[00:01:15] Hi, everybody. Thanks for joining me for my very first episode of Less Chatter, More Matter. And I am so excited you're here and I'm excited to start this new series. If you have followed me for a little while, you'll know I've got another podcast called, Who Are You? And that's more of a storytelling podcast.

[00:01:34] This one is all about communication. So everything I know about what makes great communication, as well as a little bit of my journey on starting a business myself and what that looks like and all the trials and tribulations that come with that. So in this episode, I just want to introduce you to the world of corporate communication, because that's what this podcast is all about.

[00:01:56] And I know not everybody has been in the thick of it for more than 20 years like I have. And I'm also going to share one thing you need to know to be an effective communicator. It is such a simple thing, but it's usually the very first thing that's forgotten. So stay tuned for that. That's coming in a moment.

[00:02:16] But let's get started with what is corporate communication. And the truth is it's an incredibly varied profession with a huge range of career paths, which requires a huge range of skill and knowledge. And that's exactly why I love it. But when I first started in comms, I can honestly say I had no idea what corporate communication actually was.

[00:02:38] Now, this was more than 20 years ago. I am showing my age a little here. And I had just completed a journalism degree. So I had a little bit of an idea around what public relations was, but that was about as far as it went. And if somebody had said to me that I'd end up working in change and internal communication, I would have honestly looked at them with this, this blank dumb stare that's only 20-year-old Mel could muster.

[00:03:04] And I would have said what's that? It's also worth noting. The comms profession has come a really long way since then. Thankfully. Communication never used to be valued in businesses like it is now. And sure media relations were valued, particularly in high-risk industries. But strategic internal and change comms. Weren't really a thing then.

[00:03:26] In fact, I don't think internal comms was a thing at all. And most comms people had journalism degrees or background in media. Communication degrees, we're really only just getting started. So professionals working in the field weren't always remunerated properly for the valuable work they did. And in some cases, and I can attest to this from personal experience, it was treated almost as glorified admin, you know, just go and pretty up that powerpoint for me.

[00:03:54] Thankfully, we've seen the rise in the value of communication over the past couple of decades and incredible opportunities to forge really impactful careers in the industry. So what does corporate comms look like now? Here are the niches, as I see them. And I'm happy to add more and get your views on this as well.

[00:04:13] To me, there are two broad categories that are typically internal and external communication. And within those, or sometimes straddling, both of those categories, are other specialist areas like change communication, media relations. Government relations, crisis communication, sometimes even investor relations and ESG or environmental, social and governance management.

[00:04:36] Now, if you can hear that sound in the background, that is my cat and it is likely she will make a few appearances on this podcast, whether we like it or not. So we will push through. There's also responsibilities like developing and protecting the brand, managing digital channels, supporting CEOs and senior leaders with their own communication strategies.

[00:04:58] Project and campaign communication. I mean, the list just goes on. At the heart of all of this work, however, is typically one common goal and that is building and maintaining trust in your organisation. It's really a simple. And yet it's really as hard as that. With trust, you get a great reputation as a business, and that drives sales, that drives attraction and retention of talent.

[00:05:24] Shareholder interest and influence in your sector. And to be fair trust is actually just like the basis of any relationship, but it's also the basis of the relationship that you have with your stakeholders as a corporate comms person. Now I've worked in many of these areas in the early days of my career, I did some government project comms work, I wrote for TV magazines. I worked in a press office for a nonprofit.

[00:05:51] I managed crises for emergency services. I drove employee campaigns until eventually I specialised in change, internal and crisis communication, which admittedly is still a pretty broad remit. But this is the one thing I don't think they teach in most university courses. And that is the huge array of work within corporate communication and the different career paths ahead.

[00:06:14] There are skills that are broadly transferable, but for the most part, you will need to specialise at some point. Being a generalist is great, but most businesses are looking for specialist comms skills because a specialist can focus and master one area really well. Rather than trying to be all things to all people.

