I have the honour of sitting on a panel of IABC Master Communicators today to discuss the future of our profession. The discussion will be led by one of Canada's leading communicators, Jacqui d’Eon, Deloitte Canada’s Chief Communications Officer and IABC's 2008 Master Communicator.
The theme is "Are Communicators Still Relevant -- Or Have We Become Disposable?"
The panelists were asked to contribute two or three minutes of commentary to help kick off the discussion. Here are my notes:
I believe there is a crisis of confidence in our profession, at least on the internal side.
We’ve been through a very dark time over the last decade, a time in which employee engagement has declined and digital communication tools have proved to be far less effective than expected.
This is a time of great change and opportunity for employee communicators, but I worry that we might not be not up to the challenge.
I worry that many of us are trapped in our roles as technical/tactical specialists -- constantly posting, posting, posting to intranets that don’t get read and don’t get measured.
I worry that we’ve forgotten how to offer strategic advice, or how to effectively say no to stupid instructions from our leaders (and offer them thoughtful alternatives).
I worry that, at time that calls for leadership and action, we are so paralyzed by our habits, stifled by the bureaucracies in which we work, and fearful about the security of our own jobs, that we are doing nothing where we should be doing something.
I worry that we’ve forgotten about the basics of the old RACE formula (research, analysis, communication, evaluation) and we’ve become entrenched in our role as order-takers and crisis responders.
And I worry that the new social media tools, which reduce the need for intermediaries like us, could speed the erosion of our strategic importance.
I always say the more you worry about something, the less likely it is to happen. So in the end I’m optimistic about the future of employee communication, and here's why:
We’ve got powerful new tools that have uses we haven’t even begun to explore.
There’s growing interest and attention by corporate leaders in improving engagement, because there’s hard evidence linking engagement to bottom line business performance.
Put Web 2.0 technology together with the burning need to improve engagement, and you have a big opportunity to rebuild a new kind of loyalty -- a new kind of corporate culture based on the creation and support of strong internal communities.
There has never been a better time to make the business case for improving internal communication.
A once-in-a-generation opportunity is right in front of us and we must seize it now.
We’ve been through a very dark time over the last decade, a time in which employee engagement has declined and digital communication tools have proved to be far less effective than expected.
This is a time of great change and opportunity for employee communicators, but I worry that we might not be not up to the challenge.
I worry that many of us are trapped in our roles as technical/tactical specialists -- constantly posting, posting, posting to intranets that don’t get read and don’t get measured.
I worry that we’ve forgotten how to offer strategic advice, or how to effectively say no to stupid instructions from our leaders (and offer them thoughtful alternatives).
I worry that, at time that calls for leadership and action, we are so paralyzed by our habits, stifled by the bureaucracies in which we work, and fearful about the security of our own jobs, that we are doing nothing where we should be doing something.
I worry that we’ve forgotten about the basics of the old RACE formula (research, analysis, communication, evaluation) and we’ve become entrenched in our role as order-takers and crisis responders.
And I worry that the new social media tools, which reduce the need for intermediaries like us, could speed the erosion of our strategic importance.
I always say the more you worry about something, the less likely it is to happen. So in the end I’m optimistic about the future of employee communication, and here's why:
We’ve got powerful new tools that have uses we haven’t even begun to explore.
There’s growing interest and attention by corporate leaders in improving engagement, because there’s hard evidence linking engagement to bottom line business performance.
Put Web 2.0 technology together with the burning need to improve engagement, and you have a big opportunity to rebuild a new kind of loyalty -- a new kind of corporate culture based on the creation and support of strong internal communities.
There has never been a better time to make the business case for improving internal communication.
A once-in-a-generation opportunity is right in front of us and we must seize it now.
I see the collision of social media and the influx of Gen Y into the workforce as an opportunity for internal communicators to show what engagement really looks like. It's going to be up to us to guide the organization through the use of these new tools, so it's important for us to be on top of our game and one step ahead of the trends.
Posted by: Amy | May 20, 2009 at 08:49 PM
I agree, Amy. Every communicator should at least be playing with these tools right now. No better way than to learn by doing.
Posted by: Ron Shewchuk | May 20, 2009 at 10:38 PM
You express these as worries, Ron, I edit them into definite problems, especially these three:
"many of us are trapped in our roles as technical/tactical specialists ... we’ve forgotten how to offer strategic advice, or how to effectively say no to stupid instructions from our leaders ... we are so paralyzed by our habits, stifled by the bureaucracies in which we work, and fearful about the security of our own jobs, that we are doing nothing where we should be doing something."
How did the panel pan out?
Posted by: David Murray | May 21, 2009 at 02:04 PM
I can't argue with your view, David. They are definite, and serious problems. The panel was good. After the formal remarks there was a lively discussion, but we only scraped the surface and quickly ran out of time. The biggest issues raised by attendees were:
* the difficulty they have communicating effectively with managers and executives about internal issues and needs
* the gulf between inexperienced communicators entering the field and senior communicators
* the constant struggle to escape the day-to-day crush of urgent tactical responsibilities
But there was no time for a full discussion. I offered to cook lunch if the chapter wants to host an all-day conference that would allow participants to get their teeth into the issues. Maybe you should be our guest keynote speaker....
Posted by: Ron Shewchuk | May 21, 2009 at 02:22 PM
You know I'd be there with bells on. I'm hoping to develop a useful talk on my Heron book series, and such a conference would give me a good excuse.
Posted by: David Murray | May 22, 2009 at 05:23 AM