Last year at the International Association of Business Communicators Asia Pacific conference I asked delegates what were the biggest barriers to doing [good] communications strategy faced by their teams.
The number one response was lack of time – so their teams don’t do strategy. Thirty-nine per cent described their teams as being in ‘churn and burn’ mode; held hostage by their inbox; so busy doing the do they can’t take time out to think strategically.
One in three conference delegates said their teams can’t do strategy; they don’t have the know-how; a road-map. I think there’s often an expectation that people will somehow instinctively know how to do strategy. Yet strategic thinking is a learnt skill and grows with practice.
Lack of capability was a key theme in the first global study into government communications The Leaders’ Report released in 2017 by WPP. They found that few public sector communication teams have the skills and expertise to operate effectively in a rapidly changing media landscape and are under-skilled in areas such as social media, data analysis, audience segmentation and citizen engagement. All key requirements for strong communications strategy.
There are some who think communications strategy is a waste of effort and won’t do it [I’d lay odds are these are the same people who complain that their audiences ‘just don’t get it’].
And there are those who think budget is the biggest barrier and feel that within little money to spend the effort of strategising is time poorly spent.
Do you and your team find time for strategy? Does the know-how exist in-house? I’d be interested to know if you see other stumbling blocks.