How can international organizations manage their global reputation?

1 Understand your stakeholders

The first step to managing your global reputation is to identify and understand your stakeholders, both internal and external. Who are your customers, partners, donors, beneficiaries, employees, regulators, media, and competitors? What are their needs, expectations, values, and perceptions of your organization? How do they communicate and interact with you? How do they influence your reputation and vice versa? Conducting stakeholder analysis and mapping can help you answer these questions and tailor your strategies accordingly.

2 Align your vision and values

The second step to managing your global reputation is to align your vision and values with your actions and communications. What is your organization's purpose, mission, and goals? What are your core values and principles? How do they reflect and respect the diversity and complexity of the contexts you operate in? How do you demonstrate them in your policies, practices, and programs? How do you communicate them consistently and authentically across different channels and platforms? Aligning your vision and values with your actions and communications can help you build a coherent and compelling identity and narrative that resonates with your stakeholders.

3 Monitor and measure your reputation

The third step to managing your global reputation is to monitor and measure your reputation regularly and systematically. How do you track and evaluate your reputation among your stakeholders? What are the indicators and metrics that you use? What are the sources and methods that you rely on? How do you collect, analyze, and report the data and feedback? How do you use the insights to improve your performance and reputation? Monitoring and measuring your reputation can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, trends and issues, and gaps and risks.

4 Engage and collaborate with your stakeholders

The fourth step to managing your global reputation is to engage and collaborate with your stakeholders proactively and constructively. How do you listen to and learn from your stakeholders? How do you respond to and address their concerns and complaints? How do you involve and empower them in your decision-making and problem-solving? How do you recognize and appreciate their contributions and achievements? How do you create and sustain positive and mutually beneficial relationships with them? Engaging and collaborating with your stakeholders can help you increase your trust, loyalty, and satisfaction, as well as your innovation, impact, and influence.

5 Adapt and innovate in a changing world

The fifth step to managing your global reputation is to adapt and innovate in a changing world. How do you anticipate and respond to the changes and challenges that affect your organization and your stakeholders? How do you embrace and leverage the opportunities and possibilities that emerge from them? How do you foster a culture of learning and experimentation in your organization? How do you develop and implement new and better solutions that meet the needs and expectations of your stakeholders? How do you communicate and share your results and lessons learned with them? Adapting and innovating in a changing world can help you enhance your relevance, resilience, and reputation.

6 Manage and mitigate reputation risks

The sixth step to managing your global reputation is to manage and mitigate reputation risks. How do you identify and assess the potential reputation risks that your organization faces? How do you prevent and reduce them? How do you prepare and plan for them? How do you handle and recover from them? How do you learn and improve from them? Managing and mitigating reputation risks can help you protect and restore your reputation, as well as your credibility and performance.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?