Effective Public Speaking by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

 

 

 

This Piece is dedicated to my Duenas High School(Class 1969)classmates who in one way or another help my spirit high during my four years of studies.

 

 Col. Juanito Cabayao, Mr. Regino Pama, Ms. Fanny Ortizo, Ms. Ronne Cabayao, Mr. Romeo Padilla, Mr. Nilo Espulgar , Mr. Ronnie Navigar, Mr. Jose Collado, Ms. Rema Nangan, Ms. Mildred Cocjin, Ms. Anita Arcenas and Ms. Elsa Lara.

 

 Above all  to the lovable teacher of mine Ms. Lanada.

 

My Sincere Appreciation to all of you....

 

Everyone wants ro be able to speak confidently to a group of people, large or small. Many of us think that this ability is rare. This is not so; we can all be effective speakers if we develop good emotional attitudes to ourselves and others, and practice some basic techniques.

There are two main differences between public speaking and ordinary conversation. First we are "given a floor" for a specified period , and no one is supposed to interrupt us. We keep talking and there is little opportunity to test audience reaction to what we are saying. In conversation a listener can ask us to repeat something if he does not understand. Second, because in public speaking we must "get the point across" the first time , we need to enlarge the scale of our presentation in proportion to the size of the room and audience. Our voice must be louder , with a greater range in tone and emphasis. Words must be more distinctly pronounced , pauses and moments of silence longer, gestures more definite. We have to commit ourselves far more blodly than in conversation.

Emotional Apects
The secret of speaking effectively to a group of people or making a speech, is having the same mind set as you would when talking to a new friends in your own home. Public speaking should be more than normal conversational speaking enlarged to reach everyone in the bigger audience. But we often feel that our normal way of speaking is not good enough-we have to be more literary or more formal. This does not help our confidence; we build up a self image of an orator with all the mental barriers and fears of imagined failure. And by trying to be formal we are often dull and unsuccessful, thus firming our fears. The way out of this vicious cycle is to be yourself.

When we stand up to speak, our emotions play another trick  on us by creating certain physiological reactions. These are due to pumping of adrenaline into our system;our pulse rate increases, we perspire , and in extreme cases we cannot think logically. Realize that you are not unique, but that this reaction occurs with everyone in varying degrees. An experienced speaker uses it to give life and enthusiasm to his talk. This reaction normally fades after the first few minutes . If you feel that the physiological reaction hinders your effectiveness, gain confidence by:
- Taking a few deep breaths before you get up, to give your blood a good supply of oxygen and to encourage relaxation.
- Being thoroughly prepared and word perfect with your opening sentence; and
- Engaging the eyes of someone in the audience right at the start.

Listeners will generally accept you at your evaluation. If you expect to be successful , the audience will sense it and agree. Also, they will feel well-disposed towards a speaker who speaks; looks and behaves towards then in a friendly manner.

Getting Ready
We need something of interest to say; this means we must prepare. We must be sure that we know more about our subject that we can express in one talk. It is not only the ideas that count , but also the background to the subject that colors the way in which we give the talk. Preparation is the process of selecting ideas that we feel are appropriate to the particular , and arranging them in a logical sequence.

As well as a thorough knowledge of the subject , careful preparation of the opening and closing is most important. A well practiced opening sentence and closing is most important. Knowing the closing sentence stops us going on and on looking for an "ending" , and also ensures that we leave a positive final and lasting impression with the listeners. If you write our notes in preparation for a talk, avoid reading them out when you come to speak. Unless you are very skilled , this is the quickest way to put an audience to sleep. Reading from  notes is speaking the thoughts of yesterday; we lose the little inflections and hesitations for a word that gives spontaneous speech sparkle and life. Write these on a small card in large letters, so that a quick look while you are speaking puts thoughts into your mind in the righ sequence. don't be shy of loking at your "confidence card" : your audience would prefer a coherent talk rather than random thoughts.

