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COMMUNICATION

DIRECTOR

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EDITORIAL

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little under 20 years on from the f irst appearance of Clayton Christensen’s landmark theory of disruptive innovation, it is safe to say that we are all living in disrupted times. The frequency of game-changing developments that revolutionise our work, our industries and the way we lead our lives is higher than ever before, and the differences between those who anticipate future trends and those who do not are clear to see. From the sharing economy to big data and the cloud, each day seems to bring a new challenge to the status quo. For communicators who have to navigate this volcanic landscape, it can be the best of times and the worst of times. The opportunity to be the organisation’s weather vane, to sniff out potential changes, to weigh up the competition, to predict transformative innovations, to anticipate the needs of stakeholders, and to head off crises: these challenges offer the potential to transform the work of the communications function, and perhaps redraw the lines that def ine the role of the communications professional. But, as the word connotes, “disruption” isn’t always good news. As old familiarities are overturned, new innovations bring new challenges.

Either way, good or bad, challenging or rewarding, breaking crisis or innovative development, in 2015 disruption is a state of being.

Communicators that are able to adjust to this state of affairs and learn to anticipate disruption will be best positioned to lead their organisations forward. Read this issue’s Storyteller section to discover a range of perspectives on what it means to be a communicator working in and around disruption today.

Dafydd Phillips Editor in Chief dafydd.phillips@communication-director.com

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“I have also seen how these professionals continue to remain at the top of their game.”

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“The true litmus test to gauge authentic communications is the rate at which your content is shared.”

TEAM PLAYER

PR ESSENTIALS

How to improve personnel management and your career

Key aspects of communication

PR’s must-have apps The online tools that communicators can’t do without

STRATEGIC THINKER The corporate and academic stand on communication

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Authenticity is the key to successful communications in the business-to-business market

Tugging at heartstrings Social development campaigns have to be innovative in order to stand out from the crowd

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Reconnecting the employee A feedback culture needs collaborative communications

Effective global talent management How to benefit from diverse and flexible workforces

THE STORY OF PR Looking back at landmark communications

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During a crisis, corporate communications can benefit the organisation by the creation of regulatory fit

Daniel Laufer

Don’t shy away from talking about grief at work

Akram Al Ariss

How Chinese philosophy can offer a corrective to narrow, western models of management

The feelgood factor

Navigating the complexities of grief

Custodia Cabanas

The way of zhong dao Guo-Ming Chen

A communicator must embody multiple personas to ensure their future in the field.

Janell C. Bauer

Santanu Bhattacharya

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Future-proofing your career Hari V. Krishnan

Setting the seal of authenticity Ric Navarro

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The evolution of evaluation Public relations measurement and evaluation has evolved over at least two centuries

Tom Watson and Paul Noble

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Movement for change Throughout history, social change campaigns have innovated communications

Michaela O’Brien

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Photo: www.thinkstock.com

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“As a leading corporation, we ought to support platforms which bring forward new ideas.”

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The other history Alongside official narratives about organisations, there exist unofficial stories of equal importance

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“New media provides the capacity to disrupt and influence positive change.”

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Anna Linda Musacchio Adorisio

THE BIG INTERVIEW Mukund Rajan We speak with the brand custodian and chief ethics officer at Tata, one of the world’s biggest multinationals

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Photos: DILIP THAKKAR; www.thinkstock.com

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Vanessa Ching

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Asia-Pacific Association of Communication Directors

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The latest developments in the APACD

QUESTIONS TO...

A bewildering array of technological challenges face the communicator, now and in the near future

First the people

A round-up of recent and upcoming titles

ASSOCIATION

Weapons of mass disruption David Phillips

Companies who want to change their industry through innovations must first learn to lead with communications

Book Reviews

Facilitating the evolution Discovering the potential to further connect the world by allowing messages to flow through borders

Disrupting the status quo

COMMUNICATIONS READER

Big data, big disruption Andrew Pickup

Few things are as disruptive as a crisis: learning to anticipate them helps make the organisation stronger

Lars Rinsdorf and Swaran Sandhu

Looking at the important questions of communication

Communicators have a long journey ahead to fully embrace a data culture

What if? What now?

Anik Michaud

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Anticipatory issue management is more than a theory: it empowers communicators to foresee the unknown

Daniel Diermeier

Key communicators under the spotlight

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Tales of the unexpected

The personal side of communication directors

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Peko Wan Head of PR and Communications, Asia, Opera Software

Mergers mean upheaval, both positive and negative

Peter Parussin 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

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PR ESSENTIALS Key aspects of communication

TOP TOOLS FOR TODAY S PR PROFESSIONALS Whether it’s a project management app that keeps track of your work, a favourite online dictionary for finding just the right word, or a dashboard that monitors online conversations about your brand: here are some of the devices clued-in communicators can’t live without.

1 2 Blogdash Blogger outreach tools www.blogdash.com “Curious about blogger outreach? BlogDash offers a complete set of blogger outreach tools all in one spot, making blogger outreach for multiple brands across multiple market segments a doddle.”

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Blog Post Idea Generator Writing tools www.generatorland.com Catchy, quirky and sometimes bizarre source of inspiration for blog-post ideas: whether or not you take them at face value, this kind of off-the-wall thinking can help you get creative.”

5 Bullshit Generator Writing tools www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html

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“This cheeky toy actually has a serious message: by generating eerily credible corporate nonsense at a touch of a button, it reminds us how easy it is for corporate speak to degenerate into meaninglessness.”

4 Cision Public relations services www.cision.com Business Wire Public relations services www.businesswire.com “An established presence offering overall service, Business Wire provides support for you to reach your press release and disclosure targets, as well as helping to increase your views.”

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“The online offering of the Stockholm-based software company offers services such as press release submission, editorial calendars and brand monitoring.”

PR ESSENTIALS

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The Employee App Project and people management www.theemployeeapp.com “A quick way for employees to access information out of the office, this native app platform allows any organisation to have its own app on Apple’s App Store and Google Play.”

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Google Blog Search Blogger outreach tools www.google.com/blogsearch “By now, bloggers are a major part of press, and it’s a great help that new tools are out there that sift through countless blogs to find the right one for you. Google Blog Search is the place to start.”

