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Points of View is our blog dedicated to exploring the critical corporate communications issues of the day through insights and videos of Fortune 500 business and communications execs, industry insiders and our team.

Bob Feldman

What’s Ahead in the New Year: The Expectation of Engagement

Bob Feldman
January 9th, 2012

The new year will bring a growing realization among corporate executives everywhere that the underlying catalyst behind Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring and other forms of protest will actually begin to impact the private sector, as well.

What is that catalyst?

Let’s call it the expectation of engagement.

A recent column by Tom Friedman in The New York Times referred to our living in a “democratization of expectations,” the new expectation that all individuals should be able to participate in shaping their own career, citizenship and future.

The column quoted Dov Seidman, a leading authority on the subject: “The days of leading countries or companies via a one-way conversation are over. The old system of command and control – using carrots and sticks – to exert power over people is fast being replaced by ‘connect and collaborate’ to generate power through people. Leaders and managers cannot just impose their will.”

Want proof? Think Netflix and pricing. Bank of America and debit fees. The Gap and its new logo.  And so on

The companies we admire these days tend be those that really engage with their employees and customers….they actively listen and they co-create the future with these constituents in order to assure a robust future.  They tend to empower their people to engage with customers on a real-time basis.  Think Home Depot, IBM, P&G.

Companies that run in a traditionally hierarchical fashion have futures that are going to get very bumpy.  Corporate employees are no different than public citizens; they want to be heard and respected and their expectations are changing.  They see the world around them changing…not only in high-profile political events, but in the way their friends and colleagues are increasingly being engaged by progressive employers.  How long will it take for them to find ways to activate their own peers to demand more engagement from their management?

The digital and social media revolution has forever changed the communications requirements of leaders. Successful leaders embrace a transformative approach in which they fully understand the ecosystem in which their stakeholders operate.

Real engagement in the new digital world requires more than just retooling existing messages for electronic distribution. It requires a fundamental belief that listening to, partnering with, and even occasionally crowd-sourcing ideas with key stakeholders, ultimately results in better decision-making leading to more satisfied customers, motivated employees and so on. The only catch: you really better believe this, because this is where stakeholder expectations now reside.

Is there risk associated with this new way of conducting business and the associated absence of control? Of course.

But it is a new world and control no longer exists (if it ever did).  The more enlightened leaders realize that open, public conversations about their brand, their work environment, etc., are taking place regardless and will continue to do so.

The question is, will these leaders engage in that dialogue or stay back? For sure, risk is associated with either choice, but risk cannot be avoided – it is to be managed.

Featured in PR Week January, 2012

Bob Feldman is co-founder and principal of PulsePoint Group, a management and digital consulting firm.  He can be reached at bfeldman@pulsepointgroup.com.  Bob’s monthly column focuses on management of the corporate communications function.

Bob Feldman

Get Beyond Tasks At Hand When Making Your Next Hire

Bob Feldman
November 7th, 2011

Not too long ago I asked the ceo of a major business if she thought creativity was an important part of the skill set required of a successful communications professional.

Absolutely, she said.

She had recently hired a senior communications executive and I asked if, thinking back, she looked for evidence of strong creativity.

“Now that you mention it, not really.”

What we want and need in our hires and what we interview for are often two different things. No one likes to admit this, but it happens all the time.

The principal catalyst for this disconnect is the volume of work stacking up for the new hire, kind of like planes circling O’Hare waiting to land.

When many executives screen candidates, the focus, intentionally or not, often skews to the tasks at hand. This is especially true when making mid-level hires.  Does this person know the business? Can he or she write well?   Will they get along with others?  Do they know key media? Digital influencers? Etc.

All reasonable questions.

But…

When hiring mid-level pros, all of whom we want to take real responsibility, grow and become leaders, do we really screen for attributes that will be critical to their long-term success?

The single most common criticism I hear from senior business execs is that communications staffers are often too tactical, and not capable of managing their time in order to provide thoughtful, proactive strategic guidance.

How do you screen for that?

For starters, I’d look at self-confidence. Is your candidate comfortable enough in his or her own skin to form opinions and diplomatically assert those to opinions to others, including more senior executives?

