How to see the unseen variables of your organization's reputation

See if you agree with this statement:

 

Your organization’s ability to accomplish its mission and revenue goals hinges on several factors, not the least of which is your organization’s reputation.

 

That takes us to today’s topic on reputation and specifically perceptions about your organization. 

 

As you know since the dawn of social media and particularly during the last four years’ divisiveness in the U.S., wide swaths of individuals are seeing reality differently. 

 

Therefore, it is incumbent on every organization—nonprofit and for-profit alike—to minimize any program/product/service delivery ambiguities to ensure integrity. 

 

Your organization’s reputation counts on it.

 

The public forms perceptions of your organization through numerous variables—your messaging, imagery, value of your program/product/service, media coverage, the look and feel of your physical location, and—a big one—their experience of your organization through their interactions with your team.

 

The biggest risk happens when the experience of your organization is out of whack with the messaging. When you say one thing, but your customer sees something different, you’ve got a problem.

 

These instances are more critical right now in a pandemic. And of course, every business is pledging its commitment to the CDC’s COVID-19 guidelines. But are we all committed?

 

A death in the family caused my partner and me late last week to travel out of state.

• Our Uber driver put his mask on after he got out of his car to help us with his luggage. Fortunately we could open the windows.
• Because American Airline’s self-service kiosks were closed, we had to wait in a long line that snaked (meaning I’m facing another passenger going the opposite direction) and was not distanced to check our luggage.
• TSA was a disaster, and if you fly, be prepared to take your mask off to have your ID checked before entering security. If your experience is like mine, you’ll emerge into a crowd of TSA agents and other passengers, not socially distanced and with no place spaced out safely to put your shoes, belt, scarf, and jacket back on.
• At the gate, we waited for the mob of people to get on first.
• Once we arrived at our entrepreneurially-run AirBNB, we realized that our apartment didn’t look like the images. Oh, and apparently they forgot to tell us that we may feel some rumbling when miles-long trains rumble by all day and night. 
• The burger joint down the street ignored our curbside service purchase. Instead the bartender instructed me to go into the kitchen to pick up my order. Good thing I waitressed in college!
• And those Goodwill donations we made as we cleaned out our loved one’s home? A representative tossed a few in the dumpster, right in front of us, and piled the rest up outside on the loading dock. Nice way to honor a deceased person!

What does this mean for your organization?

We notice when what you say (or don’t say) doesn’t match what we experience.

We notice when an organization doesn’t really care

We notice when businesses carve out a picture of the truth and hope we won’t notice what they left out.

We notice when a business’ representative repeats the company line but fails to acknowledge the humanity.

We notice when your operations and practices are out of alignment with your mission

• Shop your own business. 
• Walk around and observe your team in action. 
• If your calls are recorded for quality service, listen in.
• Then take a look at your marketing. What’s missing?

Maybe organizations could get away with these discrepancies before. Now, in the middle of the pandemic, these half-truths and obfuscations could cost lives.