The value of a good reputation cannot be under-estimated. Depending on your organisation, a good reputation can deliver a whole range of benefits, including improved sales, better fundraising and staff input, retention and commitment.

It also offers protection if things go wrong.

If you have a reputation that is known, trusted and valued then you are better able to protect yourself against the spotlight of the media, regulators and politicians. Those around you, your stakeholders, employees, volunteers and local communities, will also be more likely to stand up and speak for you.

Once damaged a reputation can take years of effort and resources to rebuild. Here we detail some simple and straightforward steps, that can help you put the processes in place to protect your organisation.

Know and understand the political, media and regulatory environment

Keep up-to-date with policy and contribute into its development. Take a longer term perspective and have the monitoring systems in place so that you can react to threats and opportunities. Monitoring should cover all sources – Parliament, speeches, consultations and the media. Government and officials value constructive input into the policy-making process.

Proactive engagement

Engage across the political spectrum and develop a network of contacts. These contacts will help provide insight and information which can help you make informed decisions about your organisation.

Know and understand the media

  • Engage positively to limit the potential of adverse comment and provide a better opportunity for input. You may even generate positive stories all of which helps to build a reputation.
  • Understand your starting position

  • Gain a clear appreciation of what your current reputation is and where the 'weak spots' are. You can only design an action plan based on information and data.

Be prepared

  • Have a crisis plan in place ready for when a disaster may hit.
  • Have spokespersons fully media trained.
  • The crisis plan should also build on the organisation's collective memory and expertise.
  • Relevant skills and experience should be utilised. Too often a crisis is treated as a one-off event and organisations fail to utilise the skills at their disposal. Going through this identification process at the outset will make for a more robust plan.

Take advice

Be prepared to bring in fresh thinking and perspective rather than allowing the same people to make decisions all the time. The management of risk is critical – think through what the risks might be, how to minimise them and who is responsible for doing so.

Control the message

  • Avoid knee-jerk reactions and statements at all times. The systems need to be in place to ensure that comments cannot 'emerge'.
  • Pro-active engagement with your people will help. If the internal channels or communication are open, and two-way, this minimises the prospect of leaks and speculation emerging.

Think long term as well as short term

Do not become obsessed with the short term media or political requirements. Instead, the long term strategy needs and requirements should be factored into reputation management rather than the other way around.

Know your powers

There is often a lack of understanding about what powers a company or charity has, what it can say and do, and what the consequences are of going wrong. This is another reason to get the make-up/composition/arrangement of your advisory team right to include legal advice. The implications of getting it wrong could mean a regulatory intervention at the very least.

Keep your policies up to date and available

  • For instance, how does the organisation deal with whistleblowers?
  • If a member of the team behaves in an unacceptable manner can you take action?

Consider these questions at the outset.

Reputation protection is complex and involves communications, public affairs, legal, HR and many other elements but when properly planned and considered the benefits can be felt in all parts of the organisation.

Reputation is now so important that any organisation not taking it seriously and putting the right processes in place is not protecting its relevant shareholders, funders, members, staff or those it provides services to.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.