I recently had the opportunity to talk with a group of internal communication professionals representing organizations including GE Energy, Family Health International, McKinsey & Company, ServiceMaster, Sony Latin America, Verizon Wireless and a few government agencies.
The conversation turned to the creation of a list of things we do as professional communicators. This list included everything from ghostwriting executive memos and blogs to strategic communications planning and everything that might fall in between. For example, coordination of executive head shots, awards program submission, survey writing, video production, senior leadership meeting management, screen saver design, and implementation of new communication channels.
After a quick comparison of our jobs, the conversation turned to what really matters—how many activities on the list are truly connected to organization goals. It was amazing to see how much extra time could be created in one’s day by simply removing some of those activities that are not connected to organizational goals.
So, the next time you are searching for more resources, be it time, budget or staff, consider going through this simple exercise of determining what activities might no longer be necessary.
