Inside General Motors: Communicating through the crisis

By Marc Wright

http://www.simply-communicate.com/case-studies/internal-communication/inside-general-motors-communicating-through-crisis

Katie McBride had the hottest seat in internal communications last year as car giant General Motors filed for Chapter 11 in one of the most dramatic melt-downs of the economic crisis. She came to the IABC World Conference to a sell-out session where she relived her experiences of the last 12 months.

This was no small deal – General Motors was – and still is – one of the world’s leading automakers. From its global headquarters in Detroit it directs business in 157 countries around the world, employing some 205,000 people. The company produces cars and trucks in 31 countries, including the US, China, Brazil, Germany, the UK, Canada and Italy selling such brands as Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, FAW, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling.

McBride has now moved onto other roles at GM but as Head of Employee Communications back in 2009 she drove through a three part strategy.

“Our aim was to keep leaders visible and accessible to instill confidence in their direction and the company’s future through open, honest communication that involved the entire leadership team and not just the CEO. Secondly we wanted to reach our whole audience globally in a way that was meaningful and relevant and thirdly use employees as ambassadors for our products.”

The first part of that strategy was put under extreme pressure when on the 29th March 2009 CEO Rick Wagoner was summarily dismissed following pressure from the White House. Wagoner was extremely popular at the Head Office and McBride was one of the first to receive the news.

“We were all in shock, but then knew we had to get on with the job of letting employees know what had happened. We worked into the evening on the communications strategy and how to put it into action. It was only when I drove home that I broke down and then had to put on a brave face again to enter the house.”

An unenviable task

The thought that one of the world’s largest car producers could go bankrupt was unthinkable; what chance would there be for new car sales if consumers were worried that the company that made them would disappear? On June 1, 2009 GM filed for Chapter 11. McBride and her reduced team (the 260 comms staff was halved over the past two years) had to get onto the front foot.

“The night before the filing, we worked straight through. It was important to explain to employees everything they needed to know about Chapter 11, how it impacted the company and their job. There was lots of fear so transparency was key – people were wondering whether they should even come into work,” McBride recalled.

Henderson explained the position during a town hall meeting that was broadcast on the day of the

filing. Additonal internal communications included a letter to all employees, a list of FAQs for leaders, video clips from the leadership, press releases around plant closures as well as a raft of internal and external blogs. There were global complexities to deal with as the nature of the bankruptcy had different implications in different countries. In the months following the filing, newly-appointed CEO Fritz Henderson held regular “Global Conversations” with staff in live webinars. During one hour-long session, he fielded 454 questions and managed to answer 42 of them, or more than one answer every 90 seconds. During one session, he said it like it was - dubbing some of GM's brands "consistently unprofitable" and promising "significant change" in the company's leadership.

Building Trust

One of the most effective channels during this time was a Q&A forum called “Answer Me Now” on the intranet where subject matter experts would answer the direct questions of concerned staff.

“The questions were coming in around 125 a day and they each needed answering. We had some push back from senior executives who had enough on their plate already, but Fritz led by example and convinced his senior colleagues on the importance of communicating directly with employees – as well as customers - to build their trust in the leadership and confidence in their own future,” McBride explained.

The timely responses helped combat rumours using straightforward, conversational language. This was probably made easier since GM already had one of the most trusted and innovative comms channels of any large organisation through its early espousal of blogging. Bob Lutz had spent the previous 5 years establishing his blog as part of http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/ that appealed externally to customers and internally to employees. Although Lutz finally resigned at the end of 2009 after 46 years in the global automotive business, his legacy has grown into a strong collection of blogs that brings the GM message alive for thousands around the world.

Coping with falling morale

Nevertheless despite the best efforts of McBride’s team the crisis had a devastating effect on staff morale as confidence in the once mighty GM crashed. In 2007 69% of customers had a favourable view of the future of the company. In November 2009 that goodwill had ebbed to just 34%.

“One of our most important tasks was to rebuild trust in our products – to humanize GM and make people proud of our cars and company once more. We embarked on a Product Ambassador Program. We have a terrific resource in our employees: we need their voice speaking for GM vehicles to friends, families and even strangers,” McBride said.

Extrovert members of staff were given new models to take home for the weekend so they could extol the virtues of the cars they built to their friends and neighbours. GM also set up employee Ride & Drive schemes where fleets of new cars were brought to the offices for staff to try out. This ‘underground marketing’ started to have a real effect – helping to change perceptions of GM cars around the United States.

But perhaps the most interesting move was the Employee Journalist programme. Over 450 employees were recruited to cover media events, product training and competitive Ride and Drives. They then reported their experiences on internal blogs and newsletters.

“There was risk involved. The marketing and brand people were not keen at first to let untrained staff mix with the press in case they misrepresented the company. And we did have one case where a staff reporter highlighted a paint defect on a model within earshot of the press. But we had the good sense to take a deep breath and calmly deal with it. This program is about building our reputation using staff over the long term. It was far too important to stop because of one mistake.”

“At the bottom line it’s about changing our culture by putting authority and responsibility in the hands of our employees. The program has strengthened pride and morale and ignited a fair amount of passion and enthusiasm inside the organisation. It has also allowed us to get out of the workplace and connect with customers and each other,” McBride pointed out.

Externally the campaign has had an interesting effect against the background of the negative press that GM has been suffering. McBride explains:

“Our universal learning is that people connect and relate to the people and products behind the headlines. Once they meet us, they become supporters and even advocates.”