Human Resource Development

Reputation is fast becoming one of the most important risks to manage. Build quantifiable arguments to get boards on board.

Corporate reputation, the close cousin of a firm’s brand, is one of the most intangible assets a company has. If a brand is the inside-out perception of a firm, reputation is the outside-in perception. Therefore, risks to a reputation can come from anywhere. It is difficult for boards to control and the financial impact of a damaged reputation is deemed to be higher than climate change or a cyber-attack, according to the Asia Risk Report by StrategicRISK.

A damaged reputation can be exacerbated by its interconnectedness with other risks. In the same report, survey respondents ranked “damage to company reputation/brand” as the risk most connected to environmental risks, social unrest and regulation among others.

What’s more, companies are increasingly valued on intangibles. Mitigating risks to reputation was at the center of a recent panel discussion as part of INSEAD’s Risk Breakfast Series, which brought together academics and experts in the field to share views on how to protect firms against reputation damage.

Reputation equity

The first barrier companies face in building protections against reputation damage is in quantifying it. Reputation, like brand, is qualitative. But like brand equity, it is essential to building trust. Standard & Poor’s has added reputation risk to its enterprise risk management assessment of companies.

As Leesa Soulodre, managing partner at RL Expert Group said, reputation risk management is about both a company’s legal and regulatory license to operate (the risks) and its social license to grow and innovate (opportunity). The ability of a firm to recover trust after a reputation incident has been significantly affected by the global financial crisis and reputation risks are increasingly emerging from what others say about the firm.

This means boards need to start building their reputation risk frameworks to protect it. The trouble is, boards also prefer to look at their organisations in quantitative terms.

Priorities

To overcome this, Soulodre shared her experience working with a global financial institution to get the board on board. It had 130 pages of risks it wanted to evade, but she and her team worked to whittle it down to 30 top risks that could lose the company its legal and regulatory license to operate. To more dynamically adapt risk appetite and tolerance to the company’s risk register, an Upstream Risk team, composed of multidisciplinary functional and board leadership, was recruited to proactively look at emerging risks. This ensured a lifecycle risk management approach. The Risk Forum could examine all the company’s license to operate risks on a monthly basis and dynamically allocate resources to the priority risks.

She added that it was also essential to make sure the organization had a single position on each of the top 30 risks to ensure appropriate engagement with key stakeholders.

With the risk landscape changing so quickly, she made sure the client was updated by smartphone so that each issue could be brought up and put into the right context at any time. A single company position was articulated, the background context of the issue explained and the company’s three key messages on its position in relation to the risk were made clear. The company leader engaging with stakeholders could then report back via their smart phone the level of advocacy that the stakeholder was offering the organization, which helped its allocation of resources on key reputation risk topics.

As the Asia Licensee of the Reputation Institute, Soulodre shared the framework for defining and managing reputation risks developed with AIRMIC.

Measuring the risk

Sara Gori, head of reputation risk at AXA, noted that AXA treats reputation just like any other risk such as credit, liquidity, market or regulatory risk. Similar to Soulodre’s approach, the company starts by identifying, then assessing and prioritizing the potential reputational risks. The organization should ask, “which risks have the potential to negatively impact the company’s reputation? What is our risk tolerance?” For example, if a customer or the general public airs an opinion of the organization, saying ”I like or hate X company”, the risk to reputation will be taken into account but can be deemed tolerable whereas risk due to internal fraud would not be tolerated.

AXA quantifies each risk with a traffic light system of red, amber and green, which correspond to severe, moderate and minor, respectively. This then gives the firm visibility over what the potential reputation risks are. For instance, it could be how many agents or employees leave the firm on an annual basis, which could become a reputation issue. They then move to prevention to tackle the root problem.

To ensure the whole company sings the same tune, AXA also has a firm escalation policy from local markets to HQ. “Even if we’re going to say ‘no comment’ we need to know what is going on,” she said. This is handled by one dedicated in-country representative who gathers all the local facts of an issue and bundles it up to HQ.

