In ancient Greece, communication was called rhetoric, using language to persuade whoever was listening to do something. Simply, communication may refer as expression of ideas, which may be in verbal or written form, or an electric one.
Communication exists everywhere, and interesting fact is that most of the time individuals spend in communicating. Communication is an art-work, which should be known in corporate as well as normal life.
In present scenario, communication became an integral part of business and businesses that are not able to use it effectively, they cannot survive for long.
For example, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) had a very hierarchical culture with firmly drawn divisional boundaries, and were following traditional 50 – 50 model: “I’ll do my part if you do yours” – a model that breeds a culture of blame, conspiracies and distrust. The CEO, John Ryan identified this problem and used open communication as solution. He started training programs for leaders, which asked them to speak from heart, listen to other perspectives, be open and responsive to feedback and encourage personal and professional growth.
Results were amazing for the corporation, FCC’s engagement scores and subsequent ranking among Canada’s 50 best employers has moved from 69 percent engagement and 50th place in 2004, to 81 percent and 35th place in 2005, 84 percent and 12th place in 2006 and 82 percent and 8th place in 2007.
Ideas of communication theory were generated by Aristotle, who was most often associated with the development of art of rhetoric. Roots of modern communication theory are from The Art of Rhetoric. Traditional communication theory by Aristotle identifies three parts of communication: sender, message and receiver.
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FRAMEWORK:
Modern corporate strategy constitutes four elements, the corporation who act as a sender, message which is to be communicated using most appropriate channel, the constituencies to whom message to be conveyed and most important feedback analyzing the response from receiver to analyze whether the communication is successful. Communication is only successful when sender gets the desirable response. Constituencies of corporation may be internal (employees, customer, and shareholders) or external (media, supplier, government, creditors).
Strategic communication means creating and strengthening those attitudes and beliefs among constituencies which leads to achievement of corporations’ goals.
Communication exists everywhere, and interesting fact is that most of the time individuals spend in communicating. Communication is an art-work, which should be known in corporate as well as normal life.
In present scenario, communication became an integral part of business and businesses that are not able to use it effectively, they cannot survive for long.
For example, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) had a very hierarchical culture with firmly drawn divisional boundaries, and were following traditional 50 – 50 model: “I’ll do my part if you do yours” – a model that breeds a culture of blame, conspiracies and distrust. The CEO, John Ryan identified this problem and used open communication as solution. He started training programs for leaders, which asked them to speak from heart, listen to other perspectives, be open and responsive to feedback and encourage personal and professional growth.
Results were amazing for the corporation, FCC’s engagement scores and subsequent ranking among Canada’s 50 best employers has moved from 69 percent engagement and 50th place in 2004, to 81 percent and 35th place in 2005, 84 percent and 12th place in 2006 and 82 percent and 8th place in 2007.
Ideas of communication theory were generated by Aristotle, who was most often associated with the development of art of rhetoric. Roots of modern communication theory are from The Art of Rhetoric. Traditional communication theory by Aristotle identifies three parts of communication: sender, message and receiver.
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FRAMEWORK:
Modern corporate strategy constitutes four elements, the corporation who act as a sender, message which is to be communicated using most appropriate channel, the constituencies to whom message to be conveyed and most important feedback analyzing the response from receiver to analyze whether the communication is successful. Communication is only successful when sender gets the desirable response. Constituencies of corporation may be internal (employees, customer, and shareholders) or external (media, supplier, government, creditors).
Strategic communication means creating and strengthening those attitudes and beliefs among constituencies which leads to achievement of corporations’ goals.
If corporation wants to communicate a message, it is important decide the objectives and constituencies and resources for the message. Objectivity and availability of resources make communication more effective. For example, if a company developed a new product and wants to promote it before it is launched and now it is required for the company to decide objective and time frame with skilled professional.
Now a days, Companies hires communication analyst to improve their communication effectiveness. A communication analyst evaluates and organizes a discussion on the focus issue and creates valuable conversation and buildup the effective output plan.
