At the moment the credit crisis broke out in 2008, Petra Herman and Francine Rutgers started their agency in search, near the zuidas. During that time, “corporate communications” has changed tremendously and so have the demands on professionals in the field. Petra Herman shares 7 insights.
The credit crunch, the rise of social media and global political uncertainty have greatly influenced the role of corporate communications over the past decade. This applies not only to the professionals themselves, but also to the issues they deal with and the goals of their work. What are the key developments in the profession, and what implications do they have for businesses and professionals?
Corporate affairs is now the term in the profession
The corporate-affairs function has matured and is filled very differently than it was 10 and sometimes even 5 years ago. At the time, many companies classified corporate affairs primarily under “media,” “external communications” and “crisis communications. Now corporate affairs – the international term for corporate communications – is responsible for co-defining and telling the corporate story, external as well as internal communications, stakeholder and reputation management and public affairs.
Also, corporate affairs is often responsible for the creation and distribution of content on various platforms. As the lines between marketing and corporate communications blur within companies, there are many discussions about who best to invest social media policy with and how best to use social platforms. Is it to promote products and services to consumers, or to build and protect corporate reputation? The combination of the two seems most desirable to me.
A new kind of leader is needed, one that connects
Higher demands are being placed on the corporate-affairs team, and companies are appointing a different type of professional to lead the team. Whereas 10 to 15 years ago it was mostly 50-something men, often ex-journalists with a large media network who did a little hustling in back rooms, now the picture becomes: more often women in their early 40s, with a broad business education, who have a good overview of the various stakeholders.
You have to be a strong connector as a corporate communications director, because ultimately you bring it all together, if all goes well. You interact with someone in the ministry as easily as you interact with a colleague in the mailroom and with the complaining consumer.
This new role really requires leadership. The trick is to provide good direction, including by helping senior management get their message across internally and making the interconnectedness clear to all involved.
Educational requirements are higher and broader
The educational requirements for the position of Head of Communications or corporate-affairs director are correspondingly higher. It used to be people with college degrees in Communications, Journalism or PR & Information. Now companies want the Director of Communications to have completed an academic degree, preferably as broadly as possible. In fact, a business degree is often preferable to a communications degree. There is quite a bit of criticism of corporate communications people, that they don’t understand anything about numbers, are unable to read a balance sheet because they don’t have much use for them. Ten years ago you could get away with that just fine, not anymore. If you want to matter and really make a difference, you have to understand the numbers and, of course, the business.
Demand for corporate affairs remains high, crisis or no crisis
Corporate communication goes on forever. When the economy is really bad, there is no more investment in brands, not in sponsorship and not in branding, but in corporate communications you do want to invest when your stock price is in danger of falling because of clumsy things appearing in the press.
Good internal communication is therefore very important. Because if you have to lay off 30 or 40 percent of your people, you do want the good people to stay put.
News pressure also creates challenges for communications, especially in down times. Everyone has become a news consumer and news maker and everyone vínts, interferes and communicates about it. It is an illusion that you can control all that, but that makes it all the more important to think about what you want to achieve with the stakeholders within your organization and beyond. You have to have feelers in society and sense what is good and especially what is not good for your reputation.
Political uncertainty weighs down corporate affairs function
A major reason for the evolution or perhaps even revolution of the corporate affairs director is the political uncertainty felt throughout the world. There is more emphatic talk within companies about the role of politics in decision-making because it is unpredictable and at the same time very relevant to their long-term planning and strategy. As a result, politics is much more of a factor to consider within corporate affairs. Just look at the whole discussion surrounding the dividend tax.
Successful corporate communications directors are increasingly on a strategic, commercial and intellectual level with other members of the board. They also often report directly to the ceo. The importance of their function will only grow.
There is a gap in the profession and a huge shortage of professionals
Yet the communications director of the future is not yet widely available. The crisis has punched holes in the profession and in the numbers of people. It also lacked movement. There were few spots and few opportunities for advancement. Too little has been invested in training and coaching people. Now that things are going well again, you see that there is a bit of distress in many departments because there are too few people or there is not enough quality in the incumbent professionals to meet the demands of our time.
Just grab a graph on the population structure of the Netherlands. You will see a big gap in the 30- to 40-year-old age group, both before the crisis and after. We all really have a problem, because in absolute terms, there are fewer people between the ages of 30 and 40. When the crisis came over it, many people also left the profession, making the gap even bigger. We are now reaping the bitter fruits of that. For example, there are not enough good corporate communications specialists aged between 30 and 40.
Our hopes are pinned on an up-and-coming generation of 20-somethings
We pinned our hopes on the up-and-coming generation of 20-somethings. They are the agile communications professionals these times call for. These times call for flexible thinkers and doers who can move quickly. Companies must become agile, but so must people. At the same time, transparency and engagement are more important than ever, and we find that a lot with the younger generation. The profession faces a bright and exciting future.
Corporate affairs leadership profiles
…Today
…Tomorrow
Petra Herman founded the HermanRutgers executive search firm with Francine Rutgers 10 years ago.