Gori advises that reputation issues be prioritized based on their ability to cause the firm to lose its license to operate, lead to increased regulatory scrutiny or closer scrutiny from media and other stakeholders, which has the ability to perpetuate a reputation issue.

Measuring the extent of reputation damage

Attempting to make qualitative risks quantifiable is the central challenge. A reputation issue could be caused by an operational disaster that drags the firm’s reputation down for months or even years. It’s not impossible to clean up a reputation problem. INSEAD Professor of Accounting and Control, Gilles Hilary, outlined the steps taken by the International Olympic Committee in the wake of a bribery scandal as effective for countering reputation damage: apologize immediately, investigate and punish and then reform.

But prevention is better than cure. Ultimately, the source of any reputation damage is a culture that allowed an incident to occur. Gori recommends building risk intelligence and compliance into company culture to ensure that the frameworks to facilitate whistle blowing and reporting are there as well as the willingness to use them. This, she says, must come from the top.

By:Gilles Hilary
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/01/25/getting-boards-reputation-risk-management.html

Discussion about leadership often focuses on big-picture ideas and sweeping gestures. Leaders are people who take charge and make things happen. We think of them as having big jobs, larger-than-life personalities, and expansive vision.

But none of us were born with these qualities and achievements. Leadership ability is like a muscle – it gets stronger as you exercise it, says leadership coach Susan Mazza, founder of Random Acts of Leadership and author of coauthor of The Character-Based Leader: Instigating a Revolution of Leadership One Person at a Time. She says that enhancing your leadership skills and practicing "random acts of leadership" can cumulatively build your leadership acumen and help you excel when the big opportunities to lead come your way. Here are some acts of everyday leadership that can help.

Prepare Your Mindset

When you prepare the conditions for your success, you have a solid platform to support your leadership, says Seattle, Washington leadership and personal development coach Posy Gering, author of The Next You, Discovering Confidence, Calm and Courage – Now.

Such preparation happens in a number of ways. On the most pragmatic level, it means preparing yourself by building the knowledge and experience you need to lead. However, it also means preparing your attitude, mind and body. That includes being aware of how you feel, managing stress, taking care of yourself physically, and keeping your mind clear so that you’re able to solve problems and recognize opportunities when they arise, she says.

"[Leadership is] about doing less and being more. The reason you want to do these kinds of practices is that it increases your availability to your task, which is being aware of and solving problems so that other people can do great work," Gering says.

Express You Opinion (Even If It's Unpopular)

Mazza says that leaders aren’t afraid to say the thing that needs to be said, even if it’s unpopular. Proposing solutions to do things better or more effectively sounds like a no-brainer, but it can be difficult to create change in some situations.

Leaders practice speaking up by looking for opportunities to do so in appropriate ways. Sometimes, this requires a strong, firm approach, and sometimes it requires diplomacy. Either way, saying something when your gut tells you things need to change is the mark of a leader, she says.

Think About The Big Picture

While acts of kindness are designed to make a difference in the life of another person, Mazza says that acts of leadership are designed to make a difference in something bigger. That could mean taking a stand against an injustice or taking on a role that needs to be done. Leaders approach every situation looking for what they can contribute and how they can make a difference, she says. When you’re contributing ideas to meetings, bring them back to how they support the overall goals of the team or organization. Illustrate that you understand factors beyond the most immediate demands.

Gering adds that big-picture thinking also means taking appropriate action. Sometimes, that means acting immediately, but other times it means taking a more measured and thoughtful approach to a situation, waiting for more information or appropriate timing. Being able to understand the difference is an important leadership quality, she says.

Find Solutions

Leaders are good at solving problems, Gering says. They look for solutions that serve the needs of the greatest number of parties and understand that even effective solutions might not always be popular. She says it’s important to have critical thinking and creative skills to be an effective leader because the best solution might not always be the obvious one.

