The Complexity of Corporate Communication: How to get your message across!

The complexity of corporate communications

Corporate communication is a broad field that deals with the different public and internal facing aspects of a company. It involves various methods and approaches to share information about a company’s brand, products, services, employees, and so on with a broad internal and external audience.

Communication as a whole is complex as it involves many stakeholders and audiences. Moreover, effective communication requires strong connections between people at all levels of the organization.

To be able to communicate effectively within your organization and with the outside world, you need to understand what corporate communication is, its benefits, and how you can implement it in your organization.

That is why in this article we will discuss everything you need to know about corporate communication so you can get your message across!

What Is Corporate Communication?

When we talk about communication in business, we are primarily referring to two things – one is the process, and the other is the outcome of the process. The process consists of the steps involved in communication, for example – sending the message, the channel through which it is sent, the time frame, and so on.

The outcome of the process refers to the impact that the communication has had on the person who received it.

That is why communication is often described as a process through which we create an understanding between people who are not in the same place at the same time. In this sense, corporate communication is the process and activities through which organizations create a strong connection via employees with the outside world for the purpose of brand building, increasing reputation, and the acquisition and retention of customers.

Why is Effective Communication Important?

Communication is the process of exchanging information and ideas between two or more people. For this process to be effective, certain factors need to be in place. To start with, there should be an understanding between the sender and receiver of the message.

Communication is all about sharing information, and if the information is not understood, it won’t be useful to anyone. We have a saying that ‘a message without meaning is like a bird without wings’. It is because of this that communication is an important aspect of any business venture.

The right words, carefully selected and strategically placed with the correct tone, can be a very powerful tool. They can make for an excellent culture, your brand more recognizable, and encourage customers to buy your products and services.

Benefits of Effective corporate communication

Stronger relationships – The biggest benefit of effective communication is that it strengthens relationships. Whether you communicate with the members of your team, customers, or anyone in between, a strong connection will lead to better results.

Greater productivity – When people understand each other and have a clear idea of what their role is within the organization, productivity increases. This is especially true for organizations where employees have a say in shaping the communication process – for example, when they have the opportunity to voice feedback and suggestions, and when they have the power to participate in the decision-making process.

Better decision-making – When communication is effective, decision-making becomes much easier. This is because the information you share will be well-understood.

Better brand recognition – A strong connection with your audience will not only bring them closer to your brand, but it will also make them more loyal to it. Moreover, the brand of your business will become more recognizable as you take part in various communication activities.

Types of Corporate Communication

Internal communication – This is the communication that happens between employees. It can happen in a number of ways, including one-on-one meetings, group meetings, emails, and so on. Internal communication is important because it helps people work together more effectively and efficiently.

External communication – This is the communication that happens between your organization and the outside world. This could be in the form of marketing campaigns, public relations, social media posts, and more.

Customer communication – This is communication between your customers and your organization. It can happen in a number of ways, including through a company’s customer support or customer service department, through social media posts, and more.

Summing up

Communication is an essential part of any business venture, and it can make or break an organization. The success of your business relies not only on the quality of your products or services but also on how well you communicate that quality to your customers.

When you have strong relationships with your audience, when you can make better decisions, and when you can recognize your brand better – you have stronger communication.

To achieve this, it is important to implement effective goal-driven communication in your organization. This can be achieved by focusing on the type of communication you engage in and by making sure that your communications are all aligned to Successful Customer and Business Outcomes.

Customer Experience world-class online training

The online ACX Masters program gives Customer Experience and Business Transformation leaders the opportunity to go beyond surface-level presentation and get hands-on, practical takeaways to enable their own successful, business-wide transformations.

Attracting 100,000+ global professionals for those handling seismic business change, this Masterclass provides a Fast track look into customer experience management, change, leadership, BPM and CX space, and the challenges that leading industry professionals are overcoming, both on a macro and micro level.

See the full ACX Masters Level 1-5 online agenda at https://www.cxexecutive.com/agenda.html

Gain the insights from the 2020 Amazon Number One bestseller, ‘Dare! Behind The Scenes Of The Best Business Transformation Project In The World.’ And how large and small organizations can transform their people, processes and performance rapidly with an inclusive approach that delivers successful business and customer outcomes.