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Haro Editorial contacts and calendars www.helpareporter.com “Bridging the gap between public relations and the press, Haro is a resource for both reporters and PR pros. By signing up for this service, you’ll get e-mail queries from reporters who need experts for stories.”

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STRATEGIC THINKER STRATEGIC THINKER

The corporate and academic stand on communication

SETTING THE SEAL OF AUTHENTICITY In the B2B world, you need more than expertise and past successes to set your organisation apart; authentic communications is key.

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usiness executives and customer-facing staff are important in establishing trust with customers by nurturing relationships that reinforce their brand’s culture and reputation. However, these one-on-one transactions must be enveloped within a culture that communicates authentically.

In all business communications, trust should be aspired to as an outcome, rather than promoted within crafted words. In a B2B environment where the variance in expertise and technical proficiency between firms can be minimal – particularly within the sphere of professional services firms – a singular point of difference can be critical to business success and long-term growth.

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So how do B2B customers calculate value and what it means to them?

Clearly, expertise has to be confirmed, and a successful track record must be evident. Personal relationships play a role. But above all, the brand must have a point of difference.

But many brands find the pathway to recognising – let alone communicating – their point of difference can quickly fall into the mire of corporate lexicons and meaningless claims: “We are a highly experienced world-class leading provider.

Photo: www.thinkstock.com

By Ric Navarro

STRATEGIC THINKER

Our team employs the world’s best practice to deliver the most reliable solutions.” We’ve all encountered similar examples.

The task of communication professionals is to inform, entertain, engage and persuade audiences and potential customers – sometimes all at once. Today’s customers are too sophisticated and informed for oldstyle marketing communications replete with inane messages.

Customers want information that respects their intelligence and their right to make up their minds about any subsequent actions they take.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, the greater freedom of choice you afford customers, the more attractive your brand becomes.

The key to communicating successfully relies on a combination of three essential ingredients that I believe are the bedrock of modern communications: trust, relevancy and authenticity.

All three qualities are worthy of further exploration but without authenticity, the other two are significantly diluted.

The Penguin English Dictionary defines “authentic” as: “worthy of belief as conforming to fact or reality; trustworthy. Not imaginary, false, or imitation; genuine.”

Descriptors such as “trustworthy”, “not false” and “genuine” make this definition a mantra for modern communicators, ensuring the communications director is a pivotal cog in brand, reputation, organisational values, business strategy, corporate affairs, content marketing, and stakeholder engagement.

Indeed, this culture of authenticity should extend to the entire Csuite as a beacon for driving organisational values, ethical behaviour, strategy and customer engagement.

BUT ISN’T COMMUNICATIONS JUST MARKETING? As the lines blur between corporate communica-

tions and marketing communications, “content marketing” is a further consideration in the communicator’s toolkit. Simply put, content marketing is journalism with a new master.

According to business journalist Kath Walters writing on newsmodo.com, content marketing “is journalism democratised.” Whereas media companies once dominated the structure and flow of information, businesses are now expected to be publishers. “Now, if you are in business, you are a publisher or you won’t be in business tomorrow,” according to Walters.

Content marketing – or storytelling in an engaging context – makes communications particularly important at early-stage customer touch-points.

With the overwhelming deluge of information available online today, buyers can bypass a large component of the traditional buying cycle before they make contact with the sales department. Content marketing – or storytelling in an engaging context – makes communications particularly important at early-stage customer touch-points.

As many brands shift considerable portions of their marketing budget into data-driven, customer-centric marketing, personalisation is emerging as an integral part of marketing communications programs. These personalised messages are a powerful mechanism by which to reinforce authentic communications in a way that gives brands flexibility with an ultimate aspiration of creating brand ambassadors.

Matt Tindale, director of LinkedIn marketing solutions for Australia and New Zealand, was recently quoted on AdNews.com saying: “With all the content – regardless of whether it‘s B2B, whether its professional, whether it‘s creative or more consumer brand-focused – you have to have that entertaining point to it. That doesn’t necessarily mean being funny or out there, but just easy to read and digestible... and most importantly not boring.”

Matt’s advice strikes a chord with relevance and authenticity; framing this in a relevant B2B brand context is a crucial step.

MOVING BEYOND THE TECHNICAL PARADIGM With all B2B communications, your customers should be left in no doubt as to who you are and what you do.

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TUGGING AT HEARTSTRINGS In order to gain visibility in a crowded marketplace, social campaigns have to explore innovative ways of standing out from the competition.

By Santanu Bhattacharya

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s I write this, we have a little more than two weeks left for International Women’s Day. A few years ago, such a campaign would have been a no-brainer. As an organisation that has educated more than 100,000 underprivileged girls in urban, rural and tribal areas across nine states in India, we would be one of the few credible voices that could authoritatively talk about this pressing issue. Today, however, the scenario has completely changed.

International Women’s Day has been embraced by one and all. From beauty products to gyms, from television channels to tea brands, everyone has seized the opportunity.

And therein lies the biggest challenge for communications professionals in the not-for-profit world. Everyone has gone social! It’s cool and sexy to want to make the world a better place. So soft drink companies are promoting world peace and happiness, consumer goods companies are talking about how it feels to be a woman, and clothes brands are furthering family values. Even skin-whitening creams that imply that women should reject their natural complexion are preaching women’s empowerment!

With huge budgets at their disposal, the for-profit world is at a far greater advantage to propagate social messages.

They can buy advertisement spots in prime time media, employ the most creative minds to design campaigns for them, and pump funds into promoting their content online. However, the deluge of social messages in the last couple of years has led to clutter. And while one may think the more the merrier when it comes to talking about making the world a better place, one cannot deny the insulation and fatigue it causes among audiences. The other challenge 01/2015

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is that audience attention levels are probably at the lowest ever. In the world of scrolling past everything, getting people to stop and think, let alone act, has become one of the biggest barriers to surmount.

Where then does that leave the not-for-profits? Characterised by limited marketing budgets and even more limited incentives for audiences, we are left to beat the clutter with our humbly-designed campaigns on gratis channels. It is not an easy task, but a single-minded focus on reaching out, high-quality content and some intelligent tweaks never disappoint. Listed below are strategies that have consistently proven to strike a chord with audiences, even in the face of utmost clutter.

