Introduction
With the growing influence of stakeholders, their ever increasing roles, strength and significance, experts predict that trust and reputation will become the most tradable assets of organisations in the years ahead. This explains why no organisation should adopt a passive approach to its external relations and reputation management functions.
External Relations management must be geared towards establishing strong relationship with external stakeholders of an organisation with a view to winning understanding and support of the activities and issues arising in the course of the organisation’s operations. Reputation involves a collective representation of stakeholders’ opinions, an aggregate evaluation of an organisation’s past and current behavior and a holistic impression of a company overtime, based on its performance and the ability to deliver on the brand promise and other valued outcomes to its multiple stakeholders; hence it has been aptly described as ‘a promise made and a promise kept overtime’..
External relations and reputation management provides an organisation with the opportunity to transmit and manage favorable aspects of its image and values by identifying opportunities and risks critical to an organisation. The ability to actively monitor, analyze and adapt to both internal and external issues not only impacts the reputation of every organisation positively, but ultimately boosts the success of such organisations. Organisations need to develop capacities for managing critical external relations that capture the peculiarities and specificities of those relationships as a way of enhancing their competitive edge in a dynamic business climate. Within a market economy, promoting a good reputation is important because companies that have consistent positive image and who communicate their values to their stakeholders are more likely to be trusted and patronised.
This course has been designed to provide participants with a sound understanding of both the contemporary and emerging trends in external relations and corporate reputation management. The underlying goal is to re-skill and enhance the competencies of participants to effectively mitigate reputational risks and constantly improve their organisational reputation so as to meet and exceed stakeholders’ expectations.
Objectives:
To equip participants with an understanding of the conceptual issues, fundamental principles and processes of corporate reputation management.
To guide participants towards the acquisition and improvement of practical skills in stakeholders engagement and proactive external relations management.
To expose participants to the new trends and contemporary tools in reputation management.
To educate participants on the importance of strategic communication skills, including critical thinking, writing, listening, business and social etiquette as critical pillars in external relations building.
Duration:
5 days