It’s a common misconception that communications is a brand/ promotional/ marketing or event orientated function. Even though we do complete some of these activities as it is necessary in our area of expertise, communications is a strategic business function. One that is becoming more and more focused on the relationships built and maintained with the people who serve the company and its customers/ clients. The nature of business today dictates that each function is required to deliver strategic value and ROI. It is not just a nice to have. It’s a must. Leadership are forced to make strategic decisions that are orientated towards people within and outside of your corporation because of the speed of change/ transformation, digitization, technology and customer behaviour patterns that are influencing how businesses operate globally. Organisational communication and employee engagement is a necessity in business practice today.
The last quarter of the year is a pivotal time in our calendar as communications professionals to intentionally assess the value delivered in alignment with a company’s business strategy, reflect on our annual deliverables and start to envision and organise the next year’s communication plan.
Here are four key things you should consider as a business leader to enrich the communication process, boost your business strategy and achieve greater communication effectiveness in the upcoming year.
- Strategic alignment. What are the overarching goals of your organization firstly, then department / function/ team? What are the things that you need communications to support that will bring you closer to your goals? Though companies are large, we all need to be moving in one direction. Strategies and North Stars should be clear and simple. The larger the organisation, the easier it must be to understand. This is also a time to evaluate how effective communications initiatives has contributed to the achievement of business objectives. High retention, attrition, audience understanding/engagement, loyalty, high performance, quality, excellence, productivity, healthy team dynamics and relationships are great ways to measure whether your organisation is aligned to its objectives.
- Review content and channels. You need to evaluate all your content and activity over the year and measure how effective it was in accordance to the channel and business initiative. Was the narrative consistent? Relevant? And has it addressed the needs of the audience? Consider the performance of different communication formats (blog, podcast, video, articles, events etc) and how effectively they delivered strategic messaging. Identify which channels yielded the highest returns and contributed most significantly to your overall communication objectives. Adjust your plan accordingly. Don’t forget to consider consumer behaviour patterns as this will inevitably affect how an audience engages with your organisation.
- Gather feedback from your stakeholders. Talk to your stakeholders. Get an understanding of how they perceive your organisation. What can you do to improve your interaction with them? Collecting your stakeholder/s assessment of your business gives you an invaluable opportunity to obtain diverse perspectives and understand the effectiveness of your communications efforts and business relationships. It also opens the door to open and constructive conversations with your staff/client/customers, strengthening your current relationship and improving your communication and engagement activity in the future.
- Celebrate wins and learn from challenges. Take the time to reflect on the challenges and disappointments you may have experienced along the way. How will you address them in the future and what have you learned from these experiences? Identifying challenges you may have experienced along the way, will help you put proactive measures in place to mitigate similar challenges in the future. Equally, take the time to really reflect on what you have achieved in 2023, enjoy and soak up the good work and effort put into reach your goals. A culture of continuous learning and improvement is fundamental to evolving communication excellence.
Companies aiming to refine their approach, test their effectiveness and stay ahead in a dynamic business environment, must reflect on their annual communications and engagement plan if they want to take their stakeholders with them and drive business strategy. Aligning business goals to your communications activities, assessing the impact of your content and use of channels, engaging your stakeholders about how they have experienced your interaction and by evaluating your wins and challenges, are all activities that can inform how you shape and elevate your annual communication plans. This reflective process is not merely an annual ritual but a foundation for building a more agile, adaptive, and impactful communication framework in the years to come.
