Strategic communications in an organizational context
Strategic communication is defined as the purposeful use of communication by a business or organization to achieve its objectives in measurable terms.
~Sola Abulu
Forbes described a company that emphasizes strategic communication as one that sees the communication function as an essential factor in achieving its organization-wide goals in an article titled Strategic Communications 101: Shifting from Proactive to Reactive Communications
It is not a concept that is functional in the business world alone. Therefore, corporate entities and organizations also need to be strategic to achieve whatever objectives they set for the organization. The same is also applicable to non-profit organizations that operate in the development sector.
This means that the corporate communications professional handling internal communications has the task of utilizing communications to increase employee output which ultimately affects the ability to meet an organization’s objective.
The role of strategic communications within an organization
- Team building
- Culture
- Performance
- Work behaviour
- Collaboration
- Efficiency
- Productivity
- Loyalty
Integrating strategic communications within an organization requires high intentionality. You have to answer the following questions before drawing up an internal communications campaign:
- What is the business trying to achieve per time?
- What is the business struggling with?
- What behaviours are desirable to have amongst the employees and need to be nurtured as a matter of urgency
- What are the metrics to measure behavioural change?
Communication within an organization is an agent for change and the ability to apply frameworks and understand why productivity or employee loyalty is lagging can only be gotten when you apply strategic communications to get quality data and build campaigns that are solutions to problems.
To measure success in internal communications, the campaigns must affect productivity, transformation, safety, compliance and work behaviours. This is why it becomes important that people who have the responsibility to manage internal communications within an organization have to understand the theory of communications and best-practices. This article will expose you to some theories that strategic communications relies upon. You can also watch this video resource to unpack the theory and practice of strategic communications.
Sola Abulu and Associates has launched a self-paced learning portal. Do you understand the theories of strategic communications and how it can be effectively applied to impact organizational objectives? If you do not, then register here to take the pre-recorded training course on Strategic Communications.
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Sola Abulu & Associates is a strategy and communications training and consulting firm focused on enabling businesses, brands and institutions to achieve their desired objectives through strategic communications and reputation management.