I've been following the discussion about domestic violence and the NFL lately, as if anyone remotely interested in the NFL could avoid the discussion. As someone who spent a lot of my professional career reporting on various types of crises, it's always interesting for me to see the variations in preparedness different organizations have. Some organizations are well-prepared and do an excellent job facing questions from reporters like me. Others come across a bit more like a flustered Ralph Kramden...homina homina homina <twiddles fingers>.
I'd have to say the NFL has come off a bit more like the latter. I'm ready any moment for someone at a press conference to yell, "Goodell, you are a men'le case!"
To be brief, any organization should have a well-thought out crisis communication plan. This plan should clearly outline who in your organization talks about what and in what very specific ways. If a very old water main breaks in your town and, say, floods the UCLA campus, your director of public works, city manager and possibly mayor should all make a pre-arranged set of comments to the media and, therefore, public.
The crisis plan should cover things that could and possibly will happen, like a water main break, in the event you are a city; things that could but probably wouldn't happen, like your CEO is caught with 10 pounds of cocaine in his trunk; and things that almost certainly won't happen but, ehh, you never know, like an employee hops the White House fence and attempts to gain entry into the Presidential residence.
Once this plan is in place, it should be practiced regularly until, as Louis Gossett Jr. said in Iron Eagle, "it is au-to-ma-tic!"
Some crisis communications experts will further urge organizations to run on a solid set of values. Analysts said the NFL needs to lead through its moral compass, for instance. I wouldn't say any of those things, however. I'd advise, instead, to incentivize the types of outcomes you want. People, and therefore organizations, don't operate on a moral compass, values or anything else that looks nice on a motivational poster. Human behavior is driven by incentive (not an original thought, by the way). Though you might have a strong work ethic, it is your wish to earn a paycheck, make your rent payment and retain your home that provides the incentive to get up and go to work. Your crappy boss and difficult work environment periodically provides incentive to call in sick and go see a ballgame instead. Whatever your personal incentive is to skip a donut or a cupcake, that's what prevents you from having one, not your strong belief that gluttony is a sin. OR...when you don't give in to temptations you find sinful, that makes you feel good, ethically or morally superior even. It is the feeling, not the value that drives your behavior.
Think of it like this: If you leave food out and find you have an infestation of ants, is it enough to spray pesticide? You might spray the ants but you'll almost certainly remove the food and not likely leave food out again. It's OK to kill the ants that are present, but without taking away the motivation to infest your home, they'll just come back.
And so the NFL doesn't need a moral compass or a strong set of values. They need to develop a set of incentives that builds the type of league they want. Sometimes those incentives can be negative. There are negative incentives, for instance, dissuading violence towards women and children--in society, that is. These negative incentives are not enough for some, obviously.
The NFL needs to find their own incentives. Suspensions without pay or penalties against all the players on specific teams, the Ravens, for example, could curtail some of these actions. The league and its partners could agree on other incentives, like no endorsement deals for players with NFL business partners--no Bud Light ads, no Nike deals, no cell phone commercials. But the league must--not should, must--build incentives for teams and executives. For instance, if a situation like Ray Rice's arises in the future, the team pays a stiff penalty, loses draft picks, has their salary cap lowered--whatever the case is. As a result, teams will take far fewer risks on the Pac Man Jones' of the world and look to build their teams with more players like JJ Watt. Once the NFL does this, the affect will be felt soon throughout college and high school. When the NFL stops taking risks on players with questionable backgrounds, the incentive will be in place for young players to avoid risky behavior. Left with which incentive is stronger, lashing out at my girlfriend or jeopardizing a possible NFL career, it's not too difficult to understand the thing upon which most people would place a higher value.
