Reputation management expert Jonathan Hemus of Insignia has said that while there have been some impressive elements to Toyota's PR effort in responding to the recent 'sticking accelerator' issue, the whole escapade throws up some serious questions about wider communications at the motoring giant - and in particular about their internal communications activity.
Writing in The Guardian, Hemus says: "Toyota has done many things right in responding to its current crisis: its spokespeople have filled the media with messages of reassurance, its PR people have blogged and tweeted non-stop to fill the information vacuum, its website is full of details about the recall and its call centre is working flat out to deal with customer enquiries".
But, noting that Toyota's reputation is still taking quite a bashing, despite those efforts, he continues: "Central to Toyota's problem is its perceived delay in identifying and addressing the situation in the first place. Whatever Toyota says now, and however well it acts, there is a sense that it ignored the problem until it was forced to take action. [And] the most effective crisis management takes place before the problem escalates out of control during the 'incubation' phase".
Achieving that early response, Hemus continues, is also a comms challenge, but an internal communications one. He says: "[There is] a hierarchical approach to management and a lack of open communication. Where this exists, junior employees who are best placed to spot early signs of crisis feel unable to point out flaws. As a result, problems go unnoticed and unresolved until they explode into a major crisis. Much better to put the fire out before it has reached this stage".
You can read Hemus' full piece on Toyota's communication challenge here.
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