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