May 10, 2010

WHEN A POLITICAL OFFICE FACES

NEGATIVE MEDIA COVERAGE…
Compiled By: Cincinnatus

“It is of first importance that the soldier, high or low, should

not have to encounter in war things which seen for the first
time set him in terror or perplexity.”

--Carl Von Clausewitz, military theorist

Just as no book can really prepare raw recruits for their first experience of hostile enemy
fire, there’s unfortunately no document that political staffers can read in order to prepare
themselves for the day when their office faces a flood of bad media stories.

To help you to start to prepare for that day, below are five tips to keep in mind, derived
from the hard-earned experience of several uniquely qualified political veterans consulted
by Cincinnatus.

1. Not All Bad Stories Require Extensive Push Back

In a typical political office, where the staff members are generally loyal to the minister,
the initial reaction to bad stories is likely going to be defensive anger, along the lines of
“how dare they say that about our minister!,” etc.

However, there’s a difference between a three-alarm crisis and a one-day story. You may
feel tempted to push back hard, but you have to watch that you don’t go overboard in
attacking the accuser. This just raises the temperature.

If what you are facing is likely a one day story, you’re probably better off to take
your lumps, shut up and say nothing. A counter attack means more publicity and
repetition of the original charges in the press.

This is where a good, level-headed Chief of Staff comes in handy, as the chief can help
tone everyone down as necessary.

Some chiefs may say, “Well, we have a communications director that we are paying
$120,000 a year – let her handle this.”

Let’s face facts – communications directors are often great at external communications,
but not very good at internal communications. And in this case, someone needs to be
reassuring staff, and addressing their anxieties and concerns. This is a task that the chief
is likely better suited for, in many cases, than the communications director.

This raises a question – how do you know the difference between a one-day story and
something more serious?

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Well, look at your news aggregates – the newswires, and 24 hr news channels coverage
(who is on the loop).

Oftentimes, staffers are so wrapped up in our ministerial world we can't see the tree
canopy for the weeds on the ground.

Staffers are often in the weeds and think the public cares what's happening at the Official
Languages Committee at 9AM on a cold Thursday in March.

Stepping back and looking at what's happening in other ministries and the news in
general is always a wise practice, so that you have a good grasp of the wider context.
What you think is a really bad story may be wiped from the headlines by someone else’s
even worse story.

2. If the Bad Stories Persist, Keeping Morale High Becomes a Key Task

No matter what the energy level is in a political office, sustained negative coverage over
several days or weeks is tough on every staffer. When staffers don’t see any positive
articles, when all they read in the press are attacks on their minister, when gossip from
staffers in other offices begins to circulate about a possible cabinet shuffle – these all take
their toll.

And after sustained negative coverage, the minister’s mood can begin to deteriorate --
especially when rumours about cabinet shuffles and rising concern in the PMO begin to
fly.

A week seems about the tipping point for most staff. By then, their energy levels are way
down and they are in a funk. Work productivity is down. Unless files are urgent, business
begins to collect on staffers’ desks. And deadlines start getting blown because people
double and triple check to make sure they don't cause further bad media stories.

Also, some staff may even begin to refresh and circulate their resumes. News of staffers
attempting to leave a particular office in large numbers will feed gossip and rumours. Just
like in the private sector, high turnover of staff is bad news.

If the bad stories continue into a second or third week, more staff will dust off their
resumes just in case --and virtually no work gets done. (So no matter how tough things
get, it’s up to the senior staff, especially the chief, to help ensure that deadlines continue
to be met and the flow of work proceeds on schedule.)

Staffers will be seen talking in small groups, or on the phone. Office doors will
oftentimes be shut. Staffers start getting sick, and stay sick because of stress.

And divisions can begin to emerge among the staff. If the minister is seen as performing
weakly in QP, then the parliamentary affairs director will be seen as ineffective. If the

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minister is prone to verbal gaffes and slips, an accusing finger may be pointed at the
communications director.

Cliques may become a problem. One staffer may begin to enjoy inordinate access to the
minister (or the chief of staff) and seems to get his way on everything as far as responses
to the bad stories go.

The worst that can happen is that a chief of staff or senior staff begin to play the blame
game or run down junior staff. Senior staff are office leaders, and shouldn't attack their
colleagues in public.

The minister will sense this discontent and notice how his team seems like it is fracturing.
As a consequence, at the time that the minister needs the most support from staff, it
will be lacking.

