One-Minute Corporate Reputation Management
One-Minute Corporate Reputation Management
Even as book sales soared the business and management landscape was changing. The researchers’ and engineers’ Internet was being turned into an everyperson’s everywhere communications channel. We changed from hierarchical organizations to flat sometimes intertwined organizations seemingly overnight. The flat organization reached out a new set of influences – employees, customers, suppliers, investors and communities.
Suddenly one-minute management shrunk to 10-second management.
Business in the Internet era demands quick thinking and even quicker action. Especially when a company’s reputation and possible future hang in the balance. In this new environment, managers at every level suddenly have a new set of pro-active responsibilities.
They must protect and enhance the company’s reputation. At the same time, they must help management create new business models. Rather than simply propping up existing business models they have to contribute to the organization’s growth. They have to take an active role in helping the organization achieve radical innovation that often changes the parameters of competitive performance.
Not Your Job?
Many managers will say that their job is design products, promote the company, deliver the service, purchase the components…anything but change the company.
Wrong!
Part of your job is – or should be – to be aware of the changes around (inside and out) the organization and to interpret that change to management. To help effect change you have to become an activist that builds coalitions and leverages the strengths of people within the organization. If you feel you’ll be walking on shaky ground you are most likely wrong. If not, you’re in the wrong company.
Most of the CEOs we consult with complain about how difficult it is to change their organization. Change from the top down is extremely difficult.
Mike Armstrong of AT&T saw the changes that needed to be made, pushed for the transitioning but it hasn’t happened…yet. Every U.S. President vows to overhaul, streamline and make government more efficient, more effective and more responsive to the citizenry…have you seen any improvements?
The Comfort of Status Quo
People are comfortable with the status quo to the point they don’t even question it. Despite pronouncements, elaborate plans and dictates from the top, people continue down the same path.
On the other hand, Jack Welch of GE didn’t use the chain of command approach in effecting change. He spent a lot of time with first and second tier employees helping them understand why a change in direction was in their best interest and ultimately the company’s best interest.
But many managers will continue to say this isn’t what they signed on for. So let’s bring the point home with a quote by Gary Hamel, author of Leading the Revolution. “Somewhere out there is a bullet with your company’s name on it,” he states. “You’re going to have to shoot first.”
And in the Internet world that shot can come from anywhere. Usually it is aimed directly at your organization’s reputation. Suddenly the pieces fit together and it becomes “your job.” With a few keystrokes and a click of the mouse your firm’s reputation can go from good to bad, strong to weak.
Your Reputation Assets
That’s because your company’s reputation is based on a number of “assets:”
• quality of your products services
• ability to innovate
• value as a long-term investment
• financial stability
• ability to attract, develop, retain talent
• use of corporate assets
• quality of management
Study the list closely. None of the company’s assets are firm or concrete. They are soft and arbitrary. Security analysts and accountants will often say that these asset assessments are too irrational to be listed as true assets. But these are the measures people use and rely on every day when making a decision on products/service to buy, companies to join, firms to invest in or corporations they want in their communities.
The reputation managers must help promote and protect has a true dollar and cents value to your firm.
The Speed of Lost Value
Emulex’s value sank by millions of dollars in a day when upstart InternetWire published a bogus news release. Many good dotcoms were caught in the whirlpool of bad news/bad press on the failure of the on-line business community. The cell phone/brain cancer scare cost Motorola billions in valuation. Less spectacular but no less damaging are the customer complaints regarding a firm’s customer service and support activities in on-line discussion groups.
Fortunately for most companies they do build up a reservoir of goodwill in the marketplace they can draw upon when necessary. Often when you least expect it, you’re going to need that reservoir in your 1-Minute Corporate Reputation Management. That’s because one of your key functions is to understand the firm’s strategic positioning, develop brand and product promotion, interrelate with suppliers or channel partners, deal with employees and potential employees on a daily basis.
Many management communications efforts often fall short in this area because message development and distribution is departmentalized or compartmentalized in most firms.
Corporate Reputation Reserve
At the end of the day if there is a core theme or set of themes to the messages it is often an accident. Without that core nothing can be put in the corporate reputation reserve.
“Intel Inside” defines the company and its products. Coca-Cola singularly devotes itself to its dedication to delivering a quality product to the consumer. Sony focuses on providing innovative value. Against a backdrop of environmental mishaps in the 1990s, Shell has reshaped a gentler, more kind and more progressive image as a firm that is concerned about making the future better.
IBM has successfully reinvented itself and refocused its big blue army at least four different times in the past 10 years. From mainframe iron to PC friendly to software and finally to service and support. The company has tuned itself and its messages to the rapidly changing business marketplace. Despite its legal entanglements, Microsoft has made a shift to a more responsible, responsive management and Internet-based organization.