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I. POWERFUL IMAGES The adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” may seem like a cliché, but it could not be truer in letter and spirit than in my job. Having experimented with different types of content, I can now safely say that nothing tugs more at heartstrings than a beautiful photograph of a smiling child.

The deluge of likes, retweets, shares and favourites we receive every time such content goes up is affirmation of how quickly such photographs catch people’s attention. Thus, a lesson for the not-for-profit world is – it is never too late and too expensive to invest in good pictures.

To the highly-wired tech-savvy world, a bank of good photographs may seem like common sense, so it may come as a surprise that most of the social development world is usually plagued by carelessly-taken pictures. There is very little awareness and sensitivity to framing the photograph, choosing the subject carefully and paying attention to

technicalities such as light conditions, let alone being able to tell a story. In most cases, the conditions in which the photos are taken are not conducive to long photo-shoots.

Subjects such as schoolchildren, underprivileged adults or hospital patients, can be either reticent or unwilling. To make things worse, the ubiquity of phone cameras allows anyone to click anything they see, making it difficult for communicators to reject sub-standard content from enthusiastic volunteers.

Getting people to stop and think, let alone act, has become one of the biggest barriers to surmount.

In spite of this, it is important that communicators in this sector make a strong case for high-quality visual content. It is essential to invest in professional photographers who are able to bring out the best of your work for the world to see.

II. POWERFUL STORIES The power of good stories is the unique selling point of the social development sector, and the best way for us to come up trumps amidst the clutter. The stories of change that we accumulate through our work act as very strong levers, especially in a world that is actively seeking inspiration and deeper meaning.

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THE WAY OF ZHONG DAO The Chinese philosophy of zhong dao, or ‘middle way’, offers an integrative model of management to fit the interconnectedness of human societies in the new century.

By Guo-Ming Chen

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he ideal management situation in western corporations is embedded in the belief that the leader has high positional power, a clearly structured task and is able to maintain good social relations with other group members. This ideal is embodied through the regulation of individual, relational, organisational and environmental factors that serve as the measurement of the organisation’s management effectiveness. While this goal of effectiveness is commonly pursued in different societies, the way to achieve it tends to vary due to the impact of cultural differences. This is especially manifested as human society continues its way into the 21st century.

The new century reveals a critical turn in the perception of management because of the impetus of globalisation. Globalisation has been pushed to its highest level in human history by the innovation of transportation and communication technologies. Globalisation has shrunk the world and has led to the establishment of a global interconnected network where close interaction is the norm rather than exception. It is under this circumstance that we witness the integration of intercultural and organisational studies burgeoning in the early 1990s and rapidly developing in the 21st century.

Unfortunately, the study and practice of management has been dominated by Eurocentrism in the last two centuries. Eurocentric beliefs result in the overemphasis of self-reliance, a single view of reality, and the dominance of western power. This Eurocentric orientation, however, has shown its limitations and faces challenges from other cultural groups. An effective way to improve the problem of eurocentric domination is to give prominence to the culture-general approach by encouraging scholars and practitioners from different cultures and geographical areas to collaborate in the process of knowledge production and business transaction.

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CULTURAL MODELS Management is typically a contextually-dependent process, which reflects its own specific cultural traits. Thus it is necessary for scholars and practitioners to learn management from its own cultural perspective in order to better understand its uniqueness, and then make an effort to explore the possibility of integrating cultural components of differing groups through the understanding and respect of cultural differences, so that a way can be found to help people and managers become more productive and successful in global society.

My aim here is to present a management model based on the Chinese philosophical thought of zhong dao and project it to the context of global society. In order to examine the zhong dao model of management in a global context, we first need to understand the paradigmatic assumptions of Chinese culture and how they serve as the principles of Chinese management.

HARMONY AND RESPECT Figure I illustrates the foundational paradigmatic assumptions of eastern/Chinese and western cultures.

In a nutshell, from the Chinese perspective: ontologically, Chinese culture dictates that wholeness is the ultimate reality of the universe, which is like a running river with-

STRATEGIC THINKER

Figure 1: The paradigmatic assumptions of eastern and western cultures

Ontology East

West

Holistic

Atomistic

submerged collectivistic

discrete individualistic

Axiology East

Epistemology West

East

Methodology West

East

West

Harmonious

Confrontational

Interconnected

Reductionistic

Intuitive

Logical

- indirect - subtle - adaptive - consensual - agreeable

- direct - expressive - dialectical - divisive - sermonic

- reciprocity - we - hierarchical - associative - ascribed

- independent -I - equal - free will - achieved

- subjective - nonlinear - ambiguous - ritual - accommodative

- objective - linear - analytical - justificatory - manipulative

out a beginning and an end; axiologically, Chinese culture considers harmony as the lubricant smoothing the interconnected knots among humans, nature, and the supernatural; epistemologically, the Chinese believe that all things only become meaningful and perceivable in relation to others; and methodologically, Chinese culture favours a more intuitive, sensitive, and indirect way of expression.

Ontologically, Chinese culture treats management as a holistic process which is constantly changing and transforming according to the endless but orderly cycle of the universe, and the process is never absolutely completed or finished. It is in this cyclic, transformational and endless process that we see subject and object are interpenetrated and unified as a whole. This is the way of Tao. Thus, the awareness of the interpenetration and identification between the two interactants is the key to unlocking the mystery of management.

Axiologically, Chinese management aims to achieve the goal of communicating with dignity and

influence in a mutual and interdependent network on the basis of cooperation through harmony. Thus, the ethics of management are to crystallise the duty of cooperation between interactants by a sincere display of mutually wholehearted concern, rather than to display verbal or behavioural strategies to overcome one’s counterpart. Harmony as the ultimate goal of management is upheld by a set of personal and societal values. For instance, the Chinese put a great emphasis on personal values, such as hard work, respect for learning, honesty, self-discipline and the fulfilment of obligations; and on societal values, such as an orderly society, respect for authority, consensus and official accountability. The ability to reach a harmonious state of

Chinese culture treats management as a holistic process which is constantly changing and transforming. human relationships therefore serves as the cardinal criterion to define management competence from the Chinese cultural perspective.

