Tuesday 29 May 2018

Changing Africa's narrative one person and one core value at a time

It was a great early morning start! Had a fantastic conversation with Abongile Nzelenzele on Cape Talk's Early Breakfast show (04:40! I do love early mornings and most morning's I'm already up at this time). We chatted about changing Africa's narrative one person at a time.

Just image, with a population of 1.2 billion people spread across 55 countries, if each person chooses to share one positive story about their country or Africa every day; there will be 365 stories per person, per year! Imagine what that will do for the narrative on the continent! We CAN change the African narrative, one individual, organisation and country at a time!

Here's a link to the interview: PODCAST


Here's a recent article based on our research findings (thanks Bizcommunity!):


The recent ethics and reputation study conducted by Reputation Matters on behalf of the African Public Relations Association (APRA), has highlighted many opportunities for the continent to take charge of its narrative. “There are massive opportunities for our continent to rebuild, reposition and represent itself to the world,” says Regine le Roux, managing director of Reputation Matters.

Why is a reputation so important, especially for a continent?

Let’s take a step back; what exactly is a reputation? It is something that is built on consistency, you are either going to be consistently good or consistently bad at something and that behaviour will impact how you are perceived by others.

So, why is a reputation important? As a company your reputation impacts the people you attract to work for you, which in turn impacts your outputs, be it a product or service. The quality and perceived value impacts the willingness for people to part with their hard earned cash to buy your offering, which ultimately impacts your bottom line. The same goes for a country or continent; countries with a positive image generally have a much stronger economy, which makes foreign direct investment a lot more appealing, this can also positively impact tourism further stimulating the economy, allowing for investments in social upflitment and education programs, all taking the country and continent’s wellbeing to the next level.

“Reputations are built on perceptions, it is not necessarily the truth, it is however someone’s reality, and it is that reality that becomes that person’s worldview and what they communicate to others,” adds le Roux.

“For too long we’ve allowed the narrative of Africa to be determined from those outside the continent, looking in. It is time that we start changing perceptions and start rebuilding the reputation of Africa; we can only do that if every single person takes responsibility for what they do and communicate on a daily basis,” said  Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, President of African Public Relations Association (APRA), at the recent annual conference held in Gaborone, Botswana. Why are we investing in products from across the ocean, when we have our own talent and resources right here to invest in?

A reputation is driven by consistent behaviour.

Behaviour is driven by following a set of core values that guides the decisions that you make and actions you take. This was confirmed in the research, says le Roux. “Ethics is a key driver for reputation management on an individual, company and continent level.”

Lessons from Botswana

Botswana was identified as the most ethical and reputable country in Africa. “What made this result very interesting, was that there were no respondents identified from Botswana who answered the questionnaire,” says le Roux. “Both the Botswanan flag and national anthem reflect a peaceful nation, and you can truly see and feel it when you arrive in Gaborone. There is a great sense of dignity amongst the people who embrace the country’s core values of peace and harmony, and live out these values on a daily basis. It is no wonder they have such a strong and stable economy.”

Overview of the results

There were 119 respondents; of which 53% were women, 28% were between the ages of 41 and 50; 43% work in the field of communication (including marketing and PR) and 39% hold an executive position.

Twelve counties were represented in the survey; 71% of respondents reside in South Africa with Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Namibia and Angola also being represented (as per illustration below).





Figure 1 Countries participating in the APRA | Reputation Matters ‘Do ethics matter on the African continent’ survey

On an individual and company level, ethics and reputation scored a very high average of 86.5%. In contrast, at a country level the score was an average of 34.5% for both ethics and reputation. “The research confirms that it is at this level where works need to be done. These results do however indicate a huge opportunity for growth. Now we have a base line in place from which we can measure and track annually,” adds Badejo-Okusanya.

Vice President of APRA, and CEO of  Burson Cohn & Wolfe Africa, Robyn de Villiers, who facilitated an interactive workshop at the conference on ethics indicated, “It is no longer just about ‘walking the talk’, we need to be talking the walk too; our behaviour impacts what we say, and what we say impacts what we do.”