While Priceline.com continues to make missteps in establishing, promoting and protecting its reputation; expedia.com and travelocity.com have effectively established themselves as the on-line travel management leaders.
Top-Down vs Bottom-Up
As AT&T defines its multiple messages with layers of managers and semi-independent product groups; Sprint grows stronger in wireless communications, AOL and Earthlink become more dominant in the Internet connectivity arena, Exodus and a few others focus on being responsive/responsible Web hosting partners and IBM becomes the small and large business services/support provider of choice.
Despite the billions of dollars of investments in so many areas, AT&T remains the long distance carrier which many are considering irrelevant.
Welch’s dynamics of change and responsiveness message bubbles from the bottom up at GE. John Chambers spreads the same level of consistency and urgency throughout Cisco (and its partners). On the other hand, Armstrong’s communications value and quality message is being misshaped and mismanaged by seemingly independent, sometimes competing internal organizations.
Global enterprises like Philips, Matsushita, Ericcson, Seimens, General Motors and others are facing similar reputation management crises.
In the early part of the last century the railroad firms said they were in the railroad business. Airline firms said they were in the transportation industry. Virgin has said we are in the customer business so they fly planes, sell records and books, provide financial services and offer you soft drinks and cell phones.
Which corporate reputation is easier to build and protect? Which is harder to attack and surpass?
Wall of Protectionism
To a greater or lesser degree the same measurements hold true for your organization’s reputation. The Internet tore down the walls of protectionism that companies often hid behind during most of the 20th century. It flattened the organization bringing customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and regulators into the firm.
Managers today have to deal equally and effectively with all of these audiences. The better you communicate, the more you communicate, the better the reputation.
Broaden Vision, Drive Change
The constant challenge for management is to fight against narrowly defining the company because it limits the company’s reputation and the visions/goals of the stakeholders – employees, partners, customers and shareholders.
As a result, managers at every level have to help inspire people inside the company to take ownership of change inside the organization and become the advocates for radical innovation. This unbridled commitment to building a reputation as a responsive, revolutionary and responsible corporate entity; ensures that when the company encounters its 10-second reputation crisis the management team will have a strong and deep reservoir of organizational reputation to draw from.
The best 1-Minute Corporate Reputation Managers do more than simply write positioning and policy statements. They help define and direct change. After all, it’s tough to hit and wound a fast moving, pro-active target.
###############
OneMinute Corporate Reputation Management - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
It isn’t by accident that we chose the headline for this article from Spencer Johnson’s very successful book, The One-Minute Manager. When the book was first published in the early ‘90’s, it became an instant guide for managers at all levels on how they could hone and improve their management skills.
Even as book sales soared the business and management landscape was changing. The researchers’ and engineers’ Internet was being turned into an everyperson’s everywhere communications channel. We changed from hierarchical organizations to flat sometimes intertwined organizations seemingly overnight. The flat organization reached out a new set of influences – employees, customers, suppliers, investors and communities.
Suddenly one-minute management shrunk to 10-second management.
Business in the Internet era demands quick thinking and even quicker action. Especially when a company’s reputation and possible future hang in the balance. In this new environment, managers at every level suddenly have a new set of pro-active responsibilities.
They must protect and enhance the company’s reputation. At the same time, they must help management create new business models. Rather than simply propping up existing business models they have to contribute to the organization’s growth. They have to take an active role in helping the organization achieve radical innovation that often changes the parameters of competitive performance.
Not Your Job?
Many managers will say that their job is design products, promote the company, deliver the service, purchase the components…anything but change the company.
Wrong!
Part of your job is – or should be – to be aware of the changes around (inside and out) the organization and to interpret that change to management. To help effect change you have to become an activist that builds coalitions and leverages the strengths of people within the organization. If you feel you’ll be walking on shaky ground you are most likely wrong. If not, you’re in the wrong company.
Most of the CEOs we consult with complain about how difficult it is to change their organization. Change from the top down is extremely difficult.
Mike Armstrong of AT&T saw the changes that needed to be made, pushed for the transitioning but it hasn’t happened…yet. Every U.S. President vows to overhaul, streamline and make government more efficient, more effective and more responsive to the citizenry…have you seen any improvements?
The Comfort of Status Quo
People are comfortable with the status quo to the point they don’t even question it. Despite pronouncements, elaborate plans and dictates from the top, people continue down the same path.
On the other hand, Jack Welch of GE didn’t use the chain of command approach in effecting change. He spent a lot of time with first and second tier employees helping them understand why a change in direction was in their best interest and ultimately the company’s best interest.
But many managers will continue to say this isn’t what they signed on for. So let’s bring the point home with a quote by Gary Hamel, author of Leading the Revolution. “Somewhere out there is a bullet with your company’s name on it,” he states. “You’re going to have to shoot first.”
