You can improve organisational reputation – it all starts with a plan

Reputation can’t be left to the comms team, argues Michelle Bryne, head of strategic communications at the Victorian Essential Services Commission. Remember that every interaction with stakeholders impacts their view, and rethink those hundred-page reports.

Does having a good reputation matter for a regulator?

That’s the question Michelle Bryne set out to answer in 2017 with her new colleagues at the Essential Services Commission.

The answer, they decided, is yes.

“When the you-know-what hits the fan, you are more likely to be given the benefit of the doubt, and an opportunity to make good to apologise — and for your apology to be accepted without too much damage to your reputation,” Bryne told a recent ANZSOG National Regulators Community of Practice event.