Reputation Recovery

Build a phased reputation recovery plan after a crisis — from damage assessment through stakeholder communication, trust-rebuilding actions, and sentiment tracking.

When to Use This Skill

Post-crisis reputation rebuilding (product recall, data breach, PR incident)
Trust restoration with customers, employees, investors, or public
Designing accountability communications (CEO apology, incident reports)
Stakeholder-specific recovery planning with prioritized outreach
Tracking recovery metrics against pre-crisis baselines

Methodology Foundation

| Aspect | Details | |--------|---------| | Source | Edelman Trust Barometer, Burson reputation recovery frameworks | | Core Principle | Trust rebuilds through actions, not words — transparency, accountability, competence, then character, in that order | | Recovery Phases | Stabilize → Acknowledge → Act → Communicate → Measure |

What Claude Does vs What You Decide

| Claude Does | You Decide | |-------------|------------| | Designs phased recovery roadmap with timelines | Investment level and resource allocation | | Drafts stakeholder communications and apology frameworks | Spokesperson selection and timing | | Creates measurement dashboards and recovery criteria | Acceptable recovery timeline | | Prioritizes stakeholder groups and actions | Which initiatives to fund |

Instructions

Step 1: Assess Reputation Damage

Build a damage baseline across key dimensions:

| Dimension | Pre-Crisis | Post-Crisis | Gap | |-----------|------------|-------------|-----| | Trust score | — | — | — | | NPS | — | — | — | | Brand sentiment (% positive) | — | — | — | | Media tone | — | — | — | | Customer retention | — | — | — |

Validation checkpoint: If you lack pre-crisis baselines, estimate from industry benchmarks before proceeding.

Step 2: Map Recovery Phases

| Phase | Duration | Focus | Exit Criteria | |-------|----------|-------|---------------| | Stabilize | Weeks 1-2 | Stop the bleeding, full accountability | Crisis chapter closed, compensation launched | | Rebuild | Months 1-3 | Demonstrate concrete structural changes | New processes in place, advisory board active | | Demonstrate | Months 3-6 | Build track record, earn positive coverage | 3 months positive media, trust at 80% baseline | | Sustain | Month 6+ | Long-term reputation building | Meet all recovery completion criteria |

Step 3: Prioritize Stakeholders

| Stakeholder | Priority | Key Concern | Approach | |-------------|----------|-------------|----------| | Customers | P1 | Trust, safety | Transparency + compensation | | Employees | P1 | Job security, pride | Internal comms + involvement | | Investors | P2 | Financial impact | Recovery plan + milestones | | Partners | P2 | Association risk | Assurance + collaboration | | Regulators | P2 | Compliance | Cooperation + prevention | | Public | P3 | Values alignment | Actions over words |

Step 4: Execute Trust-Rebuilding Actions

Apply the trust-rebuilding sequence (order matters):

| Action Type | Examples | Timeline | |-------------|----------|----------| | Transparency | Full incident report, public updates, data access | Immediate | | Accountability | CEO apology, personnel changes, compensation | Week 1-2 | | Competence | New processes, third-party audits, team expansion | Month 1-3 | | Character | Values-aligned initiatives, sustained behavior change | Ongoing |

CEO apology framework: Direct acknowledgment → What went wrong → What we've done → What we're doing → Personal accountability → How to reach us.

Step 5: Track Recovery

| Metric | Frequency | Target | |--------|-----------|--------| | Brand sentiment | Weekly | Return to baseline | | Trust score | Monthly | 80% of pre-crisis | | NPS | Monthly | Return to positive | | Media tone | Weekly | Neutral → positive | | Customer retention | Monthly | Pre-crisis rate |

Recovery completion criteria:

Trust score at 90% of pre-crisis level
Customer retention at pre-crisis rate
3 consecutive months of positive media tone
NPS back to positive

Examples

Example: Product Safety Incident Recovery

Input: Product safety incident, 3 weeks in crisis mode, 30% trust drop, 15% churn, issue resolved.

Recovery roadmap:

| Month | Phase | Key Actions | |-------|-------|-------------| | 1 | Stabilize | CEO video apology, full incident report, compensation program, employee town hall | | 1-3 | Rebuild | Safety team +3 hires, external advisory board, quarterly third-party audits | | 3-6 | Demonstrate | Public safety reports, customer testimonials, thought leadership content | | 6+ | Sustain | Ongoing transparency reports, industry standards participation |

Projected timeline: 6-9 months to full recovery with aggressive action.

See TEMPLATES.md for communication templates (CEO apology script, milestone update emails, stakeholder briefing outlines).

Skill Boundaries

What This Skill Does Well

Creating phased recovery roadmaps with concrete timelines
Designing stakeholder-specific communication strategies
Defining measurable recovery criteria and dashboards
Prioritizing trust-rebuilding actions in effective order

What This Skill Cannot Do

Access real-time sentiment data or social listening feeds
Know the specific details of your crisis without input
Predict exact recovery timelines (every crisis is unique)
Replace legal counsel or professional crisis management firms

References

Edelman Trust Barometer — annual trust research
Burson Reputation Recovery — crisis framework
Weber Shandwick Crisis Recovery — communications methodology
Harvard Business Review — trust research

Related Skills

crisis-detector — Prevention and early warning
response-coordinator — During active crisis
social-listening — Monitoring recovery sentiment