Mitigating and Managing Reputation Risk

Please Consult the Event Calendar Page for scheduled dates.

Reputation Risk is regarded globally as a “meta risk – a potential menace to fundamental business strategy, and possibly an even greater hazard to organizational survival than a financial restatement or problematical findings in a compliance report”.

As executives know, reputation, quite simply, can make – or break – a company.

This Masterclass equips delegates with the necessary competencies (knowledge, skills & attitudes) to protect and defend their organization’s most valuable asset – its reputation against potential threats, risk, and potential damage, and is based on more than 25 years research and experience on how to protect business reputations.

The importance of this training can be best summarized by these quotes:

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it, and if you understand that, you will do things differently.” – Warren Buffet.

Reputation Is Everything. “It helps with your customers, suppliers, and employees. Your reputation is everything, and should be protected at any cost.” – David Glass, – CEO, Wal-Mart

Read the Background at the bottom of the page for more clarification.

What will be covered during the Masterclass?

The Masterclass weaves inputs from best practices in Reputation Management, Risk Management, Communication & PR, Crisis Management & Crisis Communication, Ethics & Corporate Responsibility to provide companies with tools and know-how to protect, defend and deal with reputation risk events of any kind, and will address the following:

Part 1: Understanding Reputation

What is Reputation, the value to the organization of a good reputation – and the risk of a bad one;
What drives reputation, the opportunities involved as well as the risks that emanate from these drivers;
The impact of a singular event and how it impacts different stakeholders- Why viewing issues and incidents through the lenses of a stakeholder is vital;
Building the business case for a proactive and systemic approach to reputation risk management;

Part 2: Understanding Reputation Risk

An overview of Risk Management & Reputation Risk;
How reputation risk develops, manifests and impacts;
Four ways how to define and view Reputation Risk and mitigate it;
Examining International & Local Reputation Risk examples –such as the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Tiger Woods saga, the Credit Crisis, and numerous other events;
An in-depth look at what makes reputation vulnerable
The danger of tipping points – the most common factors and sources which can lead to a loss of reputation;
Online Reputation Risk – What impact Social Media technologies have on the management of corporate reputation inc. the importance of Social Media & Online Reputation Policies, Procedures and Protocols, The role of Twitter, Facebook and other networks.

Part 3: Mitigating Reputation Risk

How to Analyze Reputation Risk using a Reputation Risk Root Cause Analysis Model;
An analysis of international best practices on how to mitigate (reduce) and respond to reputation risk;
Practical tips and techniques to help predict and counteract reputation risk before the damage is done;

Part 4: The Importance of Incident Reporting, Monitoring and Measuring Reputation

Why monitoring, environmental scanning, incident and issue management is vital to reputation protection;
Measuring & Quantifying Reputation Risk using a 4 – pronged approach;
The importance of early warning systems and indicators;

Part 5: Reputation Incident and Reputation Event Management

Why Reputation recovery is a function of pro-activeness, communication and readiness prior, during and after a crisis;
Crisis Communication Management plans and protocols
Reputation Event Response Strategies – How to navigate through the rough waters of a crisis & respond to a Reputational Crisis event;
Tips and techniques for dealing with stakeholders including the media during crisis situations;
Practical tips on how to develop a Crisis Management capability to prepare for and handle any reputation incident or event

Part 6: Developing a Reputation Risk Framework

The four building blocks of a reputation risk framework;
The controls necessary to mitigate Reputation Risk;
How to design and implement a Reputation Risk management framework – A tool used to spell out the strategies, protocols, and procedures to be followed to protect reputation;

Part 7: Developing a Reputation Protection & Defence strategy

This module advocates the use of a holistic approach and integration of numerous disciplines inc. integrating Risk management, Crisis management, Corporate Affairs, and Public Relations Best Practices and includes:

Ways to embed Reputation Risk minimization in the culture of your organization;
Ways to become more vigilant, with special reference to issues of reporting and rapid action;
The “do’s” and “don’ts” of working with stakeholders such as the news media, with a focus on what it takes to build, sustain and protect a good reputation – or repair a bad one;
International Best Practices on How to Protect and Defend the Reputation of your Organization – Online and Offline

Who should attend?

CEOs, Directors, Executives, Departmental Heads and Senior Managers in business, government and non-profit organizations with responsibility for managing risk and evaluating potential harm to the organization’s reputation.

The training will be of particular benefit to those responsible for:

Governance, Risk, Compliance & Ethics
Risk Management
Public Relations, Corporate Communications & Branding
Investor & Stakeholder Relations
Corporate Affairs
Marketing, Advertising & Communications
Organizational Behavior (OD)

Questions: If you’d like to register by phone or have questions regarding the program, please contact Deon Binneman at deon@deonbinneman.com or via 27 083 425 4318.

Fees (Terms and Conditions apply)

Pricing – POA. Look out for public advertised workshops.