The question we are left with is, what can we do to re-write the African narrative? “The first step is to go back to the basics and get the internal messaging right. We need to make sure that core values are in place and reflected in our daily behaviour. This will help to make our communication initiatives more authentic. As communication professionals, we should strive for a code of ethics which resonates with the real and positive story we’re here to tell about Africa to the world,” says Badejo-Okusanya.

“With a population of 1.2 billion people spread across 55 countries, imagine if each person chooses to share one positive story about their country or Africa every day; there will be 365 stories per person, per year! Imagine what that will do for the narrative on the continent! We can change the African narrative, one individual, organisation and country at a time,” concludes le Roux.

If you want to participate in the annual APRA research, and help to re-write the African narrative, please contact research@reputationmatters.co.za.

For more information about Reputation Matters, visit www.reputationmatters.co.za or call +27 (0)11 317 3861 (Jhb) | 021 790 0208 (Cpt). Reputation Matters is also on Facebook www.facebook.com/yourreputationmatters and Twitter @ReputationIsKey

Saturday 26 May 2018

The week that was 20180526

MY PROUDEST | MOST GRATEFUL MOMENT

This week's grateful moment is a combination of the two; being grateful and proud.  I was very grateful to attend the Insitute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA)'s Being a Director Part 1 session. It is something that I have had on my vision board and 'to do' list for quite a while. I realised that I really do enjoy learning, and enjoyed the group discussion and sharing of ideas. I was also grateful for being able to set a day aside to attend the session, knowing that I have an amazing team that does not need me to micromanage them or breathe down their necks to check what they are doing. 

The proud moment was seeing the overlap between the session and our Repudometer® that we've developed to measure reputations.

BIGGEST LESSON THIS WEEK

My biggest lesson this week is also linked to the IoDSA course. One of the people that attended was asked by her company to complete the program as part of her development and with the view of her to become a director in the company. I was quite surprised at her reluctance to embrace this opportunity. 

It then became apparent that she doesn't really trust the actions of the current directors of the company; which tells me that they don't have the first building block of reputation management in place, i.e. strategic intent. Their core values are not part of their DNA and reflected in how they do business. If she can't sleep easily at night because of uncertainty about the other directors' actions, my advice is to have a serious rehaul of the business strategic intent (vision, mission, values) and making sure that it is something that resonates with everyone within the business and associated stakeholders. If this is not possible, get off that bus as soon as possible and find a company that you can authentically represent. 

WHAT MADE ME GIGGLE?

I completed my first race of the year, the FNB Cape Town 12 Run. I've been enjoying cycling a lot more than running, although I have really not been keeping up with any kind of fitness routine lately and running around the block with Bella is hardly enough training for a 12km race. It was absolutely joyous to be running, and I realised what an incredible mood enhancer it is. 

Towards the end of the race, I found myself on a 'bus' (this is a group of runners led by a pacesetter to make sure that the group finishes within a certain time goal). They are a jovial bunch and you can hear them coming a mile away. As much as I tried to stay ahead of them, they crept nearer and nearer and they made no secret of it that they were catching up with "Hout Bay". They did catch up, and it was fun to run with the group and listen to their banter. As we were running through the Company Gardens, the group was scheduled for a walk, the pacesetter said, "if you want to finish the race sooner, you can go ahead," and one of the guys piped up, "go ahead where??" in the hope of finding magical shortcut to finish sooner. 

MY FAVOURITE QUOTE

I have two, both from the FNB Cape Town 12 Run. 

"Forward is forward," ~ Pacesetter.

Mark's wisdom echoed in my mind for most of the race ~ "Train hard, win easy."  

BIG GOAL FOR THE NEXT WEEK

My AfriCAN dream is still my big hairy audacious goal (BHAG), I did hear from one of the people that I am reliant on to help me make this happen this week, so we are one tiny step closer. 

