Leadership Magazine: Please, can you take me off Google?

April's Leadership Magazine contribution can be read online here, it's on page 64 and 64.

Please can you take me off Google…

Reputation management is not crisis management.

If I had R1 for every time someone asked me to remove them from Google, I would be lazing on a hang mat next to an azure ocean, sipping cocktails on an exotic island today; and if I could magically remove people from a specific website, I would probably own that Island by now! Unfortunately there isn’t a quick fix, and the internet does not forget, ever. [Unless, you live in Spain, where I have heard that they have a law where you can delete an article online, unfortunately we can’t all move to Spain.]

Over the years reputation management has become synonymous with crisis communication and it seems the two terms are now used interchangeably. Let’s get one thing straight, reputation management is not crisis management.

What is the main difference between crisis management and reputation management?

Crisis communication is a reaction to a situation that has a negative impact on an organisation and its various stakeholders. It is a reactive management of communication to something that has already happened. Think panic-mode.

One of the key differences with reputation management is that it is proactive.  By doing regular research to understand your stakeholders (which incidentally is a key requirement in Chapter five of the King IV report) and linking their requirements to the ten key reputation management building blocks needed for building successful businesses, you will be able to identify gaps and be alerted to potential risky scenarios. Very often through this exercise crises can be abated and worrying scenarios avoided altogether. 

What are the things to consider for crisis communication versus reputation management?

Crisis communication’s main focus is on the protecting the external image of the organisation and on external communication management. Internal communication for employees is also important but the main focus during a crisis is salvaging that external image. Because it is a reactive exercise there are usually quite a number of stakeholders that will want to know what is happening. The recent listeriosis outbreak, a growing number of fatalities and then the recall on certain food products is a good example of a full scale health crisis that requires a public awareness campaign. Time is of the essence to get the message out during such a crisis, and keeping stakeholders in the loop, finding solutions to fix the problems and and taking steps to prevent similar future scenarios is vital.   

With reputation management you need to make sure that your internal business building blocks are in place first before doing any external communication. Like it or not, whatever is communicated internally will get filtered through to external stakeholders, and you want to make sure that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. It is therefore important that everyone inside the organisation is fluent or fully informed, sending out the same key messages. A good starting point is to ask, does everyone in your organisation know what the company’s vision and core values are? If you were to ask five different people to describe what your business does in eight words, would they all sound similar? Are policies and governance structures clear and understood by all? Are there sufficient training and mentorship opportunities? Research is highly recommended to better understand your stakeholders and what makes them tick. This will enable you to measure whether your initiatives are successful or not and highlight any gaps. Presenting numbers and figures to your board is also a lot more powerful than trying to convince them to listen to your gut feeling. Through research you can also make sure that you timeously communicate the most appropriate message through the best channels of communication and encourage feedback. 

With time on your side, reputation management gives you the opportunity to strategise about what you communicate and how, using data-driven research to inform decisions that ultimately strengthen and establish the relationship you have with stakeholders. So if the paw paw hits the fan, your reputation is already well established and will stand you in good stead, weathering the crisis.

Who should fulfil the reputation management function within the organisation?

Crisis communication is something that automatically falls with the Public Relations ambit.

The head of the organisation should take the lead when it comes to reputation management. However, bear in mind that every department plays a key role in how the organisation is perceived and this can impact its overall reputation. I don’t believe that reputation management should only fall within the Public Relations department, it is a much broader responsibility, with a lot more at stake than external communication management.

Can reputation management prevent a crisis?

It most certainly can. Using the insights that we have gained from the research that we conduct for clients, we’ve been able to highlight risk areas which if left unattended would have caused major damage to the organisation.

I am convinced that conducting a reputation research study can be a valuable exercise in actively protecting one’s business from a crisis. Our research can help an organisation to identify and fix concerns. They could be linked to operating policies, health standards being flouted, corrupt practices, unethical leadership, poor communication or lack of training opportunities. The key is to take action with while you have time, before concerns spiral out of control and reach crisis status. After all, wouldn’t we all like to be quoted in the news for the right reasons, instead of forever appearing on a google search linked to a highly publicised company crisis?