Why IC Specialists have a moral obligation to be living the dream
What if:
we’ve all inherited a paradigm in which…
……many business leaders have seemingly missed the irrefutable moral (and commercial) imperative to give IC teams everything they need, all the time?
You’re reading this because your Internal Communication (IC) Specialists want to change the IC paradigm your organisation inherited from the people who came before you. Neither you, nor the people you work with, created this paradigm. Of course, email overload has been with us only since the mid-90s, as has Death by PowerPoint. But ‘Corporate Speak’, unproductive meetings, and much more besides, date back eons.
No one’s fault
So, let’s get one thing straight before going any further. No one is to blame for this inheritance – no one needs to feel defensive about it. That means we can all allow ourselves to get on the front foot. And this is important because there are two other things we know about the inherited paradigm:
1. It’s almost certainly hurting your day to day working life – and that of everyone in your organisation.
2. It’s clearly not going to go away on its own; it won’t just magically solve itself.
And let’s not beat about the bush here, this paradigm costs: financially, emotionally, reputationally, ethically – even legally at times.
The Sweet Spot
Changing the paradigm from what it is into what it needs to be would require your Internal Communication (IC) Specialists to be working in ‘The Sweet Spot’. This would be a situation in which they have all the resources they need, to do the job exactly as it should be done, every day. And if that seems like more of a ‘nice to have’ than a ‘must have’, think again. We’ll shortly look at why this is so critical for your organisation’s immediate and future health. But let’s first of all consider what ‘The Sweet Spot’ would entail.
Components of the Sweet Spot
Working in the Sweet Spot requires four factors to come together. All four are already in play. But – and here’s the key question: are they all DFVP?
1. Business knowledge
Firstly, there’s the IC team’s understanding of how organisations work in general (how businesses make profits; how government bodies deliver services etc). And, more specifically, knowledge of how your organisation, and any business unit within which they work, needs to function in order to fulfil its very purpose as efficiently and effectively as it can.
2. Practice designs
Then there’s the design of the practices they’ve got in place.
When we say ‘practices’ we mean things like:
- the process they use to take briefs from clients,
- the way communications get approved and signed off;
- the methods by which they seek and manage feedback,
- the quality of any style guides they may be following,
and so on.
3. Skills
Of course, even if all their practices are DFVP, they’re not going to work that well unless everyone who needs to use them has the necessary skills to do so.
4. Mandate
But even then they’re not going to be able to add the kind of value they could unless they also have a vital fourth part of the puzzle in place. They need a sustainable mandate which will enable them to use their DFVP knowledge, practices and skills – all the time.
So if any one of these four is less healthy than they need to be, then neither
- they,
- you (and any other clients they have), nor
- approval group members…
…are going to be able to perform IC tasks as well as possible.
And the reason you’re reading this is because your IC Specialists know that at least one – and possibly more – of these four factors is currently unfit for valid purposes.
So this is what we really need to address, because it’s only when all four are fully fit for valid purposes that they can come together to create the sweet spot.
And only then can your organisation’s IC Function can perform as it really should.
Why it’s an imperative
But why would we say ‘should’ – as if this is some kind of moral imperative? It’s only when the IC Function is in this situation that it can support your organisation to perform as well as it can.
That’s not saying optimum IC Team performance will guarantee the organisation performs as well as possible, because there are too many other factors involved. But think on this. How does everyone else acquire their business knowledge?
Some of it unquestionably comes from their professional training. Some may also come from updates in trade journals, or even reports they’ve seen in the news. But much of it will come through Internal Communication. So even though we can’t guarantee that putting your IC function in the Sweet Spot will guarantee optimal business performance, we can guarantee three things.
What you can guarantee
Firstly, given your IC Specialists know that, for them, at least one of these four factors is currently unfit for valid purposes, there’s no way they are in the sweet spot at the moment.
This in turn guarantees that – although it’s no one’s fault – the IC Function cannot be performing as well as it could.
And given everyone else’s business knowledge relies to some extent on internal communication, if the IC Function isn’t currently performing in a DFVP way, what are the chances anyone else can be performing as well as possible?
This means it’s in everyone’s interests for you to get your IC team into The Sweet Spot. And keep them there there. Forever. This really should be a no-brainer.
FREE workshop
And we’re currently offering free workshops which will help you understand more about making this work for your organisation. It will:
- spell out more of the business benefits (emotional, financial and reputational)
- walk you through the mechanics of moving your IC Specialists into the Sweet Spot, and
- show you how to make the business case for introducing this new paradigm. ‘