Epistemologically, genuine knowledge in Chinese management is embedded in the interconnectedness between superior and subordinate; both interfuse with each other and are free from all contradictions and determinations. Thus, it is manifested in the concern for the feelings of one’s counterpart, in the adoption of different roles in different contexts and in the display of reciprocity and active listening, so that interactional rapport can be natu01/2015

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THE FEELGOOD FACTOR During a crisis, corporate communications can benefit the organisation by the careful creation of regulatory fit.

By Daniel Laufer

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heories from psychology have been incorporated in corporate communications for many years in order to enhance the effectiveness of a company’s message dealing with a crisis.

For example, W. Timothy Coombs’ well-known Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) applies attribution theory to crisis communications and recommends crisis response strategies based on reputational threat levels.

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Another well-known theory from psychology that has the potential for enhancing the effectiveness of corporate communications during a crisis is regulatory focus theory, a goal pursuit theory regarding peoples‘ perceptions in the decision making process. Could incorporating regulatory focus theory in a company’s crisis communications be

STRATEGIC THINKER

theory is that people have one of two primary orientations: a ‘promotion orientation’ and a ‘prevention orientation’. A promotion orientation is characteristic of people who are motivated by achievements, and a prevention orientation is characteristic of people who are motivated to avoid failures. A key factor identified as influencing an individual’s regulatory orientation is parenting styles they are exposed to during their childhood. Individuals who are raised in environments with positive reinforcements are more likely to develop promotion orientations, whereas individuals who are raised in environments with negative reinforcements are more likely to develop a prevention orientation. Parenting styles in western cultures such as North America and Europe are more likely to incorporate positive reinforcement, and eastern cultures such as China, Japan and South Korea are more likely to incorporate negative reinforcement. As a result, we are more likely to find more promotion orientation in western cultures and more prevention orientation in eastern cultures.

helpful during a crisis? This article describes this important issue based on research that I have been conducting over the past few years with my colleagues. As I will discuss below, the crisis communications context differs considerably from the advertising domain where much of the research on regulatory focus theory has been conducted. Therefore, it is important to understand the unique nature of the crisis communication context before incorporating regulatory focus theory in a company’s crisis communications.

Regulatory focus theory is an influential theory from the field of psychology that was developed by psychologist E. Tory Higgins.

The theory’s impact extends beyond psychology and it has been incorporated extensively in the field of marketing, particularly in the area of advertising and persuasion. A major premise of regulatory focus

A QUESTION OF ORIENTATION Whereas culture plays a role in the regulatory orientation of people, companies can also assess the predominant regulatory orientation of their target audiences by looking at their positioning strategies as well. For example, Volvo’s slogan “Safe and Sound” is more likely to attract a more prevention-oriented consumer segment, while BMW’s “Driv-

The company can tailor its corporate communications more effectively by incorporating a message that is consistent with the target audience’s regulatory orientation. ing Pleasure” is more likely to attract a more promotionoriented segment. Identifying the regulatory orientation of a company’s target audience is important because the company can tailor its corporate communications more effectively by incorporating a message that is consistent with the target audience’s regulatory orientation. The alignment of a company’s message with the regulatory orientation of the target audience creates regulatory fit.

A good example of the creation of regulatory fit is from a study we conducted involving product recall communications about laptops with overheating batteries. In order to create regulatory fit with a target audience consisting of consumers with a predominately promotion orientation, we included the following text in the product re01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

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How to improve personnel management and your career

FUTURE-PROOFING YOUR COMMUNICATIONS CAREER With increased importance placed on communications comes the increased expectation to be even more relevant amidst the evolving landscape. A communicator must embody multiple personas to ensure their continued success in the field.

By Hari Krishnan

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hat does one write about when addressing an expert community of communications professionals on communications, I wondered to myself when this magazine very kindly invited me to contribute an article.

I eventually found the answer to my question – communications professionals would probably be interested in their internal client’s perspective. Having worked with in-house communications professionals at various levels throughout my career, I have become a big fan of the work they do and the value they create, and the respect “bank account” keeps growing. I have seen how they have helped built businesses and managed reputational issues, and how their advice and counsel are sought after by their colleagues.

After reflecting on own my own experience partnering with communications professionals, it became clear to me that the ones who are most successful and who proved themselves invaluable to businesses demonstrate most, if not all, of these five personas: the Collaborator, the Marketer, the Numerati, the Producer and the Thought Leader. In my view, the best communicators are 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

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driving stories that do not link to business priorities – is not as impactful as working in close partnership with business leaders to build businesses/address business problems.

Yet, being collaborative does not mean saying yes to every request for help. Where the expectations between internal clients and the communications team are not completely aligned (it is not a stretch to imagine how and why that could be), the collaborator proactively tries to bridge or narrow the gap where possible. The best in the business also understand that a lot of the value they bring comes from challenging their business peers and asking difficult questions such as “why are we doing this?” or “what does success look like to you?”, and following up with counsel and advice.

actually business leaders who also happen to be great at communications.

As the communications landscape continues to evolve, from print to digital and now social media, I have also seen how these professionals continue to remain at the top of their game. I hope that identifying these personas can help provide another perspective on how communications professionals can future-proof themselves.

1. THE COLLABORATOR As an internal client, I have been most impressed by communicators who think business first. These professionals know too well that a communications strategy set in a vacuum (or “public relations for the sake of public relations”) – for example,

2. THE MARKETER As the line between public relations and marketing continues to be less distinguished, some communications professionals are already acting like a Marketer would. They not only breathe the brand, but also keenly understand and leverage marketing techniques to drive public relations campaigns to deliver even more impact. They understand how to create campaigns that go viral in a positive way, by creating the necessary emotional connect with their audiences particularly on social media platforms.

The Marketer understands that one size does not fit all on social media platforms. Context matters here, just like it does in the brick and mortar world, underscored by the fact that more than 80 per cent of LinkedIn members pre-

The best in the business also understand that a lot of the value they bring comes from challenging their business peers and asking difficult questions... and following up with counsel and advice. fer to keep their professional and social lives separate. The mindsets of people while they are on various social media platforms are also different. We found that on professional networks like LinkedIn, people are looking to invest their time to better their careers. Meanwhile on personal networks, their main objective could be to spend time on personal interests. We call that the Mindset Divide. Creating content for both kinds of networks requires a keen marketing eye, and knowing your audience and their mindsets - something that works on LinkedIn may not work as well on personal networks.