And in the Internet world that shot can come from anywhere. Usually it is aimed directly at your organization’s reputation. Suddenly the pieces fit together and it becomes “your job.” With a few keystrokes and a click of the mouse your firm’s reputation can go from good to bad, strong to weak.
Your Reputation Assets
That’s because your company’s reputation is based on a number of “assets:”
• quality of your products services
• ability to innovate
• value as a long-term investment
• financial stability
• ability to attract, develop, retain talent
• use of corporate assets
• quality of management
Study the list closely. None of the company’s assets are firm or concrete. They are soft and arbitrary. Security analysts and accountants will often say that these asset assessments are too irrational to be listed as true assets. But these are the measures people use and rely on every day when making a decision on products/service to buy, companies to join, firms to invest in or corporations they want in their communities.
The reputation managers must help promote and protect has a true dollar and cents value to your firm.
The Speed of Lost Value
Emulex’s value sank by millions of dollars in a day when upstart InternetWire published a bogus news release. Many good dotcoms were caught in the whirlpool of bad news/bad press on the failure of the on-line business community. The cell phone/brain cancer scare cost Motorola billions in valuation. Less spectacular but no less damaging are the customer complaints regarding a firm’s customer service and support activities in on-line discussion groups.
Fortunately for most companies they do build up a reservoir of goodwill in the marketplace they can draw upon when necessary. Often when you least expect it, you’re going to need that reservoir in your 1-Minute Corporate Reputation Management. That’s because one of your key functions is to understand the firm’s strategic positioning, develop brand and product promotion, interrelate with suppliers or channel partners, deal with employees and potential employees on a daily basis.
Many management communications efforts often fall short in this area because message development and distribution is departmentalized or compartmentalized in most firms.
Corporate Reputation Reserve
At the end of the day if there is a core theme or set of themes to the messages it is often an accident. Without that core nothing can be put in the corporate reputation reserve.
“Intel Inside” defines the company and its products. Coca-Cola singularly devotes itself to its dedication to delivering a quality product to the consumer. Sony focuses on providing innovative value. Against a backdrop of environmental mishaps in the 1990s, Shell has reshaped a gentler, more kind and more progressive image as a firm that is concerned about making the future better.
IBM has successfully reinvented itself and refocused its big blue army at least four different times in the past 10 years. From mainframe iron to PC friendly to software and finally to service and support. The company has tuned itself and its messages to the rapidly changing business marketplace. Despite its legal entanglements, Microsoft has made a shift to a more responsible, responsive management and Internet-based organization.
While Priceline.com continues to make missteps in establishing, promoting and protecting its reputation; expedia.com and travelocity.com have effectively established themselves as the on-line travel management leaders.
Top-Down vs Bottom-Up
As AT&T defines its multiple messages with layers of managers and semi-independent product groups; Sprint grows stronger in wireless communications, AOL and Earthlink become more dominant in the Internet connectivity arena, Exodus and a few others focus on being responsive/responsible Web hosting partners and IBM becomes the small and large business services/support provider of choice.
Despite the billions of dollars of investments in so many areas, AT&T remains the long distance carrier which many are considering irrelevant.
Welch’s dynamics of change and responsiveness message bubbles from the bottom up at GE. John Chambers spreads the same level of consistency and urgency throughout Cisco (and its partners). On the other hand, Armstrong’s communications value and quality message is being misshaped and mismanaged by seemingly independent, sometimes competing internal organizations.
Global enterprises like Philips, Matsushita, Ericcson, Seimens, General Motors and others are facing similar reputation management crises.
In the early part of the last century the railroad firms said they were in the railroad business. Airline firms said they were in the transportation industry. Virgin has said we are in the customer business so they fly planes, sell records and books, provide financial services and offer you soft drinks and cell phones.
Which corporate reputation is easier to build and protect? Which is harder to attack and surpass?
Wall of Protectionism
To a greater or lesser degree the same measurements hold true for your organization’s reputation. The Internet tore down the walls of protectionism that companies often hid behind during most of the 20th century. It flattened the organization bringing customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and regulators into the firm.
Managers today have to deal equally and effectively with all of these audiences. The better you communicate, the more you communicate, the better the reputation.
Broaden Vision, Drive Change
The constant challenge for management is to fight against narrowly defining the company because it limits the company’s reputation and the visions/goals of the stakeholders – employees, partners, customers and shareholders.
As a result, managers at every level have to help inspire people inside the company to take ownership of change inside the organization and become the advocates for radical innovation. This unbridled commitment to building a reputation as a responsive, revolutionary and responsible corporate entity; ensures that when the company encounters its 10-second reputation crisis the management team will have a strong and deep reservoir of organizational reputation to draw from.
The best 1-Minute Corporate Reputation Managers do more than simply write positioning and policy statements. They help define and direct change. After all, it’s tough to hit and wound a fast moving, pro-active target.
###############
OneMinute Corporate Reputation Management - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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