All ambassadors of our companies
If there is one change that the digital age has accelerated within the business world, it is reputation. While the latter has always depended on collaborators and the way they behave, today more than ever it is easy for an employee to tarnish their company's image — almost in real time.
The most famous recent example is undoubtedly that of the Domino's Pizza chain employees who filmed themselves vandalising the food they were using to prepare pizzas. This video, which went around the world, contributed significantly to damaging the brand's image and quickly caused a loss of market share on the stock exchange — to such an extent that the chain's director had to step forward and personally intervene to put out the fire, also responding via video.
With the possibility of leaking information in real time and the emergence of what has been called "e-reputation" — to describe the digitalisation of institutional communication — companies find themselves under permanent pressure and, more than ever, their image depends on all collaborators, not only on the behaviour of management or founders.
The ultra-connected intern
Today, the communication tools available allow for near-total transparency and instant communication of company information by all collaborators. Take the example of the intern. Where once they would content themselves with writing their internship report and spreading by word of mouth how they had been received and the tasks entrusted to them, the communication means now at their disposal are tenfold. Ultra-connected, they can inform their entire community via social media. They even have dedicated websites available — such as notetonstage.fr — which allow them to rate the company where they completed their internship. This is how certain companies that tended to take advantage can no longer find interns.
From these considerations, it seems necessary today that all company stakeholders convey, at every moment and through their attitude, a positive image of their organisation. Whether they are part of management, the founding members, the salaried staff, or even subcontractors, the collaborator is the company's first ambassador. This means that the smallest detail must be taken into account in their behaviour — both inside and outside professional premises. This point is strategic because, in the end, it is the client relationship that will be penalised by an inappropriate attitude.
Take the most obvious example: that of the leader of a major account. Without irreproachable ethics, they would strongly damage their company's image. One is sometimes surprised that the Apple brand did not suffer more from Steve Jobs's behaviour — whether in his private or professional life: what he put those close to him through, the way he pushed his teams to the limit — the man was known for his tendency towards tyranny. Miraculously, consumers and above all fans never truly held this against the brand. Yet detractors did not deprive themselves of divulging and amplifying this information. Had Apple not had a reserve of fans and distributed creative and exclusive products on a large scale, one might think that Jobs's borderline behaviour could have permanently destroyed the brand's reputation.
A danger for smaller structures?
From this perspective, it is clear that the reputation of small structures is more fragile and their image is more likely to be impacted by the deviant behaviour of the resources that make them up. Family businesses are a fine example of this type of reputation passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation. This is truer than ever in a sector such as Swiss watchmaking, for example. A group's reputation is everyone's concern at all times, and every collaborator must be aware that they carry their company's banner.
And this in multiple respects: to reinforce the brand's attractiveness towards its clients, but also towards its potential employees and even its investors. It is important both for client relationship issues and for those of the employer brand — the perception that employees have of the firm where they work, or that of the firm's potential employees.
Beyond looking after one's own reputation, the leader must therefore question the measures to be put in place internally to raise their teams' awareness of these issues. They must manage their teams in such a way that they share common values and make them their own. It is important that all resources can share a common foundation. Added to this is accountability work: the more your collaborators are treated with consideration, the more they will feel responsible for the image they convey of the entity. Consequently, they will do everything to be worthy of the task entrusted to them or the consideration shown to them, and will form a unified body with the team.
"Bad ambassador"
Imagine a prestigious watch brand — a firm so reputable that it inspires unanimous enthusiasm in the universal imagination. Now imagine that you come to collaborate with this firm as a supplier, and that this client-supplier relationship goes badly, due to the inappropriate behaviour of a "bad ambassador." The vision you will then have of this brand will be changed forever, and you will become the first spreader of its bad reputation.
Do not forget that suppliers, like all people in contact with the brand, are part of its ambassadors. Small streams make great rivers — and it is up to the brand's custodians to do everything to ensure that this type of attitude does not become the rule but remains the exception. Otherwise a day will come when prestige fades under the weight of reputational damage.
