Getting Back to Basics

Strategy, Structure and Governance – three key elements to help you become a more strategic communicator and build a more strategic comms function.  

What do I mean?

I’m talking about how well do you know the organisation you work for, what it’s trying to achieve and how it will get there. Making the time to do this is one of the biggest challenges facing a lot of the teams I’ve worked with but it is the game changer to becoming a more strategic function.

The most common challenges I’ve seen is an under resourced team, that has been under invested in over the years. Or a function that has grown organically in an unplanned way, possibly in response to a business critical need, and never had the time to recalibrate.

When you’re in the daily grind it’s so hard to take the much needed pause and step back for a moment. But if we want internal comms to be seen as, and used as, the strategic business function that it is then this is a pause worth making the case for.

So how can you get ahead?

Read the business strategy, and get a good understanding of what the business is trying to achieve and by when. Make sure your team has also read the strategy!

• Where is the business heading? 
• How will it get there? 
• How is it measuring success? 

Focus on getting enough knowledge to answer these three key questions.

Then – and this is the most important but often complex bit of the puzzle – get a solid understanding of how the business is set up to deliver the strategy and where decisions are made.

1. Get your hands on structure charts and reporting structures.
2. Understand the governance.

Why is structure important? 

The business will have been structured in a way that will help it operate most effectively to deliver the strategy, or if it’s a new strategy may well be in the process of moving to a new structure. If you’re supporting on a change programme then understanding the ‘as is’ and the desired ‘to be’ and why is critical.

The structure dictates how the communication should flow and the different layers of the organisation.

Then get to grips with the governance. 

• Where are decisions made? 
• Who is making the decisions?
• When and how are these decisions being shared?

If you can really understand the operational drumbeat and flow of decision making you will be setting yourself up for success.

It’s no secret that line managers are the key, and biggest challenge, in successful organisational comms. Investing the time in getting to grips with the strategy, structure and governance will help you make sure that managers have the information they need to support their teams to deliver their part in the strategy.

Armed with the above insight and confidence in the business you will have a really solid framework to plan your communication. It will enable you to provide really solid advice to your leadership team and understand where to invest your time and effort.