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Communicating
Effectively in Times of Crisis
By Michael Alan Hamlin
April 30, 2001
Everyone who was surprised when pro-Erap
rallies at Edsa last week turned semi-serious raise your hand. That
little exercise — the hand-raising exercise, not the rallies
— demonstrates two things. First, a crisis can never be dealt
with unless it’s acknowledged. Anyone who thinks that the impact
of the rallies does not seriously affect international investor
perceptions of the Philippines, for instance, should sit in the
back of the room. You just don’t get it.
Second, ineffective communications can make a crisis
— even one that's not acknowledged — far worse than it
needs to be. Anyone who thinks that telling poor people: 1) that
they don't matter; 2) that they are boorish because they pee on
church property; and, 3) that they are ugly because they are missing
one or more teeth, doesn't get them riled up should also sit in
the back of the room. All one has to do is look at Cardinal Jaime
Sin's survey numbers - according to one pollster an endorsement
by the Cardinal is a political death wish - to understand the impact
of an angry, as well as poor, electorate.
I spent most of last week running communication workshops
and coaching sessions for top executives for a large international
organization, and so couldn't help wonder how bizarrely mystifying
the administration's handling of the arrest of the former president
and the subsequent rallies turned out. Let's consider the way it
was done, and whether there wasn't a better way.
Like most people, I'm assuming that some sort of negotiations
preceded the arrest of the former president. I'd be surprised if
any sort of agreement was reached, however, since the administration
resorted to the Erap tactic of overwhelming force to take the once
proud action hero to jail. As a result, the administration created
for itself the perception of being mean spirited, vindictive, and
petty in its determination to humiliate Mr. Estrada. Mr. Estrada
may be heavy handed himself, but by assuming that same posture,
the administration brought itself down to his level (Or are these
it's true colors?).
Even if the negotiations for Mr. Estrada's arrest didn't
go the way the administration wanted, tell me, wouldn't the administration
have looked better by saying something to this effect: "An
arrest warrant has been issued, and the Sandiganbayan has ruled
that the former president be remanded to custody. In deference to
the former chief executive, we are requesting that he appear at
Camp Crame (or wherever) before the end of the week."?
If the administration had issued such a statement,
it would have been seen as fair-minded and mature and above the
nastiness that instead has characterized the episode. And it is
likely that Mr. Estrada would have wisely acceded to the request,
since to do otherwise would have made him appear unworthy of the
administration's gesture. While rallies would still have no doubt
still taken place, they would not have enjoyed the ironically moral
ascendancy that they now do. Meanwhile, international investors
- the few who care anyway - would have been spared another round
of street protests; instead, they would have seen a government determined
to move on with the business and substance of governance.
When Mr. Estrada's supporters failed to disappear after
their hero had been unceremoniously carted away, mug shot, and left
on his shaky cot, the administration flippantly suggested —
in a fashion reminiscent of Senator John Osmeña — that
the scraggily protestors were deadbeats who matter little, or probably
not at all in the larger scheme of Philippine politics. That's worse
than naïve, I'm afraid, because any politician that continues
to solidly hold — and has done so for years — 25 percent
of the electorate is in fact pretty doggone important whether he
is in jail or in exile.
While it is unlikely that the administration could
ever win over Mr. Estrada's loyal supporters, has making them monstrously
mad helped the administration? Obviously no. Instead the administration
has come conspicuously close to turning a significant but effectively
if temporarily marginalized block of the electorate into a more-than-reasonably
credible force. And this development will dominate news on the Philippines
for days and possibly weeks to come (It's good that the election
of a new Japanese prime minister and continuing U.S.-China tensions
are dominating the international news, significantly diverting attention
from the Philippines.). The effect is despairingly apparent in the
stock and currency markets.
Fortunately for the administration, it's not too late
to start communicating effectively, and demonstrating its willingness
to address Estrada's not-so-unreasonable concerns. No, that's not
to suggest house arrest, which would be inappropriate for a number
of reasons. Instead, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should say
that she and her advisers mucked things up, and their sorry for
unnecessarily offending sensibilities. And yes, by-the-way, every
citizen does happen to be important, and while the government may
not have the obligation to take care of them in the way Mr. Estrada
always said he would (but didn't), it does have the obligation to
listen to them, and to respect their views. Oh, and they should
do it in Filipino.
It's not just that there's little to gain from alienating
so many voters. It's what's being lost in the meantime. Correct
me if I'm wrong, but I believe this government came into being to
make things better, not unnecessarily more chaotic, and unproductive.
(Mr. Hamlin is managing director of the consultancy
TeamAsia and the author of two books on Asian economies and managing
in Asia. His latest book is The New Asian Corporation: Managing
for the Future in Post-Crisis Asia. His e-mail address is mahamlin@teamasia.com.ph.)
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