[00:06:32] That said there are businesses that are running off the smell of an oily rag and they do try and get some generalists in because they've got a lot of work to get done, but they don't necessarily have the mandate or the budget for a lot of people. But we'll talk about that in a later episode. The other thing I think that is worth noting is the role of internal comms. And for a long time, it was really treated as the poor cousin of external comms.

[00:06:59] It just simply wasn't valued as highly; companies and leaders were more worried about their reputation in the media and externally, than their reputation internally. Thankfully, particularly, I'd say in the last five years, we've seen a really big shift in the way internal comms is valued, particularly during COVID.

[00:07:18] And the important role that it has to play in the effectiveness of change in employee engagement. If you think about it, organisations are now going through more change than ever before and more frequently than ever before. We're not talking little change either. This is big transformational change.

[00:07:36] And people aren't hanging around at companies where they're not appreciated or valued, or where they don't trust their leaders or where they feel their leaders don't trust them. They have choices. So businesses need to work harder to manage, change more effectively and to drive engagement. And you guessed it. That takes expert internal communication as one of the major tools in the toolkit.

[00:07:59] One other thing I think is worth mentioning is how very few executive teams seem to have a corporate affairs or corporate communications person sitting on that team. Certainly the places I've worked, if there is a corporate affairs role, it's either wrapped up into marketing or it's wrapped up into another portfolio like finance or shared services, something like that.

[00:08:24] And I think we are well and truly past the stage where we can't afford to not have those roles sitting at the leadership table. These are the roles that are protecting the reputation of the business. And they deserve to be right at the top of the leadership table so we can hear exactly what's going on and provide the advice where it needs to be provided.

[00:08:46] So that to me is a really big gap that still exists is corporate affairs. Just isn't having that voice at the table at the very senior leadership level. And if they are it's through secondhand information, which when it trickles back down is often met with a bit of concern from the corporate affairs teams, because it's obvious that the message hasn't been heard, the way we wanted it to be heard, or that people don't understand what we're trying to do or why we're doing something. And we haven't had a chance to explain to that.

[00:09:16] So. Yeah, for me, that's still a really big gap. And I think having corporate affairs at the leadership table would also probably mean given the makeup of the sector, that more women would be sitting at leadership tables as well. Just putting that out there.

[00:09:31] So that's kind of the 101 on corporate comms. And I mentioned at the top of the episode that I was also going to let you in on a little secret about what makes all these different types of communications work. Are you ready? Here it is. Start with who not with why. I know that flies in the face of Simon Sinek, but let me explain.

[00:09:53] For those of you who know Simon Sinek's work, especially his book, Start With Why, that's all about establishing a company purpose that then drives your strategy. But when we're talking about communication, your audience is at the heart of everything you do. When you know who you're talking to, that drives everything else. It drives your messaging, your channels, your timing, even the voice that you use. And by the voice, I mean, the person that is a spokesperson that you put up.

[00:10:22] There is, and there can never be a one-size-fits-all approach. No matter how hard you try. When you start with ‘who’ you also begin to avoid the trap of communicating from your own perspective, rather than your audience's perspective. But again, that's an episode for another day. So, my homework for you out of this episode is simply this.

[00:10:46] Ask yourself. When you communicate, are you starting with who? Have you actually thought about your audience and what they need? Their contexts or how they might respond. It's a really good place to start and in this podcast series we're going to unpack a lot more about understanding your audiences and what makes them tick.

[00:11:06] So thanks again for tuning into the first episode of Less Chatter, More Matter. it's a pleasure having you along for the ride and if there's any topics you're curious about or you'd love for me to tackle, send them through. You can also head to my website heymelcomms.training; follow me on LinkedIn or Instagram, and we'll pop all the links in the show notes as well. That's it for now and i promise these episodes will always be short and sharp there will be limited waffle because there's nothing I hate more than waffle and people wasting time and I’m sure you're the same, you're all busy people. But again if you've got any feedback or questions send them through. Other than that keep doing amazing things!