SOMETHING I FOUND PARTICULARLY CLEVER

Art from art.  My Aunt makes the most amazingly creative array of items from repurposed tapestries; restoring dignity to the neglected pieces of art that someone lovingly devoted so much time to complete.  Each item is an original, one-of-a-kind design that cannot be repeated. I just love the latest addition to the mix, a few photos below. Check out the website for all the different products, a feast for your eyes, enjoy all the beautiful colours!




Wednesday 23 May 2018

Leadership Magazine: It’s OK to fire a client

You can read the online article on page 80 and 81.

Recently I had to make the tough decision to conclude a contract with a long-standing client. Am I crazy to let a steady retainer client go? Maybe. Is the sanity and well-being of my team more important? You bet!

I had noticed that the harder the team tried to please this client’s unrealistic demands by making sure that they always met the incredibly tight deadlines for last minute work, another curveball catapulted their way. It was almost like the challenges seen in the Japanese game show Takeshi’s Castle where one is left wondering what it will take to derail the players. With the utmost grace and balancing act skills, they took on each challenge and delivered each task that was hurled their way regardless of what was already on their diary. I feel bad for allowing this to carry on for so long and not stepping in much sooner.

It was like a typical abusive relationship where one thinks that things will get better the harder you work at it. The problem comes in when only one of the parties is willing to work hard at it. One of the (many) straws that broke the camel’s back was a recent incident where another report was required with an impractical deadline. Not so much as a ‘thank you’ was offered to the team member who had put in additional hours to make sure the client looked good at the boardroom table.

I recently read The Best Place to Work. The author Dr Ron Friedman writes: “Being ignored is often more psychologically painful than being treated poorly … Being recognised feels so good because it is the ultimate sign of belonging.” This made me realise that perhaps we don’t belong together anymore.
We all grow up being taught that the ‘client is always right’, and we need to make sure that the client is always happy. The truth is, they are not, and it is OK to put your foot down.  
That is why living the values of your company is so important. Company values shouldn’t be something found only on a website; forgotten about and revisited once a year at a strategy session. I’ve mentioned before that I encourage each team member to share a story weekly of how our values of respect, authenticity and growth have reflected in their lives, be it through something that they have read, a meeting they had or just living life. We also use these values when making decisions regarding new recruits, new business and when taking stock of current projects.

Standing at the crossroad, having to decide which direction to take with this client, I used our values to help me with my decision-making process.

Respect: I have huge respect for their company, their legacy and what they do in the community; unfortunately the client didn’t reciprocate that respect for my team and what we do.

Growth: I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to have worked with them, and we have grown in leaps and bounds. Our direction has changed quite significantly from our early service offering to where we are today focussed on reputation research and expanding into Africa. Unfortunately, the direction that they are taking does not fit well with what we offer.

Authenticity: this was the clincher for me as I realised that my team were not sold on the client’s core values, which began to compromise their values. It is not fair of me to expect my team to work on a project that they aren’t fully committed to. Even though it did not impact the delivery of work, I do believe that everything we do needs to be authentic.

A ‘break up’ is never easy, but I have learnt that it leads one on to even better opportunities, ones that you could never have dreamt of. It is about being brave, saying no, and remembering that a ‘thank you!’ can make a massive difference to a person’s day. 

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Monday 21 May 2018

It is usually the small acts that mean a lot

Reputations matter, especially when it comes to doing business together. It is built on the way you treat people regardless of your status or how unimportant you deem them or their time to be. It is usually the small acts that mean a lot and go a long way.

I have been reaching out to someone who positions themselves as a “professional speaker” to discuss synergies for some time. My requests were met with deafening silence. 

Not so long ago, said person sent a mail requesting me to recommend and introduce them to my network. Interesting. 

I suggested we meet so that I could authentically recommend the person and understand how best to position them to my network. After three attempts to meet, (each meeting was rescheduled from their side), we, at last, agreed on a Skype meeting earlier this week. Our 09:00 meeting came and went. I received a one-liner email two hours later with a feeble excuse why the meeting was missed.  

