Five Ways Corporations Make Communication Efforts Fail

by June Holder

For communications professionals, the world has taken on a new level of complexity that is making our challenging work even more daunting. Even the largest and most historically stable organizations have been rocked by recent events. We can expect more twists and turns as we work our way through the next few years.

As companies race to stay ahead of political and climatic impacts, changing competitive landscapes, and an increasingly unsettled workforce, crisis management has turned into a daily event. Adding to all that, the tsunami forming as AI surfaces in global business environments. The growing sense of overwhelm reaching deeply into organizations is visible everywhere.

Seize the Moment

As we navigate the seismic events taking place, there’s an opportunity to make changes that will carry us beyond these turbulent times. 

Starting at the foundational level, here are five mistakes corporate leaders are currently making when it comes to the communications function, and insights into new approaches that can have a significant impact.

Mistake #1: Embedding communications functions into the wrong organizational structure.

When structural alignments are out of sync, the results can be counterproductive – or even disastrous. 

Too often, organizational decisions are made by executives with little understanding of the communications function. In the battle for budget and staff, having a leader who understands how to guide and defend the efforts of their team and inspire excellence is critical for success.

When skilled employees find themselves reporting to leaders who are unprepared for their responsibilities, the group’s focus is diverted into a defense strategy that drains time, resources and creative energy. When the communications function is embedded into another group, especially if the other group is revenue generating, the situation is exacerbated as the focus shifts to cost containment and broader initiatives focused on reputation are left behind. 

Mistake #2: Positioning communications professionals as internal service providers rather than collaborators toward shared goals.

“They are your internal clients,” we were told. And with that, our communications team dumped all of its power and became beholden to the whims of other functional teams.

In an organization, each functional area plays a role that, ideally, contributes toward meaningful results. The expertise within the communications department impacts both short-term and long-term gains. As a core function, individuals within the communications team have deep knowledge of the company, product or service, and the market in which it operates. Additionally, communicators know how to use the tools and channels available (such as social media and earned media) to drive specific behaviors, and how to build broader strategies to orchestrate far-reaching outcomes. 

When engaging with other functions within an organization, communicators are most effective when the approach is positioned as collaboration. This allows the individuals involved to find the shared goals and the freedom to bring their knowledge and experience into action. When the power within combined efforts is unbalanced, communicators end up yielding to hierarchy, and the results are far less effective. In this moment when a misstep has immediate and far-reaching repercussions, it’s never been more important to build in expertise.

Mistake #3: Waiting too long to bring in communications professionals.

The time to bring in communications is at the onset of any initiative. 

Having someone with deep knowledge of communications strategies, customer expectations, industry insights, and employee engagement strategies is a huge advantage for any endeavor. Sadly, those skills are often brought in after key decisions have been made, and the communications professionals are left with a damage control scenario.

I’ve seen many situations where that occurred – and many where early engagement saved the day. In one example, a new service was being positioned as a brag-worthy offering, and we were exploring naming options. Our brand perception couldn’t have been further from that positioning, and no name in the world was going to make the new product “enviable.” Fortunately, the product manager leading the development was an awesome person with an open mind, and we aligned to reposition the market strategy and name. Had we proceeded on the original path, we would have had an embarrassing failure to deal with for years to come.

Mistake #4: Failing to ask, failing to listen.

Want to know the secret to success? Ask the right questions. Then listen to the answer.

Too often, decisions are made without asking the right people for input. That’s how organizations end up with structural alignments that cause chaos and stress, with multi-year commitments on digital tools that are more cumbersome than effective, and with employee turnover that drains organizations of knowledge and momentum.

Customers expect you to know what they want. Employees want to be asked for their opinions. But not in a fake way. In one hideous example, employees completed an annual survey that was intended to gauge satisfaction. Managers were held liable for their team’s results, although many of the questions were related to organizational issues far beyond the managers’ scope. The results impacted salary increases and bonuses for both employees and their managers. How accurate do you think the survey results were? And how quickly did the survey go from tool to weapon?

Communicators have a unique combination of skills that enable them to assess events and occurrences, dig into sentiment, and drive behavior. They can help guide organizational changes, assess impacts, identify opportunities and challenges, and create genuine and meaningful messaging strategies that bring positive results.

Mistake #5: Failing to support growth and advancement.

When employees are unsupported, they leave, and they continue to impact your brand reputation.

If you want employees to trust you, you have to earn it every day. One of the best ways to demonstrate that employees matter to your organization is by providing them with opportunities to grow their knowledge, develop their skills, and strengthen their effectiveness. 

When companies turn to layoffs as a cost-cutting measure, the remaining employees are left to deal with the fallout. Expecting employees to step up to fill new gaps while they are fearing for their continued employment creates a brutal work environment. \

A far more effective strategy is to create pathways in which employees can continuously advance their knowledge and skills and dynamically evolve their efforts. For communications professionals, combining training on effective leadership and other business-focused competencies with opportunities to gain skills and industry insights will provide immediate paybacks for organizations. Employee engagement increases when work environments are focused on both individual and business success. Well-managed communications teams that continuously hone their ability to target and advance their efforts create both revenue gains as well as reputational strength. 

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June Holder is a communications strategist and storyteller with extensive experience in identifying business challenges and opportunities, crafting and deploying integrated communications strategies, and delivering innovative solutions that produce lasting results. June is a #WeLeadComms honoree and is based in Atlanta.

Written by: Editor