Out of Office, Not Out of Risk: How to Build A More Resilient Reputation this Summer
You might be able to take a break this summer, but your organization’s reputation doesn't. Reputation is the sum of what your employees, customers, partners, community members and other stakeholders think, feel and say about you. It is shaped in real-time every day through leadership decisions, employee experiences, news coverage, and online conversations and how your organization responds when something goes wrong. All it takes is one crisis to unravel years of hard-earned trust and the reputation you've worked to build.
Building a resilient reputation requires more than responding effectively when challenges arise. Organizations must protect the trust they’ve earned through proactive crisis planning and strong communications governance while continuing to build credibility through consistent, strategic visibility. During the summer months, when staffing changes and slower news cycles create both vulnerabilities and opportunities, organizations should be doing both.
Why Summer Can Increase Reputation Risk
Vacation schedules often mean out-of-office messages, postponed meetings and disruptions to normal communication workflows. With key leaders or subject matter experts unavailable, routine approvals and critical decision making can stall, leaving teams less equipped to respond with the speed, coordination and confidence a crisis demands. During a reputation-threatening situation, those delays matter.
That’s why a crisis response plan is only as effective as the governance behind it. Clearly defined roles, designated backups to ensure continuity and clear decision-making protocols help teams understand ownership, maintain a clear path forward and stay aligned, even when key members of the crisis response team are unavailable.
What Does Strong Crisis Communications Governance Look Like?
Early in my career, a great communications leader told me: “If I can’t ensure that the work continues while you’re out of office, that’s a reflection of me, not you.” The lesson stuck with me: strong communications functions are built on clear processes, context and shared understanding needed to keep the work moving forward. They do not depend entirely on one person holding all the knowledge.
That same principle applies to crisis communications. While you want your most experienced strategists at the table, an effective crisis response shouldn’t depend on who is or isn’t in the room, but on whether those present have clear ownership, the authority to act and the established decision pathways to respond quickly and effectively.
Before a crisis hits, proactive planning and strong governance are essential. Organizations should take three steps:
Assess reputation risks. Identify operational vulnerabilities before they become reputation threats, including gaps in staffing, unclear ownership and decision-making bottlenecks. We have a free reputation assessment to help you get started.
Establish crisis decision protocols. Develop practical crisis playbooks with defined roles, backup contacts, decision trees and escalation thresholds so teams can make informed decisions without unnecessary delays.
Test the plan. Conduct a crisis simulation or tabletop exercise to test workflows, communications and handoffs, exposing weaknesses while the stakes are low so your team is practiced, confident and ready to respond when it matters most.
How Proactive Visibility Builds Reputation Capital
Protecting reputation is only one side of resilience. Organizations must also continue building the credibility and goodwill they may need if a crisis occurs. One of the most effective ways to do that is through media relations.
Proactive media relations and thought leadership help organizations establish a visible track record of expertise, leadership and community contribution.
Summer can offer timely opportunities to contribute to relevant conversations. In Las Vegas and Southern Nevada, those topics might include extreme heat, employee safety, tourism trends, construction activity, water conservation, economic development or workforce challenges. The strongest opportunities are manufactured publicity. They connect an organization’s legitimate expertise with issues its audience already care about.
Organizations can use this time to:
Offer expert commentary on timely industry or community issues
Share data, research or emerging trends
Highlight meaningful employee and community initiatives
Build relationships with reporters before coverage is urgently needed
Strengthen owned content across websites, newsletters and social channels
Consistent, proactive media engagement provides third-party validation and builds familiarity with key audiences before an organization needs to communicate during a crisis.
A Summer Reputation-Resilience Checklist
Before key leaders head out of office ask:
Have we identified our most likely reputation risk?
Does everyone understand their role during a crisis?
Are backup decision-makers designated?
Can the teams access current crisis plans and contact information?
Are escalation and approval protocols clear?
Have we tested the plan under realistic conditions?
Are we monitoring emerging media, online and stakeholder issues?
Are we continuing to communicate proactively with important audiences?
If several answers are “no” or “not sure” your organization may have a crisis plan but not true crisis readiness.
Reputation Management Cannot Be Seasonal
Whether your team is fully staffed or operating with summer schedules, reputation management can't be seasonal. Reputation resilience isn't built through a crisis response alone; it's cultivated long before one begins. It requires proactively protecting the trust you've earned through risk assessment, planning and governance while continually building credibility through strategic media relations. Together, these efforts create a reserve of goodwill that an organization can draw upon when a crisis tests their reputation.
84 Communications is a Las Vegas-based reputation management and crisis communications firm helping organizations across Nevada and nationwide identify risks, prepare leaders and communicate clearly when the stakes are high.