REPUTATION AND CHARACTER BY BILL SWEETENHAM When being the best is not enough but when being both

the best person for the job as well as being a good person is what matters. It is important to know the difference. In todays cutting edge corporate and business world, it is now widely accepted that technical and business knowledge is accessible and available through the internet and experienced educated staff. The world recession has shown that it is not this knowledge that is the difference between success and failure when challenged by cliff-edge balancing of do or die when faced with troubled times. It has always been a strong belief that in order to be successful and sustain repeatable, consistent success in the corporate and sporting world, great leaders surround themselves with the very best people in terms of knowledge of the product, performance related strategies, and time at task, innovation and creativity. It is the old story know what you know, know what you dont know - and whilst appreciating both of the above, identify and recruit people who have the knowledge of knowing what you dont know. It is quite obvious when reviewing the performance factors of companies that were forced to shed serious numbers of staff, review salary cuts of chief executives or who required government intervention with funding support in order to survive in the difficult and challenging world of the recent recession that you also had to surround yourself with people who were not only the best, but were good people. Smart companies value both the best and good and these are not always one and the same. In what ways can this be determined? Character is the foundation of reputation. Character is revealed and built on in times of conflict, challenge and adversity. Given that people have basically two lives that is, their personal and their professional life for the truly successful people who are working in a cutting edge environment, they are closely inter-related, multi-dimensional and totally integrated. Quality personal life + value added educated professional life = success Making change in this equation or sustaining this equation requires change, and change is dependent on learning. Learning can come from experience and education. Change is also extremely personal in that you cannot change without open-minded willingness. No-one can change an individual and very few can change others. The environment of change with challenge is often the missing element in unsuccessful people, companies and teams. Two values of reputation and character of the individual in both personal and professional life play a deciding factor in the make-up of a team, department or company. Giving consideration to reputation, we find that there are many aspects of reputation.

