Thursday, November 14, 2013

Are You Ruining Your Reputation with Recommendations?

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”  ~ Warren Buffett

Earlier this year my colleague Jack shared a tale of his endorsement gone awry. One of his clients requested a recommendation for a teaching residency. He gave the request careful consideration and felt comfortable endorsing an associate.

Things quickly went downhill from there. It began badly with the teaching artist’s failure to contact the client in a timely manner. Strike one.  No contract was sent outlining the artist’s expectations and no follow through with the requested residency plans. Strike two. During the first week of the residency the teaching artist publicly complained about specific problems to the wrong people. Strike three.

The client contacted Jack to share his displeasure regarding the recommendation. Jack was extremely embarrassed by his colleagues’ lack of professionalism and apologized profusely. Then he began to worry. Would the client’s negative experience affect his own reputation and work in the community? Jack had certainly given a hearty endorsement of his colleagues’ skills, background and expertise. Would his opinion no longer be valued?

Jack’s experience reminded me of the many times I have recommended colleagues. I know when I offer an endorsement I am placing my own professional reputation on the line. I am thoughtful about whom I recommend and part of my process is not only considering a colleague’s talent and organizational fit, but their professionalism as well.

Establishing positive name recognition (See Branding: It Doesn’t Have to Hurt http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2009/07/branding-it-doesnt-need-to-hurt.html) can take years and it is one of our most valuable commodities; in fact, it is priceless. Yet, our progress can quickly diminish when our name is attached to someone's less than stellar work, and with the plethora of social media outlets today bad reviews will spread quickly and efficiently. . (See 10 Tips for Crisis Management in the Digital World in the article section below.)

I’m sure you have heard of the Five P’s of Success: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance and before I endorse anyone I check my own list of P’s.

My Five P’s of Professionalism
ü  Proficient
ü  Prepared
ü  Prompt
ü  Pleasant
ü  Polished

My check list for my direct clients as well as those that come from colleagues is the same:

ü  Answer the client’s email inquiry promptly.
ü  Speak directly with the client to ensure both of our needs are met.
ü  Send out contract in a timely manner detailing cost, mileage, etc.
ü  Contact client a week before the presentation. Clarify objectives.
ü  Send a thank you note to the client after the project is complete.

My colleagues and I often discuss how storytellers/teaching artists are not always treated with the same respect as other professionals. There are countless stories of potential clients assuming we will work for little or no money. Many do not understand the commitment, energy, and expense our work entails. (See The Tools of the Trade at http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/09/the-tools-of-trade.html ) Consequently, when one colleague acts in an unreliable manner it reflects poorly on everyone, perpetuating the perception that we are not professionals.

When we are privileged to receive a colleague’s endorsement, both your reputation and theirs is on the line. We owe it to them, our community and mostly to ourselves, to put our best professional foot forward. Together we can change perceptions one step at a time.


*Jack is a pseudonym

ARTICLES

4 Ways to Keep Up Your Business’ Online Reputation
http://blog.allstate.com/small-business-online-reputation/

Seven Ways to Ruin Your Professional Reputation
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/01/14/seven-ways-to-ruin-your-professional-reputation/

10 Tips for Crisis Management in the Digital World
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ekaterinawalter/2013/11/12/10-tips-for-reputation-and-crisis-management-in-the-digital-world/

Handling a Reputation Crisis: Ways an Entrepreneur Can Handle Social Media Posts
http://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhendricks/2013/11/08/handling-a-reputation-crisis-ways-an-entrepreneur-can-handle-social-media-posts/

How to Ruin Your Professional Reputation
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/05/20/how-to-ruin-your-professional-reputation

Reputation: You Can’t Run From Your Shadow
http://www.franksonnenbergonline.com/blog/you-cant-run-from-your-shadow/


Was there ever a time when one of your recommendations went awry? How did you handle it? I would love to hear your stories in the comments section below.

