New Challenges for Corporate Communication Specialists
A role that is often being underestimated but yet crucial for each company that keeps pace with the latest technological developments: the internal communication manager. As an intersection not only between company divisions but also between different hierarchical levels, they promote transparent and real time communication.
Nowadays, the internal communication manager works a lot with the intangible assets. Before the digital turn, the intangible assets represented about 30% of the companies brand value. A recent research conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that this percentage increased up until 60 %.
But what are intangible assets?
Intangible assets are a mix of assets composed of the employees, the image, the intellectual property, the brand names, and the human skills that a company owns. The combination of all of this creates what we call the brand value, which is conveyed through the workforce of the company. Therefore, a company has to create a strong identity shared by its employees that will give it a big advantage to face the competition. This community is managed by the internal communication manager, who plays a major role as a link between the company’s values and its workforce.
The internal communication manager
“The primary purpose of a communication manager is to effectively inform and promote an organization, its brand, its people, its mission and its products”, says Rina Ortega, communications manager at ArtsConnection in New York.
Internal communication manager perform a variety of tasks such as the preparation of presentations and meetings, the implementation of communication programs and the creation of corporate videos. All of these are distributed on several channels which can include email, intranet, newsletter, online communities and other social media.
His skills and duties
Communication skills are a crucial character trait that internal communication managers should possess of in order to be efficient in their field. Being an eloquent writer is essential for the creation of good and thrilling content that employees will receive through newsletters but also on the intranet and via e-mails. Interpersonal skills are also indispensable in order to collaborate with the various and create a good environment when working with different divisions, personalities and also generations on a joint project. Being a communication manager is a decisive role when it comes to the company’s perennity. By impersonating the company’s goals and values, the manager will have to create a strategy that will define the conduct line which will lead to success. Therefore, experience but also creativity are required to be able to follow the latest trends in this very fast-pace environment by constantly keeping an eye on innovative ideas and technologies.
A new area ruled by technology
The work of the internal communication manager has largely evolved in the past decades. The previous internal communication channels were mostly synchronous and were therefore limited to one place, that could be either the information meetings, the annual and semi-annual individual interviews, the company newspaper, the billboards in the buildings, or phone calls.
Today, internal communication became more regular, more efficient, and smoother. Indeed, social media does now also allow to use asynchronous communication channels and long distance communication channels: videoconferences, company websites, intranet platforms, electronic mails as well as instant messaging, blogs and forums, and finally, social networks.
All these channels help the internal communication managers to communicate with different groups of employees, which presents one the biggest tasks that they have to face in their day-to-day joblife.
How to connect all the generations
The challenge of connecting all the different types of employees is not only caused by their differences in their specialisation, but also in their needs and motivations. Nowadays the workforce mostly consists of employees from four generations — the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), the generation X (born between 1965–1980), generation Y also called Millennials (born between 1981–1996) and lastly the employees are also from the generation Z (born after 1997). The most prominent group is actually presented by the Millenials, who have overtaken the baby boomers in the last few years as the largest sector of the workforce.
In the past decades, the way we communicate with each other has changed and this transition does of course also affect the working environment and the internal communication as well. Because of this transformation, each generation has different needs and preferences when it comes to communication and even values which is why it can be very challenging for the internal communication managers to choose the most convenient communication channel which can reach the right audience at the right time. However it is something with which the social media can help out very well.
Thanks to the rise of social media in the past decade, it was possible to create specialised internal communication channels that engage the employees more and creates a mobile environment in which the employees can stay in touch with their colleagues all the time no matter where they are.
This matter is in fact connected with another challenge that the internal communication managers need to face which is work satisfaction of the employees and mobility. Especially the younger generations don’t want to be sitting in their offices all the time. So as work life balance is getting more and more important such forms of employment as freelancing or outsourced agency workers as well as flexible working hours and home office become usual and lead to many employees not being physically present in their actual offices anymore. But in order to attract and retain the most skilled talents, companies need to respond to those new conditions. As the employees who are not physically in touch with their colleagues cannot exchange so easily and profoundly with them and often lack company information and crucial updates, a mobile and global employee experience could be the answer. This strategy could include but is not limited to an internal company application, a group chat, a list of employees and contacts or staff surveys.
Information overload
The obligatory facebook timeline review in the morning, a snap during lunch and a spill of mobile app notifications throughout the whole day — our brains are overstrained in these days and often suffering an information overload. This may also concern one´s image of the own workplace as external publications about the own company, whether they are true or not, can threaten or distort one´s image of the employer. If this happens a swift answer or simply statement of the company is necessary and, in many cases, sufficient to repair the damage. To do so, companies need a strong communication canal which is not only quickly jumping in but is also interactive. And that´s where digital media and especially social media simply works best.
References:
https://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/generations-demographic-trends-population-and-workforce
https://www.mediabistro.com/climb-the-ladder/skills-expertise/what-does-a-communications-manager-do
https://www.prweek.com/article/1460725/job-description-internal-communications-manager
http://www.paladinstaff.com/jobs/careers/communications-manager-job-description/
https://work.chron.com/job-description-internal-communications-manager-19349.html