CX POWER Hour webinar

In just 60 minutes we will evaluate the 4 elements of a Customer Experience Management Ecosystem and how they can provide your organization with a company-wide ecosystem of CX management that focuses all of your team’s efforts and resources on delivering amazing customer experiences.

We are doing a CX POWER Hour this coming Wednesday 1 PM EDT/ 10 AM PDT Expert hosts include James Dodkins aka CX Rockstar, Doug Bell, Mitch Belsley (The Experience Manager) and Steve Towers BP Group.

Register here: CX_POWERUP_2019

Why you should attend

In just 60 minutes we will evaluate the 4 elements of a Customer Experience Management Ecosystem. We will review how the 4 elements can provide your organization with a company-wide ecosystem of CX management. This then focuses all of your team’s efforts and resources on delivering amazing customer experiences.

What we will cover

1. Operationalizing Experience Designs

(How do you create and socialize simple experience designs that everyone in the organization will be able to understand?)

2. Measuring successful customer outcomes instead of business outputs

(Are you still relying on subjective NPS and VOC data to drive your CX analytics program?)

3. Focus every employee in the company every single day on CX innovation and improvement

(Are you harnessing the power of feedback and ideation from your employees?)

4. Evolve and improve your experiences in days not months.

(How long is it taking you to go from idea to implementation?)

Register Now: The CX Power Hour 2019

James Dodkins, one of the hosts, has keynoted in the USA, Argentina, Mexico, UK, Australia and Germany in the last six months.

You will Win the Triple Crown

When you align your business around an understanding of your customer, you can increase your ability to grow revenue, significantly reduce cost, radically boost customer loyalty and engagement, tighten controls – and increase your competitive strength.

The Panel of Global Experts

Meet and discuss with our world-renowned team of Customer Experience Management innovators including… Doug Bell, James Dodkins, Mitch Belsley and Steve Towers will share proven strategies, tactics and tips to help position your customer ‘front and center’ – while addressing your real-world challenges of limited resources and competing priorities.

I very much hope you can join me and my colleagues!
Here is the registration link

All the Very Best!
Steve


Your team in Colorado

  • Doug Bell, CEO The Experience Manager
  • Steve Towers, Chief Evangelist, BPG
  • Mitch Belsley, CEO The Experience Manager

P.S. I suggest you follow The Experience Manager on LinkedIn and stay up-to-date on how to radically improve your customer and employee experiences. We focus the ‘next practices’ of the world’s leading CX companies that will help your organization do a better job designing, developing and delivering great customer and employee experiences.

Transforming Customer Experience FREE Webinar

A STRUCTURED step by step GUIDE to understanding and acting on REAL Customer Needs. This webinar features the rarest alchemy of converting customer experiences into precious metal.

Steve Towers walks you through a case-study in the creation of two pivotal tools, the Outside-In Strategic Matrix (OISM) and the Successful Customer Outcome Canvas (SCOC).

Review the content: FREE Webinar:

 

Developing a consensus and subsequent action plan is key to success. Watch how one airline delivers Successful Customer Outcomes. 

Sign-up for this FREE Webinar:

The CX Secrets to be Revealed include

SECRET #1: HOW TO REFRAME
any process and CX to a customer-centric model
 

How to use a powerful template that gets full collaboration

How to create an agreed understanding of the REAL CX within 2-3 hours

 

SECRET #2: HOW TO IDENTIFY and AGREE the real customer needs (even when they don’t know them!)
 
How to quickly focus on REAL needs and create an agreed framework to share with everyone involved with the CX and linked processes

 

SECRET #3: HOW TO ACTION a clearly defined SMART set of metrics that guide your work
 
How to create a definitive set of METRICS that align everything you do to quickly deliver and sustain Successful Customer Outcomes

 

Sign-up for this FREE Webinar:

And then…       When you have the SECRETS I will then introduce you to the Accredited Customer Experience Masters (ACXM) program. The global certified qualification in 116 countries!

https://cemnext.com/cxlm-template-workthru-webinar

SIX proven steps to introduce the CX Management Office

Companies wishing to build customer loyalty in the midst of a world being digitally transformed need to introduce the Customer Experience Management Office.

Existing approaches such as Program Management Offices do not address the need of the organization to become customer-centric. According to the Project Management Institutes definition “PMO’s serve as a means to standardize project-related governance processes and facilitate sharing of resources and tools. Others serve as centers of excellence, and still, others align project and program work to corporate strategy across an enterprise.”

