KEY POINTS:
Days after the tragic death of South Auckland mother Folole Muliaga, the situation couldn't look worse for Mercury Energy. Even the prime minister, a crisis management veteran, has joined in, slamming the company's handling of the issue. While the facts of what happened continue to be debated and disputed, the mistakes that Mercury Energy has made in handling the issue are clear.
Don't blame the victim (or their family)
For Mercury Energy to continue saying there is "some doubt about the circumstances" doesn't wash with the public. The key circumstance is that Folole Muliaga is dead. There's no doubt about that. She was alive before the power was turned off and died after it was disconnected. If Mercury Energy believes there are extenuating circumstances, the time to share this is when they are confirmed facts, not when they are speculations or suggestions.
Don't keep changing your story
One day Mercury Energy is reported as saying that contractors do call in for guidance in situations where there's doubt - the next we hear they don't. At a Mercury Energy news conference, a company spokesperson says the contractor can't be expected to make medical decisions and, a moment later, Mercury Energy recounts a story where a contractor decides not to go ahead with a disconnection when a mother with a young baby says to do so would be very bad for the child.
The public is left wondering what the rules around disconnections really are and whether they reflect a corporate culture that leaves unnamed contractors making life or death decisions on a whim.
Don't start a scrap with the victim's family
Family spokesperson Brendan Sheehan says the power wasn't reconnected until many hours later. Mercury Energy disputes this. What could be the benefit to the company to argue about the timing of the reconnection? Perhaps Mercury Energy believes it will win points for taking action, but the public verdict is likely to be "too little too late".
Avoid blame shifting
We've heard that the family had made part payments of their power bill and now know that this doesn't stop disconnection. We've heard there are notices you can get from hospital to prove to a contractor that your electricity needs to stay on for medical reasons, and we've heard that the oxygen machine was not "vital" but simply there to assist Folole Muliaga. Again, while these statements are true, the sad fact remains that the Muliaga family clearly didn't know any of this and it is doubtful whether many New Zealanders would either.
Stay focused on the issue
Mercury Energy has talked about how codes of conduct have been developed to protect consumers and how the Privacy Act means they can't find out from hospitals which customers need electricity for health management. While all of this is true, it sounds like corporate spin. In the weeks ahead these issues can and should be addressed and maybe changes made to avoid this happening again. But now is not the time.
Mercury Energy is not alone in mishandling its communications around a crisis. In fact, 2007 is shaping up to be the year of the corporate communications crisis.
In March, we witnessed the Ribena Vitamin C content crisis when GlaxoSmithKline was found guilty of false advertising. The company was fined more than $200,000.
Their public response was, "We have been claiming that the blackcurrants in Ribena contained four times the Vitamin C of oranges. This may have misled you into believing that Ribena products contain four times the Vitamin C of orange juice products, which is not the case. In future, Ribena New Zealand will no longer be making this claim".
Another case of too little too late. Of course they won't be making this claim in the future, it would be illegal to do so, which is why they got fined in the first place.
A few weeks later, the Health and Disabilities Commissioner released a report confirming that two years ago, Capital & Coast District Health Board had failed "to provide safe and appropriate care for a very unwell patient (and that) in addition to the clear system failure, several individual doctors and nurses must accept responsibility for their failure to provide appropriate medical and nursing care".
Rather than denying or debating the detail, the chair of the board, Dr Judith Aitken, took the blame and said, "The Board takes full responsibility for the events leading up to the tragic outcome".
In her media statement she went on to say, "Capital & Coast District Health Board (C&C DHB) sincerely apologises to the patient's family for the loss of their loved one. We have contacted the family and have met to express to them directly our apologies and deep regret".
What sets this story apart is that Aitken said sorry. One little word that showed New Zealand that the board was taking responsibility and someone regretted what had happened.
Every day we see media and sporting personalities apologising for mistakes they have made, sometimes it's drug use, other times violent behaviour. From these cases it's clear that the public are prepared to forgive and forget. When an apology is made in a sincere way and remorse is shown, the debate ends and we all move on.
Perhaps the key lesson from last week's tragic affair is this, New Zealanders expect businesses and business people to take responsibility for mistakes that happen.
For companies, continued "success" depends on public confidence. "Sorry" shouldn't be the hardest word.
* Jenni Raynish is the founder of the Raynish Group, a communications consultancy providing strategic communications advice to corporates in New Zealand and Australia.
