Communication is often misunderstood. It appears to be disconnected from a company’s bottom line and is far removed from corporate decision-making.
In the last two decades, the Communications Department has taken the lead in handling important stakeholder information and putting employee engagement and well-being first.
Most communications and public relations departments are not linked to revenue. They are often seen as cost centers and tend to be grouped under HR or Marketing.
It’s time for a new start.
Communication is one of the strongest revenue generators in a business.
Communication professionals are responsible for telling the story of a company, delivering critical information, and managing the organization’s image and community relations.
You don’t hear much about it. It’s just that you don’t hear about it.
A communications department is no longer an option but a necessity for any organization that wants to understand the dynamic between employees and the brand. It’s also important to know what lies behind trust, transparency, and mission.
The chief communications officer, while a title that is common in many mid-sized to large companies, is unique. The absence of CCOs in organizational charts reflects the short-sighted organizational thinking and strategy that permeates corporate America.
The Perception Problem in PR
Many PR executives are not invited to boardroom discussions or budget and strategy meetings because they are viewed as supporting, rather than adding, revenue decisions. Employee/internal communication professionals lament their order-taking roles and struggle to identify the KPIs most important to the C-suite.
Even the most senior members of the PR/communications industry do not have a budget that they can manage directly. An experienced senior executive who joined a large multinational recently shared with me her excitement about finally having a P&L she could manage. She has spent 25 years working in communication at Fortune 100 companies. Now, she is responsible for revenue generation.
A VP for internal communications told me that she had never looked at a budget and wanted to get a job with some financial accountability. She is a senior executive who oversees communications for the most important customer in every company: the employee.
The dynamics of the department are changing as marketers, HR executives, and C-suite officials are beginning to realize that communications is not a cost center. You can see how Communications is a revenue generator if you view brand perception from a different perspective.
CEOs value their communication leaders. According to a study conducted by Ragan Communications and HarrisX in October/November 2020 with North American CEOs and communicators, CCOs are most valuable for protecting the reputation and building relationships of their companies, as well as making data-driven decisions. While CCOs, SVPs of Communications, and CEOs ranked those competencies highly as well for themselves, they placed more emphasis on empathy and integrity.
For CEOs, the most important skills were team leadership, data analysis, and project management. CCOs ranked writing, media relations, team leadership, and leadership as their top three. It’s good to know that communications leaders and CEOs are mostly in agreement on the opinions they have about current contributions.
Four Steps Forward
Communication leaders can take four steps to be seen as part of business generation and change the perception of their role.
Prioritize data and measurements.
There are metrics that senior management cares about, whether they relate to internal communications or PR. Accept them as your North Star and use them to guide the communication effort. Measure, iterate, and share these metrics with leaders in business, including a straight line or dotted line to revenue.
Speak out
Ironically, communicators may sometimes fall back in deference or habit and allow Marketing, HR, or other business units to speak for them.
The majority of communicators excel at presenting and packaging information, particularly for their peers. It’s time to broaden the audience, including the C-suite and the board.
Take the wheel with DEI and ESG.
It is important to understand the corporate priorities. They range from equity, diversity, and inclusion to environmental, social, and governance. Communication professionals are well-positioned to create strategies around these priorities, as they understand the importance of change, the impact on brand reputation and talent retention, and how such initiatives affect the bottom line.
Communication professionals need to take ownership of DEI and ESG initiatives now, even though multiple business units should own them.
Employee value is important to defend
Businesses are still grappling with the Great Resignation and office reopenings. They also have to deal with vaccine mandates and employees working from home.
The workplace culture is changing in ways that were unimaginable just three years before, and it will continue to change for many years.
The middle is the communicator, who has the chance to amplify the voice of employees, create an environment that keeps them engaged and motivated, and prove that healthy work environments equal healthy businesses.
Communication Leaders
Communication professionals should not undersell themselves. They must have a business mindset to be viewed as leaders in business, like their counterparts in marketing. Leadership must view them as business executives and not communicators.
Any communicator who wants to be heard must have the ability to read a budget and balance sheet, understand their company’s ecosystem, and know how business works. They should also be fluent in economics and business.
Communication is based on reputation management, employee communication, media relations, and community engagement. These do not have to be revenue-generating items to be considered as such. Communication needs to change its narrative and ensure that the value proposition it offers is linked to the growth and health of an organization.