What Does the Rise of Corporate Affairs Mean for Internal Comms?

The steady but inexorable rise of the Corporate Affairs (CA) function in recent years has had a significant impact on the role, purpose, and efficacy of internal communications (IC) teams. While there is no doubt it has created unprecedented openings, CA has also posed serious question marks about IC, at a time when the discipline is fighting to stay relevant.

In this blog, I'll analyze the main challenges and opportunities posed by the CA function, and what internal communicators can do to address the former, and take advantage of the latter.  

Challenges

1. Employees are just another audience

Corporate Affairs is primarily concerned with reputation, risk, and trust. To manage all three effectively, it must build relationships with a wide array of stakeholders, including government, consumers, investors, analysts, the media, and employees. 

The function was born, and has grown, because the range of issues companies face has never been greater, the number of stakeholders they need to engage is ever-lengthening, and all of this must be done in a strategic, integrated, and professional manner. 

This means the function typically includes Public, Government, Investor Relations, Internal Communications, Crisis Communications, and ESG (Environmental, Social, And Governance) teams. 

An unintended consequence of this broad church is that employees can sometimes be seen as just another audience, of equal or lesser importance than others. When organizations rank their stakeholders in terms of influence, they often prioritize investors and other external parties over their own people. 

According to Deloitte, the number one issue for CA is managing a dynamic external landscape. Employees can be viewed as a captive, friendly audience who don’t need the same degree of care or attention as others. 

But as we know, nothing could be further from the truth. 

What can we do?

Continue to demonstrate the impact that effective internal communications has on company financials – the evidence is everywhere. 

2. External issues drive the internal agenda 

When the majority of your stakeholders are external, it’s little wonder that CA spends most of its energy on these people. However, this can mean that external issues dominate the company’s communications agenda, including its internal comms. For example, many organizations have made public proclamations on political or social topics – Black Lives Matter, the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, climate change, the list goes on.

I am not suggesting for one moment that employees don’t want to know, or care, about the company’s position on these issues. But it does cause difficulties for IC teams. These topics are often divisive, and can alienate and disengage employees who don’t share their organization’s view. 

But perhaps even more damaging, they divert precious resources away from communicating the company’s strategy to employees. Ironically, by excessively focusing on external issues, businesses may well be weakening their employees’ ties to the company, rather than strengthening them.  

What can we do?

Share employee feedback on what external issues matter to them, to influence decisions on company positions and related communications. 

3. Less strategic, more reactive 

By its nature, CA tends more towards reactive than proactive communications. This is in large part down to the nature of its remit, which covers priorities and stakeholders that are fluid and can rapidly change. To deliver on its objectives, the function has to be alert, always on, and able to respond. 

I am not saying CA lacks strategy. Indeed, part of the reason for the birth and development of the function has been the organizational imperative to be more strategic about reputational issues. But any function dealing with crises, the media, investors, and the government is always going to be preoccupied with managing risks, handling responses, and putting out fires over longer-term strategic communications to employees.  

While it may sit within CA, internal communications is a distinct discipline and as such requires a different approach. It must take a strategic, longer-term approach to ensuring employees understand the company’s purpose, vision, and strategy, and their role in delivering it. 

This needs to be built steadily over time, using a variety of techniques, including a compelling narrative and emotive storytelling. Being constantly dragged into issue comms at the expense of its primary role and purpose is perhaps the biggest challenge IC faces from CA. 

What can we do?

Push hard to ensure a representative balance between strategic internal comms versus issue and stakeholder responses.   

Opportunities 

1. Put IC at the heart of Corporate Affairs 

As I’ve written before, there’s never been a more interesting and exciting time to work in IC. One of the reasons for this is the unparalleled opportunity offered by CA. For as long as I can remember, IC teams have been making the case that they should be at the heart of their organizational structures, not an afterthought offshoot of HR, Marketing, or another function. 

Now, for the first time ever, IC can take its place at the centre of corporate communications. The reason for this is because CA is being taken seriously by companies. The number of Chief Communications Officers (CCOs) is increasing, as is their presence on Boards and executive leadership teams. 

Internal communicators should grasp this with both hands, and work closely with the Head of CA or CCO to ensure that IC is understood and valued, its role and purpose is clearly defined, and its strategy is reflected in the overall CA strategy. 

What can we do?

Build a strong relationship with your Head of CA/CCO and take the time to educate them on the business value of IC – don’t assume they will already understand this. 

2. Increase the employee voice in decision-making

As internal communicators, part of our job is to represent employees and ensure their views are considered when business decisions are being made, including how they are communicated. Operating within a CA context, we should bring the same rigor to cultivating long-term relationships with our employees as our counterparts do with investors, analysts, and the media. 

There are many ways we can do this. Employee Resource Groups and other such representative bodies are essential for better understanding your people’s sentiment on a range of issues, including those your company want to take a public position on. Rather than waiting for the annual engagement survey, you can get real-time, unfiltered feedback. 

By adopting a more structured, regular, listening-based approach to gathering your people’s views, you can get the data you need to ensure employees’ voices are heard by the business. You will also be seen as a broad Corporate Affairs professional who understands the dynamics of the function, which will help you have more influence and deliver greater impact.  

What can we do?

When creating your IC strategy, put employee listening and insights at the center of it. Back this up with a plan of regular engagement. 

3. Showcase the value of an integrated approach 

One of the great benefits of CA is that it highlights the criticality of taking an integrated approach to communications. The walls between external and internal communications fell long ago, but true collaboration has been patchy until the arrival of CA. Now, the true value of reputation, risk management, and trust to an organization cannot be realized unless there is a coordinated communications effort. 

It’s widely acknowledged that what goes on inside your company can easily leak outside, and that external events (and how you respond to them – or not) will impact your employees. In both instances, IC should take the lead in connecting the dots across CA, helping colleagues in other sub-departments to understand the broader implications of their work and consider employees as vital stakeholders in all activities. 

Likewise, IC can learn from these colleagues too, and bring a 360-degree view into our internal communications. This will enable us to give our employees fuller context and broader perspectives, which will only improve the quality and effectiveness of our communications. 

What can we do?

Spend time with colleagues in other CA disciplines, listen, and learn from them. IC can sometimes make us too narrow in our thinking – being part of CA enables us to see the bigger picture.

The world of IC is constantly evolving, and coming under CA is a logical next step for us. It won’t always be easy to navigate and balance, but CA offers IC incredible opportunities to be strategic drivers of change in organizations.