Thinking Aloud
There are few people who use their speech organs effectively, and those who do  have had some training. To be an effective speaker we do not need a long course in voice production. Most people can improve their ability to speak significantly if they practice a few basic rules. The objective is to:
- Ensure that we are easily heard;and
- Improve communication by maintaining interest and reinforing the meaning behind our words

The first rule for being easily heard is to use an adequate volume of speech relative to the size of the audience and the acoustics of the room. Owing to the use of public address systems, many of us lack the ability to speak at a suitable volume or to use proper voice projection. To do this you do not have to shout , but you must open your mouth and throat when speaking. Breath deeply and bring the air up from your diaphragm. This enables the voice to reflect off the hard palate at the roof of the mouth , and to be projected freely outwards. A few minutes' daily practice in front of a mirror will improve voice projection

Another aspect of being easily heard is articulation. In addition to opening your mouth , good and clear articulation needs flexibility and control of the lips and tongue.We know that personal appearance has a great effect on the impression made on other people. We also know the saying: "When he opens his mouth he puts his foot in it". Good impressions can be spoiled and communication impaired., by slovenly speech habits. A good way of improving articulation is to practice tongue-twisters.

The speed at which we speak in words per minute can often prevent us from being heard easily. This is also related to articulation, as the better the articulation the faster we can afford to speak. Most people tend to speak too fast, particularly when they feel nervous. This gives insufficient time for listeners to take in what is said and to evaluate it. The best way to check your speed is to listen to yourself on a tape recorder.

A final point of potential difficulty in articulation is accent. Many people seem to feel that speaking in public has to be done in the received pronunciation that used to be favoured by the BBC. This is not so; a clearly spoken regional accent adds tune and color to a presentation. Slow down a little and avoid specific dialect words if your audience is not familiar with the accent; your listeners will appreciate your opennes.

There are two main ways by which we can add interest and meaning to what we say. These are by the use of tone and pauses. Most English-speaking people use only a limited range in the pitch of their voice when speaking , often only a range of two or three tones of the musical scale.A  person with a trained voice uses between one and two octaves. We tend to avoid the use of tone variation for fear of being too showy; however , by its proper use we can enhance and emphasize our meaning and let our listeners know what we feel about it. If we make a point of increasing the range of tone in our voice , it will gradually become automatic , our meaning will be clearer , and our voice will sound far more interesting.

Pausation is separating individual thoughts or ideas which may involve a number of words. By pausing , we lead listeners from thought to thought. Their attention is held by keeping them in a continuous state of curiosity. This cannot occur while talk is going on, so there must be suitable moments of silence for the listeners to " get the picture". The length of pause may vary from a split second to several seconds, depending on the importance of the point, the dramatic effect that we want, as well as the size of the udience.

Physical Aspects
The effectiveness of a talk depends on what members of the audience hear, see and feel. Each listener should feel that he or she is being addressed personally; this is achieved by the speaker looking directly at the audience. This increases not only the attention and interest of the listeners, but also the confidence of the speaker by giving him or her the feeling of speaking to a series of individuals. With a small audience , each person should get their share of personal attention. Even with large audiences , the eyes of individual listeners should be engaged. People in a circle around this person will feel the attention: the circle increases in size with the distance from the speaker. A speaker losses contact with his listeners when he stares at the floor in front of him , gazes out of the window, or apparently examines the back wall over the heads of his audience. He appears remote and builds up a strong emotional barrier.

The hands can add up or detract from the effectiveness of a talk. They should appear natural and be readily available to add meaning to what is said through gestures. Avoid continued unnatural poses such as arms folded across the chest or behind the back , both hands in pockets or gripping a table or chair. It is better to use a variety of natural positions, but remember that too great a change in a variety can be distracting.

Finally, a speaker who rythmically sways on his feet or moves about a lot distracts the attention of his listeners. On the other hand a wooden attitude with no movement at all, or with a poker face , looks unnatural and also causes lack of engagement. Be aware of all of these distracting mannerisms and habits ; they can be reduced or eliminated by concentration and practice.

Know Your Subject
One of the most important rules for speakers is: "Talk about something that you have earned the right to talk about." This does not mean that we may talk only when we are an expert on the subject , but that we have earned the right to speak on particular aspects of the subject that we choose. Nor do we need to talk like a superior expert, looking down on the unenlightened. Be confident of your knowledge , but also aware that we are all human being together.

A second rule is: "Talk about things that you are eager to talk about". If a subject is of very little interest to ourselves we can guarantee that it will be of little or no  interest to our audience. Our attitude should be : "I know something which I believe to be important and worthwhile, and am going to make the most of the chance of persuading others that it is important and worthwhile.

