HYPERtext linking technology and communications

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop emphasized the importance of reputation when he said, “It takes years to build a reputation and just seconds to destroy it.”

Reputation is one of the most valuable assets of any organization. A good one is priceless. A bad one can cost a company untold millions. This rule holds true in any business climate.

Corporate accountability is the issue du jour. Every day, employees, investors and the media are examining every aspect of business, whether it’s layoffs, closures, corporate scandals, eroding trust or sagging employee confidence.

These events can hurt a company’s reputation and ultimately affect product sales, partnership contracts, employee productivity, recruitment and, of course, stock price.

In all business environments, organizations must take measures to preserve their standing. What can your company do to restore trust and manage your long-term reputation? First, let’s take a look at some of the common mistakes technology companies make.

Many companies communicate with the market only sporadically. When successes are numerous, a company may look inward, celebrating internally but not taking advantage of the potential for increased external visibility.

When times are tough, executives are tempted to lie low until the storm blows over. But lying low enables competitors and third-party influences to affect your company’s positioning. By remaining silent, your company provides no guidance on what to say or how to handle questions your employees and executives receive form customers, partners, candidates and community members who influence your reputation. Your relinquish control of your reputation to the market, allowing external and internal audiences to make their own judgments as to the health, stability and future of your company.

If you want a good corporate reputation whether in a healthy market or a down-turned economy, pay attention to a few tenets of reputation management:

• Be honest and show real value. Do not try to “spin.” If you’ve got bad news, talk about it honestly. If you have good news, share it—but don’t hype it. Talk in terms of benefits to your constituencies. Some folks still think hype will work. It won’t. Companies need real customers, real products and services, and real revenues to prove value to customers and investors.
• Focus on performance and set reasonable milestones. Counsel your executive team to focus communications on company performance, setting realistic goals that they know they can meet. Then make the commitment public, by sharing carefully selected key milestones in your internal and external communications.
• Choose a direction and stick with it. Consistency is key to creating a healthy following among employees and public audiences. Your communications must make it obvious your executive team is committed to the plan for the long term. Companies that waver will find their audiences growing more jaded as they anticipate the next flavor of the month.
• Do what you say you will. It’s remarkable what you can accomplish by following this simple rule. Once you’ve lost trust, it is difficult to rebuild it. You can build and even repair a reputation and regain trust on your ability to deliver on your promises.
• Celebrate milestones, even the small ones. Once you start hitting your milestones, prove momentum by consistently and factually communicating your progress. Celebrate your accomplishments with employees, communicate them to your investors and customers and take them public through the media and analyst communities.
• Invest in corporate communications. According to a survey on management reputation conducted by the Council of PR Firms, expenditures on corporate communications and positive reputation are interconnected. When high-income Americans were asked how they would behave with respect to a company they viewed as a winner, 58 percent said they would be very likely to buy that company’s products.

Make a commitment to build your reputation with a well-planned and executed corporate communications strategy and you will reap the long-term rewards of a positive reputation.