Internal communications - but whose task is it?
Firms are made up of people who are colleagues with common goals, common successes, and cooperation. And the connective element of cooperation is communication. So it is a very important, strategic thing. That is why it is a mystery why quite a lot of organisations have problems in planning, organising and monitoring communication.
Speaking of supervision, the most important question is where internal corporate communication is in expert hands. What does its success depend on, what does it need, how can it best serve value creation? Obviously, the best place is where you have the professionalism, combined with business acumen and strategic thinking. It could be a communications department, it could be an operation close to the core business - manufacturing, services - it could be HR, it could even be the CEO's office.
The problem starts when no one, or at least as much of a problem, has the ambition. The latter case can cause a lot of headaches, as it can lead to rivalry, which, as we know, is a rather energy-intensive business. In such cases, we cannot expect any insight or a 'smart concessions' attitude, since the essence of corporate power games is precisely who can take what and thereby gain resources and importance.
Such games are common, but most of the time their solutions are not that complicated. What is needed is an insightful management perspective, which can identify the main objectives from the direction of the leader and management, and assign processes, resources and competences to them. It requires well thought-out processes that do not exist as islands, but are integrated and build on each other to form a well-oiled machine. And it needs a dynamic management model that constantly analyses and interprets the environment, and helps to avoid confusion between objectives and means. From then on, it is no longer a question of where a task belongs, but of where it is best placed and how to get the most out of it. In other words, you can even change the field if necessary. Why not?
Author:
Laszlo Mezriczky
Budapest, Hungary