Look around you in your everyday interactions. Are there problems that need to be addressed? Can you approach another colleague and bridge a gap or find a better way to do something together? These are simple ways to show your leadership ability regardless of your position.

"More and more, we need people who are good collaborators and have the skills to learn with one another. That’s going to help us solve the business problems of tomorrow," Gering says.

Be Authentic

It’s hard to trust someone who is fake, so effective leaders need to convey that they’re really being true to who they are and what they believe, Mazza says. Look for ways to connect with others genuinely and don’t veer from your beliefs just because you’re under pressure to do so.

"One of the ways that we can bring leadership to any situation is by being willing to be real, which includes both being honest about what we’re thinking and what we’re feeling but also being genuine and interested in what others have to say," Mazza says.

By: By Gwen Moran
Source: http://www.fastcompany.com/3037973/simple-acts-that-build-your-leadership-presence

With 2016 now here, we’ve all made our resolutions and we’re doing our best to stick with them.

As human beings, we sometimes find regression easier than productivity. We find ourselves playing victim, subjecting our psyche to negative self-talk and not following through with our goals.

There are a number of reasons that this happens, but it is primarily because of our innate ability to see the downside of situations, rather than the upside. It is believed to be a survival instinct, and whatever the cause, it takes dedication and consistency to reverse.

To accomplish your goals and find the motivation for personal development in the new year, you must take action, regardless of what past traumas or reasons you have for not following through.

When You Don’t Feel Like Being Productive, You Must Act Anyway

In order to create new pathways in the brain and fire up those neurons, you have to act and find the will power to be productive.

You will have excuses and dozens of reasons for not doing what you said you wanted to accomplish. It is very easy to set goals for the next day before bed, then wake up and not feel like doing any of them.

Maybe you have lost the energy or desire.

Maybe you are putting yourself down for something, such as not waking up at the time you wanted to.

Whatever the reason may be, you have to look past this. If you said you wanted to wake up at 5AM and you overslept until noon, that is a reason to be feeling pretty low, but you have to fight through those emotions.

Push yourself to be productive anyway and make the most of the day. Your success depends on it.

Meditate, Practice Positive Affirmations, And Work On Insecurities

There are a number of things that hold us back and lead to a lack of motivation.

Most of them derive from our thoughts and how we treat ourselves. To accomplish your goals and be productive, you must learn to quiet this inner obsession with putting yourself down and focusing on your weaknesses.

1) Use Meditation To Gain Focus

Through meditation, you can learn to focus on the breath and quiet the inner dialogue that sometimes plagues our minds.

Through daily and consistent meditation, you can learn to be at ease with the present moment and not react emotionally to your thoughts. If you have a negative thought, it will pass more easily without constant obsession from your mind.

2) Use Positive Affirmations To Build Your Self-Confidence

You should remind yourself how special and talented you are, because who else is going to?

We often find ourselves clinging to relationships that build us up. When you have a significant other telling you how great you are, they serve as a source of positivity in your life and that power can feel amazing. Imagine though, if you were to remind yourself of these traits using positive affirmations.

Learn to build yourself up and increase your own confidence.

Your mind is capable of this.

3) Understand Your Insecurities And Accept Yourself

Insecurities create fear and stop us from acting.

When we feel nervous, tense or insecure, we want to avoid the situation rather than proactively going after it.

Understanding insecurities and accepting yourself is extremely important. We are not perfect and you can’t compare yourself to others. If you find that someone else is better than you at something, they have simply progressed through their life faster in that one area.

You, however, may have excelled in many other areas that you are unaware of because you are focused on the traits that you feel you are lacking.

4) Know That Consistency And Repetition Is Everything

If you want to accomplish a goal, you have to remain consistent. While a project can seem monumental at first, if you work on it every day, you will eventually accomplish that goal.

Do not allow yourself to get overwhelmed.

Instead, stay calm and practice consistency. Do a little bit each day and in the future you will be able to look back and see how far you have come.

