How not to respond to accusations of a toxic culture
I was intrigued to see today’s BBC news story about claims of “fear and alienation” and a “toxic culture” at the top of The Co-Op.
The story is based on the leak of a letter sent two weeks ago to the grocery giant’s board.
The letter apparently blows the whistle on a culture of intimidation which applies even to senior managers, who “feel scared to raise concerns about the direction of the business in front of the leadership team, including chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq.”
Employees claim the company’s directors foster a “hostile” environment that “discourages challenge” and has led to bad decisions, low morale, a collapse in profits and abrupt senior resignations.
One senior manager told the BBC: “You learn to look at your shoes. Nobody can speak their mind in this business – anyone who does has their card marked.”
Another said: “The Co-op is a great business that has had a wrecking ball put through it. The collaborative and supportive culture has been ruined. It’s toxic now. People are shell-shocked. Morale is at rock bottom – junior colleagues are looking to senior ones and asking why no one is doing anything about it.”
There are two super-interesting aspects that jump out at me from this reputational crisis.
The first is that this is all the more a story because the accusations jar violently with the caring/sharing brand values the company has long espoused.
The Co-op started in 1844 when the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers set up a store to offer low-cost food to working-class people in industrial towns. And its code of conduct says ” … we’re committed to carrying out our business in a safe, honest and ethical way. Part of that is creating an open and supportive working environment.”
If you’ve built your brand on an ethos like that, you have to mean it. And you can’t allow any aspect of the business to derail it, let alone the culture nurtured at the very top of the company.
Secondly, just look at The Co-op’s immediate response to the accusations.
A humble message from its CEO saying she’s taking the matter seriously? A reassuring response from its Chair outlining what they’ll be doing to investigate?
Nope. Instead, we get this:
‘Lawyers for the Co-op told the BBC they did not recognise the critical comments raised, and “do not believe that they represent the views of our broader leadership and colleagues”.’
So, a blanket rebuttal, with no suggestion they will take any action – and from the company’s laywers!
Like most people, I have no inside knowledge of what’s actually going on in The Co-op. But, in that single move, the company reinforced the claims of intimidation and hostility and ensured that everyone will conclude they must be true.
With all respect to my friends and colleagues in the legal professional, surely only a toxic, fear-mongering company would respond to such serious, cultural allegations by getting their lawyers on the case?
See more on our reputation management and crisis communication services here.
Image cropped from original from The Co-op Group licensed under Creative Commons
