adminShelter Chieza Change Management
The facilitator in one of the seminars I attended recently posed an interesting Ice breaker question – What do you consider to be the hardest thing for a human to do?
Some answered conviction, some said believing in something, someone from the back said it was hard for a person to be truly honest with themselves.
Most of the men agreed that it is hard to love one person for the rest of their lives and someone said to forgive and forget.
What stood out for me was the response from a soft-spoken gentleman clad in a rather too bold pinstriped business suit, he said it is hard to be a person of integrity and honour.
His response attracted a few nods, a few aha moments and a few giggles. He added that building honour and respect requires effort, patience and time.
Whereas a thin line exists between being honourable and dishonour, as it only requires a single misstep to jump from one to the other.
As I sat there analysing his response, I realised that he was talking about reputation. I considered the many ways that my reputation had opened doors for me.
I also thought back at how some respectable people the world over who have built their reputation over a number of years have fallen from grace instantly due to minor or trivial issues such as pictures of them in compromising positions with girlfriends finding their way in the public domain.
So what is the secret to maintaining a good reputation especially at company level? The natural laws apply – become a company that deserves one.
Many of you will recall the Enron story – the company enjoyed a solid reputation – it did the right things for the right reason and garnered substantial credibility.
Later successful operations were replaced with the illusion of successful operations. In the last phases Enron milked its credibility to sustain operations through loans.
Though all the details of company’s collapse and its full ramifications may not be clear for years ; there was a prediction the fall of Enron will be known for decades to come as one of America’s greatest business tragedies.
Managing corporate reputation is tricky, you are building trust with your stakeholders. I have observed many moments that it is very difficult to create a relationship when you are right in the middle of a crisis. In fact reputation can be valued, it is such a valuable asset that you must fight to keep it.
Naturally, good deeds also boost corporate reputations. The bottom line is that companies need to build a strong relationship with consumers, even if they do not sell the most sought after products on the market.
Safeguarding image should now be top priority for the CEO. So pivotal is reputation that one New York consulting firm came up with a Reputation Institute.
The winner was Barilla Holding, the Italian pasta maker, with annual revenue over $5 billion and a reputation score of 87,79 out of a possible 100.
Barilla was not the only Italian company to make the top ten. We have a lot to learn from the Italians.
People do seem to love food so much, so it was not surprising that it’s mostly consumer product companies that won.
The bottom end of the list included a few corporations whose names have become synonymous with bad behaviour. Tyco and Exxon Mobil featured in that part.
If we were going to carry out a study in Zimbabwe for the companies with best and worst reputation, I would bet you some of our biggest corporations would feature easily because they have a poor service delivery record.
The Reputation Institute, says companies that give to social causes did well in the survey. Social responsibility does contribute to building a good reputation
Many would testify that a reputation is a fragile thing. Like an infant, it requires constant feeding.
Be aware that consistency is crucial. If you live up to your reputation 99 percent of the times but fail to do so 1 percent of the time, you risk disproportionate damage you let down a highly influential party in your network.
A good reputation should not be an end in itself but rather a natural outgrowth of you striving to reach your goals.
Let’s face it, we only have influence over our reputation; never control. Corporate reputation will continue to be an extremely important topic for organisations in the near future.
With recent trends on the changes in risk management, technology, and risks in general, organisations will constantly have to evaluate and monitor the impact of risk challenges on their reputation.
Based on recent developments, more transparent reporting may be necessary in valuing the reputation of organisations.
I see a future where reputation may not only be identified as an asset on the balance sheet but one which affects investor confidence, staff recruitment, stakeholder attitudes in its capacity as relationship capital.
One wise man once said the value of a good reputation and respect is worth much more that silver and gold.
Till next week, may God richly bless you?
Shelter Chieza is an Advisor in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected]
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