Never before was there more awareness and appreciation of the importance of clear and timely communication – and the impact of getting it wrong – than during the coronavirus pandemic.
Now that the World Health Organisation has declared COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, we can start to recalibrate and look at the impact this seismic event had – and is continuing to have – on the way we communicate.
In this post we’ll be considering some of what has changed and looking ahead to share our predictions on what the future might hold for comms managers and the profession as a whole.
Everyone became a communications expert
OK, so we know this wasn’t exactly new. There have always been people who think they know how to do your job better than you, the communications professional. However, the pandemic seemed to breed a whole new army of people with an opinion on how communication should be delivered. And, quite frankly, who could blame them? We saw the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of quality communication during the crisis and personally felt what it was like to be on the receiving end of confused and unclear messaging.
Will comms managers continue to fight off a barrage of well-meaning colleagues with views on how communication is delivered? Possibly. And that will come with its challenges. However, looking on the bright side, the profile of communication has never been higher and, as a profession, we can use that to our advantage.
Hands up if you have the budget and influence you truly need to achieve your objectives? Anyone? It’s a sad fact that in many organisations, communication is still seen as a bit of a ‘nice to have’ and we are rarely given the resources or airtime we need to deliver the quality we’re capable of. But maybe that’s all about to change.
With some of the comms faux pas of the pandemic still fresh in leaders’ minds, they may be thinking about how to strengthen the function within their business. Whether that’s an expanded team, better provision of tools, training or equipment, or simply more budget to support the delivery of your comms plan, it’s got to be a good thing.
It could also present a window for many of us to cement our position as trusted advisors to business leaders and improve our ability to influence business activity from the top down. Communicators often occupy a unique position, with an insight into activity going on in every corner of the organisation. Armed with this knowledge and an increasing position of power, perhaps we have more scope than ever before to push forward positive change within our business.
Corridor conversations are hard to come by
We don’t want to make this another post about remote working, but it’s impossible to ignore the impact of this shift on the way people communicate with one another. With many of us working from home for at least part of the week for the foreseeable future, the opportunity to grab someone as you pass in the corridor or as you make a round of teas for the team has all but gone.
For many, this has led to a lightbulb moment of sorts. Communication isn’t just the role of the communications team! Without these informal opportunities to speak to colleagues, employees and leaders have had to make a concerted effort to stay connected and have realised just how much ‘communication’ they do in a normal working day.
Is this a threat to the role of the communications team? We don’t think so. In fact, if you’ve ever worked in internal comms you’ll likely have banged the drum more than once for the role of managers and senior leaders in improving communication.
This new awareness of the role every individual within an organisation has in fostering quality communication can only be a positive. Many companies have already reacted to support employees in communicating effectively whilst working from home – perhaps by introducing more virtual events or by investing in communication tools like Teams and Slack, or in enterprise social networking platforms like Yammer. These technologies provide communications teams with the ability to drive more organic, employee led communication.
All in all, it means internal communicators can stop trying to convince people to get involved and can start to focus on harnessing the power of strong peer-to-peer communication.
Businesses need comms to help them bounce back
It goes without saying that the pandemic has been crushing for many sectors of the economy. Some businesses have had next to no income for more than 12 months now. As we seem to be taking the final steps towards a return to normality, many of these organisations will be preparing to enact their ‘bounce-back’ plans.
Take the travel industry as an example. Whilst there remains a degree of uncertainty about when travel will become commonplace again, travel companies will be working flat out to secure whatever bookings they can.
It’s going to take more than traditional marketing, however. The public’s confidence in booking trips in advance needs to be rebuilt – that’s where strong, trustworthy communication needs to step in. Communicators in the industry will need to be able to reassure existing and potential customers about the risks to both their health and their money.
Similarly, in the NHS for example, communicators will have a critical role to play in rebuilding the public’s confidence in coming forward to seek care if we are to avoid unnecessary delays that could pose both an immediate and long-term risk to people’s health.
Whilst this isn’t a drastic change in a comms manager’s role, the emphasis has shifted slightly. No matter the industry, communications teams will continue to play a vital role in helping the nation get back to normality. Clear, consistent, and honest communication is essential to rebuilding the public’s confidence and trust to begin going back to their pre-pandemic activities in full.
So, how will the role of comms change in a post-COVID world? Of course, we don’t know for sure. There’s still a lot of uncertainty around what that new world will look like. However, there are a few factors about which we can be relatively certain:
- The profile of the communications profession has never been higher. Whilst this will bring increased scrutiny and attention on your work, it’s got the potential to bring positives too in the form of increased resources and perhaps more influence within your organisation.
- Remote working has improved employees’ understanding and awareness of their responsibility to communicate with one another. It remains to be seen if this will slip away as more people return to their places of work, but we hope that it will have a lasting impact.
- Communications teams have an absolutely crucial role to play in helping the nation bounce back by rebuilding the public’s confidence to get out there.
Whatever happens, we believe that the communications profession has a huge opportunity to grab hold of and continue showing the world exactly why we deserve a place at the top table in any organisation.
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