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NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF GRIEF Everyone handles grief in different ways: appreciating this will help to support bereaved employees and make them feel valued at work.

By Janell C. Bauer

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lthough it is easy to see the influence of work in most aspects of modern life, we don’t immediately think of organisations as significant to our experiences with death and grief. However, since many full-time employees spend as many waking hours with their co-workers as with friends and family, the workplace community becomes an 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

important site for grief communication and support.

Organisations today understand the value of comprehensive benefits packages in both attracting and retaining good employees. It is not surprising then that a Society of Human Resources Management

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(SHRM) 2009 survey found that 90 per cent of respondents indicated that their organisations offered paid bereavement leave.

It is important that successful organisations consider the impact of bereavement since it can be costly, not just in the provision of paid time off, but in other costs such as depression, stress and turnover. A SHRM 2008 survey found that employees rate benefits as one of the most important factors in job satisfaction. However, it’s not just the benefit policies, but how they are actually experienced. For example, an employee who has five days of paid bereavement leave but experiences a lack of communicative support may describe low satisfaction with the benefit.

So, while bereavement leave policies provide employees with paid time off for bereaved workers to make funeral arrangements, attend the funeral of a loved one and to mourn, organisations also need to understand how they can offer support when grieving employees return to work.

Understanding how to support and communicate with grieving workers can be difficult for managers and coworkers. As Mary Anne Hazen described in her research on grief and the workplace (2008), conversations about birth and death, about bodies, sexuality and emotions are often viewed as out of place and taboo in organisations. This taboo can lead to a silence and lack of support for bereaved workers.

To combat that taboo, my research explores the stories and experiences of bereaved workers to help communication professionals learn more about the communication needs of grieving employees.

To create a workplace that is more

supportive, there are four patterns to consider in forming policy and day-to-day interactions with grieving workers.

1. PROFESSIONALISM AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE SET STANDARDS FOR HOW TO GRIEVE WELL Organisational culture and popular ideas about

professionalism create a framework for employees to build their sense of self and professional identity. These popular expectations for how to be a good employee and a successful professional influence many aspects of the modern workers’ life. This statement extends to how one handles grief in their workplace. Speaking generally, the modern worker is practical, strategic, unemotional, creative, and flexible and creates boundaries between work and personal life. Talking with bereaved workers, I often heard a desire to be perceived as handling grief well and to manage it appropriately.

Managing grief well usually included the ability to contain emotions at work, to continue their standard for productivity, to be perceived as a team player and to show their commitment to the organisation by putting work first even during a difficult personal time. Grief can bring

Conversations about birth and death, about bodies, sexuality and emotions are often viewed as taboo. about a roller coaster of emotions and reminds us that, despite all we have accomplished, there is much that we cannot control. Bereaved workers often feel fearful that they will be perceived as crazy, overly-emotional, out of control and unreliable. Managers and co-workers can support bereaved workers by validating their efforts and acknowledging how difficult it may be to perform job tasks in the midst of emotional upheaval caused by grief. Communication professionals can consider how your organisational culture might invite or discourage communication around bereavement. Understand that bereaved workers may feel pressure to perform even though they are struggling with fatigue, distraction and emotional volatility which complicates their grief process.

2. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN TALKING ABOUT GRIEF AT WORK The way that workers experience be-

reavement can differ based on the cultural expectations for how men and women should handle emotions and gendered norms for professional behaviour. For women the experience can vary greatly. Some women feel a great

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TEAM PLAYER

RECONNECTING THE EMPLOYEE With falling worker loyalty, management focus has now turned inward. Collaborative communications and a strong feedback culture are key to salvaging employee motivation.

By Custodia Cabanas

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ost new centuries seem to bring with them upheaval, resulting in rapid change and uncertainty in all aspects of life. The 21st century is proving to be no exception, but that is perhaps because it has also ushered in a new millennium and we currently find ourselves in the midst of a prolonged financial and economic crisis which has taken a particularly strong hold in the Eurozone. At the same time social media have impacted deeply on our world, having a marked effect on just about every level of society and the economy. This trend is still in its infancy but it is already challenging many of the paradigms on which some of our deepest beliefs are based.

In the business world one of the most worrying consequences of the times we live in is the widespread decline in commitment and loyalty by employees, largely as a result of changing relationships between employer and employee.

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DISCONNECTION A recent study by consultancy firm Synovate highlights the fact that more than 20 per cent of the workforce say they feel “disconnected” from their jobs, a figure to which we can add a further 15 per cent who describe themselves as “passive in relation to their professional activities”. In some sectors, such as banking, insurance or telecommunications, this applies to up to 50 per cent of employees. When organisations are heavily focused on services, a marked lack of motivation can have serious consequences.

In a bid to improve levels of commitment among the workforce, organisations and their human resource departments have in recent years channelled considerable energy into identifying how to strengthen employee motivation.

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TEAM PLAYER

It is worth noting that this lack of commitment is to be found at all levels within organisations and does not only affect non-management employees. For example, a recent joint study carried out by IE Business School and Wharton, shows that 52 per cent of senior executives contacted by headhunters are keen to be considered as candidates to join other companies.

This high figure is surprising given that these are people who are usually involved in projects requir-

Photo: www.thinkstock.com

ing considerable time and energy, yet they are prepared to give up on them by putting themselves forward for positions with other companies without necessarily having much idea of what the job in question entails.

Very often we find that executives who complain about their team’s lack of loyalty are themselves actively looking for positions with other companies. In fact, the more senior the position, the more likely it is that an executive is seeking another job.

This lack of loyalty on the part of senior executives can in large part be explained by today’s management styles.

We have become accustomed to seeing companies sack people and replace them with others prepared to sell their services at a lower cost, so it is hardly surprising that 52 per cent of executives have leaving on their mind when they see the organisation treating people as disposable commodities.

BUILDING BRIDGES This overall decline in employee loyalty is merely a reflection of the reciprocity that underlies almost all human relationships. Employees, at whatever level, will tend to treat their employers in the same way they feel they themselves are being treated. There is not much point in asking for something you yourself are not prepared to give.

This asymmetrical relationship means that employees face an uncertain future, which translates into feeling disconnected from their organisations, resulting in a lack of motivation. When there is a serious risk of the “emotional contract” between worker and employer being broken, the task of carrying out the rapid transformation that so many organisations need to undertake if they want to adapt to the 21st century is seriously compromised.

