Employees, vendors, prospects, customers… people are watching, listening and making decisions whether they want to continue to work for you, with you and do business with your organization. Your corporate reputation is directly tied to those decisions from leadership style to what people know about you in social media, your website, editorial and more.
Have you ever thought about how you communicate information about yourself and your business? Is your leadership team all saying the same thing about what your organization is and does? Are you strategic about communicating your image?
I’ve seen business owners place importance on the color of their logo and look of their printed materials, but somehow along the way forgot to create the framework to build a solid corporate reputation from the inside out.
Having a leadership team that can effectively communicate what the company is and does is paramount to a successful business. This team not only sets the stage for creating the strategy, but also for how that strategy will be communicated to employees, clients, prospects and the community at large. Working with numerous clients through the years, no one style to do this is right or wrong. It’s just important to do it.
A recent study from Ketchum Leadership Communications Monitor says only 24 percent of respondents believe executives are leading successfully. It shows, among other key findings:
- The era of hierarchical leadership is over, and a culture of title-free leadership is on the rise.
- The world is looking to business leaders to rise to the challenges of our time.
To the first point, I’ve seen first hand how a leadership change created a culture change. Leadership moved from a hierarchy telling people what to do each day to a structure “we work for you.” Within a year morale and productivity have increased beyond everyone’s wildest dreams.
People are looking to leaders (corporate, non-profit, government, community) to rise to the challenge of leading. This means building a strong corporate reputation from the inside out. Are you prepared? Do you know how you’re communicating your image? Organizations that are authentic with strong leaders will have a competitive advantage and strong corporate advantage.
How are you communicating your image to build your corporate reputation?
It all starts on the inside.
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