Crisis Communications: Boeing is currently a case study for a public company in crisis.
The problems for Boeing are mounting daily, and the question is, what can the company do to get ahead of the issues and the story?
An incremental response and the usual crisis communications playbook isn’t going to cut it. The problems Boeing faces are real, deep, and existential to the brand. The company’s culture and focus on quality is known to have changed dramatically after the merger with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. And reports of serious issues with their planes have been ongoing for nearly 30 years including two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 in Ethiopia and Indonesia of the Boeing 737 Max.
But it’s the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 problem that has captured the public’s attention. Why? Because it could have been any of us in those seats near the door that blew off. Because we’ve seen the video repeatedly on television and social media. Because it was a US airline. And because it’s such an obvious failure that a door fell off and left a gaping hole in the side of the plane.
All the elements needed to cement a damaging narrative are there. We can all relate to it, we can all understand it, and we can all watch the video. This time, Boeing can’t take an incremental approach and focus on just the specific engineering, manufacturing, and maintenance issues. It must fix the underlying issue, which is a culture focused on earnings over quality, and do it while communicating to the industry, regulators, and the public.
Four ways Boeing can build back trust, but the communications need to be backed by real change.
· Set Expectations: The company needs to let investors and stakeholders know that Boeing will be going through a period of radical change, and that earnings will be affected beginning with a statement from the board and then a detailed plan from investor relations. This can then be followed up regularly to demonstrate progress against the plan.
· Change in Public: Whether CEO Dave Calhoun likes it or not, he is the face of this crisis, and needs to be out-front demonstrating publicly how the company is changing at the ground floor level from manufacturing to maintenance. This is an opportunity to do something dramatic, like moving his office from a distant headquarters to a factory floor.
· Brand the Effort: In 1981, Ford introduced “Quality is Job 1” as their company tagline, and it helped the workforce and public understand that this was a company-wide effort. Clearly it needs to be backed up by substance and a detailed plan, but the tagline helped frame the turnaround in a way that everyone could understand.
· Recognize the Wins: Honor the memory of John Barnett, the whistleblower who committed suicide by recognizing employee contributions made during the turnaround that will improve airplane quality long-term. These “stories” of contributions will go a long way to help people recognize that it’s ok to come forward about quality issues inside the company.
Boeing is having a Tylenol moment, but does the company recognize this?
Boeing is having a Tylenol moment, but the question is whether the company fully recognizes this. In 1982, Johnson & Johnson pulled all Tylenol products off shelves nationwide after package tampering and poisoning found in several locations. Why? The tampering had scared people and removed public trust in the product – even for those that lived far away from where a tampered package had been found.
The company than redesigned the package seal and other steps that have become standard in securing pharmaceutical products. All the while, the company’s leadership kept the public aware of what it was doing. At the time people criticized the Tylenol team for overkill, but the company’s response has become a Harvard MBA case study in crisis and brand management. Today, Tylenol has $300 million in sales, but the outcome could have been quite different.
And while Boeing essentially has a lock on US commercial plane manufacturing, it doesn’t have a lock on public perception. Any issue a Boeing plan has in the near future, such as a tire falling off a plane in flight last week, only builds on the narrative and will be a national story. Boeing isn’t going to turn that around immediately, but can counter with proactive, substantive, and easily understood changes the company is making to turn the situation around – quickly.
The airline industry and the flying public needs Boeing to survive and thrive. We are a mobile nation that depends on travel, and we are already seeing the impacts of the company’s maintenance issues and stalled deliveries. Airlines are holding up hiring and new schedule additions as new planes may not be delivered as a expected. That means schedule competition will be restricted, prices will be higher for consumers, and frustration will grow. None of that helps Boeing or us.
For additional background on this crisis, take a look at John Oliver’s excellent "Last Week Tonight" piece on the company.
