Your brand reputation and the corporate culture has the potential to minimize the impact of a crisis

A brand that is worth its reputation can play out well for corporations undergoing a crisis, and prove to be the difference between retaining, and losing customer loyalty. Positive brand reputation is one of the most valuable assets that corporations intensively invest in. Corporations spend fortunes building brands, and put together good public relations around them so they remain favorable, and ahead of competition.

Let us have a perspective on this view by turning back the hands of time to four years back, when the world top brand, Apple, announced the introduction of iOS 6, an operating system with an Apple self-designed mapping system (a move that would see Apple detach its reliance on Google maps).

In June 2012, Apple announced that the new mapping system will provide ground breaking real time traffic experience, and a turn-by-turn navigation function. The innovation received a warm and outpouring support by car makers including Toyota, Mercedes, Honda, Audi and BMW.

Apple eventually released its iOS 6 on its iPhone and iPod in September 2012, allowing users with older devices to upgrade to the new system, whilst new gadgets were pre-loaded with the new map. The Apple map, however, turned out malfunctioning. It misplaced landmarks, miscalculated distances, named features incorrectly, and made some features nonexistent, escalating the issue into a crisis. With over 2 million purchases of iPhone 5 within 24 hours of launch, the map malfunction was an instant crisis with potential to dent Apple’s 'midas touch' reputation. In a specific case, the Australian police advised motorist against using it, describing it as life threatening because a motorist was misdirected into a national park, whilst others drove themselves into potential accidents.

Apple received criticism from both the media and consumers. The Dutch satellite navigation company TomTom, which was responsible for the map data distanced itself, placing the crisis focus on Apple. The crisis also took a toll on Apple, as stock hit a slump of more than 20% to $US547.06 in November 2012 from above $US700 in September 2012.

Realising the level of damage the brand reputation would suffer (and apart from the vice president leaving the corporation), the Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook made a public apology (even though other options were plausible), and admitted they had fallen short on their promise. Further, Apple offered its users adjusting information on alternative maps, with a promise to improve on their product. The apology alone had the potential to moderate the crisis as stakeholders associated the action with Apple’s acceptance of responsibility. The apology was given on the back of the investment that Apple had already made on its brand reputation. Not only did the apology reduce the impact of the crisis on Apple and its consumers, but it also gave assurance for continued innovation and quality of its products. Apple's persistence on its history on quality and innovative products (as the salient message in its communication), also influenced the direction of discussion, generating sympathy and inducing user’s continued appreciation and identification with the brand. Further, by offering information on alternative maps, Apple helped to reduce psychological, physically, emotionally, and financially stress on users. Apple positioned itself as a caring and listening brand as reputation threats increased.

Apart from redirecting its map users to competitors as a recovery strategy, Apple invested in developing a map application with Google, underlining the importance of building rapport within an industry, and their commitment to a promise. Apple’s reputation played out well for the brand as, despite the crisis, consumers were sure the brand would eventually deliver a quality map product, and they did by December 2012. The iPhone 5 launch hype and the media focus on the launch generated before the crisis also played out well for the brand as the map was just one problem on a quality product with other functions working.

Taking into consideration the reputation of the company, it is compelling to suggest that investing in quality of brands, and achieving successes with the brand reputation cannot just win you loyal customers, but also protect you by retaining your customer base and your brand’s public reputation when a crisis occurs. Apple reputation of providing world-class products continue to create a market reputation in which its products are seen favorably as before.

Crises involving well reputed organisations may have less negative impact than for the lesser reputed organisations. What is your brand or corporate reputation?

#CrisisManagement #CorporateCulture #BrandReputation #PJElwyns #ReputationManagement

Leadership and Crisis Management

Crises are inevitable in modern environments, the substance that should matters most to leadership is; what type of crisis will occur, when, and how leadership will respond in managing the crises. The increasing competitive environment, increased human activities, and demands for better living continuously place individuals, organisations, groups, and governments in situations susceptible to crisis. In such situations, leadership (self and group) plays a critical role in shaping how crises are handled.

In April 2010, bp’s drive to increase its profitability and sustain competitive advantage in the oil market resulted in what is famously known as the Bp Deep-water Horizon oil spill. This crisis resulted from an explosion on bp’s oil drilling rig, in which 11 people died and 17 were injured. The oil spill caused a massive environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico, affecting tourism and livelihood of the people of the gulf. The behavior of Chief Executive, Tony Hayward who demanded his 'life back' and chose to go on a holiday during the crisis period was perceived as bp being out of sync with the crisis situation at hand. The CEO’s inability to handle the crisis effectively cost him his position and did further damage to the ‘beyond petroleum’ brand reputation. This highlights the importance for organisational leadership in managing crises effectively.

Leadership is significant in the overall (organisational) direction and becomes more eminent where an organisation undergoes crisis situations. Thus far, a leader’s behavioral dispositions in crisis situations are critical cues on how the overall entity will respond to an unfolding crisis. The importance of leadership approach during crises illuminates the rationale that crises shape people’s perception of their leaders. Unfortunately, while modern (organisational) operating environment is far much prone to crises than any other time before, many leadership training do not prepare executives for crisis management.

