FIVE NEW RULES OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

                        

In the meantime, corporate leaders can do their part to improve how their companies communicate. Here are five steps to take.

1. Recruit talented, senior-level communications executives with solid business skills and deep knowledge of the company’s products and processes. According to David Moyer, president of the executive search firm Moyer, Sherwood Associates, Inc., which specializes in corporate communications and PR, the challenges of the role now make it more essential for candidates to hold an MBA.

More broadly, companies need to give communications chiefs the titles, reporting relationships, access, and resources to be effective companywide. And that means investing in senior communications roles for the long-term. Communications professionals like to tout their ability to be quick studies. But it can take years to truly know a company's business, and a communications person without the right level of industry knowledge won't get the respect it takes to do an effective job. Being the perpetual new kid on the block is a strategic liability.

2. Learn to trust and understand the communications function. Management can’t get away with listening to its communications leaders with half an ear. Companies "need to learn more about communications and the communications consequences of their actions and not treat it like a foreign language," urges Moyer. Otherwise, they'll end up spending too much time mopping up after crises as opposed to preempting them. Not only can that be tremendously expensive, but communication blunders can do real damage to companies' brands.

3. Let communications leaders advise and educate the C-suite. If corporations need to listen better to their communications leaders, then the reverse is also true. Communications execs need to help other leaders understand why they're important. "Good communications chiefs recognize that one leg of their job is representing communications to senior management," says Moyer. "They can point to communication wins in that area with the same pride they do to a media relations victory outside. The CFO or the head of engineering doesn’t need to explain their functions the same way. But the communications person needs to do this."

4. Eliminate command-and-control communications. "The best companies are transparent, and when they are wrong, they promptly admit it rather than hide behind 'corporate speak,'" Clark says. Closing ranks can be dangerous in the digital age, but it's a most common reaction when things go wrong. "Apologize, take responsibility, and do what's necessary to right the wrong. Companies shouldn't compound their problems by obfuscating or denying responsibility for problems; that simply drags out the story and ensures it'll be at the top of news headlines and Twitter.

5. Let employees be ambassadors, Clark advises. Don’t gag them on social media. "Smart, far-sighted companies recognize that if employees are using social media anyway, you might as well tap that power," she says. "Give them information about the company's vision, goals, and what it's doing, and allow them to spread that positive message online. They'll have far more credibility among their friends and contacts that your official brand page ever could."

By JOSHUA HELENA M

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