1. Evolving from a Program Management Office (PMO) to a Customer Experience Management Office (CXMO).


You may be doing things right, but are you doing the right things?

There is a requirement to call out the need for Customer Centricity in literally everything the enterprise does.

Recently I was working with a global retailer who claimed that they managed Customer Experience via the projects orchestrated by the PMO, so I asked for their measures of success within the PMO.

Interestingly the primary metrics focused on three things – coming in on time, to the budget and achieving agreed project deliverables. So, digging deeper revealed the ‘deliverables’ were mostly aligned with functional objectives and only 15% of those talked to the challenge of becoming customer centric.  Even more so – less than 10% talked about joined-up thinking across the silos on behalf of better customer experiences.

Therefore, evolving the PMO to a CXMO is required to centralise the enterprise-wide approach to ensure a consistent and strategic effort.

Find out more and register for the CXMO webinar > JOIN HERE <

Connecting everyone to Successful Customer Outcomes

2. The CXMO is not another functional forever specialism

This isn’t another excuse for empire building. The strategic CX justification revolves around enhanced/redefined Customer Experiences that deliver improved service, lower costs and higher revenues (referred to as the ‘triple crown’) initially from the enterprise-wide consolidation of customer-centric effort, then through systematically aligning everything to contribute to Successful Customer Outcomes.

Hence the CXMO usually has a limited lifespan of 3-4 years as once the discipline is established and everyone is aligned to Successful Customer Outcomes the resources can be devolved back into the business.

In summary, establishing a CXMO is a systematic and strategic initiative.

Co-ordinating everyone, from the boardroom to the tea room, is essential to ensure the shift from the industrial age to the customer centricity age delivers practically and immediately.

Find out more and register for the CXMO webinar > JOIN HERE <

3. Harnessing the disparate CX efforts requires a CXMO.

The majority of people can agree on the valuable benefits of becoming customer centric (triple crown etc.) however departments and divisions will need to be aligned.

For example, the IT systems underpinning current operations were never designed with customer centricity in mind. Their purpose was to automate tasks and activities associated with functional activities such as Accounting, Sales, Customer Call Centers and so on. Sometimes there are efforts to integrate data across these silos but even enterprise-wide systems still have a focus on outputs, rather than delivering well-crafted Outcomes.

Hence migrating the critical to mission systems requires a strategic, top-down driven effort, so that changes are planned, consistent and co-ordinated against customer experience priorities for every part of the organization.

Find out more and register for the CXMO webinar > JOIN HERE <

  1. Reward structures

    A significant challenge impacts the Rewards and Remuneration structures. In industrial Age, thinking employees are rewarded for doing things, and not necessarily in delivering results.

    A simple way to test this hypothesis is to look at the metrics that drive business performance and see whether there are a majority of the measures targeted at counting outputs, rather than customer outcomes. Typical call centres, for example, will be measuring things like Number of Calls, Average Handle Time, Abandon rates and so on. How many of these does the customer actually care about?

    Progressive Customer Centric companies shift the emphasis to measuring the Customer Outcome desired. This fundamental shift in the metrics requires that employees are rewarded for delivering results, rather than completing tasks, and therefore a strategic enterprise-wide rethink to ensure all the dots and connected.

Find out more and register for the CXMO webinar > JOIN HERE <

  1. Walking the Talk by the top team requires an enabled CXMO.

    In the example of the Call Center, what is in a name? A lot it would seem. Imagine renaming the Call Center to a Customer Experience Center… Naturally, measures of success should shift to emphasizing the actual customer experience rather than just processing calls as in a production line.

    The top team needs to take ownership of the challenge as all too often they can be heard talking about how important the customer is, how we should be customer focussed, how much the customer matters to us while at the same time reminding the Call Center people that Average Handle Time (AHT) is king.

    If you work in an environment which prioritizes AHT as a leading measure of success your concern about delivering a Successful Customer Outcome becomes secondary. So, it isn’t just about talking the talk, it is about the top team actioning a customer-centric vision supported by creating the right Attitudes, Behaviours and Culture.

    Find out more and register for the CXMO webinar >JOIN HERE<

 

  1. Where to Start?

This really isn’t a choice. You have to start where you are now, move quickly and begin to harvest the benefits of customer-centric operations. An early objective is to examine the deliverables for all current projects and ask the question ‘how will achieving this contribute to improving the customer experience?’.

