Students should choose one of the three brief case study below. Each CEO requires peer coaching, including a self-reflection of their soft and hard skills, critical reflection skills, problem-solving ability, teamwork and management of self and others in a work environment.

The scenario is that you have been requested by the board of the company to write a peer coaching plan based on the self-reflection of the business manager, and include one short, one medium and one long-term goal. Your plan should use theoretical concepts underpinning hard and soft skills and relevant managerial effectiveness.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong’s firing of a Patch employee and subsequent apology A renowned example of poor communication came in August 2013, when AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced that AOL would be reducing the number of Patch websites.

Soon afterward, Armstrong spoke to 1,000 employees on a conference call that was intended to boost morale and discuss the future. What happened instead  was far from morale-boosting. Armstrong ended up firing Patch’s Creative Director, Abel Lenz, in front of everyone. Four days after he fired Lenz, Armstrong sent AOL employees an apology for his behaviour. Unfortunately, rather than using it as an opportunity to take ownership, in a direct, heartfelt way, Armstrong missed the mark. He made excuses for his behaviour rather than owning up to it and sharing what he learned.

 

Yahoo’s poor communication of its “in office” policy

 

A recent notorious example of inept leadership came when the head of HR at Yahoo sent employees the internal memo leaked around the world. It told Yahoo employees that telecommuting or working from home would soon no longer be an option and that those who worked remotely must relocate to an office or quit. The communication around the policy sparked a strong negative reaction, and it wasn’t difficult to see why: a poorly constructed memo failed to explain the rationale behind such a significant culture change, leaving Yahoo employees upset and frustrated and launching a national conversation about work-from-home policies. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer initially said via a spokesperson that the company does not discuss internal matters. But two months after the memo

leaked, Marissa Mayer finally broke her silence. At a Los Angeles conference for human resource professionals, Mayer began speaking about Yahoo’s culture, but after a few minutes interrupted herself to address what she referred to as “the elephant in the room.” She refused to waver on the policy, explaining that some of the best ideas come from in-person collaboration and that the in-office policy was “wrongly perceived as industry narrative.”

 

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries’ old comments that drew new attention In 2006, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries gave an interview to Salon.com in which he stated that the retail chain’s clothes were exclusively for thin, attractive, “cool kids.” Those comments were brought back to life in the spring of 2013 when quoted in a widely-read read Business Insider blog post. The comments unleashed strong backlash from social media, consumers, popular bloggers and high profile individuals. Jeffries waited 12 days after the Business Insider blog post was published to address the comments, but his words only attracted more negative attention.

Rather than taking ownership of his statement and apologizing, Jeffries invalidated the public reaction by stating that the quote was “taken out of context,” and that he regretted his words “were interpreted in a manner that has caused offense.” Jeffries continued to face strong criticism from both the media and  shareholders. In 2013,one of Abercrombie’s most significant shareholders wrote a nine-page letter to Abercrombie’s board, calling for the Page 2 of 5Page 3 of 5

company to replace Jeffries as CEO when his contract expired. Jeffries contract was renewed, but, after courting further controversy, he was finally forced to step down in 2014.

Chosen case study for analysis– Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries’s old comments brings new trouble (Koehler).

Since the company has landed into deep trouble with its CEO making such controversial comment and with media and society tremendously back lashing at it, a peer coaching plan needs to be designed in order to help the company head better handle such crisis situation and safeguard the company image

Peer Coaching Plan:

Coach Roles and Responsibilities- The peer coach’s role will mainly focus on building up the communication skills of the CEO and helping him particularly understand how respond rather than react in any crisis situation

Resources required- this peer coaching plan is completely communication oriented hence it would require role plays and skits, along with proper voice training and stress handling workshops to help the top management ensure a better mass communication strategy.

This peer coaching plan will be a one to one session along with certain group activities. As in the referred case study we find Jeffries’ controversial comment has been brought back by the media which has created all the trouble the first and foremost loophole in the whole scenario is Jeffries’ way of communicating with the media. Therefore the peer coaching plan will first focus on how being the face of a brand one should be conscious enough to not indulge into any such statement that might bring any kind of negative responsive in present or in future (Kutzhanova, Lyons & Lichtenstein, 2009). If the statement made was in favor of targeting any niche market then the use of language should have been different and not derogatory to any population. The next important thing that the peer coaching plan will focus on is the need to communicate constantly and immediately with the media especially during any crisis situation (Coombs, 2014). As seen in the case study that Mike Jeffrie was not quick enough to reply to the media clarifying the confusion surrounding the controversial statement published by Business Insider in their blog post. This delay caused serious damage to the reputation of the brand because being silent apparently proved that Mike Jeffrie had nothing to say in his support. Therefore the peer coaching plan will basically emphasize on the necessity of maintaining clarity and objectivity in communication especially during any crisis situation. Jeffries’ act of stubbornness brought more troubles for him and his company, hence the peer coaching plan will focus on developing the hard and soft skills of the top level management which includes maintaining flexibility of operation, regularly and clearly communicating with the internal and external publics and conducting role plays on certain crisis situation that might arise in future and how the CEO is expected to reply and control the whole situation (Taneja, et al. 2014). Hence the short term, middle term and long term goals that the plan attempts to address includes:

• Short-term goal- Immediate measures that needs to be undertaken to restrict the flow of negative comments by the media which in turn means the adoption of a clear precise and objective communication strategy
• Middle term goal- the mid-term goal would be to help the CEO maintain a continuous flow of communication and information within the internal and external public so that everyone is on the same page and to avoid any further confusion
• Long-term goal- the long term goal will generally focus that being a CEO of any organization, the individuals observes a certain level of integrity and consciousness while communicating his ideas and thoughts across a mass media platform so that such crisis situations can be best avoided.

References:

Coombs, W. T. (2014). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. Sage Publications.

Koehler, I. Reputation Management: A Case Study of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Kutzhanova, N., Lyons, T. S., & Lichtenstein, G. A. (2009). Skill-based development of entrepreneurs and the role of personal and peer group coaching in enterprise development. Economic Development Quarterly, 23(3), 193-210.

Taneja, S., Pryor, M. G., Sewell, S., & Recuero, A. M. (2014). Strategic Crisis Management: A Basis for Renewal and Crisis Prevention. Journal of Management Policy & Practice, 15(1).