Announcement – Deon Binneman to Facilitate Specialist Reputation Management training courses in November

During the month of November I will be facilitating the following training courses in Johannesburg. These courses are designed to enhance your reputation management efforts.

TRAINING COURSES

10 November, Hotel Apollo, Ferndale, Randburg, Johannesburg

MARKETING A CONSULTING PRACTICE (MARKETING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES)

This challenging 1-day workshop enables participants to acquire the skills and competencies required to market professional services and/or a consulting practice. Through specialised, detailed and highly focused training, it provides delegates with the tools and necessary practical framework of every consulting marketing aspect. Upon completion of the course, trainees are able to design and develop a marketing plan that will take into account personal, impersonal and social media marketing techniques.

Read more: http://www.biz-community.com/Event/196/11/18138.html

11- 12 November, Hotel Apollo, Ferndale, Randburg, Johannesburg

STAKEHOLDER REPUTATION MANAGEMENT MASTERCLASS

This intensive 2-day training seminar explores international best practice approaches to Stakeholder & Reputation Management and will help organisations to comply with Section 8 of the King Code 3 Guidelines on Corporate Governance. The course gives a delegate the practical, experienced guidance they need for designing a successful Stakeholder Reputation Management system and includes a dedicated look at communication, engagement and relationship building and reputation enhancement practices.

Read more: http://www.biz-community.com/Event/196/11/18338.html

18 – 19 November, Hotel Apollo, Ferndale, Randburg, Johannesburg

REPUTATION PROTECTION & DEFENCE MASTERCLASS (REPUTATION RISK MITIGATION & MANAGEMENT)

This two-day Masterclass provides comprehensive and practical coverage of all aspects on how to protect and defend an organisation’s reputation, and is based on more than 25 years research and experience on how to protect business reputations. It provides ways of implementing reputation risk management and protection frameworks and examines the four different ways to define reputation risk. The course includes online reputation risk, crisis management & crisis communication strategies.

Read more : http://www.biz-community.com/Event/196/11/18339.html

Registration forms for these courses can be obtained from Deon Binneman by sending an e-mail to reputationeducation@icon.co.za

These courses will be of particular interest to managers interested in the management of corporate reputation, prevention of crises and quality of relationships, It is of particular relevance and benefit to Corporate Affairs, Public Relations, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Officers, Risk Managers, Compliance Officers & Corporate Communication practitioners, consultants and Professional Services Providers.

Registrations for these courses closes this Friday the 6^th November. More information about the facilitator can be obtained at http://deonbinneman.wordpress.com/bio/

Book now to secure your place.

Technorati Tags: REPUCOMM November Training seminars,Reputation Enhancement,Consulting Marketing,Crisis Management,Crisis PR,Stakeholder Reputation Management

A Damaged Reputation leaves Scars

The danger of damaging your reputation is immense.

It can destroy people’s trust in you, it can destroy relationships and ultimately shut doors in your face.

Yet, many people believe that time is the healer, and that with time knowledge of the incident or scandal will fade. Interestingly, organizational research on the topic varies. Some say it can take 3.5 years to restore a damaged reputation whilst others have found it to be more than 10 years.

In some cases people never forget nor forgive.

Hence the saying: ‘’Reputation is like a fragile vase, once broken, not easily repaired’’. Here is a story that lends more weight to this argument.

There once was a little girl who had a bad temper. Her father gave her a bag of nails and told her that every time she lost his temper, she must hammer a nail into the backyard fence.

The first day, the girl drove 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as she learned to control her anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. She discovered it was easier to hold her temper than to drive those nails into the fence….

Eventually, the day came when the girl didn’t lose her temper at all, she told her father about it and die father suggested that she now pull out one nail for each day that she was able to hold her temper.

The days passed. The young girl was able to tell her father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his daughter by the hand and led her to the fence. He said, "You have done well my little one, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like these. Remember, you can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say ‘I’m sorry,’ those wounds will still remain."

You can cover up cracks, but the scars remain.