Again, it’s up to the Chief of Staff to set the tone. The chief has to make all of this look
like just another day in politics. This won’t be easy, but it helps if a chief has been
around for awhile and can point to others who have survived and done well after bad
coverage and attacks.

Steps that a chief can take include: spending time discussing what staff are thinking;
keeping them up to date on developments; dispelling rumours; bringing the minister in to
talk to staff; and, in general, not isolating staff from the minister.

Above all, as a chief of staff, keep your door open, as closed doors will tell staff that
something is wrong and that you are keeping it from them.

Before closing on this point, let’s acknowledge that individual staffers deal with bad
stories about their ministers in different ways, because they can have different views of
how the media works. Some will believe the media is out to destroy the minister’s
reputation and therefore ignore or play down all bad coverage. Others will believe
everything reported “as is.”

One more point where staffers are concerned -- if the chief of staff and the minister work
in secret and come up with a plan on how to respond to the bad stories, they should make
sure they at least explain that plan to the staff before proceeding with it, to ensure
everyone is on the same page.

3. Experience Becomes Important Factor Once Bad Stories Break

When bad stories break, broadly speaking, staffers can have one of two reactions.

First, some begin to question their minister’s abilities. For example, if a minister keeps
making mistakes in QP or flubbing interviews, some staff may begin to wonder if she is
up to the job.

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On the other hand, no matter what mistakes a minister may make, other staffers will
defend the minister to the death. The slogan “my minister, right or wrong” summarizes
their attitude.

Both these reactions are related in large part to how long an individual has worked as a
political staffer, and how long that individual has been worked for their particular
minister.

Staff that are new to the game will think the sky is falling after a few days of bad
stories. Their morale may be low because they think the bad stories are likely their fault
in some way, or that the bad stories will be blamed on them.

More experienced staff, or staff that have been with a minister for a while, take the
bad media coverage in stride and understand we have today a 24 hour media cycle.
They will focus on finding ways to avoid prolonging the bad story.

And these experience staffers will definitely not allow the bad stories to get to them
personally. They can share their perspective with junior staff. Just as a chief of staff can
handle some of the internal communications in a crisis, senior staff have an important
role to play as well in sustaining office morale.

4. Keep Up Your Work Routines, No Matter How Tough Things Look

As the bad stories can pile up quickly, it’s important to keep up your regular office
routines. So don’t cancel your weekly staff meetings since there is no good news to talk
about, for example – continue with the meetings.

The pressure cooker of a political office facing repeated bad media stories can mean
extremely long hours for certain staff. So a good chief of staff will gauge the situation
and create an off-day list on a rotating basis, to give everyone chances to refresh
themselves. It could be as simple as giving half-days off to two staff per day (say one off
for the morning and the other off for the afternoon).

This would allow staff a bit of time to unwind, while other staff get an opportunity to step
up and deal with whatever crisis is besetting the office.

It’s good policy, by the way, to allow everyone to get an opportunity to grapple with
the problems facing the whole office, instead of leaving them feeling isolated and
unable to contribute to solutions.

5. When a Chief of Staff Leaves the Rest of the Office Out of the Loop…

Even when things are going well in a political office, some chiefs of staff like to keep a
great of information to themselves and not share much with staffers. The staff may resent
it, but this secrecy likely does not affect office morale very much, at least when things are
going well.

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But if you continue this approach as bad stories explode in the media, however,
something truly corrosive and destructive can happen -- the staffers can begin to feel like
they are spectators in a drama that they think has little or nothing to do with them. They
are having the career equivalent of an out-of-body experience.

Since no one is telling them what is really going on, or trying to include them in strategic
decisions about how to mitigate those bad stories, some staff begin to separate themselves
from their work and from the minister. They become bystanders as the tempo of bad
stories increases.

And the less engaged the staffers feel, the more quickly they will circulate their resumes
to other offices. Psychologically, they have given up. If they were soldiers, we would
say that they have lost the will to fight.

This could be blamed on (a) sincere surprise about the ferocity with which their office
has been bombarded with bad media stories and (b) a lack of faith that anything can
really be done to save the situation.

So if you are a chief of staff, or a senior staffer, remember this as the bad stories begin to
pile up – when you are honest and direct as a leader with your subordinates, you help
them to understand the context of the situation, and encourage them to take
ownership of the task of finding solutions.

That keeps staffers engaged and ensures that, no matter how bad things look, they won’t
give up.

(Cincinnatus wishes to express once again his personal gratitude to all those political
staffers who shared the insights presented in this document.)