Enthusiasm is not noise and histrionics; it is a need to get our ideas across to our listeners by giving them the same eagerness that we ourselves have for the ideas. Without this the listeners will not register what we say and will only passively react to our voice , and ther will be no point in our giving the presentation.

GA Consultancy -Bahrain will have a series of seminars in  Effective Public Speaking

Please call 0973-36409105

Being A Self- Aware Leader by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Can you hear yourself? Do you reflect on your comments and ask for or get feedback? Let me describe some key scenarios for you to consider as we journey into 2012.

A manager had a weekly update meetings with her boss, a vice president , at which she was expected to produce at least one breakthrough idea each week. Over the course of four years this resulted in a stack of papers, notes and diagrams. These ideas came from different sources, including her own epiphanies, but also from business journals and online forums. However, not one of these ideas was ever actually revisited by her boss or approved for implementation. The manager became increasingly irritated at the efforts to which she was going with no ostensible outcome. Do you ever undermine yourself and demoralize your staff in this way?

In another organization, an opportunity arises to meet and have one to one with the boss. A manager enters for his on -to-one, there is small talk and then comes the big question: "What can I do to help you achieve what you need? I'm here to help, so be honest." The manager is open and requests support for a new initiative, but the response comes back: " Any time, just tell me what you need; I'm totally behind you." The manager wonders if he's missed something and tries again, but receives the same response. It seems that what  his boss really means is: " Allow me to make this powerful statement that will make it sound as though I support you.It makes me feel good and like a real leader."

Over a period of some years a manager had lost count of the number of evaluations he had conducted on suppliers for key products. He later discovered that his CEO had a significant ownership in a number of the companies being evaluated and, in fact, ownership in the suppliers that were always selected, despite not always being the ones recommended. How much time, energy and money could have been saved if the manager had simply been told: " We have an interest in the following companies and so will always do business with them, but let's do some high level comparisons and due diligence." How frustrated do you think this manager felt by not being given this information and later discovering the facts?

As part of strategic scenario planning at one firm, it was decided that teams could be formed to discuss ideas for the future of the company. The CEO deliberately didn't attend the start of the meeting to give the teams an opportunity to be open and honest. After four hours of work, the teams had covered the walls with charts and notes with everything synthesized down to core points. The CEO arrived and stated her dissapointment that the teams had not come up with what she wanted. The CEO then asked the teams to reform and she rotated around them, nudging them towards what she wanted. If you know what you want, why make people jump through hoops so that it looks as if you are doing the right thing?

As a leader, don't blow smoke.If you want to do something, just do it. Do not make a team spend time and energy doing something you are going to ignore anyway-you will make instant cost savings by not following that route.

A foreman work for the same company for 39 years. He loved it and was proud of the team that worked for him. He was amazed that every 10 years or so he would see the same ideas come through the company, particularly one idea from  an all-terrain vehicle that was designed , developed and tested, and was always scrapped because it just didn't work out- but not until a huge amount of time and money had ben spent on the project. The managers and engineers didn't know this was the fourth time the idea had been tried as they hadn't been around the last time and because they never asked the foreman or his crew for advice. Who are you ignoring?

Do you ever solicit ideas form other people and then present them as your own? What do you think you are doing to morale? Do you really think that person will forget they told you about the idea? Give credit where it's due and you will boost morale and the creation of more ideas.

These examples are not unique. You will have seen many teams and professionals use their skills, education, knowledge and expertise to advise and direct only to have those above them either ignore or directly go against this advice, to fail and then repeat this process again and again. Always remember that ego does not trump knowledge. It is important , especially when we are in our comfort zone, to ensure that we are aware of how we act in a leadeship role.

  GA Business and Management Consultancy
With GA Consultancy, You Get the Best Results

ISO 9001 Standard and Corporate Performance

Despite the fact that more than one million organizations worlwide have a certified ISO 9001 management system, such a system is still viewed by many as focused on product quality. Any internet search will find a host of companies claiming the physical properties of their products are excellent because they are ISO 9001 certified.

When I was in China recently, my question as to why an organization should be ISO 9001 certified was repeatedly answered in terms of assured product quality. Certainly, in China at least, the role of a quality manager is seen as ensuring a component is within tolerance rather than ensuring a company is achieving its strategic objectives.

But ISO 9001 certification, as many purchasers have discovered, does not always ensure good product quality. A number of organizations remain certified because they fear the loss of a marketing tool, but few can demonstrate tangible benefits to justify paying certification bodies for the privilege.

