Many senior communicators report to business leaders who may not be familiar with our profession. As a result, many companies have opportunities to improve the way they hire communicators. If you are getting ready to recruit for a senior communications professional and have not done so before, here are my tips to make sure that you hire someone who can make a real difference at your company.
Many of us are on board with operational governance: Editorial advisory boards and intranet steering committees are great to help you deliver what your stakeholders want to see in their favored communication channels. What they can’t do is ensure that your communication function as a whole stays aligned with – and relevant to – your organization’s needs. For that you need to take governance to the strategic level. Just like your colleagues in IT.
If your CEO walked up to you tomorrow and asked, “Why are you here?”, how would you answer?
Think about your potential response for a moment. There are a lot of choices. If you’ve ever gotten into the concept of personal branding, you might have already prepared a quick ‘elevator pitch’ for just such an occasion. You could talk about your ability to deliver results, change and influence the organization, and rattle off a half dozen key communication tools that you know how to leverage on your leader’s behalf. Or take any number of other approaches to demonstrating your value. If you’re like my colleague Tom (see comments to my previous post), you have seen the value of turning yourself into a “walking mission statement.” And that’s a good thing.
Now, let’s ask an even tougher question: “Why is your department here?”
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Whether you are a ‘one person show’ or lead a small army of communication specialists, you’ve probably felt some frustrations with the perceived value of your services from time to time. Are you looking for more credibility with the C-suite to get that strategic ’seat at the table?’ Take your communication function to the next level by developing a mandate, strategy and governance structure for your team. Read more »
Now that the social media revolution is well under way, I don’t feel especially inspired to evangelize adopting Web 2.0 in this blog. If you are here, odds are you’ve already drunk that particular Kool-aid, as my friend Bob would say. Besides, there are much better evangelists out there. You might even be one of them.
But the flurry of activity around social media and my participation in it has prompted me to start a new conversation online. Or “Comm”-versation. (Insert groan here).
I’ve seen a lot of words published about the need for social media. What I have not seen much of is candid explorations of how the communication function needs to evolve. Where is the conversation about what new practices, strategies, and competencies communicators need to have today beyond knowing how to use social media tools to be effective? In short, how do corporate communicators remain strategic and relevant in the social media era? Read more »