Is your candidate smart?  Raise your standard of intellectual contribution. Look at the academic and professional backgrounds of your internal clients…pedigrees, schools, degrees, positions of responsibility.  Your candidate may not match up directly, but it sure would be good to get close.

Is your candidate really intellectually curious?  Does he or she read a lot? Books, papers, etc. Online, offline doesn’t matter….but probe for intellectual curiosity.

Have they been trusted advisors? You don’t have to be interviewing for the CCO job to have experience being a trusted advisor. Probe for such experience. Examine the advisor role when checking references; dig deep.

There’s much more, but you get the idea. Step back, really evaluate what attributes will you want to see in addition to the handling of the day-to-day tasks, and then actively search for those.

You’ll be very happy you did.

Featured in PR Week November 2011

Bob Feldman is co-founder and principal of PulsePoint Group, a management and digital consulting firm.  He can be reached at bfeldman@pulsepointgroup.com.  Bob’s monthly column focuses on management of the corporate communications function.

Bob Feldman

Check the Attitude at the Door: The Responsibility of BU Comms Pros

Bob Feldman
September 26th, 2011

Last month’s column focused on the role of “Corporate” in corporate communications. In sum, my pov is that Corporate serves the business interests of the organization and much of its authority is earned, regardless of reporting structures.

This month I’d like to tackle the flip side: the role of communicators in the business units and their relationship to “Corporate.”

Unfortunately, too often we see this relationship as passive, at best, or dysfunctional, at worst.

Some corporate cultures prize the sales-and-marketing, revenue-generating nature of a business unit and frequently see corporate priorities as fuzzy: long-term, minimal bottom-line accountability and sometimes just doing what the CEO wants.

This is not right.

To paraphrase the old adage, “give as good as you get,” the mantra in business unit communications ought to be “you get as good as you give.” What does that mean?

The opportunity for corporate to add real value comes from things like facilitating knowledge-sharing of best practices across the enterprise; being a source of collaborative innovation; providing seed funding for initiatives that are a bit longer-term in nature, etc.

The capacity for Corporate to do these things – which are 100% in the interests of every business unit communicator – is directly related to the intimacy of the Corporate-BU relationship.

As such, BU communicators should regularly reach out to their corporate counterparts to make them aware of activity and enlist their support when appropriate.

Furthermore, there are some things to consider when evaluating the wisdom of Corporate outreach:

Is your function world-class? If so, great. But if not, tap into Corporate to help identify world-class performances in other areas of the company or through external benchmarking. Corporate communicators often have access to outside research from sources like the Communications Executive Council.

Is your business leveraging the benefits of scale the larger enterprise can offer? For example, are you advocating big ideas that require collaboration across business units because those ideas will have a bigger, greater impact on your own business? Do you negotiate agency fees collectively? How do you handle digital listening? Do you evaluate sponsorship opportunities that, without the participation of other business units, may not be otherwise practical or affordable?

Are you developing relationships across the enterprise for your own career development? Remember, while your culture may seem to prize a short-term focus on business results, your CEO inevitably wants a team of well-seasoned executives with experience in different divisions and different geographies. That happens as much due to cultivated relationships as anything; make time to make those happen.

Are you partnering with Corporate on issues tracking and management? You should because if other BUs were having external problems you surely would want Corporate involved in order to potentially help isolate the issue and protect the larger corporate brand.

Do you want to test or incubate new ideas that aren’t getting funded at your BU level? If the idea has applicability to more than one business unit, this may be an opportunity to partner with Corporate to get seed funding. Corporate always wants to find ways to add value to the businesses; this is often a great option.

Bottom line: The value and productivity of the Corporate-BU relationship is what you make of it. BU communicators who minimize the value of Corporate inevitably behave in ways that make that perception self-fulfilling. Those that want to grow, be better at their jobs and build strong careers, tend to reach out, have a bias towards inclusion and, in the end, are the long-term winners.

Bob Feldman is co-founder and principal of PulsePoint Group, a digital and management consulting firm. He can be reached at bfeldman@pulsepointgroup.com. Bob’s monthly column focuses on management of the corporate communications function.