Despite the common perception of ISO 9001 as solely focused on product quality, the standard, if properly aplied, can and should concern itself with the quality of the business management system. Rather than looking at compliance with a written procedure, or whether a gauge is calibrated, the standard should be used to assess the effectiveness of processess.

Recent global economic turbulence has focused attention on improving the quality of business performance and the need to make decisions quickly based on reliable information. As a result, there appears to be a growing interest  in corporate  performance management using key performance indicators to monitor corporate  performance . KPIs are an ideal method not only to monitor corporate performance but also to review the effectiveness of processes and have been used by a range of organizations for many years.

Traditionally users of ISO 9001 have focused more on operational rather than financial results, limiting the influence of the standard at boardroom level and reducing management reviews to little more than an annual summary of inspection results. This losses sight of that close link between the management system system and organizational strategy. A set of KPIs covering both operations and financial results can and should be used as the basis for an ISO 9001 management system and corporate performance management.

Another way to refocus attention on the link between ISO 9001 and startegy is via the requirement set out in the standard that the quality representative is a member of the senior management team. Many senior managers are not well versed in quality management, but if initiatives can be linked to results, particularly financial results, then management reviews are more likely to become decision making forums and the linkages between processes are likely to become more apparent.

Many of my colleagues consider my ongoing attempts to replace our word quality manual with simple hyperlinked pictograms to be of little value and even fewer are willing to try to map out their own processes. However, the acceptance of key performance indicators as a basis for setting priorities for improvement and monitoring progress has been much more readily accepted and is a good foundation on which to build the profile of quality with the senior team.

There are, of course, other quality models that could be used for corporate performance management such as business excellence models. Its influence to date has been much less than ISO 9001, but its philosophy has a much wider acceptance than the corporations that actively promote their use of its frameork. ISO 9001's model is much more sure it is being used in the right way.

The more fundamental issue, however, is that ISO 9001 in its current form ensures neither good product quality nor effective management as it does not easily show how these two aims might be achieved. The 2008 revision was little more than improvements to terminology and grammar, but change is certainly needed. The market for certification is saturated , even in the growth economies, with the standard sold almost as a commodity, devaluing certification to it. It would appear that it is in no-one's interest to maintain the status quo.

If ISO 9001 is to survive and certification bodies are to stay in business, then a much greater emphasis on business performance is needed. Hopefully some of the concepts of business intellgence are adopted in quality management so that it becomes something that contributes more to intelligent business.

Understand your company's chance of success.. Porter's Five Forces

To help the understanding of how company and its products may fare in a marketplace, Michael Porter provided a simple five element model to indicate areas to investigate, opportunities and threats. A quality lens in each of these areas can help business managers to further identify potential strategies.

Rivalry
The most common source of threat and the most common place where threats are assessed is with existing competitors, where pricing and product/service quality are a typical source of advantage. In assessing this, you can analyze their products and test their services to understand something of their methods. When you have many powerful competitors with great products, the competition is likely to be hot and dangerous. If you want to stay in such markets, you need excellent quality and smart innovation to stay ahead.

Purchasing power of the customers
When you have big customers and price competition, your customers are likely to demand deep discounts. Just as you have professional salespeople, they have professional buyers who know how to negotiate. Big customers may also demand product customization. When you have serious price competition, quality improvement must focus on strategies such as cutting costs, for example with parts production, and process simplification while sustaining overall product quality.

Bargaining power of suppliers
Supplier can also have power over you, particularly when the balance supply and demand is tipping in their favor. If they are the only suppplier of a critical part, then they can hold up your whole process. You also need to manage supplier quality, of course, because it is possible they may let quality slip while boosting their profits, possibly at a long term cost to everyone.

Threat of new entrants
To enter a new market can be quite expensive , but new entrants often appear with special invenvestment and the latest equipment, making them a serious problem even when you have a good market share. The best approach here is often to keep the barriers high , making it ruinously expensive to join the game, for example by constantly competing with yourself even when you are a market leader, driving quality up and costs down on a constant basis. You can also tie up suppliers and channels to the market, making it difficult for new people to get to these critical resources.

Threat of substitutes
The classic substitute competitor is margarine for butter, a curve ball that farmers probably did not see coming. A good way of looking for substitutes is to consider "share of wallet" as a critical measure.

