What KFC did right and Oxfam did wrong: Postscript

I've recently written about corporate and personal reputation in light of the recent Oxfam scandal which now is revealed to be more widespread in the broader charity sector.

In Parts One and Two I answered 5 essential questions.

As someone who develops the business skills of graduates and apprentices at the beginning of their careers, there is a lot that they can learn from the above situations to help them avoid damaging their own reputation and that of their employer.

My wish is that young employees will learn from what I write and avoid the same pitfalls.

As a postscript to the original articles, in the last two weeks KFC UK changed it's logistics supplier of chicken to DHL and partner QSL who immediately failed to deliver chicken - an essential ingredient - to the majority of KFC's 900 restaurants. This resulted in up to 700 having to close as they couldn't offer a full menu.

It's been very embarrassing for all those involved and KFC have no doubt lost lots of revenue.

How has it affected its reputation?

You would expect badly.

However, it doesn't appear to have, so I've asked myself why not?

Firstly, KFC responded immediately and publicly about the problem. They owned up to the fact that they'd changed logistics supplier and it clearly hadn't gone smoothly.

Secondly, KFC immediately acted to close restaurants rather than offer a very limited menu. Better to have customers complaining about closed branches, than complaining about a severely limited menu which may have made a laughing stock of KFC.

It enabled KFC to control what was being said about them by their customers.

Thirdly, they published an apology and rearranged the letters of their name to imply they f*ck'd up (see title picture above) together with the text below.

That self-deprecation has gone a long way to diffusing a very serious situation.

The logistics problems have pretty much been resolved, and the damage to KFC's reputation will only be temporary, although the damage to DHL and QSL will likely last longer term.

Personally, I think KFC have handled this situation well and not run around like headless chickens. I'll certainly be citing this as a good example of how to conduct damage limitation to corporate reputation on future GradStart? programmes.

About Akonia and GradStart?

GradStart? is helping young employees lay down a solid foundation of business skills on which to build a successful career.

The above topics are covered throughout the programme, and specifically in the Interpersonal Behaviour module.

Download a complimentary copy of the 7 essential steps for successfully developing entry level employees

Find out more about the SME and Corporate programmes at  www.akonia.com/GradStart  or  www.akonia.com/Corporate/GradStart  and download the relevant GradStart? brochure, or speak to Gary Weinstein on 0800 619 9697.