ESTABLISH GOVERNANCE TO BOLDLY DEFINE THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION

In this challenging economic climate, many organizations are struggling to stay focused on delivering value and achieving business objectives. Yet this is precisely the time when such focus is needed most. Add to this a general trend toward information overload in the workplace, and it's no wonder that employees are finding it increasingly difficult to determine organizational priorities and then channel their efforts accordingly.

As strategic business partners, today's communication professionals can play a key role in addressing this challenge by building a consistent, predictable communication system that helps people focus on the messages that are critical to their work and the business. To achieve this, communicators need to examine and optimize every facet of their operation and educate leaders on the value of communication and the important role that leaders play.

Some refer to this process as managing the governance of the communication function. Ultimately, the aim of governance is greater alignment between communication and the goals of the business. But what does good governance really look like? When developing a governance model, there are four key elements, outlined below, that should be addressed.

Communication Philosophy and Objectives

A good starting place for governance is developing a communication philosophy, which describes how the organization will communicate. It helps answer the following questions:

• How transparent will communication be?
• What is our commitment to timeliness?
• To what extent will we commit to two-way communication and dialogue?
• Will communication be centralized or decentralized?
• What is our commitment to the integration of internal and external messages?
• How will we balance global or corporate and local messages?

The next step is to develop communication objectives. These should be grounded in the organization's business strategy and any data you have to ensure the drivers of communication effectiveness and employee engagement. They should also be measurable so you can clearly illustrate how communication can add value to the business.

Roles and Accountabilities

Once the communication philosophy and objectives are established, it's time to clearly articulate communication roles and accountabilities. Consider all of the key communicators in the organization—including senior leaders, managers, communication councils or networks, and others who communicate with employees—and determine their role in the process.

It's also important to determine what tools will help these groups execute their communication role successfully. For example, if managers will be expected to help bring local meaning to broader organizational messages for their teams, they'll need the skills and resources, such as advance talking points and a list of potential questions, to do so.

Prioritization—Determining What Is In and Out of Scope

In many communication organizations, determining what they will and will not do, based on the communication objectives, is one of the most challenging aspects of establishing governance. Often, communicators find that activities they focused on in the past aren't necessarily the best ways to contribute to achieving the business objectives.

For example, a communication organization we worked with was spending much of its time writing memos for leaders. The group wanted to shift more of its time toward higher value activities, such as coaching leaders in communication. However, making this switch was difficult, because of leaders' long-held expectations and understanding of the communication function's role. To address this challenge, the group equipped its communicators with the skills to be effective coaches, showed leaders the value of coaching, and gave leaders the templates they needed to create their own memos. The process took some time, but the credibility of the function increased dramatically as a result.

Communication Infrastructure

This aspect of governance is about establishing a trustworthy communication system that ensures employees can get the information they need when they need it, and that communication effectively flows up, down and across the organization. This involves focusing on two components of the system.

First, it means clearly defining communication channels, including each channel's purpose, content, audience and frequency. This should be based on how employees prefer to get various types of information, which can be assessed through a communication audit.

Second, it means clearly articulating how each type of information should be communicated. For example, organizational announcements will always be published in a particular location on the company intranet, or business updates will be communicated through an email from the business function leader.

In addition, it's important to clearly articulate communication processes and approvals for each vehicle and piece of content so that there's no confusion about what goes out to employees at what time. This is critical for reducing communication clutter and ensuring streamlined communication.

Getting Started

Communication governance works best when it's a collaborative process in which stakeholders have input. This helps ensure that there is collective buy-in to the system and process created. To solicit the necessary data to create a strong and effective governance structure, you may want to consider the following:

• Interview leaders throughout your organization—to get input about how communication can support their business objectives and what their role should be
• Conduct a communication audit—to get employee input on what information they would like more or less of, and what their preferred communication channels are
• Conduct employee focus groups—to test solutions and get input on what support various stakeholders need to fulfill their communication roles

Governance—defining the work, who does it, and how it gets done—impacts the way the communication function is perceived within an organization. By boldly defining the breadth and value of communication, you can elevate its role from one of tactical support to a strategic driver.