Changes in the world and in business have always impacted communications. We’ve managed to grow and thrive under all kinds of political, societal and financial upheavals. The one we’re currently living through where the sands shift under our feet every day has imposed its own set of adjustments, including the need for comms leaders who meet what I’ve seen articulated as ‘the full complexity’ of global needs.
To deliver against this expectation requires integrated communications skills – corporate comms, brand comms, public policy, market access (particularly in healthcare), IR, fluency in data analytics and AI tools, and more. In certain cases, silo-ed expertise, if it is very deep with clearly measurable outcomes, will always be valued but on an everyday basis, the call today is for comms to be a cross-functional partner and for the team to have the skills and agility to meet the associated expectations.
We need to wear many hats.
The good news, particularly for those of us who have been in this business for many years, is that we’ve been in circumstances that required change before. We have a hat collection. In fact, one message in my first book, The Art & Craft of PR which was published waaaaay back in 2018 was that PR has no boundaries. I believe this so strongly, I continued this mantra in my most recent book, The Smart PR Book.
Senior PR practitioners have always thought and worked cross-functionally. Our experience bridges a range of proficiencies – strategic, functional, creative, deliverable-driven, issues—for a range of business areas. We support teams from R&D to marketing, public affairs and HR. We’re advisors to the C-suite, helping leaders navigate issues, crisis, their own profiles, manage personal, brand and corporate reputation and more.
So, in my view, we’re on solid ground for a pivot to deliver what businesses need and expect from communications and, in so doing, emphasize the value of our role today:
- That we and our discipline help to both shape and realize business strategy
- Comms is a growth-multiplier, not just an amplifier
- We treat and nurture reputation as the tangible, high-value asset it is
- Comms strategies and deliverables cross geographies, functions and stakeholders
- Our ROI is clear and measurable
In my own work, we develop campaigns and solutions for companies that can be pulled all the way across the business so the benefits of our efforts are felt by internal and external stakeholders. To do that, we need to be facile in multiple functions, understand their objectives and audiences and think and deliver in terms of sustained relationships and tangible impact.
Fortune favors the bold, an ancient proverb that is as true today as it was when Pliny the Elder first said it in 79 AD (I had to look that up as I’ve always associated the phrase with Virgil and the band lawyer/manager in the movie, Bohemian Rhapsody). Toward that end, the senior leaders among us can take this opportunity to reframe and underscore the depth, utility and advantages conferred by communications. And we need to do this seamlessly. While the shift in perception of the strength of comms needs to feel ‘organic’ to our internal customers and clients, behind the scenes we know it takes carefully thought out and deliberate steps, consistency, emphasis and boldness in language and actions.
We can also prepare the next generation of comms leaders by ensuring they not only have the tech skills and AI proficiency, but also business and financial understanding and language and the curiosity and breadth of interests that will enable them to think about comms solutions contextually. Plus, they’ll need communicators’ fundamental wiring—empathy, storytelling, insight-orientation and the human attributes that build sustainable relationships, messaging and actions.
To navigate constant change and stay ahead of evolving expectations on a global scale, we need multiple hats at the ready that we wear with ease and confidence.
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