Giving more power to communicators

Reasons why the Corona crisis in particular shows us the importance of strategic corporate communications - a plea.

The Corona crisis is an unprecedented, extraordinary situation for all areas of our society. Suddenly companies have to deal with issues that previously only had little impact. For example, reduced working hours, rent deferrals or even the switch of production to completely new products like respiratory masks.

This poses a number of new challenges, particularly in terms of communication. Things that were thought to be safe are constantly changing and have to be communicated quickly. Changing to home office solutions for example is a tough test for many communicators. Only those companies who have already established future-oriented communication structures will be able to continue their business processes in an orderly manner. Of course, the change in corporate culture in corporate culture also plays a significant role here.

Increasing need for communication during the crisis

All of these changed conditions mean that the need for internal communication is increasing. The challenge is, however, that the communicators themselves are also affected by uncertainties. Then again they have to reassure insecure employees.

The more valid the information and the closer the communicators are to the corporate decision-makers, the more secure they are themselves. They radiate this security and pass it on to their employees.

Greater appreciation through having more say

The increased need for communication also raises the already great demands upon communicators to do their job precisely, quickly and appropriately. These responsibilities should also be reflected in a greater appreciation of communication itself. And in turn, this should also be reflected by granting a say at the highest decision-making level.

"A close connection to an organization's strategy department in the sense of genuine strategic communication is just as important as a link to marketing or sales," says Ansgar Zerfaß, Professor of Strategic Communication at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at the University of Leipzig, in an interview for Pressesprecher. And he is absolutely right.

According to him, communications should be assigned to the CEO as a staff department. If the communications department is perceived by board members primarily as a content producer and as the point of intersection to the media, no one talks about the issues that are actually important, Zerfaß continues.

Crisis prevention through early involvement

If decision-making processes involve communications at an early stage, this can also be of great advantage to corporate decision-makers. This way critical issues can be identified on time and communicative crisis prevention measures can be put in place accordingly. These include crisis manuals as well as communication guidelines for various crisis scenarios and comprehensive, strategically driven issues management.

If decision-making processes involve communications at an early stage, this can also be of great advantage to corporate decision-makers. This way critical issues can be identified on time and communicative crisis prevention measures can be put in place accordingly. These include crisis manuals as well as communication guidelines for various crisis scenarios and comprehensive, strategically driven issues management. Thus, reputational damage can be avoided since guidance for action, which includes clear procedures and reactive statements, is available at any time for all possible crisis scenarios. Therefore, you do not chase the crisis, in fact you are always one step ahead of it by means of active communication.

Communicators: the seismographs of a company

But that's not all: In addition to communicative crisis prevention, communicators as advisors to the management also serve as important seismographs. They detect the issues concerning the future. This, in turn, can be used profitably by the management in the interest of the company in order to position itself accordingly, always keeping the relation to the relevant stakeholders in mind. Basis for this is, for example, the comprehensive monitoring of the company's own industry and its competitors.

Internally, early involvement of communicators has numerous advantages as well: Defined communication processes provide security for employees. At the same time, they can provide a crucial time advantage compared to competitors, especially in times of crisis. It is much easier to adapt to unfamiliar situations and to organize and implement new internal organizational processes successfully – such as a functioning home office – on the basis of already working coordination paths. Only when communicators have first-hand information about the current state of affairs of a crisis they can implement actual goal-oriented internal communication measures.

More say = more challenges

But let's not fool ourselves: Greater say and decision-making power also comes with challenges. With an already busy schedule, communicators have to deal with even more corporate organizational and economic issues in order to be able to foresee and categorize developments. Moreover, communicators cannot rest on the fact that things were once decided "from the top" and that they had no impact. Ultimately, having more of a say also entails the risk of communicators being wrong sometimes, missing the mark in certain situations and having to face criticism. But all of this is part of the change and learning process – being successful in the end.

Thinking about communication right from the start

Strategic integration will only be truly beneficial if communication is being carefully considered from the very beginning. Even if it doesn't seem like it, we are facing special times: we seem to be at the beginning of some kind of normality facing the Corona crisis.

But how can companies move past the shock now and avoid communicating exclusively Corona issues? One approach is to directly coordinate with the senior management. This reduces the number of channels and leaves more time for strategic considerations and goal-oriented topic identification.

It’s time for a greater say

Strategic and goal-oriented communication requires communication managers or external consultants who are directly involved in the strategic decision-making processes of a company. Not just in the middle management, but at the top of the operational management level, so that they can play the role of seismographs for further trend developments. And furthermore, to be able to have a real say and make decisions in communications.

The current situation opens up a great opportunity for communicators to demand appreciation in the sense of having a greater say. Because after Corona, the cards will be reshuffled. We need to position ourselves quickly in order to be even better prepared in terms of communications when it comes to the next crisis - which is quite certain to occur.