Why You Need Internal Reputation Management

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business, communication, employee development, employee engagement, employees, executive, financial, Gallup, internal audiences, internal communication, investor relations, leadership, reputation management, technical

Most companies pay attention to what is happening externally – the response by its customers, sales channel, investors, bloggers and the media. Most companies do a decent job of monitoring the external reputation. Companies track blogs, forums and articles to audit discussions and trends. Online reputation management is easy to read, monitor and respond. It has become critical in business as a medium.

Reputation management has a big impact on a company’s revenue, and addressing the external audiences is important. Often, organizations will base reputation management programs on what those external audiences say. In my career, I’ve seen Communications and Investor Relations staffers draft scripts for the executive team to deliver information on trending topics during quarterly calls or at financial conferences. The teams provide answers to anticipated questions with accurate information on which investors can depend, which is safer and smarter than allowing inaccurate information to filter in from elsewhere. This is an avoidable risk.

However, failing to notice or regard what internal audiences are saying can be a bigger risk. Oftentimes, companies fall short in managing their own internal reputation management. It is one area that does not always garner the needed attention it deserves. Some companies do not view employee perceptions as a significant component to reputation management, while other executive leadership teams may not understand the importance of employee perceptions within the organization.

While the customer may always be right, your employee is the one in contact with that customer. Employees are the first line of brand ambassadors. They are the ones who, when they believe in something, will stand by a company through the darkest days. Conversely, if they have lost faith or confidence in the leader, the product or the philosophy of the company, there is going to be a major disconnect in trying to move a program, idea or concept forward without their support.

Do not disregard water cooler talk. Any employee discussion can glean valuable information.

According to Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace, strategy and leadership philosophy is the most effective way to generate employee engagement. “The best leaders understand that there is an emotional  undercurrent to everything they do … they take a strategic, top-down approach to engaging leadership teams and then cascade engagement through the ranks of managers to employees on the front lines.” In order for a business to be successful, the leaders need to provide a clear vision of how their people connect to the company’s mission and growth strategy.

What can you do to establish your organization as one of the best? First steps including assessing your communication and knowledge management. Are you taking a strategic approach to align employee engagement communication efforts? Are you hoping it will just organically happen? Look for ways and methods to communicate your organization’s engagement impact throughout the year. Next, share engagement tools and best practices within the organization. Use every opportunity, touchpoint, and available communication channel to reinforce and recognize your organization’s commitment to employee engagement.

When your own employees have good things to say about your company, product or service, a corresponding response from external audiences will not be out of range. If you develop, build and nurture a strong internal reputation management, you have engaged the best brand ambassadors – your own employees.

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Guess What I Have in My Pocket?

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affair, CFO, Cockney, creative writing, executive, executive bonus, fiction, Jack Spratt, Lucas Oil Field, may to december, photograph, pocket, teamwork, tradeshow, work

“If you can guess what I have in my pocket, you can have it.”

We all groaned. Jim’s favorite saying, which he did in a horrible Cockney accent, was “I have a hole in my pocket and I’m feeling a little cocky.” None of us encouraged him. Instead, our gathering of five simply stared.

He sighed, rolled his eyes and said he was serious. We all moved in a little closer.

We were in the middle of our company’s immense trade show booth on the floor of the Lucas Oil Field, wearing matching blue company dress shirts and black slacks and surrounded by 150 fellow employees. It was the final day of a four-day convention. We had partied as hard as we worked and were all sleep-deprived, hungover and ready to go home. No one wanted to dig into Jim’s pockets.

“If it’s something sexual or gross, I’m gonna pop you.” I had been victim to several of his pranks before and had every right to be apprehensive. Also, my head was throbbing dully from the night before. I had stopped counting my vodka tonics when I passed seven.

Jim always carried a loose mixture of pills, breath mints and coins in his front pants’ pocket. While disgusting, someone always needed something at one of the trade shows. This time I resisted the urge to ask him for an ibuprofen.

“Don’t worry, Janey,” he growled in his deep bass voice. “I wouldn’t do something that like here.” Looking around to ensure no one was lurking nearby, he produced a wallet-sized photo.

We leaned in. We tilted our heads, trying to get a better look. No one wanted to touch it. The image could not be real.

Rick studied the photo for a moment before glancing at the rest of us incredulously. “No! That can’t be!”

“Where did you get this?” Kathy whispered, covering the photo with her outstretched hand. She glanced over her shoulder, a little frightened.

“You haven’t shown this to anyone else, have you?” Mark interjected. “They’d fire you!”

Jim snorted and rolled his eyes. We were the first and only people to see it.

