50
Cross-horder communications
Nowhere does an international outlook count for more than in communications. Regardless of nationality, professionals who have created cross-border public affairs/public relations networks are at the forefront of helping their organizations present a coherent and consistent approach, particularly in an embryonic and complex market like Europe, 'When you're trying to get a company's affiliates to speak with one voice in the EU, it can take the ability to think like a Belgian one minute and an Italian the next,' said an American, born in South America and now working as a communications consultant in Europe. This quality is difficult to understand and not always appreciated by senior management from the USA or Japan,
This still relatively small breed of communication experts increasingly consider themselves 'European' and are most comfortable in multicultural contexts, They share the ability to rise above national conflict - real or imagined - without ever losing sight of the need to take national considerations into account. After all, when taking Europe as a whole, the 'British way of doing things' simply will not work in France, where the French, as a rule, resist taking direction from anybody. And understanding the way to get messages across in Italy may be next to impossible for a Spaniard, even though management may have made the mistake of thinking that 'after all, Italy and Spain are both Latin countries',
The crucial factor is the balance of real power and responsibility, For instance, an international organization seeking to staff a revamped 'public affairs division' looked for a new director who was 'a strategic thinker; innovative and entrepreneurial; with an ability to lead and manage people'. But in real terms, the organization offered a job with no power over money or people. No innovative and entrepreneurial manager would commit to it.
Cross-border communications departments demand those rare people who are multilingual and multicultural. They also need credentials if they are to be effective, Working experience in one of the company's main lines of business helps. Legal training is another good qualification. In any event, it is very important for the head of corporate communications to be able to work effectively with other disciplines in the company: marketing, finance, legal and personnel, for example. This is why, organizationally, corporate communications - or corporate affairs - should be accorded the same importance as other staff departments in the company,
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Drganizing the function across borders
If the company is European, the central corporate communications function should report directly to senior management. If the company is non-European, the function should still report to senior management, either in Europe or - if there is no executive responsible for all the company's European operations - at home base.
In status-conscious Europe, in particular, the title must carry weight outside the company. It also must convey to all and sundry, but especially those in government, that the person has the authority to speak in the company's name. And perhaps most important, the title and the job itself must have the weight to be respected within the company, with other managers.
There are various options. For example:
(1) If the president of the company is the main articulator of the company's reputation then the head of communications should be the president's trusted counsellor when it comes to articulating the company's point of view.
(2) Another option is to keep the president of the company in the background and use the head of communications to personify the company image.
(3) A third variation is to keep both the president and the head of communications in reserve, and apportion responsibility for different types of communication among managers: communications; government affairs; internal communications, etc.
(4) Other companies - usually highly decentralized or transnational empower country managers to speak in the corporate name, using the central corporate communications function as a resource.
Deciding which of these four options to choose depends on the size of the company, the nature of its products and the objectives. 11 nlso depends on the kind of people involved. If the company president is 1101 comfortable in public - although being a good communicator is bccorn ing more of an demanded attribute of the senior job - then a strong hcud of communications comfortable and operational in a cross hOi dl'. environment is essential. If, on the other hand, the company presidl'1I1 has no problem taking centre stage, a strong head of communlcutkun, who can tell the chief what to say, when and to whom can be invulunhk-
Cross-border, and particularly pan-European, reputation-huihllng lx a relatively new discipline, so experience is a quality that counts rOt II 101 It is an area where instinct can be as important as intellect.