 2019, alongside the grounding of the plane model for long periods – the woes brought about on Boeing by 737 MAX could be the very beginning of the crumble of the corporation's competitiveness for decades.  We covered Boeing’s crisis response and approcah to crises, and how it could salvage its reputation outside the quality control, safety concerns, and technical difficulties of the plane model in our previous article Boeing 737 MAX: Navigating Its Future following the fatal incidents in 2018 and 2019.

Crises facilitate for big market share loss for brands and products. Boeing will continue to lose its market to competitors as investigations continue to occur, every now and then. Already, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ruled that the 737 MAX operated by any USA airliner or flying into the USA by a foreign operator should be, and must remain grounded. This would look like a ‘sequel’ to an 18 month grounding of the MAX plane model following the catastrophic incidents in 2018 and 2019 - once again offering competitor's confidence to engage market negotiations whilst there is a vacuum forming.

For a model that suffered massive market setbacks soon after its introduction on the market, the Boeing 737 MAX still remains a product of concern following revelations that an inspection of the model by another operator, United Airline, found that the opratator's fleet of the MAX had loose bolts. It is yet to be seen how much confidence airline operators will still have in the MAX model.

Crises not only affects reputation, financial bottom line, and market share - they also disrupt corporations operating environment, business model, and can cost corporations hefty lawsuits, and careers for its executives. For example, following the 737 MAX incident in 2019, Boeing separated the roles of Chairman and CEO, introducing David L Calhoun as non executive chairman while Dennis Muilenburg continued as CEO, and President. Muilenburg was later fired based on his perceived management of the 2018 and 2019 accidents. In addition, Boeing set up funds to pay victims' families and also made payments in related lawsuits.

Organisational reconfigurations are implemented to improve organisational performance and propel it’s competitiveness in an industry. With the recent incident demonstrates that despite management changes, there has not been significant progress at Boeing, as far as the 737 MAX model and quality control is concerned. We are yet to see if there will be any heads rolling off the chopping board. The ramification and how current CEO David L Calhoun handles the prevailing crisis may be the life saver for both Boeing as well as his own career. It is also a litmus test if he is indeed up to the task as a leader conversant in Leadership and Crises Management.

#crisiscommunication #ceo #boeing #crisismanagement #reputationmanagement #737max #crisis #publicrelations #crisis-communication #crisisready #max

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT – The Art of Public Relations?

Often times than not communication practitioners will set out to undertake stakeholder engagement but eventually find themselves throwing in a big chunk of public relations in the mix.

In some instances, practitioners may set out to manage a crisis but realise they need to undertake public relations and stakeholder engagement to get the intended outcome from the management of the crisis. Even though semantically diverse, this exemplifies the cross-cutting nature of these practices in the field of communication - there is a negligible divide in practice. For example, your Public Relations strategy may include advertising, events, media relations (news mentions, press release, etc) among others. In principle, these may be essential to your Public Relations strategy, but in practice they cut across all other components of audience activation and engagement, including stakeholder engagement, and crisis management.

Organizations allocate a good spend establishing teams to facilitate stakeholder engagement and build a customer centric mindset. Essentially delivering public relations with a personalised approach - in the process, ensuring issues are managed before they turn into crises, especially in the modern crisis prone business operating environment.

In addition, advances in technology have taken stakeholder or customer engagement practices to another level. The razor thin divide between humans and machine allows customers or clients to interact with Artificial Intelligence to get their inquiries delt with. Organisations have made it easy for themselves by allowing bots to muster and master their businesses and be able to keep customers updated and their problems sorted. However, many a time, bots are found wanting at a certain stage of the engagement, and that can be frustrating for a customer. This is why human interaction remains paramount in stakeholder engagement because of the emotional element that underlies stakeholder engagement, and the opportunity to establish a connection, a working relationship, and a human feel with your public.

So, what should practitioners do when engaging the modern consumer or customer? Well, methods may have changed and advanced, but the playing field remains the same – it is the same turf where strategies are commensurate with organisations strategic business goals. It is the same place where practitioners deal with customer or consumer emotions, in one way or the other, when handling customer issues. Successful engagement still exudes elements of human intelligence and public relations. Often, stakeholder engagement (and that includes infusion of Public Relations and in Crisis Management) is not devoid of emotional engagement and public relations– the how of dealing with these elements places practitioners apart from each other.

In the many years of practice in communication, I have encountered and observed practitioners resorting to straight jacketing stakeholder engagement into a logical exercise than an exercise of engaging with customer or consumer emotions. This is where I teach and inspire many practitioners to churn their engagement to achieve a seamless and longer lasting relationship with their stakeholders. Organisation ought to ensure their engagement teams are well rounded in the most important elements of stakeholder engagement, public relations, and crisis management for a positive customer experience and creating a community which is on your side.

It is important to craft a well thought out communication strategy that synchronises the arts of Public relations, Stakeholder engagement, Crisis management and any accessories to the delivery an effective communication for your organisation whilst fostering a positive emotional engagement with your audience.

When we understand your business, we at pjelwyns.com tailor these elements to suit your business objectives, and help you achieve your strategic goals.

#communicationstrategy #Publicrelations #Stakeholderengagement, #projectcommunication #Crisismanagement #strategicplanning