In athletes scar tissue can cause lack of performance and further injuries. In companies it is vital to fix that which caused the scars in the first place and to make the processes better than ever before. This takes time, investment, effort and hopefully fading memories.

However it is better you do not damage your reputation the first time around! It is better that you do not drive nails into the fence!

Technorati Tags: Reputation Damage,Personal Behavior

You better be Awake: Searching for Vulnerabilities

A major activity of reputation management is surveillance of the internal and external environment. 

That’s what journalists do to report on the news. The chief reason reputation managers need to do it is to search for areas of vulnerabilities. To search for potential issues, trends, patterns or events that might harm the organization’s reputation.

To protect your organisation’s reputation, managers need to be interested in certain kinds of information about their organization’s environment, including some of the following information:

• What are the burning issues in your industry?
•  Which stakeholders are in a position to help or hurt the organization? The list should include conventional stakeholders, e.g., stockholders, employers, community citizens, government officials, as well as activist groups in the so-called third sector that seek to change corporate behaviour.
• What opinions do these stakeholders -and the general public-hold toward the organisation?
• Are attitudes generally favourable or unfavourable? What are their expectations of the organization? Do they feel the organizations measure up to these expectations?
• If not, how strongly do they feel about the gap between expectations and performances?
• What actions, if any, are they likely to take?
• What is the media saying about your organization and industry, etc? 

In addition to monitoring the external socio-political environment, reputation managers should examine data from a variety of internal feedback systems. These data may be collected by the public relations department or by a lateral staff organization such as the personnel/industrial relations, consumer affairs, or investor relations department. For example, employee relations indices could include a high number of grievances, a high turnover rate or even litigation cases.

To close the gap or feedback loop I would certainly urge Reputation managers to establish close links with the Risk Department, Internal Auditors and Compliance Officers in the organisation. Often these are the individuals that uncover areas what I would call smouldering crises – any serious business problem which is not generally known within or without the organisation, which may generate negative news coverage and reputational damage if or when it goes "public" and could result in fines, penalties or unbudgeted expenses, loss of business and destruction of relationships.

You should also create checklists of the questions you want to ask. Here is a partial checklist example:

• Create checklists for sensitive spots where anticipation can help prepare your organization to combat trouble.
• Do your homework on current events. Check your organization for the troubles besetting other companies in the news. 
• Scanning online and other media aggressively, and in adversary mode, looking for areas on which your company can be attacked, including possible actions, attitudes and policies. 
• Keep updated on, and check your vulnerability on new laws, regulations, SHE developments, BEE developments, stakeholder expectations, market trends, financial trends. I use tools such as Google’s News Alerts and various search engines especially meta search engines like Pandia Powersearch to keep myself update.
• Use Social Media monitoring tools such as trackur and others
• I also use a brilliant program called FeedDemon that in my mind is the best RSS Newsreader program available. It enables me to set up feeds of my interest sites so that I am always up to date with what is happening out there.

What are you doing to stay aware?

Years ago, Watts Whacker, the futurist was asked more about his profession in the Fast Company magazine (Dec & Jan 1997 issue). This is what he said:

"A traveller encounters the Buddha on the road and asks him. "Are you a deity?

Buddha says no. "Are you a saint? Buddha says no.

"Are you a prophet?" Buddha says no. Exasperated the traveller says:

"Then what are you?"

Buddha answers:" I’m awake"

How awake are you? Do you know the latest trends in your market?

What about your company’s reputation? What smouldering crises are there in your business, ready to destroy your careful crafted reputation?

You better be awake.

Technorati Tags: Environmental scanning,Media Monitoring,Risk Management,Issues Management,Reputation Management

Towards Managing Reputation in a Formal Manner

If you consider that organisations spend millions every year in building and sustaining operations, building market share and confidence,should reputation, the organisation’s main perceptual asset and biggest risk, not be managed?

Perceptions are reality.

