The Rubiales ‘disasterclass’

It is fair to say that even in today’s complex and confusing world, 2023 has seen more than its fair share of organisational crises focused on individual behaviour and corporate culture.

Behaviour and culture take centre stage

In March, the 363-page Casey report found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic, nine months after the force was put into special measures. A month later, the CBI fired its director general and suspended all policy and membership work, following complaints of workplace misconduct by several senior figures.

In July, the BBC’s Panorama aired the findings of a long-running investigation into an apparent culture of sexual harassment and bullying in the Palace of Westminster, with the system for investigating and punishing misdemeanours drawing almost as much fire as the culture itself.

The following day, McDonald's UK was forced to comment – and act – on allegations of a toxic culture of sexual assault, harassment, racism and bullying across many of its outlets. And we have, of course, seen the BBC and ITV rocked by allegations involving household name presenters, Huw Edwards and Phillip Schofield.

Without in any way minimising the enormous, real world impact of these developments on those involved, few scandals have dominated international news cycles to the same extent as the behaviour of Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president, Luis Rubiales, following Spain’s victory over England in the Women’s World Cup Final.

Having grabbed his crotch in apparent celebration yards from Spain’s Queen Letizia and 16-year-old Princess Infanta Sofía, Rubiales proceeded to grasp Spanish forward, Jenni Hermoso, by the head and kiss her on her lips during the trophy presentation.

Hermoso has since issued a statement, in which she said: “I felt vulnerable and a victim of aggression, an impulsive act, sexist, out of place and without any type of consent from my part.” And yet, in the face of widespread expectation that he would step down, Rubiales told an EGM of the football federation (five times) that he would not resign – citing “false feminism” and “a societal assassination”.

Despite the Spanish government announcing legal action against the federation and Fifa provisionally suspending Rubiales from any football-related activity for 90 days, RFEF has threatened legal action against Hermoso for “lying”. And in a plot twist worthy of the Hollywood script that is doubtless being written as I type, his mother has now gone on hunger strike in a church in southern Spain in support of her son. It would be comical, if it weren’t so deadly serious.

You are defined by the behaviours you tolerate

Why does this whole sorry fiasco matter to crisis communicators and what can we learn about how not to do it? At its heart, the Rubiales affair underlines two fundamental principles of good (and bad) crisis communication and crisis management.

Firstly, there is rarely, if ever, any such thing as a ‘PR crisis’ caused solely by poor communication. Rather, reputational crises are invariably the result of some combination of operational, leadership, structural, governance, decision-making, behavioural and cultural factors – in this case, all of those and more.

Secondly – and perhaps even more importantly – organisations are defined not by the values and behaviours they promote, but by those they tolerate. As one contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme rather brilliantly put it: “Fifa’s President Gianni Infantino told women recently that ‘you have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do.’ Well, we told you and you’ve continued to do it anyway.”

They say that organisational culture is like a fish – it rots from the head down – and that maxim certainly appears to hold in this instance. RFEF continues to back their leader, even when the entire coaching team – except the controversial women’s team head coach, Jorge Vilda – resigns en masse and 81 members of the women’s squad refuse to play for their country until Rubiales has gone.

What is perhaps even more telling – and instructive – for anyone interested in crisis communication (or even just doing the right thing!), is that none of this is new. Rubiales’ career has been dogged by allegations of bullying, corruption and inappropriate sexual conduct – including by his own uncle – all of which he denies.

As an indication of the cultural challenges facing the federation under his leadership, 15 senior members of the national women’s team had previously refused to play for their country until Vilda was removed, citing cultural issues that had impacted their physical and emotional health. A fish may rot from the head down, but a culture also erodes from the bottom up. Telling, perhaps, that RFEF counts just six women among its 140 members?

We reap the crises whose seeds we sew

So where does this leave us and what lessons can we draw? Thomas Jefferson famously said: “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” Corporate reputation – and its relational impacts – are little different. If there is one sure-fire way of creating a self-imposed crisis, it is by tolerating the very behaviours that your values should render unimaginable.

RFEF’s stated values include transparency, respect and integrity – hardly the hallmarks of an approach that has tolerated gaslighting and victim blaming. The problem with creating glaring ‘say-do gaps’ between what you say you value and what you tolerate or even celebrate – both culturally and behaviourally – is that it:

1. Calls into question the veracity and reliability of pretty much anything you say.
    
2. Rapidly erodes trust and confidence externally and – crucially – internally.
    
3. Damages recruitment, retention and productivity, particularly in the era of ‘quiet quitting’.
    
4. Sends a direct message to your people that you will likely protect those whose behaviour falls short.
    
5. Directly impacts the likelihood of victims standing up and speaking out.
    
6. Increases the likelihood of insider events and whistleblowing.
    
7. Stores up a reservoir of relational risk almost certain to breach the reputational dam in the form of an issue or a full-blown crisis.

Ultimately, organisations – just like individuals – have choices to make. Where the Met, the CBI, ITV, the BBC, McDonald's, Fifa and Spanish football go next hinges largely on what they tolerate, not what they promote.

Rod Cartwright is a special advisor at the CIPR Crisis Communications Network. Read the original post.

The CIPR Crisis Communications Network will be exploring these and related issues in its forthcoming events on Insider Risk (10 October) and on Toxic Culture (28 November). Details will be available soon on the events page of the Network’s dedicated site.