Business success
Communication competence
Clarityof purpose Leadership behaviourInformation sharing Effective interfaces
Implications of the four pillars of communication
䊉 Is communication an item on the board’s agenda?
䊉 Do the members of the top team demonstrate a real under- standing of their responsibilities as leaders in commun- ication?
䊉 Do they exhibit a full portfolio of communication competencies – in particular, do they demonstrate good listening behaviours as well as presentation skills?
䊉 Do employees believe that the top team is genuinely com- mitted to open communication and dialogue?
For trusting relationships, some of the indicators are:
䊉 Are people able to admit mistakes and weaknesses without fear of punishment and/or ridicule?
䊉 Are different opinions and perspectives valued?
䊉 Do employees believe top management cares about them and their concerns?
䊉 Do people feel that their colleagues generally have goodwill towards them?
䊉 Do people feel their colleagues are generally competent to do the job?
䊉 Do they think top management is competent?
䊉 Are messages from the centre accepted as accurate, or regarded with suspicion? (Do people mistrust corporate ‘spin’?)
䊉 Are people able to confront and discuss difficult issues openly?
(i.e. is constructive criticism and challenge welcomed?)
䊉 Are some minority groups sidelined and/or disenfranchised?
Finally, for effective information sharing:
䊉 Do people know where and how to get the information they need to do their job well?
䊉 Are people generous with their time and information towards others (individuals and teams)?
䊉 Are there systems in place to make knowledge sharing easier?
䊉 Are informal networks encouraged and supported?
If the scores are too low on one or more of the pillars, how can we remedy the issue(s)?
The four factors originally selected for evaluating communica- tion functions can all be applied to very positive effect in supporting the four pillars. Strategic planning competence is essential in building and selling practical plans to bridge the gap between where the organization is now and where it intends to
be. For example, achieving greater clarity of purpose may require a strategy to:
䊉 gain top management sign up to the need for greater clarity
䊉 help them establish genuine clarity and uniform under- standing in their own minds as a precursor to doing the same for other people
䊉 design and resource appropriate media to inform and educate people and to engage them in the kind of dialogue that enhances real understanding
䊉 benchmark the communication differential with competitors (Are they getting their message across more effectively?)
䊉 build frequent and consistent measurement to assess progress on clarity of purpose and to respond to any decline
䊉 work with HR to recruit people likely to be ‘online’ with the business values before they join.
Following through the same example, effective management of the communication activity can help to ensure that, say, project management processes include time for reflection and review of decisions against the business and project purpose. Similarly, having well-constructed processes for managing major changes such as mergers or acquisitions also aids clarity of purpose because they should enable managers to lift their heads above the immediate, urgent priorities and check back against the big picture.
The professionalism of communication staff is one key to building trust and confidence among managers at all levels. It is important that they can seek and receive valuable and reliable advice about how and when to communicate key messages. By being proactive, warning managers when messages are likely to become confused and suggesting opportunities to reinforce them, the professional communicators enhance their own reputation and are able to maintain communication on the agenda.
High-quality media do not in themselves do much for the business. A shelf-full of trophies for design of periodicals or web sites may be good for the ego, but they are irrelevant unless they are earned by contributing to business goals. Take the simple example of an expensively designed and highly interactive web site detailing key suppliers. On the basis of hit rates, it was remarkably successful – except that the people accessing it were almost all employees making private purchases. The employees it was targeted at all had their own files with much the same (and more detailed) information.
Media that support clarity of purpose and the organization’s business goals have very specific objectives about the audience
they are aimed at and the messages and values they are intended to support. These themes are echoed frequently and the degree of impact (whether the audience recognizes, understands and/or acts upon the message) is measured constantly. They explain new thinking and important events – both external and internal to the organization – in the context of the business purpose. The strategic planning competence of the internal communication function can ensure that media are initiated and designed with these criteria and processes in mind. It can also ensure that the messages carried by different media are integrated into a thematic whole.
In the same way, each of the other three factors communication professionals identified as core to the function can be adapted to bring real focus to the communication activity. In some cases, this may mean a re-skilling of the professionals – for example, extending their understanding of business processes and build- ing their skills of general management.
The core lesson, however, is that, like the finance function, most of the impact of the internal communication function comes not from what it does itself, but from what it enables and stimulates others to do. Moreover, the process of influencing people to communicate better is not a sole responsibility of the communication function; it is shared with top management, HR, IT and a number of other functions, as we shall explore in Chapter 3, ‘The internal community of communication’. This may sound like a small change from the norm, but for most internal communication functions this is a major shift in attitude and one which they may initially have difficulty accepting and then selling to managers who have been quite comfortable in the illusion that communication is the communication department’s problem.