Bob Feldman

The Role of “Corporate” in a Comms Organization

Bob Feldman
August 16th, 2011

Originally Published PR Week, August 12, 2011 (subscription access only)

The old adage, “I’m from Corporate and I’m here to help” is well understood for what it implies: Corporate help is an oxymoron.

It doesn’t have to be.

But research indicates that a sizable gap remains between the value Corporate practitioners believe they deliver to their companies and the perception of those practitioners who reside in business units.

Why?

The principal driver of this disconnect is the certainty with which Corporate practitioners believe it is of strategic importance that all employees know of and appreciate the work of the total enterprise, and the equally certain perspective that business unit practitioners believe the overwhelming focus must be on what is most relevant and actionable and, therefore, must be about their business unit.

What to do?

Let me preface five tips I have to share with an acknowledgment of a bias: I believe there is a strong role for Corporate.  But executing it successfully takes equal measures substance and style.

Here are five ways in which Corporate can succeed:

Define your role and earn grassroots support... What’s your purpose as it relates to the businesses? Strategic guidance?  Talent management? Leveraging scale to achieve optimal cost efficiencies? Driving big enterprise-wide ideas? What are the needs in the units in which Corporate can make a meaningful difference?

Be high value...Corporate practitioners usually play two roles: one is executing purely corporate activities (e.g. investor relations; executive communications; etc.) and the other requires some level of inter-dependency with business units (e.g. reputation initiatives; CSR; digital strategies; marketing support; etc.).  In this latter category, Corporate ideally is an advisor and co-strategist. To earn its place comfortably alongside the business units, Corporate practitioners must be the best, most qualified practitioners in the company for the niches in which they advise.

(more…)

Bob Feldman

Three Ways to Speed Your Company’s Embrace of Social Media

Bob Feldman
July 6th, 2011

Originally Published PR Week, June 30, 2011 (subscription access only)

I’ve noticed that many companies that instinctively know they should be active in social media are moving forward tentatively and would like to move faster.

These organizations have grasped the importance of social media to their communications strategy. But whether it’s because they’re nervous about diving into the online conversation, or caught up in internal bickering over who “owns” it, or lack confidence in their strategy, their tentative pace is denying them the benefits of a more robust online engagement. They know they should be moving faster, but they’re not sure how to do it.

Last week, while I was participating in an excellent Arthur W. Page Society “Future Leaders Experience,” the group addressed this problem. Three success factors for accelerating successful online engagement emerged from the discussion:

1. Pique their competitive nature with a “best practices” assessment

Companies are often risk averse and don’t like to be too far out front in using new technologies. Reviews of “best practices” often provide a level of comfort that comes from knowing what their peers are doing, learning from the mistakes of others, and benchmarking their own progress against leaders both outside and from within their own industries.

But “best practices” reviews have another motivating effect: they fire up people’s competitive instincts. Nothing concentrates management’s attention so much, or motivates them to action, as learning that a competitor is stealing the lead on them, and the race to benefit from engagement in social media is no exception.

2. Identify the key digital influencers in your space, and the hidden successes in your company

Sometimes, organizations don’t move forward because they don’t know where to start. In social media, management may be aware of platforms like Twitter and Facebook as factors in their personal lives, yet have no idea how those two platforms - and the much larger online ecosystem - influences their customers, employees and other stakeholders. Without knowing where to target their attention or their resources, they end up doing nothing.

They may also be relatively unaware of the small, experimental efforts already underway within their organization.

The fix? Do a thorough audit of the “digital ecosystem” in which your company operates, together with a careful look inside the company to see where social media activity already is (or isn’t) underway. Find opportunities to create small success stories, and make the people who have achieved them champions (and trainers) who can help bring other, less adventurous, units up to speed.

Don’t be surprised if some of your best success stories come from tired, mainstay brands that are willing to take some risks to rejuvenate their image. Think about how P&G stalwart “Old Spice” shook up its category with the “I’m on a horse” video that went viral.

