This is a real alert reported in my local town. It's wrong on so many fronts I can't even comment…..

Loudoun County, Virginia- The Loudoun Sheriff’s Office has cleared the scene of a reported hostage situation at a Sterling tanning salon that turned out to be a misunderstanding from the reporting party.

The Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Center received a call from an owner of the tanning salon in the Community Plaza shortly before 12:30 PM Thursday regarding an unknown situation. The owner, who is out of town, believed his employees were possibly in danger based on an apparent civil matter that occurred at another tanning salon earlier this week in Stafford County, Virginia. The owner was unable to get in touch with any employees inside the salon and was concerned for their welfare.

Loudoun Sheriff’s Office personnel were also unable to make contact with employees inside the store and the doors to the salon were locked even though the facility was scheduled to be open.

Members of the Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response Team (S.E.R.T.) were called to the scene as well as members of the agencies Hostage Negotiations Unit.  As members of the Sheriff’s Office established a perimeter around the store they learned the employees at the Community Plaza salon had decided to close the store.

Web 2.0 along with it's ease of use and instant communication capability has given managers some new challenges. Most companies have corporate blogs to communicate with clients and prospects and some encourage their employees to create individual blogs. Add to that professional bloggers who may be watching your company or industry and you have a recipe for communication leaks. The New York Times reports that the chief executive of the electric-car company Tesla Motors in San Carlos, Calif., said that he had no choice other than to blog about the Oct. 15 layoffs at the closely watched company — even though some employees had not yet been told they were losing their jobs.

This CEO's rationale was that the rumors were being picked up by traditional media and he wanted to counteract the inaccurate information. I think that's a cop out and an abdication of management responsibility. You may not be able to control what the traditional press or bloggers are saying about your company, but you certainly have the ability to control when, if and how you validate rumors. Your first responsibilities are to your stakeholders and this includes your employees. Here are a few things to remember when you are faced with responding to rumors whether true or not:

• Don't panic and react in the heat of the moment. You should have a communication plan that has been developed in advance and can be engaged when a situation occurs. This plan should involve Human Resources, Communications, Marketing and Sales as well as the direct management team.
• Have a standard response to rumors that can be quickly posted to your company blog. Many companies will simply put out a statement which indicates that they don't comment on rumors. Everyone on the management team should be aware of the standard response and should funnel inquiries to a single point of contact. It's very easy in the blog sphere to post a blog comment with your standard response and contact information.
• If a rumor does get published, communicate with your employees through your management team. Share as much information as you can and let them know when a final decision will be made. I've discussed in previous posts the importance of building trust between the management team and the employees so that they will give you the benefit of the doubt in tough situations.
• After the decisions have been made and communicated to the affected employees, compose an appropriate blog entry to post on your company site and share with any employees who may want to blog about it as well.

You won't be able to prevent leaks and rumors but you can retain control of the official information coming from the company.

I admit that I've become a CNN junkie over the last few months. Like most Americans, I've been avidly watching the polls and pundits try to predict who will be the next American president. Also, like most Americans I'm ready for it all to be over. I've heard the candidates speeches so many times that I could probably give them myself. Which got me to thinking about what kind of leadership/management lessons we can take away from this experience.

Each candidate has identified a set of themes and catch phrases that they repeat over and over. They repeat them for several reasons. First and foremost for clarity. The first time we hear a new message it doesn't really sink in. We're only half listening, distracted by our personal thoughts as well as what's going on around us. We perk up when we hear something interesting then ask the person next to us - 'What did he say?'.  You have to hear something more than once for it to really sink in. Candidates also repeat themselves to make their message memorable. Even if you like what you hear, you probably can't repeat it a day later when your friend asks you about it. Each time you hear a message, you remember more of it.

You can use the repetition technique when you're introducing new ideas, policies or programs to your team, especially if you think they won't be popular. It's not enough to present a set of PowerPoint slides sent by headquarters and hope that your employees get the message. First, make sure you understand the content of the change and the rationale behind it. Identify the major points and how it will impact your team specifically. Call a team meeting so that you can stimulate interaction and dialogue. Send out an email recapping the major points and what action your team needs to take. Finally, make yourself available for follow-up questions that may arise after people have had time to think about the message.

Don't assume your employees get the message the first time. Give them multiple opportunities to hear and understand.

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Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream is known for it's innovative flavors and offbeat sense of humor. They continue the trend on their website. For Halloween they've created an interactive spooky mansion and graveyard. There are lots of interesting things to click on. Be sure and visit the Flavor Graveyard which has headstones for many of their discontinued flavors. Enjoy!

This week's management issues newsletter has a discussion on how managers create an environment which fosters distrust by their employees. After reviewing their list of 25 specific behaviors that damage trust, I identified three major themes. I've turned them around to identify the things you should do to build trust with your team.

1. Have Integrity. Keep your promises, agreements and commitments. Don't repeat information that your employees have shared with you in confidence.   
2. Focus on team building. Delegate rather than micro-manage. Involve your team in decision making when appropriate. Support your employee's goals for career development. Give your team the benefit of the doubt when issues arise and give them the opportunity to present their side.
3. Lead with authenticity. Create win-win situations in negotiations. Be open to different ideas and opinions. Apologize for mistakes and mis-understandings.

To those three themes I would add a fourth: Straight Talk. Don't make commitments that you know you can't keep. Take ownership of tough decisions especially when they are unpopular. Be as open and forthcoming as you can about things that affect the team.

When you practice these behaviors your team's confidence in you will skyrocket and their support and willingness to work will follow.