What are you doing to manage those perceptions? Answer the following questions objectively to start a dialogue in your company :

1. Are all your stakeholders – suppliers, customers, the organisation, and its people aligned in one value chain from an value chain perspective?
2. Who in your company has specific responsibility, authority and accountability to manage perceptual assets , such as the company’s good name – it’s reputation or is it being left to chance?
3. Are internal and external ( Verbal and non-verbal)messages aligned i.e. Is there congruence between internal and external messages?
4. Have you identified the blocks, the barriers and the hindrances that prevent this alignment?
5. Have you determined a value that can be placed on the element of name, reputation or goodwill components?
6. When last have you taken a fresh look(introspection) at how your organisation’s operations, systems, policies & procedures, impact on the building of your company’s good name?
7. Have you equipped the people in the organisation with the resources such as knowledge, skills and attitudes to build, maintain and sustain the good
name of the organisation?

If not, you need to understand the objectives of Reputation Management. The objectives of Reputation Management as a formal discipline are as follows:

- To maintain a favourable reputation in the market and workplace;
- To enhance and Build your organisation’s good name;
- To establish practices, policies, procedures and systems and standards that, will avoid damage to the organisation’s reputation;
- To prepare and equip your Management team to take full responsibility for managing the organisation’s reputation.

Here are some guidelines as to what an integrated reputation management approach should embody:

1. Undertake a formal assessment of your company’s reputation – internally and externally.
2. Identify and advise on areas for improvement.
3. Introduce a Reputational Auditing system, to suit your needs.( After all it is an asset and a risk and should be managed accordingly)
4. Establish the necessary documentation, recording, reporting and safekeeping of data.
5. Conduct reputational monitoring.
6. Present and co-ordinate the presentation of relevant training courses to various levels in your organisation( Reputation is more than just customer
service – It is the sum total of everything we sell, deliver, communicate and do).
7. Establish, attend and guide the Company’s Reputational Committee meetings for an initial impact and report.
8. Report to and maintain contact with your CEO and person responsible for RM. All managers would do well to pay attention to what Warren Buffet said
to Salomon Brothers employees when he stepped in as interim chairman in 1991: "If you lose money for the firm by bad decisions, I will be very understanding. If you lose reputation for the firm, I will be ruthless."
9. Co-ordinate and perform a bi-annual compliance audit of your Company’s reputational programme to ensure that standards and requirements are being
maintained.

Always remember that a company’s reputation is an asset and a risk,( if only just a perceptual one) and that it is like a fragile vase – Once broken, not easy to restore. And, while that might seem melodramatic, don’t try soft selling its meaning to Exxon, Johnson & Johnson, or to Union Carbide who had a shadow cast over its operations since the Bhopal disaster where thousands of people were killed due to a gas leak.

The list is endless. Grim reminders that crises can strike a Business at any time; and during these crises a Company’s image and reputation can be damaged significantly.

So what constitutes a good reputation? This depends from organisation and organisation. There is no one reputation that works for an organisation that will work for another. Each organisation must find its own version, based on the industry the company is in and what the customer requires. Research studies by institutions like the Reputation Institute have revealed a number of dimensions or drivers that can be used as a guide.

BUT one thing stands out "A Company with a good reputation is one in which the deliverable and the demands are in synch". When perception and reality is in alignment.

But let us not make a mistake – Crises do not have to be big. For an entrepreneur a crises is losing one client through not delivering on time. Having systems and policies in place, having trained reputation conscious people such as suggested above will go a long way to maintaining and enhancing your organisation’s good name.

Technorati Tags: Reputation Management,Auditing Reputation

The Phrases That Kill Creativity

PR and Advertising agencies are supposed to be creative greenhouses. Yet, the old "Internal editor" in all of us, raises it’s head so easy. The "internal editor" I believe is our internal voice , our conscience, our left brain that can sometimes stop us from progressing.

Years ago I worked with a consultant, a retired CEO who said the following : “ The danger with gut feel is that it SOMETIMES can cause indigestion”.

Evaluate the following statements and ask yourself : " How often you have used these statements?" Did they prove to be correct?