If you sell coffee, your competitors are all beverage sellers. If a person is looking for a drink, then beer, cola, tea and water may all be competitors, with new drinks such as health drinks as relatively recent substitutes. The quality approach in understanding substitutes is to "chunk up" to the higher purpose. For example, a car hire company might consider transport as the real benefit  and so consider the threat of bicycles to their business.

A sixth force that often considered is governments, which can have a significant effect on companies and their competitiveness , through legislation and taxation. In international competition , one should expect support from one's own government and obstacles from local government. Having international standards established within the firm can be very helpful for this.




JOP with Philip Kotler-Marketing guru and author of best selling books worldwide.



Your career questions answered:A letter from my former management student at De La Salle University-Dasmarinas

I would like to thank  Michael for  subscribing my book -The Human Resources Management in Action at IPad..

The problem: How can I help HR to recruit people who will support our quality culture?

The Answer:
There are four key steps in recruitment and therefore, four opportunities to identify those who could contribute most to quality culture: the job description, candidates' application, the interview and the probation period.

Every job description should incorporate the expectation that the candidate will be committed to the company's quality culture. The information pack must include the organization's quality policy and other background information such as the customer charter and details of improvement initiatives.

Suitable candidates will indicate in their application how they will fulfill the quality requirements and those with some training or experience of quality may have an advantage here.

At the interview, ask questions that probe a candidate's understanding and commitment to quality. Incorporate these questions into interviews for every post. Describe scenarios that involve a demanding client, for example. Should the candidate stick to a contract or seek a resolution that ensures the relationship is maintained? This will also help the candidate identify whether this employer believes in assigning authority as well as responsibility.

The successful candidate may have a period of probation, during which personal objectives will be set. You should ensure an objective relating to quality or process improvement is incorporated and given a high priority.

The key message to HR is never assume that people understand the concept of quality. Keep checking.

Available in Samsung Galaxy tablet reader, Sharp Galapagos e-reader, IPad, Amazon's Kindle e-reader and Toshiba Libretto.

Why you should protect your project and organization.......Reputation in Project Management

Project managers and quality professionals should consider reputation in four areas:
- Impact from the project on the reputation of the organization involved
- The reputation of the project.
- Impact and completeness of project communications.
- The reputation of the project management profession.
It is good for a project to be focused on its objective, but the team can lose sight of the organization's broader needs. The quality professional's independence and consideration of the organization as a whole is a useful perspective for a project manager. In reviewing the plan, considering what the project will do for the organization's reputation may change some of the options available for the solution, challenge assumptions or identify risks. These should be managed in the project but may also be included in the wider organization's risk or issue management.

The project
Projects can be the mechanism to execute strategy for organizational change or to develop new products, services or capabilities. In these cases, the project plans should consider the project's impact on the organization's brand and reputation. How will the changes the projects makes be a reflection of the corporate brand? How will the project's way of working or dealing with stakeholder's enhance the organization's reputation? The project's communication plan should ensure that influencing the influencers is part of the project.

Additionally. all projects should look to their own reputation within the organization. A good reputation can help to improve stakeholder participation in project meetings and provide valuable support for the resources the project needs. This can be especially true for projects based in one part of an organization that directly causes changes to occur in another part of the organization. Distance , language and culture can change reputations and support. Careful communication planning can help to avoid problems.

The project manager
Project managers are often measured against a scope, schedule and budget, which are all fixed at the beginning of the project. The reputation of the project manager to deliver is dependent on estimates that are often based on best-case scenarios with little in depth analysis or risk assessment. Sometimes the full impact and associated costs for the organization cannot be fully estimated at that time. The business needs and the market in which the project works will change and therefore the scope, resources, schedule or budget may need to change dramatically.

While these initial estimates of cost are necessary for business planning, it is only when the project is fully defined, planned and costed that the budget and schedule can be properly known. In innovative projects or those with significant risks, this may be in the much later stages of the project. Recognizing this dilemma between the need to plan and understanding the potential inaccuracy of estimates, a quality manager can serve the organization and avoid the project's reputation becoming a scapegoat if things go wrong.

Project management
The reputation of project management is, of course, dependent on perceived success of projects. If a project runs smoothly, it is often assumed that the project was easily managed. If the project is seen as more difficult but produces results, project managers are lauded. This fact of human nature may not be a true reflection of the reality of the project: a complex project that run smoothly is actually down to the skill of the project management team and should be celebrated.

