Side Quest Strategies reposted this
Chief Communications Officer | Ranked #1 Female Marketing & Sales Voice on LinkedIn | Enterprise Tech Brand Strategist | AI Startup Advisor | Neurodiversity Advocate 💥
Strategic corporate communications is being gutted. 😵 The number of #communications pros I’ve seen impacted by #layoffs over the past 6 months is staggering. I see it within my own circle of colleagues and friends, and within my broader online community—but especially in tech. It's brutal. Entire corporate communications teams are being whittled away with the expectation that the last person standing will just do *all the things*. That's not how it works. Communications is a strategic, multifaceted function that has multiple *different* roles, objectives, and programs under its umbrella. It seems that companies think when the going gets tough, the tough cut the #comms team. 🤦🏻♀️ Worst idea ever. Here's why: 🪄 We craft the brand's message that's used across all channels. 🪄 We are responsible for the way your customers feel about your brand. 🪄 We create belonging for employees and manage morale. 🪄 We translate executive speak into something digestible for internal and external audiences. 🪄 We craft the first impression, the social personality, and the awareness that let people know what you stand for. 🪄 We wrangle, train, advise, and manage expectations of all internal stakeholders—from the ELT to the individual contributing employee. And so, so, so much more. ✨ We build relationships with our agencies and vendors. ✨ We build relationships with analysts and journalists. ✨ We build relationships internally with key stakeholders. These things can’t just be turned off and turned back on later. It takes years to build powerful brands and communications programs that support them. But here we are. In 2024. Still justifying why there needs to be more than one "PR person" to run an entire communications program. Sigh. My hope is that 2024 is the year companies finally see the real value their communications teams can (and do) bring. It's not a box-checking "nice to have" function. It's strategic and it's imperative. #brand #corporatecommunications #commsjobs
A few thoughts… 1) LinkedIn’s latest research showed that the one skill companies need more than anything…drumroll…communication. It is appreciated as a skill set but not as an overarching role. 2) Most CEOs don’t come from comms - which is a shame - they come from finance or operations so they don’t fully understand the complexity or nuance of modern day comms. 3) The industry also needs to do a better job of presenting communication as a strategic initiative and not as a word that goes before “crisis.” * I think many comm professionals should be looking at chief of staff roles. Right hand to the CEO, advisor, and can be indispensable.
100%. I’m seeing this from all my tech clients, too. These senior comms pros were front-line, 24/7 workers when nobody’s crisis plan included a global pandemic, broken supply chains, racial unrest, political upheaval and murder hornets. These pros are heroes who guided the C-suite through insanity—and their reward is leaner teams, no budget, and no job in many cases. So unfair! 🤦🏻♀️
Now that we know why we need it. Let's diagnose it. There are two problematic organizational issues going on: 1) - where comms reports and how close to the C-suite they are. Many CEOs (at public and private companies - it doesn't make a difference) begin to devalue the function. Once that process begins, the comms team loses influence on not only strategy, but loses the ability to prove value. That's when the layoffs happen. If you don't have the CEO's ear or can't get a meeting with him or her, then, watch out. 2) Fragmentation of communications teams. Not only do some teams get pushed out of the C suite, they also begin getting broken up by tactic or specialty area so you see executive comms separated from employee comms and product level comms. Once that happens, good luck. Both of these lead to layoffs because everyone is operating in silos without a solid strategy and won't be successful at a team.
Really salient, astute points, Becca. As both a corporate leader and a strategic comms counselor, I’ve often observed that C-level leaders often don’t know what to do with a strong comms or public affairs group. Due to the fact that we don’t fit well into a spreadsheet or tend to drive much revenue, we are expendable. But… permit me to bring in another view: We don’t do much to help ourselves, either. Thoughts on the top mistakes we make: ⚪️ We often fail to become exceptionally relevant. If we don’t figure out a way to be indispensable at almost every turn, we’ll be dispensable. Again, we’re far too easy to cut. ⚪️We make the role about us as individuals, not about the company. Comms leaders should strive at every turn to be content in a supportive, collaborative role. ⚪️Be a teacher and effective counselor, not an inflexible know-it-all. No one likes that colleague. ⚪️Produce high-quality and error-free work. If we agree we’re easy to cut, then don’t give a easy reason. ⚪️We don’t learn about the company or industry. We become complacent and don’t study quarterly or annual filings. Or ask why a trend is occurring or a price has gone up or a change in strategy happened. We just regurgitate what someone told us.
Yeah it's silly. Did you see this video about return to office? I have a feeling this company is in need of strategic communications. https://vimeo.com/866052086/7d7781e9ea?utm_campaign=5370367&utm_source=affiliate&utm_channel=affiliate&cjevent=1974022fb02611ee821900ae0a82b82c&clickid=1974022fb02611ee821900ae0a82b82c
Agree - and conversely, Comms people need to be willing to take some risks and initiative, and make real, quantified cases for the work we do. Expecting leaders to "get it" no longer works.
I'm hiring for a role and company that sees the value! https://ats.comparably.com/api/v1/gh/gomotive/jobs/7086918002
Well said Becca Chambers. It's the toughest time in the industry (B2B at least) that I've seen in my 20 some years. I (naively) thought the pandemic may have "proved" value, given all the crucial crisis work comms pros did during 2020 & 2021, but memories are very short, and others have made the valid point re: revenue attribution.
Sadly our efforts do not capture measurable results. Once that changes, the conversation will be way different.
Chief Communications Officer | Ranked #1 Female Marketing & Sales Voice on LinkedIn | Enterprise Tech Brand Strategist | AI Startup Advisor | Neurodiversity Advocate 💥
8moI'm still on the fence about whether 2024 is going to be the year comms makes a comeback. On one hand, I'm seeing more internal comms roles open than ever—on the other, I've never known so many communications leaders looking for work / unemployed. Sigh.