Communication - don’t leave it to chance

As we return to work after a year like no other, businesses around the country will be reviewing performance, making financial projections, and resource planning for the year ahead. Teams are scheduling their annual strategy sessions, discussing goals and objectives, and creating road maps to achieve them.

Most business leaders would agree that this kind of strategic planning is crucial to the success of organisational goals. Most too accept that communication and stakeholder engagement is an important aspect of a successful company. That said, how many can say that it’s consistently factored into annual strategic planning?

Strategic communication can be defined as ‘the purposeful use of communication by an organisation to fulfill its mission’. It’s focused on the idea of results-driven messaging, and developing and executing plans with specific goals in mind.

In the age of information, finding ways to tell your story to the audiences that matter is more important than ever. This starts with having strong messaging that brings your organisation, its mission and values to life.

It also involves identifying the stakeholders who hold influence on your objectives, understanding their interests, how to reach them and when. If left to chance, mutually beneficial relationships and all the associated opportunities can go begging.

Whatever your business goals are for 2022, a strategic approach to communication can help advance them. It’s also a key tool in identifying and mitigating risks, and assisting teams to navigate the bumps in the road that can arise as part of doing business.

In a post-pandemic world, planning for how to act (and react) in adverse scenarios is a wise exercise in setting up for the year ahead. Pre-agreed ‘blueprints’ can be developed that guide team members to quickly and effectively address issues in ways that uphold brand and reputation.

Communication and public relations professionals understand these ABCs of strategic communication. The vast majority of businesses in NZ however are small to medium enterprises - it’s reasonable to accept that for many, it won’t feature as a core capability.

Additionally, most wouldn’t have encountered a need (often a crisis) deemed significant enough to warrant connecting with an external consultant for this kind of support.

And with larger organisations’ communications functions often driven by marketing or sales objectives, these efforts often centre around achieving commercial outcomes, with little spent on helping to facilitate broader organisational ones.

This doesn’t mean that strategic communication needs to (or should) go by the wayside, or only be addressed when major issues occur. It’s an important vehicle on the road to business success, and one that we help a range of organisations tackle and develop capability in.

Taking a strategic approach to communication, just like the way businesses readily do with things like financial and resource planning, can help organisations of all kinds advance their goals and resolve issues, staying ahead of the game and keeping focused on the things that matter most.