✅ Navigating polarisation: Download our latest report on the role of corporate communications
Your week ahead in management, media and public relations
We’re publishing our second report - Hindsight to foresight: Taking a proactive approach to purpose and polarization - commissioned by NewsWhip today. It asked us to investigate the role of corporate communications in helping companies manage social and political polarisation.
There is no bigger issue facing corporate communicators, according to the Page Society and PRovoke Media.
Polarisation lands on the desk of corporate communications as it is the only management function with a relationship perspective of an organisation. This position is uniquely based on both the internal and external context and a balance of emotional and intellectual intelligence.
Planning and decision-making are data-led and consider a wide stakeholder perspective.
I had the privileged opportunity over the Spring of interviewing more than 20 communications and insights leaders at organisations in the EU, UK and US to gather my own data for the report. Thank you to everyone who took part.
The Hindsight to Foresight report contains a lot of goodness and three original areas of insight to help organisations manage polarisation.
How we got here - you can trace an arc from Milton Friedman’s focus on shareholder supremacy, through a broader set of stakeholder concerns manifested in CSR and more recently ESG, to COVID-19. Corporate communications during the pandemic were humanised and leaders were expected to speak out about a range of issues, notably wellbeing and mental health.
Triggers for polarisation - we studied how issues play a part in the public conversation thanks to first person case studies and NewsWhip data. It is predominantly a media effect driven by social media escalation, media laundering, amplification and publishing economics. It is also weaponised and used by politicians to appeal to voters.
Management foresight framework - geopolitics has rapidly shifted from activist leadership and organisations speaking out to more nuanced internal conversations. Values and risk are being managed carefully. We’ve codified a framework to help shift from a reactive to proactive position on polarisation issues.
NewsWhip helps companies make sense of how issues are playing out in the media and public sphere in realtime and provides predictive insights into how they are likely to evolve.
This is our second report for NewsWhip. Our first research project - Influence Through Insight - explored how the corporate communications function uniquely brings an external perspective into strategic decision-making and planning.
My thanks to NewsWhip for supporting this work. It enables me to explore issues related to my doctorate studies and makes an important contribution to asserting the role of corporate communications in management.
Let me know if we can help you with corporate communications and management issues.
Have a good week.
Management
🧭 NAVIGATING COMPLEXITY: The latest Page Society report argues that the role of corporate communications has been significantly elevated due to geopolitical uncertainty, technological disruption, societal shifts, and heightened stakeholder expectations. CCOs are becoming key decision-makers, driving stakeholder engagement, corporate governance, and addressing ethical challenges. Source: Wadds Inc.
💼 RISK REPORT: A review of global risk emphasises the complex challenges organisations face but highlights opportunities for corporate communicators to drive positive change. Key strategies include showcasing the company's role in driving progress, fostering trust through transparent communications, demonstrating responsible AI use and navigating polarising issues. Source: Rod Cartwright Consulting.
Research
🩺 IMPROVING REPRESENTATION: POCC, a creative network focused on driving culture change, is conducting a research project to understand how best to authentically represent the Black and South Asian experience in UK healthcare stock imagery. It is gathering views via a short survey to help educate content creators to capture more authentic and representative material. Source: POCC.
Social media and platforms
🧵TWEETDECK RIVAL: Meta is testing a TweetDeck-like web interface for Threads, allowing users to create customisable real-time feeds in a column layout. The new features, available to selected testers, address complaints from power users and rival X's paid TweetDeck alternative. Source: The Verge.
📻 BBC SHIFT: BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music have announced they will no longer post updates to their Facebook and X accounts despite having three million combined followers. The stations will instead focus on engaging with their audiences on TikTok and Instagram, aligning with changing listener demographics and behaviours. Source: Radio Today.
Industry
😔 PR MENTAL HEALTH: The CIPR and PRCA's 2023/2024 Mental Wellbeing Audit reports a rise in mental health issues among PR practitioners, with nine-in-ten practitioners reporting poor mental health. Despite the benefits of remote work, stress levels remain high, primarily due to overwhelming workloads and the need for industry-wide action to address the issue. Source: CIPR.
💪 FEMINISM IN COMMS: While the communications and public relations industry is a feminised occupation, representation, education, inclusion, and intersectionality are still needed to level the playing field for women. Interventions to address the imbalance include female leadership, equitable support, and addressing pay gaps. Source: Splendid Communications.
Good and bad PR
🙏 COMMS FAILURES: Former Post Office communications director Mark Davies admitted to failings in handling the Horizon IT scandal during the ongoing inquiry. He regretted not questioning colleagues more and acknowledged mistakes in his communications approach but denied intentionally misleading the public or covering up issues. Source: PR Week.
🌍 GREENWASHING ACUSATIONS: Barclays, which claims to fight climate change, has funded fossil fuel companies, including those behind a controversial pipeline and aggressive oil expansion. An investor has labelled Barclays' billions in 'sustainable' finance for the fossil fuel industry as greenwashing. Source: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Media
🇪🇺 EUROPE TALKS: A project by German news site Zeit Online and eleven other European outlets connects thousands of Europeans with differing views for one-on-one conversations to find common ground ahead of the European elections. Participants are matched based on their responses to polarising questions, and the project aims to promote understanding and reduce affective polarisation across borders. Source: Neiman Labs.
Thank you to all of the members of our community for sharing and debating stories covered in the newsletter this week: Sophie Barnes, Andrew Bruce Smith, Rod Cartwright, Julian Christopher, David Gallagher, Mark Pearson, Selicia Richards-Turney, and Sarah Waddington CBE.