A cleaning kind of day turned out to be an insighful discovery!

       It is crazy how times flies. Today marks my one month here with Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, and trust me, I don't even know how or where the time went. Being an award winning resort, it is no doubt Shangri-La has a strong corporate reputation. I am sure it is familiar to us how corporate public relation is co-related to the reputation of the organization.

       What came across interesting to me happen unexpectedly on the day I was cleaning the office of my supervisor, Mrs Claudina. They always say, good things happen to you when you least expecting them. As for me, that was the case. Cleaning might not sound interesting in general but let me show you what I have. It'll be worth your time reading this.

     In the midst of cleaning, I came across old materials like press releases, files and files of crisis management manual and even came across old materials used as promotional purposes. Amongst all that, what caught my attention was this big CID (Corporate identity) file compiled with everything from how the signage of the company letter head should looks like all the way to how the laundry bag in each room should looks like all in one file. That being said, there is guide line down to the very last detail of the resort. Image how much thought and effort must have been put into sustaining their corporate identity!



...Because I am...

 

     Come to think about it, I might never have thought it might be as important, but what I got from this was how much a standardize signage can represent. In order to build a good reputation, the first impression of the company plays an important role. I remember attending class having lessons about corporate image through their signage and how much I can how relate to that now.
    
     Another interesting thing I found was actually in the crisis communication file. I remember how a good PR team is to be able to foresee possible crisis the company should one day face and plan on the best way to deal with it. Yes! It is all in that file, compiled with all the contacts needed such as important contact of different kind of media.

     It is important in a crisis that we are able to identify the problem and be transparent about it. Apologize  and mean it when you need to and I guess that's what I have been observing throughout my time here as an intern. What's most important is a PR team needs to always be ready for anything that comes their way. One crisis that caught you off guard is enough to bring the whole organization down. We all know it might take a short while to gain the trust of someone, but how hard it is to gain it back if you ever lose it. It is almost impossible. Yes, that's the same theory that runs with the stakeholders of the company. The company CANNOT afford to lose it. We all know a crisis happens, be it big or small you can foresee and try to avoid all of it.  I guess that is what Shangri-La is doing, trying their best, just to sustain. Like every big organization. I guess that's all for now. Talk soon!

Cheers,

Alexandrina Yong