 

You will meet resistance from some folks who say ‘this project has nothing to do with the customer… it is an IT systems change, a change to internal processes, a new accounting approach etc.’ Your response is the natural ‘everything should contribute to Successful Customer Outcomes, and if we are doing things that don’t they should be stopped’.

Connect the dots to every customer interaction

The principle here is one of connecting the dots through to every customer interaction, which leads to another objective; identifying the critical customer experiences and mapping those in the context of their linkages with internal processes, rules and digital dependencies. This will then produce a prioritised list of targets for improvement.

 

There is no doubt some heavy lifting involved, not least of which is planning the migration from current state PMO to future state CXMO. There are many objectives to consider and your overall approach should be determined by the maturity of your organization.

To review the options join us in the webinar walking through recent CXMO case studies and emerging ‘next practices’.

Find out more and register for the CXMO webinar > JOIN HERE <

 

 

 

 

Is CX working for you? If not these resources might help

Neat resources to help with the CX transition stuff…

The CX Lifecycle Template (free) – have you got it yet?

The CX Lifecycle Template WEBINAR (free) – if you have the template you have got to do this!
https://cemnext.com/auto-webinar-registration

CPP Masters DENVER – a couple of places left in two weeks
https://11thdenvermasters.eventbrite.com

CPP Champions DENVER – a weekend special!
https://denver7thchampions.eventbrite.com 

CEM Leaders 3 hour (free) sessions in London – real, in the room, with Steve and James!
http://www.customerexperienceworld.co.uk/cem-leaders.html 

New website to celebrate 24 years of being – new look, new accreditations
http://www.bpgroup.org

Of course, if you have anything to add please let us know!
Ciao,
Steve

Join us to learn the Secrets of Apples, Googles, Zara, Zappos and Emirates success

Certified Process Professional Masters Champions (CPP-Master) Program (and ACXP)

An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 180 times, in 64 cities with delegates from 118 countries.
The program, now in its eleventh year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service.
Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.

Become a qualified CPP-Master or ACXP and demonstrate your professionalism http://www.bpgroup.org/training.html

FREE BPM-CEM-OutsideIn course. And receive a complimentary book – Outside-In.

Outside-in approaches create a completely new reality that reshapes how we manage and organize work so much so that functional pyramidal structures become artifacts of the past. 

Born in the complexity of the 21st century Outside-In companies believe that all effort in an organization should be centered around the customer and ultimately deliver Successful Customer Outcomes (SCO).

Part of the insight of Outside-In companies is the identification of work that does NOT contribute to the SCO and accordingly may be ‘dumb stuff’ – work that can be eradicated and removed. In doing so Outside-In wins the triple crown of simultaneously reducing costs, enhancing service and growing revenues. Leading practice organizations include Apple, Southwest airlines, Google, Samsung and Zara. In our book “Outside-In – The secret of the 21st century leading companies” we review many examples and lay the foundations for systematic approaches to enable Outside-In thinking and practice by all.
To access the online course: www.processmiracle.com
To join us on the journey: www.bpgroup.org

Towers-Dodkins, April 2014.

Will you Fail?

From the desk of James Dodkins
We can probably reasonably observe, without fear of understatement, that the
customer has changed forever. The reason our organisations exist, the people
who pay our wages, the cause of all the work we do has evolved beyond
recognition.
And yet has your organisation changed in response to this evolution?
Do we do our work in a different way from the last century?
Is work still flowing top to bottom and left to right?
Are we thinking about how our processes connect with customer success?
In the BP Groups research and experience with the leading companies of the
21st century the answer is … YES, some in fact do understand and act on
this new imperative. However the majority, including some previously
prestigious names are not getting it. Look at the troubles of Nokia, Kodak,
Sony, British Airways, Air India, United… the list is extensive and
disturbing.
For our examples of successful transformation and realignment we can include
Emirates, Zappos, Zara, Apple, Indigo, Hallmark and BMW. A wide selection
from different industries, cultures and operating models. We will get to
specifics later, for now let’s review the reason for their successful
adoption of Advanced BPM, otherwise known as Outside-In. The customer!
If things are changing faster Outside than in you will fail
The accepted business wisdom until the end of the last century was the
adoption and exploration of ideas originally described by Adam Smith in theWealth of Nations, published in 1776. This seminal work introduced the world to the concept of the sub division of labour.
Written during the advent of the industrial revolution the ‘Wealth of Nations’ created a framework for organising manufactories and people into similar skills and disciplines. In fact the original work in a Scottish pin factory demonstrated 20 fold improvements to productivity and as such became a template for achieving industrial and commercial success.
Two and a half centuries later the model is still taught in business schools and academia as the way to structure and organise work. After all it worked for 200+ years?
We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we
created them (Einstein)
And there is the rub. The challenges we face in the 21st century are very different to those being addressed by Adam Smith and the industrialists of the Napoleonic era.
Let’s get to grips with some of the shifts…
Kindest Regards
James Dodkins
Chief Customer Officer
BP Group