• We tried that before
• Where’d you dig that one up?
• Our business is different
• It costs too much
• It’s never been tried before
• That’s not my job
• Let’s put that one on the back burner for now
• Let’s form a committee
• We don’t have the time
• I don’t see the connection
• It won’t work in our department or business
• It’s too radical a change
• The Board of Directors would never go for it
• The staff will never buy it
• It’s against company policy
• It can’t be done
• It’s impossible
• Let’s get back to reality
• That’s not our problem
• We’ve always done it this way
• I don’t like the idea
• You’re right, but…
• You’re two years ahead of your time
• Don’t rock the boat
• It isn’t in the budget
• Has anyone else ever tried it?
• Good thought, but impractical
• Let’s give it more thought

If not, or if they did! What is the lesson for your consultancy or team? Please let me know!

Technorati Tags: Creativity Killers

Face to Face remains a Vital Tool

Despite the rise in virtual meetings, business executives prefer face-to-face meetings, according to the results of a recent Forbes Insights study.

The study, ‘’Business Meetings: The Case for Face-to-Face,”” was based on a June survey of 760 business executives. It found that 84% prefer in-person
contact to virtual because face-to-face meetings enable them to build stronger relationships (85%) and provide greater opportunity to “read”
another person (77%).

Nonetheless, teleconferences, videoconferences and Web conferences have grown as 58% of respondents said they were travelling less for business now
than in January 2008.Those that preferred virtual meetings cited the time savings (92%) and the financial savings (88%).

This is further proof that a person’s use of any tools needs to be carefully weighed against advantages and disadvantages.

A Communication “Bill of Rights”

I recently had to facilitate an improved service level agreement between two parties in the IT field. The particular project was about to be shelved by the client due to severe scope creep.

I quickly assessed that one of the root causes of the scope creep was caused by the lack of defining interpersonal and organizational communication proccesses before the start of the project.

To help them solve this problem, I got them to draw up a communication ” bill of rights”. These guidelines will now form the basis for future dealings and relationships.

A Bill of Rights is defined as the formal summary of those rights and liberties considered essential to a people or group of people:example – a consumer bill of rights.

In this instance it was useful to develop such a communication bill of rights to govern the communication processes between the client and the supplier.

This is what the group decided upon:

1. Agree on a glossary of terms. Always check for understanding.
2. Communicate without an element of commercial interest at first.
3. Any form of communication that impact in terms of time; scope or money must be formalised.
4. Be specific. Relate this to standards specification.
5. Listen! Listen! Listen!
6. Always give feedback – Respond appropriately i.e. If you receive an e-mail with an idea, at least acknowledge receipt.
7. Proper communication upfront at the start of a new project or phase with the whole team is essential.
8. Establish channels of communication at the beginning of each new project.
9. Communicate the Bill of rights – structure, purpose and method upfront.
10. Separate personal issues from professional issues

You may find this technique useful the next time there is inter-departmental or client conflict. Facilitators often use it another form, such as establishing ground rules for a meeting.

Technorati Tags: Facilitation Techniques,Managing Supply Chain Risk,Conflict Management

Stakeholder Reputation Management Master Class Registrations Close Today!

Your chance to register for next week’s Stakeholder Reputation ends this afternoon – Thursday, the 15th October at close of business.

This is an ideal opportunity to join friends and colleagues to learn about the important strategic subject of managing stakeholders and their impact on organisational reputation.

Here is a quick test for you. Can you answer the following strategic questions:

• Who are our stakeholders?
• What are our stakeholders’ stakes?
• What opportunities and challenges do stakeholders present?
• What economic, legal, ethical, and social responsibilities does our organisation have?
• What strategies or actions should we take to best manage stakeholder challenges and opportunities?
• Do you have a system for managing relationships with stakeholders?
• How do you measure results? What metrics do you use to assess and gauge stakeholder relationships?
• In a crisis how quickly can you communicate with your relevant stakeholders?
• Do you know the various methods to engage with stakeholders and when not to use it?
• Can you state how much you are spending on each stakeholder group and what your ROI is?
• Have you developed a set of rules on how best to manage the process of building stakeholder reputation with each stakeholder group?

