CIPR Inside Webinar 3 Being a strategic business partner 29.11.13

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CIPR INSIDE WEBINAR: Being a Strategic Business Partner 2013 James Harkness & Jane Mitchell

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Being a strategic business partner. Move from drafter and crafter to strategic business partner. James Harkness, Jane Mitchell delivered a webinar on 29 November 2013. Full webinar is available to members on demand on http://www.cipr.co.uk/

Transcript of CIPR Inside Webinar 3 Being a strategic business partner 29.11.13

Page 1: CIPR Inside Webinar 3 Being a strategic business partner 29.11.13

CIPR INSIDE WEBINAR: Being a

Strategic Business

Partner

2013

James Harkness & Jane Mitchell

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Positioning internal communications

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What do your senior leaders

and executive team think of

internal communications?

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How are you perceived?

• Clear purpose

• Right capability

• Strong credibility

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Do you have a clear purpose?

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“Are you here to actively participate

in and influence critical business

decisions?”

or

“Are you here to execute

communications around decisions that have

been made?

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Positioning internal communications

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A changing purpose…

Communications “Creator and Influencer” Communication “Enabler”

Doing Enabling

Communications environment:

Largely hierarchical; one-way push; rely

on mass channels and manager cascades

Communications environment:

On employees’ terms; two-way;

participatory; rely on interactive channels

(face-to-face and web 2.0)

Primary objective:

Employees understand and believe in

company and good values

Primary objective:

Employees are mobilised around

company goals

Method:

Inform and inspire

Method:

Provoke and facilitate

Typical success measures:

Message reach; employee attitudes

Typical success measures:

Employee mobilisation; business

outcomes

Communication skill set:

Writing; channel management;

persuasion; shaping strategic agenda

Communication skill set:

Coaching; facilitating; behavioural

phycology; identifying business need for

communication

Source: Communications Executive Council Research

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Do you have the right capability?

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Internal communications competencies

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Beyond traditional skills

• Business acumen

• Bias for action

• Interpersonal awareness

• Dealing with ambiguity

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Do you have real credibility?

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Use measurement data to make the case

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The business

goals and

challenges

Employees

mood and

behaviours

The external

environment

What we

need

people

to do

differently

What’s

influencing

our business

strategy?

What’s

influencing

our

people?

Keeping informed:

• Press

• Competitor websites/

publications

• Campaign groups

• Industry journals

• Networking with industry

peers

• Conferences/seminars

Keeping informed:

• People survey

• Focus groups

• Employee sounding

boards

• Strong internal network

• Company canteen!

• Union contacts

Keeping informed:

• Intranet

• Website

• Annual report

• AGM

• Analysts views

• Executive presentations

• Business strategy

• Conversations with

senior leaders

• Channels from other

areas of the organisation

Fresh knowledge and insight

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Top business leader concerns 2013

• Customer relationships

• Operational excellence

• Human capital

• Government regulation

• Corporate brand and reputation

Standing in the shoes of your leader

Chartered Management Institute 2013

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Winning the ear of your CEO

• Share a published article that supports your

recommended approach

• Ask questions that lead your ‘client’ to come

to the ‘right’ conclusion on their own

• Provide anecdotes or examples of where

a different approach has delivered results

• Share best practice – use outside world examples

• Find data – research, case studies, benchmarks

to provide evidence for your suggestion

• Be ready to stand by your advice

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Making your mark when it matters most

• Business transformation

• Redundancies

• Operational crisis

• System failures

• Executive departures

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Great questions…

A great question should:

• Demonstrate your own knowledge of an issue

• Be one that others have not thought of asking

• Be challenging to answer

• Lead naturally to more questions

• Open up new avenues of thought not explored before

• Give you real insight – to the thoughts, and

view point of the leader

• Spark creativity and innovation

• Not expect a straight forward answer

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In summary

• Purpose – Define your role and communicate

• Capability – Build your influencing skills and confidence

• Credibility – Learn about your business and give business (not communications)

advice

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James Harkness & Jane Mitchell

James. [email protected]

[email protected]

+44 (0)1483 222730

www.harknesskennett.com

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