What would you do if someone just showed you a photo of your CFO in a loving, shirtless embrace with the young trade show manager who wasn’t his wife?

I knew how Jim’s mind worked. He wasn’t one to use information prematurely. That photo was insurance in case his position went south.

Things had been tough at the company lately. New management had recently laid off ten percent of the workforce, and it seemed another one layoff was looming. People were referring to the new regime as the “mismanagement.” Any little misstep could be the final walk off the plank. I didn’t think blackmail was the best way to keep a job.

I glanced over at the trade show manager, stationed at the front desk and handing out trinkets to the attendees. Besides being a May-December affair, she and the CFO were like Jack Spratt and his wife. She was well over three hundred pounds and even her personality wasn’t attractive. I couldn’t imagine the allure. There was a rumor she had known him since childhood when their families had lived in the same town and her dad had been one of the CFO’s golfing buddies. That took it beyond gross to creepy.

Speculation continued among the group as to how the two first hooked up. Rick, Mark and Jim cracked comments and the laughter seemed to grow out of the exhaustion and absurdity of the situation.

“You can’t get the thought of the two of them doing it out of you mind, can you? I bet she likes it best on top,” Jim growled in my ear.

I gagged, tasting the day old vodka. I didn’t need that image implanted in my brain. I wondered who took the original photo, but knew Jim wouldn’t give away his source. He repocketed the photo.

Everyone turned and looked to me. As the senior member of the group, they expected me to know what to do.

I shrugged and grandly gestured at the expansiveness of the booth. “Well, that explains why our budget was doubled this year. Nothing like an executive bonus!”

# # #

I Didn’t Like Eat, Pray, Love – But I loved the Elusive Creative Genius.

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50 Shades of Grey, artist, book clubs, Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, elusive, genius, Indonesia, memoir, musings, New York Times Best Selling Author, Ted talks, Ted.com, wine, writing prompts, writings

There, I admit it. I’m probably in the minority when I say I didn’t want to read the book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert. While everyone was dissecting her 12-month adventure over glasses of wine in book clubs, I avoided reading it. While women swooned over the movie and planned pilgrimages to foreign lands expecting dalliances and affairs with attractive foreigners, I sought out other books. Usually when “everyone is reading” something and it’s the “in” book, I avoid it like the plague. I’ll admit it’s a strange prejudice, but I know I’ll only end up disappointed even though the public raves and movies get made (don’t even get me started on 50 Shades of Grey).

However, in one of my classes on non-fiction writing, I had to prepare my students to write a short memoir. Part of the student preparation revolves around the fact most of these 18-24 year olds have never read a memoir. We read excerpts, study style and content, and closely define exactly of what a memoir consists. What was the big reveal? Would the reader have an “a-ha” moment? Did the writer have one as well?

I did a search on Ted Talks. There I discovered a speech by Elizabeth Gilbert, taped in 2009. http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius Her speech, “Chasing the Elusive Genius” went beyond the book that made her famous and delved into what she believed was responsible for good writing. She mused on how that “genius” can affect writers and artists, and how and where we may or may not find it. The talk was funny, moving and thought-provoking. There are so many tortured artists who believe he/she IS the genius. However, isn’t it better to know we are not the “genius” but rather there is a genius that works through us or with us? It was a hit with the students and an encouragement as they began their final writing assignment.

After showing the video to the class, I decided to read the book so I could talk about Gilbert’s memoir and motivation with my students in the next semester. During the holiday break, I read the book and promptly decided I had been right to avoid it. It just didn’t resonate with me. I found Gilbert had eliminated or skimmed over some significant details in the first third of her book that affected what happened in her marriage. I labeled her an unreliable narrator. Of course, it’s her memory of what happened, and in her memoir she can write it any way she wants, including skimming over important details.

I’m okay with not liking the book. Maybe Elizabeth Gilbert’s genius and mine are on different wavelengths. She is after all, a New York Times Best Selling Author and has had other books published. She’s got a good handle on publishing.

What I am happy about, though, is I found her speech on that elusive genius. I’ve looked to Ted.com for many sources of inspiration, information and education. Gilbert’s speech and topic is one I can stand behind and believe in all day long. And I don’t have to drown myself in goblets of wine or go to Indonesia to experience it.

What are some of your favorite Ted talks?

Will You Pick Strangers or Friends?

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canyon course, creative writing, daily prompts, encouragement, fear, friends, inspiration, musings, north carolina, Post Idea, postaday, public speaking, sky bridge, strangers, support, u.s. national whitewater center, work, writing prompts, zipline

When you do something scary or stressful — bungee jumping, public speaking, etc. — do you prefer to be surrounded by friends or by strangers?