To learn the answers to these questions and many more, attend the Stakeholder Reputation Master Class next week at the Hotel Apollo in Randburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.

To learn more about the program, go to http://stakeholderreputation.invite43.com/ or e-mail reputationeducation@icon.co.za for a brochure and registration form.

This is the last Stakeholder Reputation Master Class event for 2009 so register now.

Hope to see you there and share valuable learning experiences with you !

P.S If you are interested in learning more about professional services and consulting practice marketing, check out my workshop for consultants and interested individuals – Monday 10 November : Market your Consulting Practice: http://marketingaconsultingpractice.invite43.com/

Technorati Tags: Stakeholder Reputation,Public Training Seminars

Learn How to Think like an Activist

Many managers cringe when they hear the word activist. Because, activists as a stakeholder group can potentially damage an organisation’s reputation if relationships with them are not carefully built, understood and maintained.

I have always been intrigued how in movies, psychologists trying to track a serial murderer, try and become that person. They study that person’s motives, habits, appearance, background, etc. So, One of the best ways is to learn to be an activist yourself. By learning to become an activist, you will prepare yourself to handle potential reputational crises and campaigns against your organisation.

The Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town call this the immersion principle. Immerse yourself until you fully understand all there is to be an activist.

Trouble is that these days, activists are no longer a plural word. A single person today has tools at their disposal to start a one person crusade. Technologies such as Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks have increased the potential power of an individual, and companies should prepare themselves for online campaigns and other means of mobilisation.

Here then is a link to a free online course called The Virtual Activist – http://www.netaction.org/training/v-training.html – The course needs updating, but if you are a Twitter user, Facebook or MySpace follower, then you will learn a lot from this course.

The Virtual Activist illustrate why the communications efforts of social activists, including nongovernmental organizations, are so successful. Activists provide their supporters with both information and strategic and tactical tools. The combination of information and tools empowers people to take action, including communications or PR activities.

To further equip yourself, I can recommend the following site which should bring you up to speed: http://mashable.com/category/how-to-web/ with the latest Social Media tools and approaches.

Technorati Tags: Learning & Development,Activists,Online Reputation

Key Questions to ask about Managing Reputation

As reputation is most often considered a collection of perceptions and opinions, past and present, about an organization which resides in the consciousness of its stakeholders‘, it appears absolutely necessary to get a better grasp of the main drivers.

Managing that reputation is becoming increasingly important, according to Charles Fombrun, professor of management at New York University‘s Stern School of Business. He says that reputation is becoming central in the language of strategy and competition, rather than in the old language of public relations.

He states that a strong reputation can help a company: attract resources (e.g., new employees, customers, and investors); improve employee loyalty and morale; secure customer retention and loyalty; develop a competitive advantage; and increase sales and income. Executives around the world overwhelmingly agree that, when several companies‘ products or services are similar in quality and price, corporate image often determines which company customers do business with ―The majority of executives also agree that companies with strong reputations can charge more for their products and services.

Here are some key questions to ask about managing reputation in your organisation:

• What kinds of proactive steps should companies take to augment their reputations?
• What aspects of reputation risk are unmanageable?
• Who are the key players in managing a company’s reputation? (The need for a systemic approach)
• How should a company’s organization reflect its interest in preserving and enhancing its position? What level of risk assessment is expected and how should companies approach this task?
• How can a company identify key risks, analyze their root causes, and take proactive steps to preserve the corporate reputation?
• How can a company’s regular risk assessment process help to point out particularly critical areas that could affect reputation?

If reputation risk is any action, event or circumstance that could adversely or beneficially impact on an organization‘s reputation‘, the drivers of reputation, and sources of potential risk, need to be identified, analysed and managed.

To learn how to do this attend one of our training seminars.

Technorati Tags: key reputation questions,reputation management