One-minute online reputation management

By Reputation Management

Public Relations Quarterly, Winter 2002 by Marken, G A

It isn’t by accident that we chose the headline for this column 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 and broader thinking and even quicker action. Especially when a company’s reputation and possible future hang in the balance. In this new environment, public relations people suddenly have a new set of pro-active responsibilities

They must still protect and enhance the company’s reputation. But 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 changes the parameters of competitive performance.

Some PR people will say that their job is simply to promote the company… not change it.

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 from the top down for the transitioning but it didn’t happen. 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 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 PR people 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 our 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 corporate 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. Statisticians and accountants would argue 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/services to buy, companies to join, firms to invest in or corporations they want in their communities.

The reputation that PR people are responsible for promoting and protecting does have a true dollar and cents value to your firm.

The Speed of Lost Value

Emulex’s value sank by millions of dollars in one 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 that are communicated daily on on-line discussion groups.

Fortunately for PR people who consistently focus on projecting and explaining a few key principles in their corporate communications activities build up a reservoir of goodwill in the marketplace. Often when you least expect it, you’re going to need that reservoir in your One-Minute Corporate Reputation Management. That’s because one of your key functions is to understand and communicate the firm’s strategic positioning, brand and product promotion and management philosophy/direction in a single, strong set of communications messages to all of your audiences.

Published by Reputation Management in Online Reputation Management