How to Empower Corporate Communication

Effective communication is key to a successful business. Whether it’s relaying information up the chain, to your colleagues, between departments, or most importantly, to your client base, the way you present yourself has an effect in how you and your business is perceived.

Corporate communication has rapidly evolved in recent times due to the advent of new and improved technologies and ways of information sharing. The globalization of businesses has also had an effect on how companies communicate, with a global audience and an increasing number of employees interacting across different cities and time zones. As such, there is a greater emphasis on collaborating effectively through digital mediums.

Good communication is also a sign of strong leadership. It motivates employees to commit themselves to the goals of the organization and helps them understand how their individual efforts can contribute to the overall success of the business.

Effective corporate communication helps promote the profile of the brand and the company behind the brand. It helps organizations explain their mission and goals to stakeholders, painting them a picture of the mission and values through storytelling.

Here are some strategies to empower corporate communication within your organization to get the best results:

Get communication executives to educate other top-tier executives

Leaders of a company need to learn, understand and appreciate the communication goals and strategy of an organization. A formal process should be in place for communication executives to help other leaders understand what they do and why it’s important.

“Good communications chiefs recognize that one leg of their job is representing communications to senior management,” says David Moyer, President of Moyer, Sherwood Associates, corporate communications and PR firm. “They can point to communication wins in that area with the same pride they do to a media relations victory outside. The CFO or head of engineering doesn’t need to explain their functions in the same way, but the communications person needs to do this.”

Be Flexible

It’s good to know be consistent with your organizational message to create strong brand recognition and keep employees on the same page when it comes to corporate values and vision. However, being too rigid can be limiting when it comes to messaging. Allowing some flexibility gives a company the opportunity to vary messages based on unique situations. There should be some wiggle room for creativity and doing things differently when it seems right while maintaining the organizational character. 

Allowing flexibility for employees also accounts for changes in technology and the rapidly evolving communications platforms. It gives the organization an opportunity to adapt to the evolving workplace, such as increasing telecommuting and mobility among workers.

Embrace your employees as ambassadors

This is a great way to improve employee morale as well as create a stronger media presence for your brand. Dorie Clark, adjunct professor of business administration at Duke University advises, “Smart, far-sighted companies recognize that if employees are using social media anyway, you might as well tap that power”.

Clark added, “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 than your official brand page ever could.”