On April 2, during a webinar with Marina Starodubska, we talked about what reputation is, how companies can protect it during a crisis, and why similar decisions by Ukrainian businesses are perceived differently by the audience.

Overall, among the factors of "reputational" success are advance work on reputation before the crisis, quick response to complaints, openness to feedback, and regular informational work.

But what should be done to protect reputation during a crisis? Marina proposed the following algorithm:

Determine what is really happening with your business;
Formulate a coherent position on the state and actions of the company and explain it to the employees. For external communication, you can write answers to frequently asked questions and make them publicly available;
Identify which external people and organizations are a priority for you and establish regular communication with them;
Stop lying and hiding — it is noticeable anyway. Also, do not resort to dubious measures (hidden fees, fine print, unfulfilled obligations without warning, etc.);
Talk openly with employees about unpopular measures. Also about what changes for them, how they will be secured at work, how they can be useful to the company remotely. Start unpopular measures from the upper levels of the organization;
Do not hide problems — involve employees and clients in solving them. Write, talk, meet with important people and explain what is happening, how it will affect relationships.
And finally — less pomp, more care?

Marina Starodubska — adjunct professor at kmbs since 2010: reputation management, internal communications, crisis communications, cross-cultural communications. Managing partner of the consulting company TLFRD since 2006. Marina's client geography: USA, continental Europe, UK, Central Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, Scandinavia, China, Korea, Turkey, East Asia. Conducted training for top managers and specialists of Huawei, SoftServe, Bayer, Kernel, Mondelez International, European Investment Bank, Nova Poshta, DTEK, Deloitte, Astarta, Danfoss, Contour Global, Naftogaz Ukraine, and others.

How to Maintain Reputation During a Crisis?