CorpComms Magazine

There is little doubt that this is going to be a tough year for corporate communicators, who may be delivering difficult news about the business to a workforce made up of recession ‘first-timers'. Many comms teams have never had to tackle the difficult subject of redundancy, and many leaders have neglected the importance of communication in busy and prosperous times.

Effective communicators are needed now more than ever, to help organisations cope with rapid and difficult change. We have just completed research among employees to identify their top instant motivators during a downturn: their responses tell us they value good communication and positive leadership second only to an unlikely pay increase to help get them through difficult times.

Our own conversations with business leaders show that rapid change management is their absolute priority now. The success of any change programme is hugely dependant on developing and implementing an effective communications strategy.

The starting point has to be to clear the airwaves of unnecessary noise; to set out a clear and compelling new vision for the organisation and to engage the hard-pressed but vital management cadre behind the cause. This year will see corporate communicators drop ‘nice to have' projects in favour of frank, regular business-critical dialogue with staff and stakeholders.

Of course, managers already have plenty on their plates, with simultaneous goals of winning new business, improving productivity and cutting costs. Getting them to understand the urgency of uniting their teams behind a new corporate story won't happen overnight. But middle managers have huge influence over the level of engagement of the workforce; remember the saying that people don't come to work for an organisation, they come to work for their boss? Those bosses are going to need help understanding their pivotal role as engagers and motivators of their teams.  

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