[My phone does receive calls, text messages and even WhatsApps early in the morning, which might have been a more appropriate channel, explaining the situation prior to the meeting?] Clearly, my time wasn't deemed very valuable. 

Surely this is not how we should be networking, asking for recommendations and fostering relationships?

Saturday 19 May 2018

The week that was 20180519


My proudest | most grateful moment

We hosted another #DialogueMatters session in Cape Town, focussing on communicating a sustainability message across different audiences. 

These are sessions put together by Reputation MattersLisa Wannell ~ Director and Founder of Halogen Search and Selection specialist recruitment consultancy and Kristina Malther, Managing Director at Open Communication Cape Town. We identified a need to create a space for dialogue and sharing ideas in the communication space. This was the sixth one that we've hosted. 

As Reputation Matters we focus on the importance of research as the springboard for effective decision making to drive and measure communication and business strategies; Lisa focusses on understanding and determining what the best skillset is for a specialist position within the communication field and Kristina focusses on the implementation of communication initiatives and shares great international case studies and best practices. Here's an article we wrote on the last one we hosted.

I am grateful to have met these great strategic alliances and for the opportunity to increase engagement about the importance of communication on this platform. 

The Cape Town sessions are kindly hosted at The Bureaux. The photo is the magnificent view of Cape Town and Lion's Head in the background that greeted us on Thursday morning, I just love this City so much!

My biggest lesson this week

There were a couple of lessons this week. I think the first one is that it is important to make sure that you recharge your batteries so that you can fully focus and enjoy each moment and situation that you find yourself in. You will be a lot more on top of your game (and be a lot more pleasant to be around!). 

The other lesson is also to always be in the present moment and to be aware of what is going on around you. I think this links to having charged batteries. A friend and I went for a jog on Thursday afternoon, there is a wonderful route in Hout Bay that we follow along a dirt road in Bokkemans Kloof. As we were chatting and jogging and enjoying the incredible scenery, Thérèse stopped in her tracks and in a panic shouted for us to stop; Bella (our Weirmaraner) who had been jogging ahead of us and jumping in an out of the bushes, cocked her head and ears towards us to find out what was up with these humans... as I was making sense of what was going on, my first thought was that it might be rogue dogs chasing us from behind, I had no idea what was going on; then I heard Thérèse's voice saying..."there's a SNAKE!", and there in the middle of the road was a puff adder! I called Bella as calmly as possible and put her on a lead; THANKFULLY she was oblivious to what she had run past. Bodies maxed up with adrenalin, I don't think we've ever run home quite as fast!

What made me giggle?

Each month, to celebrate the team's hard work, we started an initiative called 'Cheers for Peers'. Instead of just one 'employee of the month', we celebrate everyone as I am incredibly grateful for my high performing team. (Generally), the first Friday afternoon of a new month we get together; we found that the end of the month gets too busy with month end reporting. So, the first Friday works well. Each month, a different team member gets to choose a fun activity, it's a secret until about 30 minutes before the time when the location is shared. 

Yesterday, Harriet introduced us all to the Cape Town Science Centre in Observatory. We had a huge amount of fun and laughed a lot, especially when the last thing you expect is your colleague's head appearing on a plate of fruit and vegetables! 

A bonus giggle for the week: I am friends with 25 letters of the alphabet...I don't now why...

My favourite quote

On the wall at the Science Centre: 



Big goal for the next week

I really need to work on my MAD dream [My AfriCAN Dream | Making a Difference]; it is something that I am incredibly excited about, I have documented most of it and it is almost ready to share. I have a slight bottleneck in terms of getting feedback from a strategic alliance who needs to answer a few questions for me in terms of getting a facilitator on board / hours needed for training etc. Let's hold thumbs I can report back on it next week. 

Something I found particularly clever

I've decided to add one more section. 
I saw this at the Science Centre in their bathroom; I absolutely love that they have used science to save water in their bathrooms! 


Here's to an amazing week!

