The role and responsibility of a corporate communications professional has come a long way since its inception. It’s no more limited to preparing communication and dissemination of the information. They’ve moved from being mere order-takers to being leaders and from information dispensers to indispensable resources for the entire organisation. What’s helping in the transition? Let’s touch upon!
Strategic Communication Plan
Communicators are keen on rising to higher levels and seeing that their work gets results. Internal clients want communications that make their initiatives, and themselves, more effective. Strategic communication plan brings a drastic change in the way you interact with your internal stakeholders and increase the influence you have in your organization.
- The new age corporate communication professionals are driving business performance more efficiently with a strategic communication plan.
- The strategic communications plans drawn are not just for external communication but also for internal audiences.
- The strategic content is generated with a seamless plan that employees can apply to their daily work life.
- Communications measures are identified that support organization’s mission.
- Feedback insights are being used to connect to audience.
- Content is being kept brief and more and more visual media is being used to appeal to execs—they want to see more than read.
Dynamic Content
Adoption of writing and internal communication best practices is helping corporate communication professionals become a strategic partner within their organization. Some of the best practices being adopted include:
- Content is being revved up. Personality, style, tone and voice is finding place in communication and that is making it all the more inspiring, readable and engaging.
- Corporate jargons are being avoided. Creative business content is being generated as opposed to the stale, serious material filled with lots of technical information, the way it has been all through.
- To meet the demands of today’s workforce for hard information and real inspiration, communicators are keeping their strategic messages clear, concise and engaging—and the key is to keep target audiences in mind.
- Creating spur for creative collaboration among employees with online tools and social communities is also being experimented with. That’s becoming the latest ammunition in the treasure of communicators.
Boosting Employee Morale During Times of Change
Clear, accurate, and honest communication is critical during organisational change. It’s all about trust that can be developed only through a sustained and ‘personal connect’ communication with the employees. All too often the ability to maintain employee morale and productivity is undermined by poor communication or miscommunication. A good communication strategy can deal with the situation and help maintain the morale of the employees high. Some of the tricks being tried by the new age communicators while drawing a plan for such times include:
- Doubt and fear that uncertainty generates during the time of change is being minimized by keeping the communication channels open.
- The increased need for information around that time is being dealt with a well-conceived communication program.
- Modern day communicators have a plan in hand to deal with such situations. Their communication strategy goes a long way in easing the trauma associated with change and in helping the company to achieve its goals.
Modernized Communications in Practice
Shift to more modern ways of working and communicating internally is being observed nowadays. Earlier, adding emotion to the equation, letting employees in on the hard stuff, and allowing them to collaborate openly throughout the workday was out of consideration. Not anymore. Communicators today are trying it all and also showcasing inspiring results. Engagement and involvement seems to be the key. Things are being done differently nowadays.
- The communicators are turning the tables on current conversations and helping decision-makers view communication through the lens of organizational values.
- By way of their long-term, strategic thinking, communicators are proving their mettle and making a claim to the top seats.
- They are guiding the leaders to imagine the potential of innovation from all over the company landing in a collaborative space and also making them aware of the consequences of not adopting the practice.
- They are modernizing communications and proving it to be a solution for company problems, not an added layer of complexity, cost or risk.
Auditing Internal Communications to Prove its Value
Internal communications departments are open to spending on auditing their internal communications as well. The audit helps make them smarter choices and make space for the required alterations. It helps the team to assess which distribution channels are performing, which ones aren’t, find the gaps in their communication and strengthen the entire content strategy. The latest practices include:
- Designing of the audit that’s right for the organization. One size doesn’t fit all.
- Building a survey that captures valuable metrics about audience.
- Planning, preparing and conducting productive focus groups.
- Probing of execs for their views of internal communications—and the roles they should play.
- Using the audit to make a strategic plan for stronger communication deliverables.
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