PR Insider: Creating a Synchronized Communications Team

Over the past eight years, I’ve had the opportunity to create and re-organize communications teams for five global brands. Time and again the main issue was a lack of integration with the structure and goals of the organization and a lack of a concerted effort within the communications team to reach those goals.

Fundamentally, I believe this is the greatest challenge facing most communications directors today - to create a synchronized team with a clear division of labor that understands, and makes, a concerted effort towards helping an organization meet its goals.

Part of the reason this has become more of a challenge of late has been the tremendous economic transformation that has taken place globally over the past decade. Many CEOs are maneuvering through industry landscapes in flux and are reconsidering their market position and overall identity in these changing times.  Adding to the complicity, the communications field has undergone seismic shifts during that same time period with the power over a brand’s image moving from the business to the consumer with the advent and global adoption of social media.

Here are five tips to help you create a synchronized communications team:

• Assess your current team. First and foremost, take an audit of each member of your team. Meet with each one individually to learn more about their background, skill sets, and future goals. Do they have the skills fit for their current job? Is there any position that would be more suitable given their background?

• Look under the strategic hood. How many of you can find your organization’s current business strategy? Is it up-to-date?  Have a “legacy” look at past strategies to understand the strategic goals the organization has set for itself and is setting for itself to identify trends. Interview leadership and ask them what the business strategy is. Don’t be surprised if their answers do not match the written strategy.

• Evaluate your communications strategy. If you have a communications strategy, review it and compare it to the business strategy. Does it support the organization’s strategic goals? If so, how?

• Determine fit. Now it’s time to go back to the first step and analyze your team as a whole to see if the job functions, locations and reporting lines fit with the overall organization and enable it to meet its strategic goals.

• Beware of ego. Both internally and externally, communications is a service for others, not a fiefdom to espouse wisdom from a tower. Your team needs to integrate well with your organization to be successful. This begins at the hiring process. Make sure you are hiring team players, not solo actors. To have a successful team, each member must be confident, secure in their skill set, willing to take risks and able to work well with others.

Sandra Coyle is the Founder of Coyle Communications, a communications advisory firm based in Washington, DC. Follow her on Twitter @coylecomms or her blog at www.coylecomms.com/blog.