Sunday 13 May 2018

The week that was, 20180513

My proudest moment

My proudest moment on so many levels was accecpting the SABRE Awards from Paul Holmes in Gaborone, Botswana. It was affirmation that we are on track with our Repudometer•. So proud of my team. Here's the link to more information of the awards


Paul Holmes handing over the SABRE Awards

Biggest lesson this week

There is so much to learn about Africa. We don't nearly share enough of the good stories of what is happening on our continent. I realised how proud I am to be South African; proud to be African. 


What made me giggle 

Chatting about the upcoming Soccer World Cup, someone from Botswana was asked whether their team had qualified, to which the answer was almost immediate, 'oh no! our team is rubbish!', aaah OK, so what is Botswana's national sport? 'Soccer!' 😂

Favourite quote

I am currently reading Dr. Chris Barnard's 'Tweede Lewe', the follow up to 'Een Lewe,' which incidentally was also a message in Jane Rafaelly's 'unedited' was that you will regret the things you don't do, more than the things you do do that are not successful.

Big goal for the next week

There were so many incredible lessons I learnt from the trip to Botswana and thoughts. I want to set sufficient time aside to write it all up.



Thursday 3 May 2018

The difference between crisis management and reputation management

I forgot to share this article we wrote on crisis vs. reputation management earlier this year
As the listeriosis outbreak hit front pages with 180 fatalities* and news spread of contaminated food being pulled from supermarket shelves, communications specialists have been keeping a close watch over how Tiger brands handles the crisis. Regine le Roux, MD of Reputation Matters, takes a closer look at crisis management and how it differs from reputation management.
“Over the years crisis communication has been used interchangeably with reputation management, however one should note that there is a big difference between the two and they are not the same thing,” says le Roux.
“Crisis communication is reactive, think panic-mode, it’s how a company responds to bad news and the main focus is on salvaging that external image. In contrast, reputation management is proactive and you have the benefit of time on your hands,” explains le Roux. “Most importantly good reputation management can prevent a crisis,” she says.
Reputation Matters conducts reputation research, quantifying an organisation’s reputation, highlighting areas of risk and advising on solutions to prevent these concerns spiralling into a full-blown crisis. “Our reputation research has helped clients identify areas that are breaking down their reputation. If left unattended they would certainly have caused major damage,” says le Roux, explaining the value of long-term, consistent reputation management compared to “fireman” crisis management.
With any crisis, but particularly with a health crisis, no time can be wasted in making a recall announcement, says le Roux. “Customers will criticise any delays in announcing a food recall linked to an outbreak of any kind. Lives are quite literally at stake. On the other hand, with reputation management you have time on your side, giving you the opportunity to strategise about what you want to communicate to stakeholders and how, using data-driven research to inform those decisions.”
Le Roux’s advice is avoid a crisis while you can: “I am convinced that conducting a reputation research study can be a valuable exercise in actively protecting one’s business from a crisis. The key is to take action and proactively manage your reputation before concerns spiral out of control. After all, wouldn’t you like to be quoted in the news for the right reasons, instead of forever appearing on a Google search linked to a widely publicized crisis?”
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https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/publicity/143548/the-difference-between-crisis-management-and-reputation-management

Book: unedited, Jane Raphaely


My absolute favourite part to starting my day is reading a chapter of an autobiography or biography while drinking my cup of coffee; it feels like we are sharing a special time of the day and in a conversation where this person is sharing their life and life lessons with me.

Initially, I battled a bit to get into the book which was disappointing because I really wanted to read it and learn more from this incredibly dynamic woman who launched Fair Lady and brought Cosmopolitan and O Magazine to South Africa. I am so glad that I persevered.

One of the key messages from Jane Raphaely is to take risks. “…what I have learned is that failing to attempt something is far worse and more painful than failing in the attempt.”

Unbashed | unbeaten | uncensored | uncomplaining | unstoppable | unsinkable | undefeated | undiminished | unexpected | unflinching | unshaken | unvanquished | are all word on the inside cover of the book which makes Jane Raphealy so incredibly unique.