Elevating the role of corporate communication to improve stakeholder engagement

Whether companies find themselves in crises, with their reputation and shareholder value at risk, or undergoing major change, all too often corporations fall short in communicating and engaging directly with all of their stakeholders.

The primary reason for this is that, as we know only too well, communication is typically regarded as an operational function rather than a strategic management discipline.

Generally, communication is considered a mere implementation tool for business strategy versus a critical component of the strategy itself. While some may oppose this, communication has largely been relegated to the periphery of how many organisations and companies perform and conduct their business.

King III Report

With the introduction of the King III Report on Corporate Governance from March 2010, it is hoped that this situation will begin to change. The emphasis on how companies manage their stakeholder relationships stipulates that they will need to improve the way they communicate and engage with every stakeholder group, from employees, to suppliers, customers, shareholders, policy makers, to community members and special interest groups.

Accepting that executive leadership is ultimately accountable for ensuring that a company meets its governance requirements, Section 8 of the King III Report clearly stipulates that management develop sound strategies to maintain effective stakeholder relations and reports on performance at board level.

Corporate communication must play a key role in guiding management to appropriately develop these strategies, and ensure effective implementation thereof.

Yet, communication can only add value if the role is elevated to an executive management level, and senior communication managers are provided the opportunity to participate in critical strategic discussion and key decision-making on how an organisation manages and influences stakeholder relations, corporate reputation and public perception.

Corporate communicators have a responsibility

In turn, corporate communicators have a responsibility to fulfil their mandate and drive improvement of communication practice and delivery. If corporate communication is to achieve a higher level of recognition and respect at executive management level, corporate communication strategists must earn their seat at the table. They will do so when they are able to have influence to appropriately advise management on critical issues and determine solutions thereto. This will give communicators the level of influence in management decision-making they so keenly seek.

Yet, to achieve this, corporate communicators will need to raise their game in both their understanding of a company's business and the requirements of each respective stakeholder group.

Communicators must be able to harness their intimate understanding of stakeholder interests and needs to advise a company how best to establish rapport, build relationships and gain the trust of their stakeholders. This is key to retaining stakeholder loyalty and brand support, yet it is typically one of the most mismanaged aspects of a company's business.

Requirement of business

Thus, communication strategists must ensure that stakeholders remain informed, inspired and connected to a company where, when and how it adds meaningful value to their lives. Engaging stakeholders in critical conversations about the company, its business, the way it does business, and how it impacts the economy, society, and the environment will therefore become a requirement of business.

As Mervyn King said himself, communicators should look to develop and position themselves as stakeholder engagement specialists versus communications experts. Communicators will have their work cut out for them, but they must be in a position and prepared to have a part to play in advising and supporting every level of the business in how best it should communicate with stakeholders.

At the same time, communicators will need to be prepared to advocate for policies that stipulate communication becomes a performance measure. It is business consensus that communicators will need to actuate their strategic management capability and prove their worth for the business.

Good leadership

Good leadership entails taking responsibility for translating strategies into best practice and being held accountable for the delivery and effectiveness thereof. It is therefore surprising how few companies have established a sound communication policy, when it is evidently needed to guide organisations in their business conduct. Yet, policy can only be as good as the paper it is written on if a company's behaviour does not change.

Management must therefore be prepared to take initiative to set the standard, lead by example and conduct business according to sound ethical principles and values. When this starts to happen, good governance will prevail.

Leadership and executive management must simultaneously become competencies of corporate communicators. Senior communication strategists will then be better equipped to prove their mettle in the domain of executives, state their case with higher integrity and are more likely to achieve credibility by being able to deftly steer their organisations and businesses towards maintaining positive stakeholder relations in a complex and constantly changing yet increasingly all communicating world.