This is an open letter to Boards of Directors. . .
public relations with Lenox Mhlanga
People ask me why I do not sit on any board. It’s a good question given my wide exposure and expertise. Yet again, it seems that is where the problem lies. I seem to be in the wrong one to be able to be selected into one.
The reality is that today’s boards are mostly made up of sitting or former CEOs and chief financial officers. And I am your typical chief communication officer material? Way down the bottom of the c-suite totem pole.
Based on Price Waterhouse and Coopers (PwC)’s 2015 survey on corporate directors, when seeking new board members, more than 90% rank financial expertise at the top, followed by industry (70%) operational (66%), and risk management expertise (62%). Where does that leave communication?
Let us start at the beginning. One of the primary roles of a board of directors is to advise the CEO. One role of the CEO is to communicate with stakeholders. Yet most boards of directors do not include communications experts.
“Governance and leadership authorities consistently cite advising the chief executive officer and effective communication as key responsibilities of boards and CEOs,” writes Katie McBride, communications executive, strategist and c-suite advisor.
Having communications experts on the boards of small to medium-sized enterprises and non-governmental organisations who may have less experienced communications staff is now critical to the success of boards.
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“Even with a robust public relations team, a board-level person with a communications background, not only provides real-time guidance in board meetings, but serves as an objective sounding board for the CEO,” McBride says.
That’s critical in today’s 24-7 digital environment, where messages flow inside and outside organisations uncontrollably.
There is a strong argument for board-level communications counsel for organisations.
Communications plays a big role in influencing organisational culture. CEOs play a pivotal role in creating a shared set of values, behaviours and goals that become an organisation’s culture.
It’s the invisible “guide” that influences decisions employees make on their own, every day.
“Effective cultures help engage employees, which impacts performance and growth. That’s a top concern of 45% of CEOs recently surveyed, who said attracting and retaining talent is their biggest challenge,” says McBride.
Communications provides guidance to the CEO in executing a vision to shape reputation. CEOs help define their organisation’s vision and rally the team to deliver. McBride believes a robust vision is more than just words — it steers decisions and actions.
“Ultimately, it comes down to an organisation’s past and present activities and perceived probability of future actions, through the lens of its stakeholders.”
Many business challenges intersect with major public policy issues. Think: cybersecurity, wage gaps, the environment, regulation, diversity, healthcare and others. Sustained solutions will require global, private and public partnerships, massive education and changing mindsets. Communications will play a major role in making this happen.
“Communications advisors review trends, look around corners and ask the right questions. They also provide counsel if a crisis occurs. While in most cases boards will rather prefer a risk management expert, smart CEOs will ensure they have a crisis management plan to respond when disaster strikes,” McBride advises.
Engaging stakeholders and assessing risk to prevent many crises from happening in the first place is what communicators provide.
In this post note I would like to emphasise the need for the board to stay current and grounded in the now. The business environment that we work in is very dynamic. Technological advances are at the speed of sound and vision 24/7.
This is the age of data. Boards need to navigate their way around things such as the internet of things. Communicators are finding new ways to use data to communicate, from surveys to keyword-rich content. But data can also inform an overall strategy and its messaging.
The best plans take advantage of the fact that social media data offers real-time information as well as historical. Social media platforms have been around for nearly a decade now, providing a wealth of historical data about the behaviour and preferences of audiences.
A good communicator knows how to dig into these insights to help identify emerging trends, old and new customers, anticipate and predict market shifts, and take advantage of tactics that have proven successful in the past. Social and market insights have a greater impact for boards as options advance, and the industry finds new ways to apply them.
The position of communicator on the board is no longer debatable. It’s necessary because the world is changing very fast. The organisation that survives the new age of technological advances is one that embraces the critical ability to communicate to its various stakeholders effectively.
Reputations have become more vulnerable in ways that were never imaginable. CEOs are required to be more visible to a discerning public. Where customer choices are led more by sentiment than mere quality, a deeper understanding of the power of communication should be harnessed at the highest level.
Lenox Mhlanga is associate consultant with Magna Carta Reputation Management Consultants. He has experience working for the World Bank and is a part-time lecturer in public relations at the National University of Science and Technology. He can be contacted on +263 772 400 656 Email: [email protected] Twitter: @lenoxmhlanga
