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Putting it into Action: Leadership in Corporate Communication

Putting it into Action: Leadership in Corporate Communication. Professor Anne Gregory Centre for Public Relations Studies Leeds Metropolitan University Chair Elect Global Alliance. A starter for 10…. The elevator test. What is your role as a strategic communicator? 3 minutes only!!.

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Putting it into Action: Leadership in Corporate Communication

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  1. Putting it into Action: Leadership in Corporate Communication Professor Anne Gregory Centre for Public Relations Studies Leeds Metropolitan University Chair Elect Global Alliance

  2. A starter for 10…. The elevator test. What is your role as a strategic communicator? 3 minutes only!!

  3. Leadership in corporate communication Strategic Role Operational focus Personal Presentation

  4. Strategic role

  5. Recent research on manager roles Monitor and evaluator Key policy & strategy adviser Trouble-shooter/ Problem-solver Issues management expert And does some high level ‘technician’ work (Moss, Newman and DeSanto, 2005) Strategist Manager Technician (Everett and Steyn, 2009)

  6. A point of strategic inflection Digital commons Myriad, empowered stakeholders Global economy a new way of operating that has communications at its heart…. the key is authenticity

  7. Roles & responsibilities • Collaborate with stakeholders; create & influence an ‘ecosystem’ of advocates • Shape strategic direction and brand • Clarify and disseminate values, shape culture & behaviours • Empower employees as communicators • Deal in organisation focused measurement

  8. The ‘Authentic Enterprise’ report • Four new priorities and skills for which the Chief • Communications Officer must now assume a • leadership role in: • Defining and instilling values • Building and managing multi stakeholder relationships • Enabling the enterprise with “new media” skills and tools • Building and managing trust, in all its dimensions.

  9. How strategy is formed • the first step in strategy formulation process • collect/interpret information on stakeholders • details of issues and events that are occurring • anticipation of trends • consider threats & opportunities the lynch pin between the organisation and the stakeholder environment

  10. How CEOs make decisions • a collaborative decision-making framework • strategic thinking is conversation-based • the CEO’s and their senior colleagues… • …and specialist experts outside the inner circle • such talent is highly valued by CEOs

  11. So… “Strategy is essentially concerned with a process of managing the interaction between an organisation and its external environment so as to ensure a best fit between the two. From this perspective it can be argued that boundary-spanning functions can play a key role in the process of managing such environmental interaction.” (Moss and Warnaby, 2003)

  12. Those involved in decision-making Decision-makers Proposers Experts Decision-analysts Facilitators

  13. So what do CEOs think about? Your CEO’s obsessions The top five Five minutes!

  14. Lesson oneAttach yourself to the C Suite agenda

  15. Operational focus

  16. How do you spend your time? • administration and finance • doing operational comms • analysing and campaign planning • working with other staff • developing own skills/knowledge • other activities

  17. Our work? Strategy (10%) Thinking (30%) Just do it (60%)

  18. CEO’s expect • Forward intelligence • Externally and internally connected • Problem-solvers • Coaches and advisors • A narrative • Technically competent

  19. Comms and strategic management INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Corporate & business strategies Identify key strategic issues What must be communicated Policies Identify implications of issues on stakeholders Synthesis Internal Issues Prioritise issues Strategic communication plan How must it be communicated Analysis Stakeholderplan Employee Comm plan Crisis comm plan Media plan Specific communication plans/campaigns/programmes Steyn, 2008

  20. The strategic approach Strategy (60%) Thinking (30%) Just do it (10%)

  21. Lesson twoAttach yourself to the C Suite agenda

  22. Personal positioning

  23. Paint a picture of your ‘ideal’ communication leader • What do they do? • How do they behave?

  24. The current context -crunch time! When decisions about an organisation’s response to the environment become more novel and non-programmed, communication practitioner roles change to become more strategic (from technician to manager)

  25. Think like a consultant

  26. Why bother? Cynicism about consultants “People who borrow your watch and tell you what time it is and then walk off with the watch.” Bob Stott, MD of Wm Morrisons

  27. You already are one? If you need to build relationships with people in your organisation; understand their business requirements; influence and present business solutions…then you are operating in an internal consultancy role.

  28. A CONSULTANT’S TOOLKIT

  29. The consultant’s role

  30. Mindset Knowledge Key facets of the consultant Process skills Competencies

  31. Mindset differences Consultant Employee Client Employer Project Job Proactive Reactive Impact Activity

  32. Nurse User-friendly; establish procedures; hands on Therapist Diagnosis of complex, ill-specified problems; refers work on Pharmacist Supervision of low-cost delivery team; established procedures; expert input Brain Surgeon Innovative solutions to one-off problems; Critical interventions Models of consultants Standard Process “Doing” Customised Process Diagnosis High degree of client contact Low degree of client contact

  33. Models of consultants Brains requires leading edge profession/technical knowledge; innovation/creativity; provided by highly skilled practitioners; one off. “Hire us because we’re smart” Grey hair degree of customisation but less innovation; requirement not unfamiliar; experience & judgement. “Hire us because we’ve done this before” Procedure familiar requirement; client could do but out-sources for efficiency. “Hire us because we can do this effectively”

  34. Consultant roles Brains Grey hair Procedure High intensity diagnosis High intensity implementation Highly customised Formulaic High client risk Low client risk Many qualified practitioners Few qualified practitioners Commodity pricing High cost Expertise Experience Efficiency

  35. Attach a value to what you do ……doing what counts

  36. Value mapping High What you value Value winner Value killer No value Value sleeper Low What the organisation values High

  37. Lesson threeAttach yourself to the C Suite agenda

  38. This should be our time when decisions about an organisation’s response to the environment become more novel and non-programmed, communication practitioner roles change to become more strategic…and important

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