Organizational communication has two broad roles – to support corporate strategies and to support business unit strategies. Communicators are generally located within head office where most senior management is located, and therefore communicators tend to give more attention to corporate influences. But the bulk of revenue is generated by the business or operating units. These units are in the frontline where the customers are, but unfortunately some operational managers hardly ever get a visit ...
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Most business people don’t understand the role of communicators; they usually just see the busy, visible, low-level PR activities, and don’t realize that strategic focus is hugely important to communication planning. This article explains powerful ways you can turn decision-makers’ focus from tactical to strategic for better results. It is available to you in a special Kindle collection of 12 top articles on communication campaigns for only $11.99 including tax. Click here to buy.
Read moreOne of the toughest tasks we face as a PR professional is proving the value of our work. Research overwhelmingly shows that PR is worth many times its cost to employers and clients. But PR professionals often overlook promoting this worth. We are too busy working on behalf of others to do a soft sell on our own behalf. But no one else will promote the worth of our role, so we need to ...
Read moreIn addition to your traditional communication role, you can make your presence felt by improving operational communication and therefore operational performance. You may ask why you should become involved in operational communication. After all, it should be an operational responsibility. The answer is that workplace communication is probably the most important communication of all—because it directly affects profitability, or in the case of government entities, their efficiency and effectiveness. And if operational managers aren’t ...
Read moreIt is not easy to get senior management to listen to communicators about the importance of crisis communication plans. Quite often, executives will perceive crises and emergencies only in terms of an operational response (“Put the fire out and return to full operations ASAP.”). This is an extremely frustrating attitude to encounter. Those executives will need to be convinced of the impact on the organization’s operations and therefore its profitability before they take full ...
Read moreEffective employee communication is a key driver of employee engagement, which in turn is a vital factor in successful workplaces. Therefore, it is important to take stock of internal communication activities to determine how effective they are, and what communication initiatives can help to strengthen engagement levels. Engaged employees are highly involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace, as defined by Gallup Inc., the leading firm specializing in this aspect ...
Read moreWorking with your boss requires a balancing act. On one hand you need to know how best to work with your boss and maintain a good relationship. (Read my article How to boost your PR career by successfully managing your boss.) On the other hand, you need to know how to emerge from the background and assert your own standing within the organization. The contradiction in having a good boss is that while they ...
Read moreProving our worth as communicators can be a real challenge, especially during tough economic times, but some astute professionals ensure they can prove the value of their work by using some thought. Meet with senior managers to understand their priorities and concerns Smart professionals meet with senior managers, especially line (divisional) managers to find out what are the major problems on their minds. Then they develop communication activities to directly help solve those problems. ...
Read moreOne of the biggest issues facing us as communication professionals is how to gain greater influence within our own organization. Our work is largely intangible, based on strengthening organizational communication links and working relationships at all levels, and so we are often vulnerable to the subjective views of corporate decision makers about our effectiveness. The question is how do we increase our standing within the organization? People can have good potential or may already ...
Read more'Managing upwards' is the systematic process of working with your boss to obtain the best possible results for you, your boss and your organization. When you manage upwards, you show leadership on your own part. Most people know the importance of managing their relationships with the people who report to them, but you would be surprised at the number of people who forget to manage their most important working relationship – the one with ...
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