This is even exacerbated with the fact that most leaders perceives crises as a catalyst for problems, (and not as an opportunity for learning and creating a new beginning), because crises disturb an (organisation’s) stability by creating potential for loss of business; loss of reputation; and endangering organisational present status. However, (organisations) cannot effectively deal with crises situations without effective leadership. This suggests that in responding to crisis, leadership assumes ‘the buck stops here’ attitude, and is responsible for the overall attitude the entire organisation attains in resolving challenges.

A very good example is that of George W. Bush. Returning from a reputation sinking recounting of Florida presidential ballots debacle in 2000, G.W was mostly perceived as a weak president and his approval rating was the lowest of any winning team. However, closely followed by the 9/11 attacks, G.W took an aggressive stand against terrorism, sounded more resolved and decisive, became eloquent, and sided with the people. His action not only engaged a world crusade against acts of terror, but also endeared him with the people. His approval rating immediately went up.

Crisis management strategies that an (organisation) may adopt may not only be prompted by organisational environment factors, but are also closely knitted with the efficiency of prevailing leadership.

#CrisisManagement #Leadership #PublicRelations #PJElwyns #ReputationManagement

Persuasive speaking that engages your audience

Organisational Engagement

Every day we spend a good fortune of our time trying to make an impression of some sort on others through our behavior, speech and overall demeanor. We want to influence others into liking us, our ideas, and our agenda. This process takes the form of persuasion - or influencing others into certain actions or behaviors. We mostly achieve that through speaking or conversation.

“I always try to put my ideas across but every time I do so no one seems to pay attention, or worse off they are, often times, shot down before they are even analysed.” Does this sound familiar? Yes it can be frustrating when we can’t successfully cut our ideas across to others.

Persuasive speaking is an art that has been around since human existence. It has been sharpened over the many years, and is still very necessary for closing business deals, winning votes, and in marketing of ideas, and brands, among others. Systematic persuasion appeals to logic and reason, delivered with attractive language choices, thought-through ideas, emotional variation and great packaging (speech). Understanding this explains why persuasive speaking begins with understanding your audiences, their thought grounding and the topic.

For example, let us assume the ‘complainant’ above is talking about board room office meetings. Indeed it can be difficult to break into a discussion if you are not prepared with your thought. That is why it is very important to prepare for those moments: know the agenda, think through the topic, and visualise scenarios. Your contribution in the meeting can remain relevant if it is relevant to the discussion; it is a new idea to the discussion; a rare thought, or a new perspective, among others. If you think through these before contributing, you beam with confidence and will always win your audience. People will always look forward to your contribution every time that opportunity opens up for you. In this instance, you can gain ‘thought leadership,’ driving opinion and agenda on the discussions.

Public Engagement

The art of persuasive speaking is believed to have been perfected by the Greeks, who emphasized rhetoric and articulation as the highest standard for a successful politician. The frequent philosophical arguments in the assembly and the market places (agora) proved as catalyst for sharpening the art of persuasion to influence adoption of an idea or an argument.

Let us consider this aspect of speaking in the sense of delivering a public speech – being making a presentation, preaching or holding particular rally. In all these, and many more, the purpose is to persuade the audience into buying our thoughts, facts and ideas. Public speaking is an art and like any other piece of art, perfection is achieved through practice. Stumbling or struggling with public speaking should not define people with a passion to learn public speaking as failures. Many people will mention of struggling with making presentations, whilst the audience will tell them that they made a beautiful presentation. Often, it is that aspect of their mirroring someone in their speech delivery that weighs on their set expectations against their performance; such that they often believe they were not up to scratch. It is important to be oneself in one’s presentation.

A few other techniques can also be learned in speech delivery. Posture, eye contact, and voice level among others, are some important aspects one has to take into consideration when making a presentation. Posture can have a positive or negative energy to speech delivery. The way that you move your body and limbs will have a major influence on how your audience perceives you and your delivery. When presenting, and in a standing position, an ideal stance is with your feet close together and your weight evenly distributed between them. It is important not to grow roots - don't stand in one position, but try to inject movement as you speak. It is also important to remember to make eye contact with the audience before your presentation or delivery begins. Take the whole audience in with one glance. When presenting, eye contact with the audience will enable you to read the audience and be able to adjust your presentation accordingly.

A successful presentation can also suggest the presenter was audible enough to be heard by his audience. Effective presentation also enhanced with a well-controlled voice, with variations. Variations in the tone of the voice suggest the importance of points in the presentation, and the emotions attached to them. This has an effect to keep the audience alert throughout the presentation.

Physiological Reaction

Last but not least, it is important to appreciate that that any public speech delivery is a mammoth task in itself. The challenge is that, within fractions of a second during the delivery, you have to organise your thoughts, choose which words to use, how to weave them into sentences, and above all dealing with the butterflies flapping in your tummy. Further, you have to gauge your audience from time to time to determine if your speech is drawing the intended reaction, or if it is resonating with them, and if is still capturing their attention. Tell a story with your presentation – build it up in a way that it captures their attention - every one may not remember a good presentation, but everyone remembers a great story.

When the adrenaline goes up before a speech, it has the potential to dampen ones preparation. The more constructive action to derive from that situation is to turn those nerves as your turn-on switch. Ride on the wave, and look at them as a sign that you understand the enormity of the task before you and use them as a guide to guard your delivery.

Remember, for any successful artistic delivery, practice is important.

#Publicrelations #Leadership #Negotiation #PJElwyns #ReputationManagement