How much do you love Leadership Magazine?

In case you've not had a chance to pick up your copy of Leadership Magazine this month yet; here's my latest article; it's on page 102.

How do you love Leadership? 
Let me count the ways...

The results are in! Surveys have been completed and data analysed. Using our unique reputation management research tool, the Repudometer®, we are proud to announce that Leadership Magazine’s reputation scored a whopping 78%! What this means is that you really enjoy reading your monthly dose of leadership articles and that you have a high regard for the magazine’s editorial integrity. Thank you to everyone who participated.

What is a reputation score? The reputation of an organisation (or magazine in this case) is built upon the perceptions of stakeholders about the interactions and activities of the organisation. These stakeholders all have their own specific views and perceptions of an organisation, which contribute to how the organisation is seen and valued. Every organisation has a reputation, be it positive or negative. The Repudometer® results make it even more interesting; we are able to capture and quantify an organisation’s reputation to clearly see what is impacting their reputation so that robust communication strategies can be put in motion, to leverage off the strengths and curb issues impacting the reputation. Ultimately we look for solutions to take the entity’s reputation to the next level.

Why reputation matters? The possibilities of a good and solid reputation are endless. A healthy corporate reputation helps you attract and retain talented employees. It also assists in making your brand the most preferred amongst customers when competitors’ goods and services are available at a similar quality and price. And very importantly, it pulls you through times of controversy; you don’t know when a crisis is about to hit.

Why quantify Leadership Magazine’s reputation? By understanding what elements and information about the magazine is pertinent to each of its stakeholder groups, we were able to determine what elements are building or breaking down the image of Leadership Magazine, and ultimately impacting its corporate reputation, and to make sure that the magazine is on track when it comes to delivering a high quality magazine readers have become accustomed to.

For the Leadership Magazine reputation research survey, we engaged mainly with two stakeholder groups, namely readers and employees. There were some ‘other’ respondents which included partners and suppliers; however, we did not receive enough data from this group to get statistically accurate results. Nonetheless, it still provided us with valuable insights.

When measuring stakeholder perceptions and the resulting corporate reputation, a holistic view needs to be taken of the organisation. Every area of an organisation, regardless of how big or small it may appear, plays a key role in its reputation.

The five core elements that we measured in the study included:

Corporate Management which scored 83% and focused on how the organisation is run and managed, in other words, the magazine’s Strategic Intent and Operational Governance. Stakeholders perceive Leadership Magazine to have a clear direction of where the magazine is heading. The Strategic Intent dimension scored the highest with 87%.

Corporate Capital scored 79% and measured the ability and capability of the organisation to deliver on services and stakeholder expectations. This dimension focused on human and operational capital, i.e. employees and their skills and toolset that they are armed with.

Corporate positioning scored 73% and looked at Leadership Magazine’s strategic alliances, i.e. partnerships and its interactions within their community; the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) projects that they get involved with, the latter being something that Leadership Magazine know they need to focus on and communicate more on, as this element scored the lowest overall.

Corporate performance scored 82% and measured the financial aspects of the business in terms of business results, as well as its value offering. Value Offering scored the second highest (86%), which means that stakeholders see the value of investing, i.e. buying and advertising in the magazine

Corporate dialogue scored 74%, this element is the glue that ties all of the components together and comprises of internal and external dialogue. Leadership Magazine’s external communication scored on the low side, and they know that they can do more to market themselves.

Some interesting reader statistics from the survey (please note that this is not the full list of results):

·    95% would recommend others to read Leadership Magazine

• 88% of the readers are incredibly positive and have a high regard for the magazine’s editorial integrity
• 59% of respondents read the magazine online
• 56% rated their readership experience on par with their expectations
• 37% of respondents are not subscribed to the newsletter
• 35% of readers save the hard copy of the magazine for future reference

The three top of mind words that are used to describe Leadership Magazine are: Quality, Balanced and Strategic.

The 78% overall score shows that Leadership Magazine is a solid, reputable read that people want to be associated with.

We thank everyone that participated in the study.

If you would like to measure your reputation, contact us before the end of July 2016 to qualify for a special Leadership Magazine reader rate. Your company’s reputation matters to us!

To continue the reputation management conversation, join Regine on Twitter @ReputationIsKey or Facebook www.facebook.com/yourreputationmatters.

Do you have a reputation management question? Ask the specialist – send your question through to Regine and it may be answered in the next edition: regine@reputationmatters.co.za.