The Four Rs

Nothing affects your success more than your stakeholders’ perceptions and trust.

That’s why it’s so important to keep both those you serve and those you depend on informed and engaged. Your stakeholders control the value and credibility of your ‘Four Rs’—relationships, reputations, resources, and results.

Relationships

The key to success. An organization’s network of associates, allies, and advocates is its most valuable asset. Relationships open doors, build mutually beneficial partnerships, stimulate ideas, provide reality checks, and shape outcomes. The closer the relationship, the greater the potential for influence.

Reputation

Your brand—that is, the amalgam of stakeholders’ perceptions of your quality, competency, performance, potential, trustworthiness, accountability, and responsiveness. While control of your reputation is in the hands of others, you are not helpless; you can pursue strategies and tactics to build your brand’s durability and respect among your stakeholders. A strong reputation is a precondition to motivating stakeholders to go to bat for you when you need help and when you’re under fire.

Resources

The tools you need—and need to attract—in order to fulfill your mission and your stakeholders’ expectations. It’s part of a virtuous circle necessary to maintain quality and sustain a high-performing organization. Resources determine the value and stature of your relationships, reputation, and results.

Results

The consequences of your actions and behavior in the pursuit of your goals and agenda. The strength of your relationships, reputation, and resources greatly influence your ability to fulfill expectations, leaving your application of those three Rs as the final variable in producing the desired outcomes and results.

The strength and interplay of the ‘Four Rs’ determine when—or whether—you can achieve your goals and satisfy expectations.

You can influence the strength and interplay of your ‘Four Rs’ through integrated advocacy*, a carefully crafted strategy of stakeholder communications and engagement.  Each element must be fashioned to have, as its intended purpose, a positive effect on your ‘Four Rs’.

It’s the most effective and efficient way to attract and cultivate supporters.  Done right, you’ll create a shared sense of ownership and responsibility among your many stakeholders, both within and outside of your university or college.

And as a result, your stakeholders will be much more likely to become enthusiastic advocates and, when necessary, loyal defenders.

*Integrated Advocacy is the strategic alignment and deployment of communications, marketing, brand management, development, alumni, governmental affairs, special events, and public outreach operations to advance institutional priorities.