Leading or Following? Communications Excellence Plays a Role
I have been thinking a lot about this lately – how communications operational excellence impacts both internal and external momentum.
Over and over, I have seen that the companies that rise to leadership positions have one commonality. They may or may not have the best offering but what they really know how to do is leverage both their internal and external communications in a strategic manner. They know how to create value through their communications. They are consistent and excel at talking about their vision, and how their offerings are going to change how things are done today. They understand that their vision needs to be validated by customers, partners and third party critics. And it is done in a very thoughtful, purposeful manner.
Firms that have mastered communications operational excellence typically have a “corporate story champion” that is driving it through the organization. Almost always, it is the CEO or the VP of Marketing (with the support of the CEO). Everyone in the organization understands the vision and corporate story and can tell the story at some level to their constituents. Companies that are successful at this create internal momentum. Everyone is on the same page. Everyone is working to achieve a common vision.
The same process applies to external communications. Each external spokesperson has to be on the same page and following the corporate story line. This applies to every executive, every sales and marketing person, and customer service rep.…they are all communicating to the outside world on the company’s behalf. Each announcement needs to tie back and illustrate how the company is working to a common vision/goal. This needs to be done frequently and consistently.
Unfortunately, what happens frequently is that we get caught up in the everyday minutiae of “close the deal” or “announce this partner/product/customer” without providing context of how the company is executing on their strategy and vision. This results in a very tactical communications program and a missed opportunity to create value.
This is really what separates leaders from the followers.
