TIP FOR BUILDING A REPUTATION: Engage in dialogue

By Hanna-Mari Aula, DSc (Econ), Senior Advisor, T-Media

Dialogue is one of the eight factors that drive reputation and stakeholder support. The importance of listening to and understanding stakeholders will be emphasized more than ever. As contemporary society is characterized by confrontation and complexity, organizational reputations can easily diverge. Constructive dialogue between organizations and their audiences strengthens reputation and reduces reputation risk. Keep the following three features in mind when building reputations through dialogical processes.

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First, building a reputation is an ongoing process that never ends.

There is no such point at which your organization would have a stable and clearly understood reputation of any kind. Instead, your organization’s reputation and its various aspects are constantly evolving and developing. Reputation never takes a break.

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Second, reputation-building is multivocal and polyphonic.

We know that an organization cannot control its own reputation. Instead, reputation is shaped and built through the interaction of all stakeholders, both internal and external. If the existing perceptions of your organization conflict or compete with one another, treat them as resources that help develop the organization and advance its fundamental purpose.

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Third, reputation-building is a political game characterized by power struggles.

As stakeholders within and around an organization become increasingly interested in how organizations operate and act, they play a key role in shaping the organization’s reputation. There is a wide range of stakeholders with varying ideas and interests who are trying to define what your organization is and what it should be. Stakeholders hold critical positions and have varying levels of power, and they engage in bargaining to advance their own interests. You’d better be part of this game.

Want to know more? Please get in touch, hanna-mari@reptrust-staging.fi-p.seravo.com or+358 40 585 6466.