As each project can add to or detract from the project management profession's reputation, the quality professionals can also help the organization to form  an objective opinion on the value of the project management profession, the project managers it recruits , and style and methods used by the more successful projects

How quality can make or break an organization's reputation



The Sanno Institute of Management-Tokyo, Japan


Back in 1991, Gerald Ratner joked that his high street jewellery chain "sold a pair of errings for under a pound, which is cheaper than  a prawn sandwich from Marks & Spencer, but they probably won't last as long". His speech was instantly splashed across the media and wiped an estimated $500m from the value of the company. He followed up by   describing a sherry decanter as cheap because it was "total crap".

Member of the public did not take kindly to being taken for fools and in uproar that ensued they stopped shopping at Ratner's stores. Mr. Ratner left the company and the group, which included H Samuel and Ernest Jones, was eventually rebranded as Signet to further remove the associations of the Ratner's brand. With just a few words, Gerald   Ratner had damaged the reputation of a billion-pound company.

This is an infamous example of the relationship between reputation and quality. An organization's reputation can be both its best friend and its worst enemy. A good reputation can ensure greater customer loyalty , employee engagement and a larger market share, but it can never be taken for granted. In the words of Benjamin Franklin:" It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation , and only one bad one to lose it." Similarly, a reputation for poor quality goods and services can linger for years or even decades , despite an organizaion overcoming its initial flaws.

And it is not simply big brands that need to consider their reputation. Organizations of every size and sector can enjoy the benefits of having good reputation, but will soon feel the effects of any damage sustained, especially in the modern era of social media and user- generated content on the internet. Small businesses, charities and public service providers must all consider how they are being thought of by their stakeholders and, more importantly, can learn a lot about how well they are perceived to be performing.

Quality first
The concept of brand reputation originated in the 14th century, when King Edward 1 ordered the first asay marks to be put on gold bars and silver bars to prove they were of correct purity. David Thorpe, head of Chartered Institute of Marketing's research and information division, explains: "The rudimentary brands were a mark of quality, enabling gold producers to distinguish their product. From then onwards branding has been synonymous with quality; you cannot have a brand unless you have a perception of quality in the public mind."

It is, of course, perception that really lies at the heart of reputation and branding, which is what makes it difficult to quantify and measure. A reputation is built up over time and encompasses perceptions from customer's experiences when interacting with the organization and its suppliers, advertising, press coverage and in more recent years, online commentary.

A brand builds on a company's reputation and is most often described as an individual's gut feeling about a product, which is in turn bound up with cultural influences and personal belief systems. A brand  however, is different from a reputation in that it can be used by organization.  " A brand has three functions: to help customers differentiate betwen similar products or services, to reassure customers of the quality of goods and to engage the customer in the product itself, getting them to want to be associated with it by buying it."

Designer fashion brands are possibly the most prolific, examples of branding, in that their success is entirely tied to an individual's desire to own clothing associated with one particular label over another. However, brands from all other sectors work with the same principles.

"A brand enables your product to stand out from the competition and it communicates the intrinsic quality of your goods and services.". It creates an association between your product and quality. Quality reputation and brand are all entertwined. You cannot attempt to build a brand without having the underlying quality."

Gary Bembridge, Johnson  and Johnson's global vice-president of beauty care marketing and strategy agrees: " Creating a brand is largely down to inspiring trust. Johnson and Johnson became the leading brnad of baby toiletries because people knew the company had very high quality standards and they trusted it. That elevated the brand."

This element of trust is perhaps why organizations' reputation suffer dramatically when a quality failure is reported. In the last 12 months, two cases in particular have caught the public attention-the recall of millions of Toyota cars due to faulty acceleration pedals and the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oils spill.

In both cases the high profile quality failures received sustained madia coverage , which resulted in substantial damage to the value of both businesses. Toyota lost more than $13bn from  its market value in just one week in 2010 and, after failing to cap the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, BPs share price dropped by 14% in one day -its biggest fall for 18 years.

But such cases are not new, in 1990 when it was discovered that bottles of Perrier had been contaminated by trace amount of carcinogen, its share price dropped by more than 16% in five days. Less dramatic but equally relevant are the fading popularity brands such as Woolworths and Borders which, ultimately saw both companies fail.