These personal development tips are tried and true. If you want to accomplish your goals and find the motivation to pursue them, you have to practice consistency, positive thinking, and acting even when you don’t feel like it.

If you need that extra push to set your goals, you can download my 14-step goal-setting guide for the new year.

What makes a good leader is the use of effective management skills such as spending 50 percent or more of their time listening carefully.

Great leaders understand that some of the best leadership qualities entail listening to others with undivided attention.

When was the last time you actually listened single-mindedly to one of your staff members?

Can you remember when you last listened to someone without interruptions or distractions from either telephone calls or drop-in visitors, when you just focused intently on the person speaking with you, ignoring all else? When CEO Alan Mulally arrived at Ford, he used a technique he had refined at Boeing. He found a way to instantly shift the senior executives on his team from talkers to listeners by changing the way he evaluated his team’s performance.

“It always comes down to incentives. What’s the incentive for someone to behave differently? Is it recognition, time, or more money? No. It’s usually visibility,” he said. “When you give a speech, you’ll be scored by the audience.”
So those executives who were smart enough to leave lots of time for Q & A got better grades than those who lectured. And those managers who encouraged a dialogue with the team came out on top.

Great leaders with excellent management skills encourage input and change, and the best way to measure them is based on feedback they get from their best people. People usually give the best scores to leaders you trust and to leaders who listen.

The Most Essential Leadership Qualities

Integrity is perhaps the most valued and respected quality of leadership and one of the most important management skills you need to attain. By saying what you’ll do and then doing what you say, you will build trust around your team.

Do you stand up and speak out for what you believe?

Do you demonstrate the courage to stay the course when the going gets tough and the outcome looks uncertain?

What makes a good leader is the ability to stay calm and in control, especially when everyone around them is wondering whether it’s the right decision or if it was a mistake to commit to a particular course of action.

When you exude confidence in yourself, in the decision, and in the people around you, you instill the same feelings and attitudes in others.

Leaders have what is called “courageous patience.” Between the decision and the result, there is always a period of uncertainty when no one knows if the effort is going to be successful.

To be a successful leader, you must strive to have these essential leadership qualities. If you have lived with this feeling many times in your career, you’re in good company.

What Makes A Good Leader?

To be successful as a leader, you need a combination of two ingredients: character and competence. You need to be a person of integrity. Someone people trust and are willing to follow.

To be trusted in business, you must be trustworthy. You must believe in yourself, your company, the essential goodness of your products and services, and in your people.

You need to believe that you are offering an excellent product or service in every way, one that makes a difference in the lives of your customers.

You must lead by example and obtain management skills that inspire others to join you in the exciting project of building a great company. At the same time, you must become excellent at the key capabilities and functions of leadership and set yourself on a course of continuous improvement throughout your career.

“You need the humility to remind yourself that you’ve got to get better at everything you do,” insisted Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. “I don’t know about you, but I’m never done growing my company or myself.”

Believe In Yourself

Management guru Jim Collins uses the phrase “Level 5 Leadership” to describe the characteristic of the best leaders, those who build great companies.

Out of all the existing leadership qualities, the most fascinating and distinguishing characteristic of level 5 is an often misunderstood trait: humility.

As it happens, humility doesn’t actually mean being humble . . .

People who are crazy enough to launch businesses as the economy is falling apart and then fight Goliath-size adversaries, are not exactly humble.

“Humility simply means you have a burning, driving, relentless ambition to serve and to win,” Collins told me, “Without the arrogance to delude yourself into believing that you are all knowing or always right.”
As a Level 5 Leader, you don’t believe you are perfect. You must, however, believe in yourself, and be convinced that you have what it takes to succeed and that you can get better. You are always looking for new ways to develop your leadership qualities and take your game to the next level.

If you enjoyed this article on how to improve your management skills and develop your leadership qualities, please share it with others right now!

By: Brian Tracy
Source: http://www.briantracy.com/blog/business-success/management-skills-what-makes-a-good-leader/