✅ A framework for future-focused communications

Corporate communications, public relations, media and management insight

A persistent challenge in corporate communications and public relations is the lack of standardised management methodologies and workflows. While practitioners routinely undertake management communication tasks, they seldom use formal processes or tools.

This issue explains why seemingly commonsense methodologies such as the Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) Integrated Evaluation Framework are not more embedded in practice. Most agencies and teams develop their own processes and workflows, which become part of their intellectual property, sales proposition and team culture. It emphasises the lack of process and knowledge sharing within practice.

This fundamental issue between theory and practice contributes to the disconnect between management understanding and the strategic value of corporate communications and public relations. We lack the rigour, language and tools to explain our work in terms that management understands.

It’s a factor that holds back the potential of practice within management, but it needn’t be this way. There is a significant amount of research and knowledge that could help practitioners elevate the scope and value of their work. A good example has just been published in The International Journal of Strategic Communication.

A new approach to future-focused communication

A new framework developed by Dr Falk Kunadt, Senior Strategy Analyst at the German Aerospace Center, addresses the increasingly common management communication challenge of how organisations effectively communicate about future developments, such as economic or market conditions and issues ranging from artificial intelligence to climate change.

Kunadt’s work is based on an empirical study of three projects from a European Union foresight database. It combines strategic foresight (analysing and preparing for the future) with strategic communication (conveying messages effectively), resulting in an approach for discussing uncertain future issues while enabling an organisation and its management to maintain credibility.