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29 October 2008

Would your comms function survive under scrutiny?

"If you're not reviewing your function, someone else probably is," warns Bill Quirke.

by Sona Hathi, Assistant Editor, Melcrum

This week sees the launch of a new report, How to review communication for cost and efficiency, authored by Bill Quirke, (pictured, right) managing director of Synopsis, and the Hub's resident expert on communication strategy and planning.

No time like the present for closer analysis
With recession worries increasing, the report comes at a timely moment. Organizations will be taking a closer look at each part of the business, and depending on how much credibility the internal communication (IC) function holds within an organization, it could be one of the first to go under the microscope.

If the IC function is seen as value adding, it will be more in demand than ever during economic uncertainty, but extra resources are unlikely to be provided, forcing communicators to look at how they can maximize their efficiency.

"One of the key lessons we've learned," says Quirke, "is that if you're not looking at your own function and putting it under the microscope, someone else undoubtedly will, and quite soon."

A four-stage approach to reviewing the function
Quirke highlights a four-stage approach to reviewing the IC function, which prompts communicators to ask themselves:

1. What do we need?
2. What have we got?
3. What's the gap?
4. How do we close the gap?

He then goes on to describe four crucial areas that need to be balanced in order to successfully deliver an IC strategy. They are:

• Customers (employees and senior managers).
• Channels.
• Capacity.
• Capability.

The sidebox (below, right) looks at the critical, and most commonly found roles within the internal communication department. "Whatever steps on the roles 'ladder' you're on," says Quirke, "you have to have all the skills of the steps beneath you."

Case study evidence
The report draws on case studies from AstraZeneca Research & Development and Ericsson, describing how they applied this approach to examine their functions and ensure they're really fulfilling their potential.

When assessing the capability of the communication team, Ericsson made a careful analysis of what the business needed, what the IC team offered as a service and what career aspirations the individual communicators had.

"These three things are routinely out of line in most departments. Businesses are often unclear on what they want, internal communication departments are rarely clear about the service they’re offering, and individuals’ aspirations are often disconnected from the job they are expected to do," says Quirke.

The critical roles within an IC function
Below are the roles most commonly found within an internal communication department. It's important to have a range of skills in a team of communicators that enable you to deliver your full value proposition.
Distributor – you have to have the channels to reach people, and this is the basic “post office” service IC departments have to offer – the ability to guarantee getting messages from point A to point B via reliable channels.
Crafter and drafter – this is about being able to craft messages clearly, simply and memorably. This needs good writing skills which are usually desperately needed but not always in evidence.
Technical advisor – this is about being the knowledgeable advisor on which channels to use, what the technical developments are, what emerging options are and what the strengths, weaknesses and best use of different channels are.
Consultant – this is about being able to work with business leaders to understand what their business problem is, to identify the communication elements within that and to propose different communication approaches which will help solve the problem.
Coach – this is about having a close enough relationship with managers to be able to understand what the issues are, anticipate the problems they may find and alert them to issues proactively, even before they’re aware of them themselves.

At Ericsson, individual interviews identified what was expected from each communicator by their business management team, the range of different communication roles they were expected to fill, and were engaged in, and the critical things they had to deliver.

Moving from tactician to strategist
After diagnosing the issues, Ericsson made some big changes to the IC function. These included outsourcing all editorial resources, including 20 journalists to and external agency. This allowed the team to support the leaders in the company rather than being occupied with tactical responsibilities like the writing and distribution of text.

The review also resulted in a stronger partnership with the HR function, to work together on training line managers to better communicate with their teams.

The training is offered to 600 managers each year, this perhaps wouldn't have been possible, had Ericsson not conducted the review.

A prize-winning function
"Ericsson shows how internal communication functions can reposition and reorganize themselves to provide more value to their organizations. Ericsson has pursued higher quality with better use of resources – recognized when the team won the top Swedish prize for excellence in internal communication," says Quirke.

In his summary and lessons learned, the very first of the 9 key points Bill Quirke makes is that you need to review yourself right before someone else does it wrong.

"It’s vital to review your own function. It helps you be master of your own destiny, so that you have control when you’re asked to find cost savings. You can then do it on your own terms, and from the viewpoint of professional standards – before someone else comes along and looks at it from a very different perspective."

Have your say
How is the internal communication function viewed within your organization during the current downturn. Have you had budgets cut? Or are you more in demand than ever before? How do you think you'd fare if your function was suddenly put under the spotlight?

Recommended resources:
Ask Bill Quirke your question on strategy and planning

How to prove your function's value to senior leaders

Melcrum report: How to review communication for cost and efficiency

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