A few years ago, I completed the canyon course at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in North Carolina. The challenge was to work from tree platform to tree platform over a ridge gorge on a circuit of sky bridges. These bridges were constructed not of steel or wood, but rather one or two ropes with a rope at the side or overhead to assist with balance.

I followed my friend and his son along the course. Both tore through across the rope walkways like nimble monkeys as if we were only a few inches above the ground, instead of 50 feet. It was a hard course for me. I took it at a snail’s pace. I’m sure the eight-year-old behind me learned a great deal about patience that afternoon.

I’ve always been athletic but never attempted anything quite like that before. Perched on one rope with maybe another at waist-height to help with balance, I expected to lose my balance. I was less concerned with falling and more concerned about not being able to get back up on that little rope/cable to continue the course. I’m no acrobat and couldn’t fathom how once I fell, I’d be able to swing myself upright like some Olympic gymnast on the horizontal high bar. The good news is I didn’t fall off the rope until the very last section when I was merely feet from the final platform. I think my sense of balance (or dignity) just finally let go and said, “take the fall!” The guide hooked my safety line and my friend pulled me in.

Victory! With the course and all fear behind me, I sailed back to home base across a 250-foot zip line. I was invigorated as the wind whizzed through my helmet and I enjoyed the scenery of the canyon. Throughout the entire canyon crossing, my friend waited at each platform to help me hook onto the next section and encourage me forward. Having positive reinforcement from a friend was the best way to face a fear.

Just yesterday, another friend mentioned when she was 18 she was called upon to speak about her father in front of a large group of people. Public speaking frightened her and she didn’t think she’d be able to honor her father properly. However, there in the back of the crowd was a smiling face. My friend focused on that person as she crafted stories and anecdotes. Before she knew it, her speech was concluded, the audience was applauding and her father was thanking her for the stories. Decades later, my friend still remembers how that one person’s encouragement gave her the courage to speak.

There’s nothing like a familiar face providing encouragement and giving an extra boost when needed. It can be in a work meeting, at a social event or when pushing your endurance to the limit. I think it’s best to surround yourself with positive reinforcements and someone who’s going to encourage you to succeed. Don’t you?

I Just Want You To Tell Me I’m Wonderful

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business writing, communications, editing, edits, employee development, keyboard, marketing, mentor, padded kneeler, public relations, technical writing, thick skin, writing

Twenty years ago I thought I was a great writer. I graduated with a degree in English and minors in professional communications and business management. I headed out to the work force, confident in my skills and abilities. My resume looked great – solid content, no typos and consistent formatting. I was ready to make my impact and take the world one key stroke at a time.

It didn’t really work out that way. Not exactly. I was a decent writer and I landed a good position in marketing, but I didn’t have the experience needed to make me a great writer. Through the years, I sought out positions and companies to help me get there.

For awhile I worked in the middle of a renowned PR department at a national agency. I found out quickly my writing abilities had a lot of room for improvement. I accepted edits, advice, criticism and lessons. I wrote and rewrote. I edited and then edited some more. I worked with people who really were good writers and by being in the same vicinity and working on projects together, my skills developed.

All of the critiques came with different intentions. Not every co-worker or manager is a great mentor, but ultimately the feedback and interaction did make my writing better than it had been. At the end of the day, the goal is to produce the best work for my client. I wasn’t writing for myself, but rather to represent someone or something.

I have worn off the a, s, d, e, n, and i letters on several keyboards.

I learned that as a writer or communicator or marketer, I needed thick skin. Never is there 100% consensus that a document or a speech or an advertisement is the best thing since the padded kneeler. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and some things just don’t resonate with everyone. I may get 98% of the people to like it, but it’s that 2% who keep me grounded and in pursuit of a higher quality work product. With my writing, if I can make the majority of the audience understand, appreciate and accept the idea, then I’m on the right path. It’s taken a lot of time and patience to get to this point, and I’m not done yet.

One of the challenges in producing great work is there is no guarantee you’ll knock it out of the park every time. Some methods are tried and true, and some equations are consistently winners but, especially in marketing and communications, factors are always changing. Audience needs, perceptions, social impacts, etc., continue to influence and alter end products. As the creator of these materials, it’s up to me to understand, keep aware and continually adapt. Perhaps one day my biggest critic (me) will step back and say, “You are the most wonderful writer I have ever met.” Until then, I put my head down, endure the bumps and bruises, and deliver work that is best for the client, their audience and target messaging.