http://kilobox.net/1003/who-writes-for-your-md/ Communications, intranet design and reader-centred writing, from Wedge in the UK Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:11:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://kilobox.net/1003/who-writes-for-your-md/comment-page-1/#comment-1083 Amanda BC Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:09:32 +0000 http://kilobox.net/?p=1003#comment-1083 Hi Wedge I couldn't agree more! The Internal Comn team has a critical role to play in contributing to a company's achievement of its strategic objectives. It means, of course, that all communicators (internal, external, corporate, specialist, whatever) really need to understand the business - and from the point of view of the CEO, CFO, COO, etc. In my view, it's not enough for communicators to think solely about functions/tactics, or even how our overall com'n strategy supports the achievement of business strategy. In order to provide useful advice and exec-level counsel we need to understand business drivers, what's keeping C-suite awake at night, what's the result on our firm of a 1% change in interest rates or a 5% change in demand for our product, you name it. Only then can advice be directed to the C-suite members in their own language about their own concerns. (For more on this, visit FIR Live #14 of 26 May at www.forimmediaterelease.biz) For internal communicators specifically, I believe we have an invaluable role to play in workforce engagement. Not only do we assist the C-suite to craft messages, respond to issue, etc but we also have a responsibility to create an environment within which everyone on the workforce can and is encouraged to write themselves into the corporate story - "how does my daily work contribute to the company's success". Sometimes that means having to convince senior execs that an operational process must be changed or a cultural issue addressed (for example, an individual frontline worker will need effective feedback so the organisation may need to introduce a genuinely useful performance review process) - which takes us back to needing to understand the business drivers so we can advise wisely. I'd love to explore this further with people. Feel free to drop me a line at abolandc@bigpond.com or find me on twitter @auntie_abc. Cheers! Hi Wedge
I couldn’t agree more! The Internal Comn team has a critical role to play in contributing to a company’s achievement of its strategic objectives.
It means, of course, that all communicators (internal, external, corporate, specialist, whatever) really need to understand the business – and from the point of view of the CEO, CFO, COO, etc.
In my view, it’s not enough for communicators to think solely about functions/tactics, or even how our overall com’n strategy supports the achievement of business strategy.
In order to provide useful advice and exec-level counsel we need to understand business drivers, what’s keeping C-suite awake at night, what’s the result on our firm of a 1% change in interest rates or a 5% change in demand for our product, you name it. Only then can advice be directed to the C-suite members in their own language about their own concerns. (For more on this, visit FIR Live #14 of 26 May at http://www.forimmediaterelease.biz)
For internal communicators specifically, I believe we have an invaluable role to play in workforce engagement. Not only do we assist the C-suite to craft messages, respond to issue, etc but we also have a responsibility to create an environment within which everyone on the workforce can and is encouraged to write themselves into the corporate story – “how does my daily work contribute to the company’s success”.
Sometimes that means having to convince senior execs that an operational process must be changed or a cultural issue addressed (for example, an individual frontline worker will need effective feedback so the organisation may need to introduce a genuinely useful performance review process) – which takes us back to needing to understand the business drivers so we can advise wisely.
I’d love to explore this further with people. Feel free to drop me a line at abolandc@bigpond.com or find me on twitter @auntie_abc.
Cheers!

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