Public perception This is where the public is exposed to the team, the company and the person will decide very quickly on the reputation and the perception it portrays publicly. It must be remembered that perception becomes the reality and nothing more so when it is applied to reputation. Team reputation Within a company, there will be teams and/or departments who can very easily be drawn into conflict with each other and this can reduce the productivity of the organisation. When one team or department considers that they are in conflict with either another team or the direction and value of the company, then the company will suffer. This is where teams and departments can devalue the reputation of another inter-related group within the team organization. The reverse applies where teams that are competitive and value each others reputation will fortify and strengthen the company values and the reputation of all will be enhanced. Family perception It is extremely important to an individual to have the family value the reputation of the company that other members of the family are preoccupied with. Loyalty of a family to any one members reputation within a company or the companys reputation and the personal pride associated with this is a great motivating factor. Trust, personal pride, respect and reputation in this aspect as in most is one and the same and invaluable to performance and productivity. As an example, where a member of a family is employed by the Police Force, Ambulance or Defence Forces etc. and where that reputation of the organisation is damaged or hurt by public perception, then trust and morale are damaged by the reputation of that organisation. The reverse applies and must be worked at continually. The family (personal) and work (professional) environmental domain of both must be a safe and supportive one. Mistakes will be made and continue to be made, and the provision of a safe environment for team members is essential. Work colleagues perception of your reputation Where work colleagues value the reputation of each other, then team building is very easily built and everyone and their role is valued. It is important that the reputation of each work colleague is supported and promoted to each other by a team concept. The stronger this bond, the greater the productivity of the organisation. Any individual feeling that they are above the team or corporation will destroy trust, self-pride and the reputation of the team and bonds within and outside it. The best and good people, accustomed to challenge do not seek or wish for pampering, privilege, indulgence or special treatment and as such, are seen to possess character and thus create a superior reputation. More often than not, they become leaders. Correctly or incorrectly, personal growth in all areas can be proportionately related to character, then reputation. Character is all about placing the team ethic on equal footing with personal positive reputation. Opposition reputation The perception of the opposition to the company that you work for and the reputation of teams within that organisation is extremely important to how they see and value your reputation. This is important as most companies, teams and individuals take personal pride in performing against an opposition who has a strong reputation and the feel good factor of
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performance and preparation under pressure against a strong adversary is crucial to optimal performance and maximisation of reputation. Whilst working with teams, departments and organisations, it is very rare but extremely valued that companies, businesses and teams within the organisation as well as individuals enjoy both the value of all aspects of reputation as listed above and have strong leadership and company structures, systems and strategies that promote and respect reputation. Reputation is built on respect for your opposition, consideration for all those with whom you work and understanding the values that you display to others. Reputation is clearly how others perceive you, whilst character is what you know you are. Character can be developed or built. Strong characters enjoy strong reputations from all of the above. However, the 1% difference where character and reputation are different will only become evident under the extreme pressure of team or company struggle, challenge or failure due to whatever reason recession, ineffective leadership, poor decision-making, lack of trust etc. Character is identified, developed and discovered in preparation and performance in times of adversity and when under pressure. This is when reputation is built, and provides the opportunity to balance both character and reputation of the best and good people. It is only then that winning becomes possible and the only considered option. Companies as well as individuals will thrive when all in the organisation understand that they are not only the best people, they are good people. This is when success is truly measured by an individual and an organisation. When all of the above are accumulative and in unison and are one and the same, contentment of direction, inner peace and harmony will be achieved by the varying individuals that make up an organisation. Whether small or big, organizations today will face many challenges where a leaders positive character and reputation can provide a winning edge. Some of these challenges are : developing and sustaining a winning environment that can lead as well as survive in times of change leading and handling a varied and multi-cultural workforce managing and leading talented individuals within a team dynamic staying ahead of other organizations and leaders within the field of operation innovation/creativity identifying and profiling the next level of personnel and technology winning after winning avoidance of complacency life in a goldfish bowl where both reputation and character can limit or enhance performance through transparency of operation Compromise or delayed leadership in any of the above can harm the efficiency and smooth running of all staff and team morale where reputation and character can be questioned. In summary, the personal and the professional reputation must be in harmony with the best people who are also good people. This is what strong leadership and company ethics provide when building invincible teams. Strong characters working as a team establish strong reputations. It is very easy whilst being extremely flawed and unproductive for a company or organization to only appreciate and value the reputation of an individuals talent and skill in their professional life. The other areas mentioned in this must be recognised, developed and

valued equally. Re-direction can play an active part in all of these skills and talents in order to achieve strong organizations. Ignoring deficiencies in these areas can restrict the growth of the company and individual. In all organizations, operations and projects increased funding focusing on a more effective and efficient operationally improved company or team with funding growth in expenditure must balance and rationalise this with linear and/or similar and significant improved productivity. However, we are all well aware that this only happens in a minority of companies and situations. More often than not, the reverse happens. I suggest that the investment in increased team members where the best and good people have responsibility and accountability for performance related improvements to character and reputation of the good and best staff is where this linear improvement takes place in the majority of instances. It can be accepted that capital growth with existing staff may be quite a separate and different issue. Failure to develop strengths in reputation or ignoring weaknesses in all of these areas, delayed re-direction or detection of these failing qualities can result in more than a linear reduction in a teams performance. Conversely, positive performance pathways attributes must commence in an organization at the identification of personnel at the recruitment and development stages of character and reputation building for any team or company to be a leader in performance, regardless of their specialty field of operation. Recruitment in any high performance team or organization is about 98% of personnel who you dont put on the team and identification of the 2% of the best and good people that you identify and do put on the team. Reputation is how others view you and character is what you know of yourself. It is the man or woman in the mirror who sees and values both. To thine own self, be true William Shakespeare. ***********

A personal thank you to Mr Mike Forde, Performance Director, Chelsea Football Club for his inspiration.