Paradoxically, just at the moment when organisations need more talent and involvement from their workforces, we see the emergence of a new environment characterised by major decoupling on the part of the employee.

If companies are going to adapt successfully to changing times, they will need to take a strategic approach aimed at rebuilding lost confidence. The philosophy that “people are a company’s most valuable asset” is taking root in organisations. Hence, keeping employees motivated so they will stay in their posts, even in times of low risk of voluntary rotation, has become a strategic priority.

If organisations are to attract and retain the best and brightest professionals they need to improve their image by creating attractive and interesting projects and they also need to make sure that all this is highly visible both within and outside the organisation. The challenge now facing 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

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TEAM PLAYER

EFFECTIVE GLOBAL TALENT MANAGEMENT Companies are taking a world-wide approach to seeking out new talent and making full use of a diverse and skilled work force.

By Akram Al Ariss

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t seems that everyone is talking about it, from academics and businesses to governments: global talent management is the working world’s latest craze. Rulers in the Arab Gulf push through new legislation to manage the talents of their national and expatriate workforce. Western states, like Australia and Canada, attempt to attract talented migrants by picking and choosing the talent that will be best for these countries. But what is global talent management? Why has it become so important, and what will it look like in the future?

First, let us look at the concept of talent management.

Unlike many other business concepts, talent management

Academics have identified two different approaches to talent management.

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was not conceived in academia and then later introduced into the world of business; rather it was born of and directly into the world of consultancy. Once there, it attracted the attention of academics. The generally-agreed definition of talent management is the identification, recruitment, development, retention and management of talent, all for the sake of helping organisations to meet their business or economic objectives.

Academics have since identified two different approaches to talent management, or more specifically to what or who is ‘talent’. These are known as the inclusive and exclusive approaches. The inclusive approach sees every person in a company as talent, or as human capital, each needing the opportunity to develop his or her personal skills in order to move on and upward in his or her career. However, this 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

approach is taken by few organisations; it is the exclusive approach that dominates. This approach focuses on a select minority of employees considered as highly talented in terms of their capacity to help develop the business. These ‘best performers’ will find themselves on the fast track, their skills monitored and developed by the company, their path to the top facilitated; in short, they become the focus of the talent management process.

Given that human resource management is traditionally responsible for people management in the workplace, how does it differ from talent management? While human resource management accounts for every person in a company, talent management targets the talents, and in its exclusive form this means only that specific minority of highly talented individuals. What’s more, human resource management comprises all those old administrative functions: managing the payroll, the hiring and firing procedures and so on. Talent management does not carry that burden: its focus is on people and how to make the most of them within the company in the most efficient way. The very term, then, is a sign for companies

TEAM PLAYER

to show to employees, future employees, customers and stake holders that their focus is on valuing the people they employ and getting the best out of them.

WHAT IS GLOBAL TALENT MANAGEMENT? Quite simply,

global talent management is talent management on a global scale and there are three main situations in which it operates. The first occurs when having to manage an expatriate workforce. For example, Airbus has thousands of expatriates around the world and whose personal and professional well-being all need to

be managed in their move from one country to another, in such a way that best maintains business performance.

The second situation is when managing (non-expatriate) employees located internationally. Consider large multinationals that need to manage their talent across different countries to meet the business objectives set by the company’s headquarters. This entails standardising human resource management processes across various countries.

The third situation is managing people in emerging or developing economies. This last situation is a new, increasingly visible manifestation of global talent management.

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THE STORY OF PR Looking back at landmark communications

THE EVOLUTION OF EVALUATION The story of public relations measurement and evaluation goes back over at least two centuries.

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he evolution of public relations measurement starts more than two centuries ago, with some suggesting that media monitoring practices can be identified from the late 18th century onwards, even involving staff of the first US president, George Washington.

The measurement and evaluation of public relations activity has long been an important subject of discussion and debate.

Measurement practices can be identified from the beginning of the 20th century, when ‘public relations’ began to be widely used as the description for a set of communication activities. Some methods used in the first decade of the century would be familiar to practitioners over a century later. One of these, ‘The Barometer’, was used by the first known publicity agency in the US, The Publicity Bureau of Boston. It was a card index of the attitudes of editors and media usage of publicity material. This allowed the agency to judge “whether a paper is ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ from the standpoint (of its clients)”. Historian Scott Cutlip commented on The Barometer, with considerable irony, that “public relations research is not as new as some think”.

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EARLY INFLUENCES Although Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays are often cited as influential fathers of public relations practice, it was Arthur W. Page who introduced systematic opinion research into corporate public relations and organisational communication at AT&T. He championed the use of surveys which were to be an important factor in developing a customer-facing culture at the telecommunications giant. “He deserves credit for recognising the need for feedback and encouraging development of systems to gauge the moods of AT&T’s publics. Integration of formal feedback systems into the public relations function is one of his contributions to public relations practise”, said his biographer Noel Griese.

By the late 1930s and early 1940s in North America, two methods of

Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Mcapdevila/CC-BY-SA 3.0

By Tom Watson and Paul Noble

THE STORY OF PR

Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Lite/GNU Free Documentation License

measurement were being established that are still widely used. Brandon Batchelor provided two examples of the monitoring and interpretation of media coverage. The first was that the Roosevelt Administration paid close attention to both publicity dissemination and its reception. “In other words, it watches carefully all changes in the political attitudes of a community”, wrote Batchelor in 1938.

He also referred to the extensive media monitoring operation of the city of Toledo, Ohio in the Great Depression. It measured some 72,000 media clippings from newspapers and found 91 per cent favourable to the city’s interests. So it can be seen that at high levels of national and city government, measurement and evaluation were taking place using methods that are still in place today.

At the same time, the connection between advertising costs and editorial space gained by press agents and publicists came into practice. This was later exemplified by Plackard and Blackmon whose 1947 book offered a fully worked example of Advertising Value Equivalence, many decades before it became a common (if dubious) practice.

MID-CENTURY TO 1970S In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a worldwide growth in public relations activity. In the UK, whose Institute of Public Relations was founded in 1948, there was discussion of evaluation in its Journal from the outset, mainly proposing analysis of clippings and documents. However, the increasing number of ‘how to’ books on public relations produced in the UK and North America rarely touched the topic.

