Business & Public Sector

Your Reputation – what is it?

The reputation of a business is how people perceive it and judge whether they will trust and buy from it.

This perception has a life of its own, moving independently, spread by word of mouth and social media. It takes time and effort for a company to build a strong reputation, however a single misplaced word or action can destroy it.

Reputation is one of a business’ most valuable assets, and yet often the least understood asset.

Why does it matter?

Your organisation may be a commercial venture, a public sector body or a charity.

Whatever the structure, it will have a reputation, whether you like it or not!

A strong reputation will benefit the organisation in a myriad of ways; it will create opportunities, attract more business, help the organisation perform more effectively and make a greater impact on customers and stakeholders.

Doesn’t an organisation’s reputation ‘just happen’?

For many organisations, reputation is something that ‘just happens’. Some are naturally great at building a strong reputation.

Others tend to exist either having little understanding how they are perceived, or doing little to manage their reputation effectively.

That means that rather than having no reputation, the organisation has one with a life of its own, without any conscious influence or management.

Can I manage an organisation’s reputation?

Yes, you can. A strong reputation has two elements – the trophy cabinet of achievements and how the organisation represents itself to other people.

Let’s assume that the trophy cabinet of achievements is continuing to grow.

The challenge is to be clear and consistent in how the organisation represents itself; so people can see exactly what the organisation stands for and what they should expect; allowing trust to build.

What should I do next?

Take Reputation Buzz’s five question health check to find out how well you manage your organisation’s reputation at the moment. It’s free and only takes a couple of minutes.

Business & Public Sector Reputation Health Check

5 questions to assess your organisation’s current reputation:

If you are a human and are seeing this field, please leave it blank.

Do you know what your organisation's reputation is?

Yes, I know very clearly
I think I know, but have no way of being sure
I don‘t know

How often do you formally research what the reputation of your organisation is?

We regularly research our organisation's reputation
We sometimes ask people about our reputation
We've never asked anyone what they think

Do senior leaders in the organisation understand the impact they can have on the organisation's reputation?

No, they don’t understand
They have an idea that they impact the organisation's reputation
They clearly understand their responsibilities towards the organisation's reputation

Are you aware of any risks to your reputation of your organisation?

Yes, we regularly assess risks to the organisation's reputation
We are aware there are risks, but not sure what to do about them
It's not something we've ever considered

Has the organisation's reputation and business ever suffered from something that has happened?

No, nothing has happened that would damage the business or our reputation
There have been a couple of occasions when our reputation has been slightly damaged
Yes, the organisation has suffered a serious set-back to its reputation

Your Result

Show me

You are aware of what your organisation's reputation is and this is already giving you an advantage against your competition.

The organisation's reputation is a blind-spot for you, and this poses a big risk to success and progress in the future. The organisation may already have a great reputation and you don't know it. You may also find the reputation isn't so great and is holding you back.

You are doing the right things to monitor and manage your organisation's reputation for the future.

By not having any process for finding out about your organisation's reputation, you are missing an opportunity to start managing its reputation in a positive way.

However, you say the leaders in your organisation don’t understand their role in its reputation. One of the main dangers from this is a leadership team with individual strong reputations that don't feed through consistently to a strong organisational reputation.

It’s great that your organisation's leadership understand their role in managing and developing the organisation's reputation - this is the sign of a strong and resilient team.

It's great that your organisation's leadership understand their role in managing and developing the organisation's reputation - this is the sign of a strong and resilient team.

As you are regularly assessing the risks to your organisation's reputation, you are unlikely to be caught by surprise by unexpected events. Even if the worst does happen, the organisation is likely to be prepared and its reputation will have a robustness already built into it.

You are in danger of being taken by surprise by unexpected events if you don’t have a clear understanding of the risks to your organisation's reputation. Assessing the risks and building a response plan can help build reputational robustness.

As the organisation has never suffered reputational damage, you are either very good at managing its reputation up until now, or you have been very lucky! Just be careful that this is actually complacency.

You are aware of the reputational damage that can come from set-backs. This should give you plenty of incentive to do more to actively manage your organisation's reputation more closely, and try to avoid setbacks in the future.

Short Summary

Mostly Ticks – You seem to have your reputational management under control; it's obviously something you take seriously. We can help you develop the techniques and tools still further. A first step could be to do a Reputation Buzz survey to check that your assumptions about your reputation are accurate.

Mostly Crosses – You have an opportunity to improve the way you manage your reputation and potentially change the way other people perceive you. The first step is find out how people see you now by doing a Reputation Buzz survey to understand your reputation today.