Communication channels play important role in success of communication. Choosing an effective channel to convey the message is very important, as wrong channel may lead to failure of communication. Traditionally oral and written channels were used, but now corporation is equipped with new channels like fax, e-mail, voice mail, video/audio conferencing, external websites, blogs, and intranets.
New channels are in full force, for example, in 2006, the World Bank set up a blog to spark interest and involvement in a major, organization wide planning event. News corporations like the BBC and Fox News are using the site to instantly feed news to a readily available, global audience.
IBM strategic mission for social media is a very good example of strategic communication.
IBM is one of the first Fortune 500 companies to get behind collaborative wikis, published internal blogging guidelines as far back as 2003, and is now moving fast beyond RSS and podcasts into videocasting and “virtual world” technologies like Second Life.
IBM adapted a democratic concept of communication – with content driven and contributed from any level of the organization. Knowing their employees use blogs, IBM decided to try to put some structure around blogging, so that it will help to optimize their use.” The core focus of the new media strategy at IBM has been on putting together platforms and software for blogging, podcasting, wikis, etc. and then consulting with the groups using them to optimize their potential.
In January 2007, IBM established a separate “new media” function within its corporate communication department. Its strategic mission is to educate, support and promote programs that utilize social media.
Demographics and culture play a role in IBM’s approach to social media. There’s a desire to move away from a command-and-control structure and meet the needs of an increasingly young and mobile workforce.
Trends Revealed In New Media Study
More than 2,100 professional communicators responded to Melcrum’s recent survey of the current use of social media such as blogs, podcasts, wikis and other collaborative technologies, to communicate with employees and customers.
Online video featured prominently in the technologies considered most relevant to the role of communicators. The full breakdown was as follows: online video (63%); RSS and webfeeds (51%); blogs (48%); social networks (47%); and podcasts (46%).
Several ways, in which a business can make its communication effective.
- Communicate relevant information in a timely, consistent and memorable way.
- To reduce information overload.
- To influence an increase in the communication-related elements of the engagement index.
- Improving the functionality of the intranet and redeveloping key business tools for efficient web use.
- Centralizing coordination of internal surveys.
- Elevating the quality and clarity of internal speeches and conferences to focus on strategic business drivers.
- Select the right communications tools and vehiclesTo forecast outcomes/results of programs.
- Good writing skills.
- Good Process skills: interviewing, presentation, facilitation, dispute resolution
Three ways to improve yours writing immediately:
1. Avoid the passive voice
1. Avoid the passive voice
Here’s an example of really woeful writing – a sentence structure that you’re sure to recognize: Employees are encouraged to submit this form by the end of the month.
Analyze that sentence and you’ll see that not only is there no owner to the statement, but there’s no clear direction.
Employees are encouraged by whom, and what does “encouraged” mean anyway? Are employees required to submit the form? If so, then say so. The sad truth is this passive style of writing is all too common; the happy truth is that we communicators are in a
position to do something about it. Often, all it takes is a quick rewrite: Please submit this form by [insert specific date]. Clear, direct, concise.
2. Use second person
Why talk at people when you can talk to them? When you’re communicating with employees, the use of “you” can be friendly and inviting. Take this message: XYZ Company employees at customer locations should always first check with their hosts to ensure that connecting to the XYZ network is permitted.
Look what happens when it’s rewritten from third person into second: If you’re working at a customer site, be sure to first check with your host that it’s OK to connect to our network.
You’ve gone from impersonal to conversational.
3. Cut the jargon
Jargon may have its place, but it has no place in employee communication. Phrases such as work-life balance, employer of choice, critical mass and the like may make sense in behind-the scenes discussions.
Guarding against gremlins
Keeping an eye out for the jargon, passive voice and other gremlins that may infiltrate your writing is a good training ground for being able to objectively critique your own work. It also conditions you to look for other ways to improve your writing, a habit
that will serve you well throughout your lifelong apprenticeship.
Article Reference: (April/May 2007). Clarifying IBM’s strategic mission for social media. SCM, Volume 11, issue – 3. Retrieved on June 23, 2007, from http://www.melcrum.com/
Book Reference: Argenti, Paul A. (2007). Corporate communication (4th ed.), McGraw-Hill Irwin, ISBN: 0072990546
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