Preventing Reputation Loss: The Human Factor

Think of your reputation as what people say about you when you’re not in the room – it’s a sort of gossip about you, and the most powerful gossip is always about people.

Crisis communications is about managing the narrative of a situation – influencing what people will remember.

Dustin Eno, COO & Crisis Response Manager at Navigate Response talks about the human factor in preventing reputation loss.

Reputations are not created by having the newest ships, the highest profits or even the best safety record: they’re defined by the human part of your company’s story. These are the stories that people remember.

Think of it this way, which is more memorable? A financial loss or a CFO who swears at a journalist who is asking about that loss? Or on the positive side, a tanker company that cleans up a spill in record time or the Fleet Director who rolls up his sleeves and patiently answers the questions of concerned parents at a community meeting? Human actions (good and bad) will have a permanent impact on a company’s reputation.

Crisis communications is about managing the narrative of a situation – influencing what people will remember.

Reputation is sometimes left out of the loss prevention equation, because reputation losses rarely appear on a balance sheet – although the impacts of such losses almost always do. The reputation and brand values of large companies are studied and quantified. For example, the media company Forbes estimates that the American corporation Caterpillar’s brand is worth $7.5 billion and generates $38.5 billion a year in revenue. Such data is rarely calculated for smaller companies, but that doesn’t mean it is any less important.

For shipping companies, reputations directly affect their ability to attract and retain the best employees, win business with blue chip charterers, attract finance and even keep their employees out of prison by reducing interference from over-zealous prosecutors.
So, since reputation is about the human factor, how do you prevent losses?

Perhaps obviously, you start by employing good people. But people make mistakes, misspeak, or fail to understand how their actions (or inactions) might be perceived by others – every news outlet has stories of such failings every day.

Steps to managing the human factor:

1. Provide communications awareness training to your staff (sea and shore) – this is more than just media training. Everyone is the face of your company, so make sure that they understand their responsibilities and how to communicate effectively.

2. Evaluate any events at your company which attract increased attention for potential misunderstandings or perception issues – the optics.

3. Add human factors to your checklists. Not just, “is the vessel safe?”, but also, who could “feel” impacted by the situation? And how can they be reassured?

4. Find a trusted and objective external party (communications expert) who will help you to understand how your actions or inactions will be perceived by third parties.

5. Commit resources as part of any incident response team to dealing with people, especially journalists, politicians, family members and activists.

6. Following any incident which attracted attention, analyse your reputation for any damage and develop a plan to repair it – if you’re working with a media consultant, this should be provided as standard.

Reputations are vulnerable to the smallest rumour, the simplest mistake, or the most inconsequential social media post by a seafarer, but with a little care a company can build and maintain a strong and enduring reputation, by managing the human factors.

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North’s Members receive a 20% discount on crisis communications and media management with Navigate Response. Please contact your Underwriter at the Club for more information.