Twitter – @JDodkins

Six steps to winning with the Customer Experience

1. Start by identifying the Moments of Truth (customer interactions)that exist across all of your customer experiences (you can create more specific experience maps later).


2. Make a list of all the Moments of Truth (MOT).For each MOT write a description, method of interaction, and customer expectation.
We use the Diagnostics dashboard to make sure we turn the MOTs into 15 quantifiable and actionable metrics.

There are three ways to collect and collate this information:

  • Workshops of all interested people.
    That includes customers, advisors, employees and management.
  • Recording of actual experiences.
    Yes, record the experiences and evaluate afterwards. We use a video technique that identified Moments of Truth with red flashes, Internal Interactions with blue and decision points as green.
  • Analysis of customer feedback.
    Review the letters, calls and social network commentary and capture the experiences to gain insights and a better understanding.

3. Document the learning and produce a visual illustration(process activity maps).


4. Use the maps to identify areas working well and those that need improvement.Focus on the critical MOTs — those crucial interactions that determine whether the experience you are creating delivers the optimum encounter, expectation and emotion.


5. Build a Action Plan to engineer the ABACUS of the customer experience.
At each stage identify the relevant MOTs that cover off these elements
:

  • Awareness
    When and How does the customer become aware of the process, product or service you offer?
  • Buy-In
    How and Where does the customer ‘get it’ and become an advocate for the experience?
  • Acquisition
    How is the purchase made. Not just a product buy but the actual commitment.
  • Care
    Why should the customer care? How do you ensure the trust and commitment is reciprocal and reinforced?
  • Use
    How does the product, service work. Has it been designed from the customers perspective (Outside-In)? Ease of use goes beyond efficiency and focuses directly on the actual customer experience.
  • Share
    In our always-on world how does Share happen? Is that understood and optimized? Recall the fantastic tale from Canada – Westjet Christmas story[1] with more than 35 million hits on youtube in 3 months. By the way that is more than the population of Canada! That’s good news, but what about capturing the bad news before it becomes a crisis – recall the United Breaks guitar[2] story?


6. Engage the entire organization to undertake the journey to Customer Experience Management.We use the structured CEMMethod™, derived from the work of companies such as Virgin, Disney, Southwest Airlines, Emirate, BMW, Bentley, Zara and many more truly Outside-In enterprises. Whoever and where-ever you are it is directly and immediately useful.

If you are serious about engineering the Customer Experience then let us know (below). We will provide immediate links to videos, resources and an expert community doing this stuff as a way of life.




[1] Westjet Christmas – a terrific example of sharing your values and ethos – http://bit.ly/1habsP2

[2] United Breaks Guitars – how a bad experience turns into a corporate crisis – http://bit.ly/1dmOKaW
 

Outside-In and CEM books

The 2006 book Customer Expectation Management – Success without Exception, identified global leading best practices and lessons from the worlds top performing companies.
We have now harnessd these best practices into a set of practical and easy to use toolkits and education services which will help you transform the way processes work forever.

I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the book! It really helped tie together various concepts and practices I have been evolving towards over a number of years, crystallizing them into a simple but powerful framework.  Steve Melville, Director, Oracle, USA.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/092965207X/httpwwwstevet-20
See the book on Amazon.

In 2010 the book Outside In The Secret galvanized global leading corporations to redefine their view of business, and in doing create clear water between themselves and their competitors. In redrawing the business map companies progressively with the Triple Crown as they simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance customer services.
 
It is a copernican shift in the way people do business.

You will never think of business in the same way again.

See the book on Amazon.