I am just sitting here!

Once there was a rabbit sitting in a field and sprucing himself up. He polished his nails, cleaned his whiskers and even put on some deodorant. An eagle, flying overhead, asked the rabbit what the occasion was. The rabbit replied that "tonight I have a date with the Lioness. The lion is out of town, and the Lioness has a crush on me".

A few minutes later, the Lion returned, his flight having been cancelled.

"What are you doing, Mr Rabbit", asked the lion as he passed by looking at the spiffy-looking rabbit.

Answered the rabbit, "N-n-nothing sir. I am just sitting here talking nonsense to myself".

That’s exactly what I am doing right now!

Right now, I am wondering if this is just the sign of the times. What do you do when at the last minute many people cancel to attend a Masterclass, that they wanted to attend, but now can’t due to operational requirements.

I guess operational requirements take preference over learning activities. So, what now?

I guess I will just sit here for a while. Little I can do, the matter is out of my hands.

I will have to reschedule with these delegates. Watch http://reputationdefence.invite43.com/ for the new date!

Technorati Tags: Masterclass postponement

Powerlines Newsletter Nr.89

The new issue of Powerlines, the newsletter for Reputation & Stakeholder Managers provides a mix of articles, analysis and upcoming events, with links to bring you a wealth of information to your fingertips.

This issue features the following commentary, article, events and top tips:

1. One event, Multiple Stakeholder Impacts

2. A Warning – Without a Crisis Plan your Reputation will Suffer!

3. Want to get up to speed with Twitter?

4. Upcoming Events.

If you would rather want me to send you your own copy, just send me an e-mail and I will gladly do so. What do you think of the new outlay and colours?

Download it – Powerlines 89 New Version

Reputation Protection & Defence Master Class 7 – 8 December

What:	Reputation Protection & Defence Master Class A 2 day Master Class that will enable Reputation Managers, Risk Managers and Crisis Management controllers to design and implement strategies and frameworks to mitigate reputation risk and manage repoutation risk incidents when they occur. (Event is already 50% full)
When:	Monday, December 7, 2009 8:30 AM to Tuesday, December 8, 2009 3:30 PM
Where:	Hotel Apollo, Ferndale, Randburg, Johannesburg Johannesburg, Gauteng   South Africa

Too Busy to Reflect?

Yesterday I visited the office of the Department of Home Affairs in Randburg yesterday with an old lady in her 70’s after her ID was stolen.

It eventually took someone in one of the queues to help me in the right direction. There were no one in the Information Office. No seating for old people.

No directions. A Simple Flowchart on the wall explaining where to go or what procedure to follow could have helped. Staff behind counter helpful, but so busy with tasks that there is no chance for reflection and strategic thinking.

Simply too busy to stop and rethink the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic experience of the customer.

To be blunt, the photographer in the parking lot was more helpful and customer orientated.

What the Department of Home Affairs need to do is is to run a strategic workshop and retrace the customer’s experience when they come for help and assistance. Working backward, then design their systems around the experience. We all know that there is fraud and corruption in the Department, and I know why!

To facilitate the process, you have to know the ins and outs. I was offered that service in the parking lot at a cost. So what eventually happens is that it takes money to cut away red tape and speed up a process.

And to think that maybe a simple flowchart can aid the anti- corruption process!

Technorati Tags: Department of Home Affairs,Using Flowcharts,Improving Service Delivery

Frogs make noise. Why don’t we?

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs!

The farmer replied, "There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs—millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!"

So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, "Well… where are all the frogs?"

The farmer said, "I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!"

The problem today is that the frogs have tools to make a LOUDER noise! Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Mobile phone messaging and on top of that just the normal word of mouth banter and soon business owners will be in the same position as the farmer above.

So, how do you cut down on the noise the frogs make?

Well, first of all do not give them a reason. That means run your business as if every day is open day. Secondly, respond rapidly if there is a problem and solve it ASAP.

Inaction, Indifference and inefficiency is normally what causes frogs to make serious noise.

Technorati Tags: Social Media Tools,Making a Noise,Consumer Activism,Complaints

A Crisis Simulation Checklist

Got a random call the other day from a Powerlines reader who asked me how I would critique a Crisis simulation exercise.

Here is an extract of my partial response:

I try and always facilitate a process with the group after a simulation to process the learning experience after a simulated crisis.

This involves each person providing a 2 – minute feedback about how they experienced the simulation, what they believed went well and the areas necessary for improvement  as well as completing an exercise critique form.

Apart from their feedback, this is what I will be looking for during a simulation:

1. Adherence to plans -  I will need to review the plans beforehand, and verify adherence to plans during the exercise (but see below)
2. Improvisation – cautiously review any improvised steps and assess these against:a) divergence from plans, i. e. have plans turned out to be dysfunctional, b) personalities, i.e. have individuals improvised to the benefit of the organisation
3. Behaviour and personality interaction- how do people react to the challenge, albeit simulated. IMHO this is the most difficult area to look at, but it is something that must be done to reflect on people’s abilities.
4. Outcome – how did the organisation perform against pre-set expectations or defined outcomes.
5. Discontinuities – failed, aborted, modified exercises, or generally the underlying reasons for an exercise that went wrong.

What do you look for?

Technorati Tags: Crisis Simulation,Crisis Management,Visual Observation

New MediaMetricsTM results introduced

Friday, 06 November 2009 07:50

On 30 October 2008 Vision Africa, a full-service marketing and stakeholder research company held a breakfast for media agencies and selected corporate companies to present the results of the 2009 MediaMetricsTM, a product of Vision Africa in Windhoek, Namibia.

At the occasion, Cornelius D’Alton briefly gave a short history of the company as it is celebrating its 10th year of existence, while Liza Burmeister, Accounts Director elaborated on some of the findings of the MediaMetricsTM study.

As a first, Vision Africa also invited Deon Binneman, owner of RepuComm, an independent consultant on reputational management, public relations and corporate communication and organisational development to address those present on “What is Reputation?”.
MediaMetricsTM has been developed to provide large and medium size organisations with affordable, reliable and accurate information about their target audiences’ viewing, listening and reading habits and preferences, as well as other measurements related to brand awareness and communication.

The socio-demographic and media consumption database forms the core of the study, including components such as Demographics and Media Consumption (Radio, TV & Printed media).  More emphasis was placed on obtaining TV viewing information as this is a growing marketing medium in Namibia.

Says Liza: “Some of the findings which were shared with invited guests included results such as, that NBC Oshiwambo Radio Service was the most listened to radio station in Namibia; ‘All about Camilla’ was the most favourite programme on NBC Television.  The Namibian newspaper remained the most often read newspaper and was seen as ‘the voice of the people’. When asked about truly Namibian brands, Namibia Breweries came to mind most often, while First National Bank was the most often mentioned Namibian bank. Soccer was the most attended sport followed by Netball.  The favourite music included Kwaito, Gospel, Soft and Traditional music.”

For further information please contact : +264 61 244 660

Technorati Tags: Media Studies,Reputation,Deon Binneman

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