Running a business is a tough job, especially if you are handling a big corporation. One of the many aspects of the job that you should focus on is corporate communication, because effective communication brings about many benefits for the company – like improved productivity and increased revenues.
What is corporate communication?
Communicating at the corporate level involves exchanging business information within the company, and also outside of the organization. A highly managerial discipline, corporate communication is closely associated with other business aspects like marketing, public relations, human resources and leadership. The main thrust of corporate communication is to preserve an organization’s corporate identity while promoting the organization’s positive outlook as a brand.
As a corporate communicator, your responsibilities include formulating communication strategies, writing briefs and speeches, drafting press releases and handling interpersonal and inter-departmental communication initiatives.
It goes without saying that you need to have corporate communication training not just for yourself, but also for the other leaders of your organization. This training will ensure that people holding various roles in your company are fully equipped with the proper communication skills needed to be successful in dealing with various situations they find themselves in as they fulfill their tasks for the company.
Corporate Communication Training: What for?
Companies are naturally composed of many departments or groups that have their own unique sub-cultures, which are driven chiefly by the respective methods they communicate. If you are to deal with these departments effectively, you need to be able to reach them through proper communication. You also need to equip these groups with the skills necessary to be able to communicate effectively with one another, in order for your organization to prosper in achieving your its goals. Corporate communication training allows you and your management team to develop and enhance your capability as you look into how these departments and groups relate to each other. Through the training, you gain the skills you need to spot communication issues and devise appropriate measures to address these issues.
Training for corporate communication develops and enhances many skills that are needed in the following areas:
- Business Communication. Training helps managers and other business leaders to competently handle people under their care. Handling employees effectively involves building and maintaining relationships with the staff, in order to inspire and inform them about the company’s goals and how the staff can contribute to these goals by doing their respective tasks efficiently. Business communication also involves reaching out to other stakeholders and forming alliances with them.
- Executive Communication. One of the functions of managers is to lead and hold meetings. Corporate communication training equips leaders with public speaking, effective presentation and facilitation skills that they need to confidently present the necessary facts, to express themselves in a way that befits an executive, and to manage meetings well.
- Crisis Communication. Business leaders must also possess skills necessary for communicating during a crisis. Crisis communication does not just deal with disseminating information during disasters and emergencies, but also with change and conflict management. Training helps executives develop the ability to propose beneficial solutions to conflicts and crises and to make transitions in the company easier for everyone involved.
Making the Training Effective
In order to make the training effective and to maximize its benefits, it must be done on a regular basis. This will ensure that the leaders’ skills are continually updated, so the leaders can function at their best as they communicate with the employees and the other stakeholders of the company.
Using technology is another way of making the training effective. Tools like e-learning are a great help, especially as they can be adapted to the unique needs of various organizations.
It is also essential to get feedback from the training participants and to assess the effectiveness of the training in order to ensure that is useful and is not just a waste of company resources.