(more…)

Bob Feldman

What it’s Like on the Other Side of the Search

Bob Feldman
March 8th, 2011

Originally Published PR Week, March 4, 2011 (subscription access only)

I spent many years on the agency side - at Burson-Marsteller, Ketchum, and GCI Group - pitching business and always wondering what it would be like on the other side of the table.

Now I know.

My firm doesn’t do a lot of agency search for our clients, but occasionally we’re asked to help out. Coincidentally, we’ve been involved in a few situations just since the beginning of the year.

The process is enlightening. Here are some lessons learned that agencies would be well advised to consider.

Stand for something. During an RFI stage, particularly if the agency’s information is being communicated only in writing, be sure you write your information in a concise, crisp manner - and absolutely be sure your firm stands for something. Have a point of view on measurement; articulate a client service model or an approach to audience insights that you believe works exceptionally well for your firm and for your clients.

Pure capabilities are only a starting point; why would having good capabilities mean you should win? Don’t you think the client is only talking to firms with the requisite capabilities? And sell yourselves, don’t sell against others. Selling against others is usually off-the-mark and is almost always unappealing.

Read the rules. When clients are considering a range of agencies, they’re looking for reasons to either include or exclude firms from the next round. Don’t give them easy reasons to exclude you. Sounds ridiculous, but in just a few situations, I’ve already seen firms respond to a request for two or three paragraphs on a subject with eight or nine paragraphs; with a request to provide a three-to-five page narrative on a client situation with a 19-page PowerPoint deck; with a request for certain insights into international market credentials with a link to the company’s website. Don’t make it so easy to cut your firm.

(more…)

Bob Feldman

PulsePoint Group Corporate Communication Index Series Part 7: Deeper Focus

Bob Feldman
March 2nd, 2011

Bob Feldman, partner at PulsePoint Group, provides commentary on the firm’s recently released Corporate Communication Index Study. This is the seventh (and final) in a series of videos where he provides insight into the findings. Click here to view his sixth video regarding, “Change.”

Bob Feldman

PulsePoint Group Corporate Communication Index Series Part 6: Change

Bob Feldman
February 23rd, 2011

Bob Feldman, partner at PulsePoint Group, provides commentary on the firm’s recently released Corporate Communication Index Study. This is the sixth in a series of videos where he provides insight into the findings. Click here to view his fifth video regarding, “Managing Talent.”

Bob Feldman

Can You Be Both a Tactician and a Counselor?

Bob Feldman
February 1st, 2011

Originally Published PR Week, January 28, 2011 (subscription access only)

Research among CEOs and line-of-business executives reveals that the single-most common criticism of communications professionals is that below the CCO level the function is primarily occupied by tacticians.

A common result: when divisional or business unit leadership meet to discuss strategy, the PR person — perhaps other than the CCO — is often left out.

Are most PR pros really not capable of engaging at that level?

Unlikely, but here are a few thoughts.

First, every CCO needs to be honest with his or her evaluation of talent.  The most critical time is when hiring is done. If we’re candid, we often do hire tacticians. After all, we need to get things done.

We also tend to hire from a common pool, that is, people from within our profession.

The consequence often means a talent pool that doesn’t have the same academic qualifications and /or serious business experience as other staff functions.

Bottom line: Hire smart. Raise the bar. And, as the business we’re in gets increasingly sophisticated, there are plenty of high-ranking B-school grads, for example, who would welcome a career in our profession.

Second, and this is a tricky one, it just may be difficult to be both a tactician and a strategist at the same time.

Let’s be clear: We need to do a lot more than provide counsel. We need to get stuff done. The greater the demands and the higher volume of output, the more communications staffers get buried in the day-to-day.  That may be reality.

But getting stuff done is a given. Flawless execution is a table-stake. No one earns a reputation for just doing what’s expected of them.

(more…)

Bob Feldman

PulsePoint Group Corporate Communication Index Series Part 5: Managing Talent

Bob Feldman
January 26th, 2011

Bob Feldman, partner at PulsePoint Group, provides commentary on the firm’s recently released Corporate Communication Index Study. This is the fifth in a series of videos where he provides insight into the findings.

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