Unprecedented. Unusual. Unpredictable. These words used to be uncommon in our planning vernacular, but have increasingly come to define our normal state of being. A multitude of factors—from increasing global interconnectedness to growing technological disruption—are accelerating this change, meaning our landscape is evolving by the minute and the hour versus the years or decades of the past.
The traditional sources of issues and crises are still very much there, but new points of risk are entering the chat every day. Ongoing trade and geopolitical shifts, the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and enhancements to cyber threats, the changing nature of how people consume information and what is considered fact—all of these things and more are among the threads being woven into the tapestry of our risk landscape that organizations must account for.
This new normal and all its complexities can make it seemingly difficult to keep up. But keep up we must: data shows that nearly 30% of S&P 500 market capitalization—equaling $13.8 trillion—is attributable to corporate reputation. Failure to respond to the dynamics of the external environment and their impact on your organization can result not just in reputational damage, but also a significant material impact on your business.
As uncertain as this era we’re in may be, there remain some constants: issues and crises can and will happen, we can plan for and mitigate their threats to our reputation and license to operate and we can take steps on the front end to bolster reputation to be able to weather the storm, no matter when it comes. While the playing field may be shifting, the rules of the game remain the same.
So, how does one thrive in an era of uncertainty? We update the playbook on reputation and what it means to protect and promote it. Here are a few of the fundamentals:
- Keep an eye on the horizon. Issues management as a proactive strategy is on the rise, to both identify risks as well as understand opportunities to build reputation. Data identifying where your organization appears within external conversations provides early warning signals on where issues could emerge from that we didn’t have in years past, enabling enhanced responsiveness that can mitigate risks before they become larger threats. At the same time, we can glean insights from this data to understand where there are untapped opportunities to engage in conversations and enhance your organizational visibility, putting reputational equity in the bank for a future rainy day. Looking out means looking ahead in a whole new way.
- Engage a proportional response. All crises are issues, yet not all issues are crises. In the heat of the moment, there’s someone bound to think that something is more or less severe than it is, but it’s important to understand the distinction and deploy the appropriate response. Overreacting on a simple issue can create more alarm amongst your key audiences, while underreacting can indicate a lack of empathy. Defining and deploying a proportional response that appropriately values the risk at hand and the actions required to address sends a clear signal of competent crisis management. Accounting for potential escalations is also critical to ensure you are adjusting your response to meet any evolving momentum.
- Foster a culture of preparedness within your organization. The most crisis-resilient organizations understand that having a flexible crisis response framework that can adapt to any issue at hand is a sound approach. The rate of change we’re experiencing, however, now requires us to take this a step further. Beyond training our crisis management teams, it’s important to educate your communications, corporate fairs or other external functions more holistically to help them understand their role in issues and crisis management. It can also help to connect the dots more broadly for your broader employee base, given the “mixternal” nature of communications these days. The responsibility for corporate reputation doesn’t just lie within the communications function; the collective nature of reputation means we must enable everyone to contribute to its well-being.
As we continue to navigate this era of uncertainty, it is imperative for organizations to ensure they are not only protecting their reputation, but more importantly their ability to thrive. Building a smart, flexible framework that enables both offense and defense will enable any organization to continue to move themselves forward, no matter what issue comes their way.