The impact of negative reputation does not only affect big brands delivering products to consumers. Manufacturers, suppliers and subcontractors may not have contacts with the ultimate consumers, but they most certainly have a reputation with their client base. Similarly, for charitable organizations bidding to deliver public services, a positive or negative reputation with the public can impact on whether or not their contact is renewed. Small and medium sized businesses also have to be careful of their reputation, as often the majority of their business comes by word of mouth;one dissatisfied customers have a disproportionately negative impact on their reputation.

Ensuring reputation
For all organizations, at the heart of ensuring their reputation is the concept of quality, as defined by their customers. A research study conducted by TARP in 1999 discovered that on average an unhappy customer will tell 10 people about their experience and then these 10 people will tell further five people. More than a decade on , with the advent of facebook, twitter and blogs, customer can voice their dissatisfaction to hundreds if not thousands of people.

Shaun Sayers, director of Capable People ,thinks that companies are becoming more aware of social media. He says: "Social media has given the customer a louder voice.Three times in the last 12 months I've had a stonewall response overturned after I've posted about my experiences on Twitter. Often someone has come back to me within 30  minutes."

Bearing in mind, the role of the quality professional in the first instance is in ensuring the lowest possible risk of process failures within their organization. This, of course , will mean different things for different companies and may not always be reflected in everyone's perceptions. David Thorpe explains:" Quality is not uniform. You have to look at the context in which the brand exists and at quality in terms of the product's market segment. People like to talk about Ryanair as an example of a business model without quality , but actually it offers a high quality airline product.

" The company guarantees to get travellers from A to B at the lowest possible price. They do it on  modern aircraft with efficient staff , good pilots and have an excellent air safety record. Granted, they could work on customer service , but their fundamental product is spot on."

Whatever an organization's definition of quality, if a failure should occur and a recall is needed or a negative story arises in the press, it is often how a company reacts that has a long term impact on its brand and reputation. Gary explains: " Customer's perception of a business that has made a mistake are dependent on three things: how the company worked in the past, how it handles the mistake and how it moves forward."

" If  organization has a reputation for a quality most people are generally more understanding of a failure. People understand that things can go wrong and what they appreciate in that situation is honesty. If you then deal with a situation quickly and show how you've changes so it won't happen again, then the impact will be short term."

In such situations, it should be the responsibility of the quality function to get to the heart of the problem and rectify it as quickly as possible. Business continuity and product recall plans shuould be in place, ready to be rolled out as soon as a problem is identified. Root cause analysis and investigations need to be carried out as a top priority and the quality department should also work with the organization's communications team to make sure that customer are being kept informed, while taking care to remain as dispassionate as possible.

David says that this is where Toyota's handling of their crisis has triumphed over BPs attempts. He says:"Toyota's didn't try to hide problem. They went public as quickly as they possibly could and they dealt with controlled recall. It was a masterclass in how to deal with a crisis. In comparison BPs handling of Deepwater Horizon was a disaster. Tony Hayward insensitivity moaning that he wanted his life back, forgeting that 11 people had died, is the sort of thing that has a significant impact on public opinion."

Alongside being open with the public, Toyota also responded to its quality crisis by inviting in four independent quality experts to assess the company and advise it on how best to move on from its recall problem. The panel, which included Dr. Noriako Kano, honorary professor at Tokyo University of Science, and Yoshiko Miura, general manager at the Japan Consumers Association, recommended a list of measures which Toyota then published online. Approaching independent experts was agood way of getting another perspective on the company's problems and was a further step in providing to Toyota's customers that the company was serious about tackling its quality problems.

All in all most experts believe that while the recalls have been damaging in the short term, Toyota reputation will recover. Toyota's reputation for quality has been built up over 60 years and while it may have taken a knock, for every customer that was affected by a recall, there are probably a thousand customers who have been perfectly satisfied.

No individual or organization is perfect, mistakes and quality failures are, to a certain extent inevitable. However, the way in which a company's reputation will be affected by such a failure is greatly reliant on the role of quality in the organization's past, present and future. People's relationships with brands are caught up with how they feel about them and a company's emphasis on quality helps to ensure a sense of trust in dealing with a problem. Brands that have come back from a well-publicised issue and taken back their market share, have done so because they've tackled the problem quickly, openly and demonstrated their commitment to quality.

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