Pricing may take the following into account:

Special offers:

Early Bird offer: Register and pay by close of business on x to save x. T & C’s apply.
Register 3 delegates and the 4th delegate attend free of charge.
Special discount available for registered NPO’s, NGO’s and Associations.

Special Payment Offers:

Rx exc. VAT per delegate ( Payable within 5 days of date of invoice)
Rx exc. VAT per delegate (Pricing for Organizations whose payment terms exceed 5 days)
Rx exc. VAT per delegate – NGO’s and Associations
Rx exc. VAT for three delegates or more from the same business unit.

Early Bird discounts may be available on promotion. Look out for a promotional Code.

The course fee is inclusive of the event proceedings, materials, refreshments, and lunches.

How to Register:

Please complete the registration form and Terms and Conditions acceptance and forward it to deon@deonbinneman.com – Upon the completion and receipt of the registration form a confirmation letter and invoice will be sent.

Payment must be received PRIOR to attendance. Fees include hand-outs, meals, and refreshments, secure parking and benchmark information and top-notch facilitation. Payment is due in 5 days unless otherwise arranged. By signing and returning the registration form you are accepting the terms and conditions. (Registration is only confirmed on receipt of payment.)

If you are interested to attend, please note that places are on a first-come, first-served reserved basis as only a limited number of participants are accommodated each time.

To register: Call 083 425 4318 or e-mail deon@deonbinneman.com for a registration form or register now by downloading the registration form.

Please access the Training Calendar Page for alternative dates and venues.

Background

International Research shows that damage to brand and reputation is a top risk faced by organizations. (Sources – Aon Risk Solutions- annual list of the key risks/ and Research by the Reputation Institute)

This follows on earlier studies that have shown that Reputation now makes up 63% of a listed companies market value, is regarded worldwide as a “meta –risk, one which could substantially alter the ability of an organisation to remain a going-concern” and that after financial risk, reputation risk is the biggest concern that keeps board directors awake at night, according to a poll from EisnerAmper via Survey Says Boards Troubled by Reputation Risk – Compliance Week and a CIMA report that states that Many companies put reputation ahead of profit.

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) found that 76 per cent of respondents said their organizations are prepared to lose money in the short term, in order to protect their long-term reputation.

These respondents also said that they now see more focus on reputation risk in their industries and noted three primary reasons for the trend – market demand for more transparency, reputational failure at a leading organisation and the increasing popularity of social media.

14 March 2016 – “Reputation Management Remains Top Of Mind For Many Executives http://www.holmesreport.com/research/article/reputation-management-remains-top-of-mind-for-many-executives . I quote from it – “Fewer than half the reputational leaders we surveyed reported that their organizations have the right internal competencies, structures, processes and methodologies in place to assess and manage reputation risks.” My Reputation Risk Management Master Class is the only one around.

These findings are no surprise, as executives know, reputation, quite simply, can make — or break — a company. In fact, a 2010 study of the world’s 1,000 largest companies found that 80 percent lose more than a fifth of their value every five-year period because of a major reputational risk event. These type of events have now escalated because of the impact and reach of Social Media and the flow of messages in nano-seconds in an interconnected world.

Since Reputation is an important factor across all four major risk areas of the Risk Intelligent Enterprise — strategic, operational, financial, and compliance — and because it is constantly evolving and fully embedded as part of the why and how a company achieves its objectives, the protection of that Reputation and the management and mitigation of Reputation Risk has become a crucial Reputation Manager function and competency.

This is not an easy task as it requires a multi-disciplinary and systemic approach. To quote: Stephen Cross, Chief Innovation Officer, Aon Risk Solutions said “The insights provided by this survey help us understand how risks are changing as the global environment evolves. It’s little surprise to see cyber risk enter the top 10 at the same time we are seeing increasing concern about corporate reputation as the two issues are a great example of the inter connectivity of risk.

It is therefore crucial for executives to develop not only an in-depth understanding of how reputation risk emerges and manifests but it also requires developing knowledge and understanding of a variety of underlying processes and approaches that is required to adequately manage and mitigate this risk.

No longer is PR the only skill required to manage reputation risk, but it requires knowledge of trust, ethics, governance, PR, OD, crisis and issues management, crisis communication, risk management and compliance and business strategy to design, develop and implements strategies and processes to safeguard and protect this vital asset.

In a must-read article, “Reputation Risk Management – It’s Time to Build Trust and Resilience at the Top” Daniel Diermeier writes in the Huffington Post that “successful reputation risk management is difficult. Typically, it requires a high level of strategic sophistication and mental agility. This can run counter to day-to-day business decisions and corporate structures built for effectiveness and efficiency. A company’s reputation is shaped not just by its direct business partners, customers and suppliers, but also by external constituencies (stakeholders). Frequently, constituencies (stakeholders) dormant for quite awhile spring into action when a reputational crisis erupts. Companies need to have a process to identify such risks”.