Karen Chace 2013 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Slow and Steady: Stor e Telling September October 2010

Tortoise and Hare
from Childhood Favorites 
and Fairy Tales
1909
I have penned the Stor E Telling column since January of 2002 and the articles from 2002-2006 are the publications page of my website found here http://tinyurl.com/llnn47y . I will be adding the columns from 2007 to 2012 to that page as well. However, I am in the process of checking what link URL's have changed or are now defunct. It is a time consuming process so I am taking the “slow and steady” approach via Aesop and will post the individual columns on my blog for now.

I will not be adding current columns until the following year, so if you want immediate access to the newest websites, consider becoming a member of the National Storytelling Network.

Please feel free to comment on the blog and let me know if you find this useful.

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2010

The Cleveland Memory Project
“A series of interviews with 29 women of eastern European birth or heritage. Many of these conversations were with women who remembered World War II or the Great Depression.”
http://tinyurl.com/28kb3fp

Center for Digital Storytelling - This pdf file is full of useful resources to assist you in the in bringing history to life.
http://tinyurl.com/lvy8r3d

Oral History Workshop on the Web – An array of resources summarizing the tools necessary to conduct a successful oral history interview.
http://tinyurl.com/2cpvsnr

Storybug.net – Oral history resources I have collected over the years.
http://tinyurl.com/2ebfgfb

The third week in September is National Farm Animals Awareness Week.  With that in mind I corralled a number of folktales for you to harvest!

Cow’s Head – Ukrainian
http://tinyurl.com/35hk8vx

The Dog and the Pig – India
http://tinyurl.com/3y9z8pk

The Goose Maid – England
http://tinyurl.com/353asdm

The Magic Horse – Iran
http://tinyurl.com/2utybbx



September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Get ready to walk the plank!

Storybug.net - Last year I put together a number of story, curriculum and craft resources on my blog to celebrate the day. 
http://tinyurl.com/35nazl4


September 28 begins the celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival. You won’t have to search the stars for folktales celebrating the beautiful moon!
A Coat for the Moon – Jewish
http://tinyurl.com/3973wom

How the Great Chief Made the Moon and the Sun – Native American
http://tinyurl.com/2f4leqz

How the Moon Became Beautiful – ChinaFound in The Gold Path Reader, 1912 available through Google books to download for free.
http://tinyurl.com/2cgksvn

The Ladle That Fell From the Moon - China
http://tinyurl.com/27j2etb

The Moon and the Great Snake – Native American
http://tinyurl.com/29bem28

Moonflower - Japan
http://tinyurl.com/2v33wxt

Sun, Moon and Talia – Italy
http://www.worldoftales.com/European_folktales/Italian_folktale_29.html

Why the Sun and the Stars Receive Their Light from the Sun- Africa
http://tinyurl.com/k4z4qk8
 


October is Polish American History Month. Here are some stories to pomoże świętują! (help you celebrate)

Sixty Folktales from Slavonic Sources - A delightful mix of tales from Bohemia, Moravia, Serbia, Hungary and more.
http://tinyurl.com/26w5v35

Cossack Fairy Tales and Folktales by Robert Nisbet Bain, 1902 – Bain collected these folktales from Ruthenian, the language of the Cossacks, a language intermediate between Russian and Polish.
http://tinyurl.com/2uklns8
 
It wouldn’t be October without some tales to terrify!

Russian Folk-tales by William Ralston - Just in time for All Hallows' Eve. Download this book from 1880, full of myths, legends, and folktales of demons, witches, vampires and ghouls if you dare! 
http://tinyurl.com/loaqex5    

Three Ghost Stories – A free pdf download of the book by Charles Dickens.
http://tinyurl.com/2wrhwhl

Miscellaneous Site

Interactivate: Stopwatch – I love this tool! Do you need to time your stories or a workshop presentation? This Internet stopwatch will allow you tick off the time with ease. It allows you to run a stopwatch on the computer screen and can count up from zero or down from a specified time. My thanks to Mary Grace Ketner for passing it along.
http://tinyurl.com/plhah3
 
 
And if you missed any of the previous “Slow and Steady…” blog posts here are the links to the series so far.

2007


2008


2009


April May 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_28.html
July August 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling-july.html


Karen Chace 2013 ©
This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.