The 1970s was the decade when books and articles addressing public relations evaluation started to

appear. Measuring and Evaluating Public Relations Activities was published by the American Management Association in 1968 with seven articles on methods of measuring public relations results. Academics then began taking the lead. A conference in 1977 at the University of Maryland chaired by Professor James Grunig, partnering with AT&T, was followed by the first scholarly special issue, ‘Measuring the Effectiveness of Public Relations,’ in Public Relations Review’s Winter 1977 edition, which featured papers from the conference.

1980S AND 1990S: DEBATE WIDENS Following on from the initial conference and academic journal discussion late in the previous decade, US journals came alive in the 1980s with papers from leading academics such as Glenn Broom, David Dozier, James Grunig, Douglass Newsom and Donald Wright. From the consultancy side, Lloyd Kirban of Burson Marsteller and Walter Lindenmann of Ketchum were prolific and drove the subject higher on the practitioner agenda. In 1990 Public Relations Review had another special edition on evaluation, ‘Using Research to Plan and Evaluate Public Relations’ (Summer 1990). Widely cited, it showed that measurement and evaluation were consistently part of academic

Some methods used in the first decade of the century would be familiar to practitioners over a century later. and professional discourse. These authors emphasised the need for public relations to be researched, planned and evaluated using robust social science techniques. It was particularly fostered by Broom and Dozier’s seminal Research Methods in Public Relations (1990).

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THE STORY OF PR

MOVEMENT FOR CHANGE With a rich history of campaigning for change, not for profits remain some of communications’ leading innovators

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he not for profit sector has been an innovator in communications for more than a century. From the suffragettes’ early use of what we would today call branding – their distinctive green, purple and white colour palette, the consistency of the Votes for Women and Deeds not Words messaging across leaflets, banners, badges and even tea sets - not for profits have been trailblazers. The suffragettes had a sophisticated approach to media management and pioneered the use of photocalls. Around the time when Ivy Lee famously wrote the first press release, the suffragettes had press secretaries who gave journalists written briefings and alerted them to photo opportunities such as

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suffragettes chaining themselves to railings, mass demonstrations, and speeches delivered (in one striking 1908 example) to members of parliament by a spokeswoman on a boat, branded with the Votes for Women slogan, floating on the Thames.

Gandhi’s salt march in India in 1930 also used mass rallies of ordinary people to draw media and politicians’ attention to social injustice.

Many not for profits have drawn on Gandhi’s legacy of non-violent direct action, notably the UK’s Cam-

Photo: 350org / Flickr

By Michaela O’Brien

THE STORY OF PR

paign for Nuclear Disarmament with their landmark march to the atomic weapons research establishment in Aldermaston in 1958 and sit-ins and die-ins (still a popular photocall technique used today) in the 1960s.

Campaigner Paul Hilder traces the origins of social change campaigning back to the 1600s, and cites the campaign to abolish the slave trade as “arguably the first popular movement for policy change sustained over decades”.

The campaign’s techniques were not dissimilar to those used today by many not for profits: a network of local groups holding public meetings and distributing information to raise awareness; a large petition delivered to members of parliament, a supportive, high profile politician (William Wilberforce) leading the campaign inside parliament. Hilder goes so far as to say that “much of the repertoire of social campaigning had already been developed by the mid-nineteenth century”.

In the 1960s, social changes such as the rise of women’s and gay rights and other identity-based movements signalled the start of a new wave of social change campaigning. By the 1970s, the increased popularity of television let huge audiences see the media-friendly and highly visual tactics of new environmental organisations like Greenpeace, whose nonviolent direct action followed the Quaker tradition of bearing witness.

Not for profits have developed their tactics as the media has changed and helped develop today’s media management ‘toolkit’ of statistics, case studies, photocalls, human interest and expert opinion, along with storytelling and content creation. Today many employ communications professionals with the enviable job title of storytellers to

help them engage supporters, politicians and other decision makers across all media and social media platforms through the power of individuals’ stories. And the sector leads the way in exploring the power of framing, informed by ideas drawn from psychology, to shape campaign communications.

Looking at the way technology impacts on communications, we can see that the not for profit sector has once again been a pioneer. Greenpeace has always been an early adopter, producing video news releases in the 1980s and beaming images via satellite from its ships in mid-ocean to the world’s broadcasters, while Friends of the Earth pioneered geographical information systems (GIS) in the early 1990s to create publically accessible, localised maps of ground water pollution and toxic waste sites. In 1996, Friends of the Earth launched its first campaign website during the Newbury Bypass campaign, the biggest road protest that had

Not for profits have developed their tactics as the media has changed. been seen in Britain. While the media focused on dramatic imagery of security forces using heavy machinery to remove protestors from trees along the proposed bypass route, the Friends of the Earth website described sustainable alternatives to the road and was lauded in PR Week and Design Week as getting across the full story that most media reports had overlooked. Nearly 20 years later, communicators in every sector are using online media to bypass journalists in their gatekeeper role and to inform and engage supporters directly. Friends of the Earth’s current high profile BeeCause campaign, with its interactive map showing supporters’ action to protect bees, draws on 20 years of innovation in GIS and online communication.

ONLINE PIONEERS More recently, the new breed of not for profits such as 38 Degrees and Sum of Us have pioneered innovative ways to engage supporters through social media, mobilising people with concerns about social justice who previously would have struggled to connect with each other. By combining online and offline techniques, they have created a new, nimble approach to citizen participation which won the first policy U-turn of the current British coalition government when 38 Degrees’ landmark Save Our Forest campaign killed plans to sell off the country’s public forest. Change.Org (originally a not for profit and now a social enterprise) estimates that 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

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THE STORY OF PR

THE OTHER HISTORY The untold stories of individual employees and of business in general can help organisations survive turbulent times.

By Anna Linda Musacchio Adorisio

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here is a consensus among business scholars on the important role played by the largely undocumented experience acquired over the years by individual workers and business alike, and the crucial function it performs for the survival of organisations. Furthermore, leveraging past experience, expertise and other collective resources can be a determinant of organisational success during times of change.

Studies of organisational memory in the management realm follow an objectivist understanding of memory defined as stored information from the past that can be brought to bear on present decisions. As a communication scholar I have complemented this view with a more dynamic and contextual view of organisational remembering that could include communication as the locus of the organisation and its representation of the past.

