How To Handle It When PR Snowballs Out Of Control

Wow, this is the end of the month, year and decade. It's been a great ride, in spite of some major roller coasters along the way. My sincerest wish to you is that the upcoming month, year and decade is the best you have yet to experience.

That said, sometimes bad things can happen when we put ourselves out to the public. One lesson I always remembered in my PR courses at college is this: Always tell the truth... always. A lie will be more devastating the that cold, hard truth. Truth you can move past; lies can take away credibility that sometimes is impossible to get back.

But often, bad things happen when we have done nothing wrong. We engage in a marketing activity and someone gets mad because they were not included or trolls mark us for their favorite target and give us a miserable week or so. The list can go on and on, but you get the point.

So, what do we do when PR starts to snowball out of control? Unfortunately, there is no hard-fast answers. Much of this relies on reacting as the situation unfolds. But there are some principles that can guide us. Let's look at a case study from something in the sports world that's going on right now.

Last week, the Indianapolis Colts were the last team left with an unbeaten record. At 14-0, they were facing a team fighting for their playoff lives. The Colt's had nothing to gain this season by winning the game. Their playoff position was the best it could be. With two games left in the season, the Colts could have lost them both and they still would have been the number one seed in the playoffs.

The coach and VP made the decision to pull the starters with a little more than one quarter left in the game. The decision was based on sound logic. Rest your starters and make sure they don't get hurt before the playoffs start.

But the fans in Indy (one of the most supportive and polite fan base in the NFL) went ballistic. To this day, people are still writing posts about the decision to pull the starters. They called the coach and the VP all kind of names. It has been a PR nightmare and it is not getting better. Consider this:

1. Colts have rested starters in the past when in this situation with no cry of outrage from the fans.

2. The coach is a rookie coach with the best rookie record of any new coach.

3. The VP will probably go down in history for being the architect of the most successful team of the decade, if not ever.

4. This year, the Colts won more games in this decade than any other team has won in any decade.

5. This year, the Colt's had a regular season winning streak of 24 games, an NFL record.

How did things go downhill so quickly for the team with the best record in the league? That's where the lesson comes in for us.

One thing on the line this year was the perfect season. To go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl. 37 years ago, the Miami Dolphins went 17-0. Since then, the season has been extended. This was a chance for history. No other team has done it since, with the New England Patriots going 18-1, losing in the Super Bowl a few years ago.

The Colts fans wanted this piece of history. The players wanted it. The problem was that the Colt's management didn't want it. With a lead in the 3rd quarter last week, they pulled their starters and sacrificed their chance at history.

The fans erupted and Colt's management fanned the flames by not reacting to this textbook PR debacle in a common sense way.

1. The VP repeatedly stated that a perfect season was not his goal, but someone else's goal.

2. The VP said he was shocked at the fan's outrage, implying that the fans should understand his way of thinking.

3. The coach consistently backed up his decision and said he was moving on.

Were the coach and VP wrong? In my opinion, technically, no. But their mistake is in how they handled this PR meltdown. They hammered the technicalities and missed the human element in this.

There was no empathy.

They created an "us vs. them" mentality with their own fan base.

They were so concerned about being right that they fanned the flames of anger and resentment of their own fans.

When something like this happens to us, we need to first stop and ask ourselves, how can I see things the way others are seeing them. Rather than burrow into defensiveness, we need to use a little empathy to try to contain some of the ill will.

We need to acknowledge other people's point of view, even if we disagree with it. If we find ourselves fighting against our own customer base, then we will always loose the battle, even if we are technically right, no matter how much we wish it weren't so.

In the end, the VP and coach did little to ease the situation. But to his credit, the owner spoke in public about this and put himself on the line. In my opinion, he exhibited the wisdom of Solomon by doing two things:

1. He backed his management.

2. He showed great empathy to his fans.

Jim Irsay, Colt's owner, called the decision to pull the starters "Courageous" and said he approved it. But he also said "it was really a close call" and "I'm a fan and it was tough to watch because you knew you had an excellent chance to win the game. At the same time, you're trying to do what's best for the franchise. But you have to have the courage to do it."

People understand if you disagree with them. Most people are civil. But if you make people feel that their view is stupid or wrong, you are inviting your own PR nightmare.

A little common sense and empathy can go a long way to heal hard feelings. Kudos to Irsay.