There has been some lamentation of late for the apparent “decline of the internal communicator”, a mere decade since the “rise and rise” of said species was proclaimed in London headhunter Nick Helsby’s “The Rise of the Internal Communicator.” Indeed, with a supine employment market and an increasing preference for junior or implementational practitioners for organisation-wide IC roles, one could get a sense that the profession is in a state of inexorable decline.
But such a view belies both the role of the “social media revolution” and greater sophistication within organisations about the relative value of specific internal and external audiences.
What we are starting to see in organisations is a shift in strategic emphasis from one-size-fits-all internal and external messaging towards communication approaches that target and engage smaller but higher-value audiences. On the external side, instead of focusing on 10 reporters, the focus is beginning to shift towards, perhaps, 100 or 1000 decision-makers and high impact stakeholders. Communication is becoming more direct, and also more mediated. But the mediation is less through broadcast sources, and more through individuals who have social or peer credibility within these higher value audiences.
In truth, this has been how many internal comms practitioners have been operating for years, perhaps even while seemingly maintaining their channel mixes as their “day jobs”. Certainly, change communicators ignore the existence of smaller, higher-value, “tribal” audiences at their own peril as these are the main constituencies capable of giving change velocity and credibility. While social media did not by any means invent the smaller, higher-value, tribal constituency, social tools now make those audiences far easier to identify, reach and mobilise today than before.
Indeed, the application of social tools make clear that external audiences behave much more like internal “tribes” than traditionally thought – with complex interrelationships, clearly acknowledged leaders, and common interests, values and ambitions.
If we are moving from an emphasis on audience spread (broadcasting) towards one on audience value (narrowcasting, targeting and relationship building), then the future actually augurs better for more sophisticated and even more mature internal communicators than some currently think.
For internal communicators have had both the opportunity to analyse and prioritise elements of their employee masses through stakeholder mapping exercises, and have held a variety of formal and informal tools with which to engage their stakeholders directly. Even if those skills are less part of the job definition for a “Head of Internal Communication” today (a role which is likely to become more general and tactical), they will become more in demand for roles dealing with specific internal and external agendas – change communication roles internally, social communication roles internally and externally, and external stakeholder management.
At the same time, recruiters are often the last people to get the memo on such things, which is why the market may well trail these trends for a while. But the trend towards a focus on audience value is borne out both by what is happening in the industry and by the adoption of social communication technologies – focusing on fewer people who have greater impact. Those who can do this are those most likely to succeed, and it’s an area where internal communication pros have the edge.
Mike Klein is Communication Partner at Maersk Oil in Copenhagen and is the author of From Lincoln to LinkedIn – The 55 Minute Guide to Social Communication. His thoughts are his own and not necessarily that of his employer.
