The Source for Communicators

Melcrums Source for Communicators - A Free Weekly E-Zine for Corporate Communicators

October 17th, 2007 What your CEO thinks of internal comms

Melcrum's latest research into best-practice internal comms through the eyes of the chief exec provides valuable insight into how the CEO views both the discipline and the professionals who practice it.

Interviews with senior leaders from a range of organizations and industry sectors across Europe, South Africa and the US threw up some similar themes. Here's three, taken from the full report:

1. The implicit value of internal communication
In our interviews, CEOs stressed the central role of good internal communication to good business. The need to deliver to the customer, the need to create alignment of strategic intent across global workforces, the need to motivate, engage and organize – across the board, CEOs agreed that all of these are the contexts in which internal communication positions itself as a vital business discipline.

2. The increasing importance of internal communication
Our interviewees suggested that major changes in the economic and social climate have meant that internal communication has been increasingly key to good business. For example, they talked about radically shifting employee expectations and the influence of the internet on the way people interact, and cited the lessons of poorly (and well) communicated change programs and crises.

3. Who does the CEO go to for advice?
Of the 18 CEO interviews conducted, only three came via internal communication professionals. This may have been due to a number of factors, such as CEOs’ limited time availability and scheduling difficulties. However, we also had to consider the possibility that these internal communicators have limited influence with their company leaders.

A lack of influence seemed at odds with the CEOs’ view that internal communication is fundamental to the success of the business. So we asked CEOs directly: “Who do you usually go to for internal communication counsel?” Their responses were interestingly mixed.

In most cases, the head of internal communication (or equivalent) plays their part – usually, the principal part – as the key adviser to CEOs on employee communication issues. But many of the CEOs we spoke to said they take a broad, multi-disciplinary, multi-level approach to internal communication advice (e.g., HR, investor relations, PR), perhaps even going outside the organization.

The report summarizes key findings and shares observations from each of the leaders interviews.

See you next week.

Mandy Thatcher
Editor
mandy.thatcher@melcrum.com