If the storage conceptualisation is concerned with acquisition, retention and retrieval of information, the “storying” perspective I have introduced focuses on how the past is remembered in organisations, where “storying” as opposed to storage represents a communicative practice in which organisational members organise the selection and interpretation of the past.

A COMPETITIVE TOOL The point of departure is that of studying remembering as a human activity deeply embedded in communication, knowing that communication plays a crucial role both for the representation of the past but also for its performative and constitutive nature. We use communication to report on reality but at the same time com01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

munication shapes our realities. And here lies the strategic role of communication in representing the past and shaping our present and future.

When we communicate the past in an organisation we dynamically shape its boundaries. This is why it is crucial to understand that remembering the past deals with the social and relational context in which the communication takes place, as we remember for others and through others, but also with the historical time in which the remembering takes place. A sophisticated understanding of the past can lead to a better definition of who

THE STORY OF PR

What does this conceptualisation of organisational remembering as narrative mean for communication practitioners? It allows them to focus on communicative practices and in particular narrative practices for their role in organising the selection and interpretation of the past.

The shift from organisational memory to organisational remembering raises concerns over the forms in which it emerges and crystallises in organisational settings.

Communicators should be aware of the importance of the narrative construction and reconstruction of the past in organisations. “Narrative” can be boiled down to a communicative practice (oral or written) in which two or more people reconstruct and interpret past experience.

Narrative deals with the organisation of remembered past through the selection of what is meaningful for the person communicating it, through associations that live in the relationships between events and other events, and events and actions that make interpretation possible. Corporate

Organisational members engage in a sense making of the past that is richer in turbulent times .

we are and pays attention to the possibilities that such identity/ies can bring forth.

In my research I start by acknowledging that the past is remembered differently over time and space and that its activation represents a strategic competitive tool for companies and businesses alike. If the storage metaphor used in management studies deals with memory as an object “out there”, where remembered events are crystallised in ex post reconstruction, the proposed “storying” perspective deals with a communicative view where the living stories in the here and now continuously shape and are shaped by the organisational contexts in which they emerge.

narratives, working life stories, anecdotes and instructions become the tapestry that arises from interaction at different organisational levels and a frame within which organisational members negotiate their organisational everyday life. Narratives provide a way to gain access to the organisation of the past and can be used by communication professionals to raise questions on how such constructions is made and for what purposes.

Organisational narratives represent not only all the stories that belong to a certain organisation but also a certain way of telling them.

NARRATION AND SURVIVAL In my research of banking across different countries in the last 10 years, I have analysed materials produced by banks in the form of reports, brochures, internal newsletters, official speeches and archive material, but I have also interviewed bankers about how they remember and communicate the past of their organisation. The aim of this reconstruction was to investigate the basis of collective reconstruction of the past and the role played by narrative. One of the results of my research has been the discovery of the vital role that narrating the past plays in the survival of organisations in moments of change. Organisational members engage in a sense making of the past that is richer in turbulent 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

MUKUND RAJAN 56

Headquartered in Mumbai, Tata Group operates in more than 80 countries around the world. We asked a few questions of its brand custodian and group spokesperson and chief ethics ofďŹ cer.

Interview: Dafydd Phillips

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You are the brand custodian, spokesperson and chief ethics ofďŹ cer of Tata.

What are the practical implications of combining these functions under one responsibility?

Over the last two years, I have had the privilege of playing the role of brand custodian that brings together the brand, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ethics functions at the group centre, three fundamental pillars on which the Tata brand equity has been built over the last 140 years. These three

Photo: DILIP THAKKAR

Key communicators under the spotlight

THE BIG INTERVIEW

alignment between my various responsibilities, and the mandate to protect and enhance the Tata brand.

How is the Tata brand upheld across the group’s many and diverse operations?

The Tata brand and the group composite mark represent the commitment of all Tata companies to adhere to shared values and to live up to the high expectations of our stakeholders. This requires all our companies to maintain high standards of quality and reliability in their products and services, and discharge their responsibilities to their stakeholders through the highest standards of ethical conduct. Tata Sons owns the Tata brand. The principal levers through which it encourages Tata companies to play their role in protecting and enhancing the Tata brand equity is by promoting their adoption of the Tata Business Excellence Model and by monitoring their compliance with the Tata Code of

We are India’s strongest corporate brand and the only Indian brand in the global list of Top 50 brands.

pillars are central to the belief reflected in the statement attributed to our founder, Jamsetji Tata, that “In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business but in fact the very purpose of its existence.” This belief forms the basis for our group’s mission: “To improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on leadership with trust”. Within the values-driven organisation that Tatas represent, I see a complete

Conduct. The Tata Business Excellence Model, in operation now for 20 years, focusses on process and business excellence across all areas of operation of a company, by benchmarking these with global best practices. The Tata Code of Conduct, which dates back to 1998, provides the ethical guidance to all Tata companies and employees so that they uphold the group’s values. The Code is embraced and cascaded through a combination of the tone at the top, the active network of ethics counselors across the group, significant investments in training and communication at all levels on the importance of values, and the celebration of inspiring stories that reflect the group’s proud legacy.

Europe is a major market for Tata, with companies including brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover in the UK and Tata Hispano in Spain. How does this impact your communications?

With our rapid growth in India and overseas, we now need to ensure that across all our markets, all our stakeholders, including our own employees, understand who we are and what we stand for. This requires an enormous investment in communication, through owned, earned, paid and shared media, and the establishment of systems and processes that bring our stakeholders closer together, united in their trust of Brand Tata.

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STORY TELLER Looking at the important questions of communication

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STORY TELLER

ANTICIPATION & DISRUPTION Communications on the cutting edge “Big data, big disruption” by Andrew Pickup page 62 – 65

“Facilitating the evolution” by Vanessa Ching page 66 – 69

“Weapons of mass disruption” by David Phillips page 70 – 73

“First the people” by Peter Parussini page 74 – 77

“Tales of the unexpected” by Daniel Diermeier page 78 – 81

“What if? What now?” by Anik Michaud page 82 – 85

“Disrupting the status quo” by Lars Rinsdorf and Swaran Sandhu page 86 – 89

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