A recent report from CiB in the UK cites 87% of communication managers as believing that the should not be part of Human Resource functions.
http://www.cib.uk.com/artman/publish/article_665.shtml

This is an interesting result and a contentious debate from where I sit. As a communicator who has had reporting lines via public affairs, human resources, shared services, corporate communications and marketing, I can sayt that while the experience can be variable according to placement, the skill and relationship building ability of the communicator is paramount regardless of reporting line.

As for the argument that employee communication should be a direct report to the CEO, there are reasonable cases for both sides. From a span of control perspective, if the CEO’s direct reports were only those roles that required a strong relationship, close partnership and that could impact their results, it would be a very large executive team. While a head of corporate communication with responsibility for internal, external and stakeholder relations may need to be a report to the CEO, the argument is less strong for the role of internal communication. What is undisputed is the need for direct access to the CEO in order to understand their priorities, preferences and peculiarities. Also undisputed is the need for communication (both internal and external) to have a seat at the strategic decision-making table.

The reality is that employee communication is a specialist advisor function. It does not do the industry any favours to have the old petulant argument that we need to be a direct report – we need to be able to create the partnerships to achieve regardless of structure.

This is also explored at the IABC Employee Communication Blog
http://commons.iabc.com/employee/2006/03/12/should-employee-communications-report-to-hr/

Links

Human Capital Institute Blogosphere – Discussions on the roles of leaders
http://www.humancapitalinstitute.org/hci/blogs.guid

On 20 July, the IABC NSW Chapter held its annual general meeting. The following is a copy of a message sent from the immediate past president Barbara Palframan Smith regarding the meeting and election of new board members:

Dear Members,

We held a successful AGM on 20 July and for those of you who couldn’t attend, I attach my President’s Report and the Profit and Loss Statement. Some of the highlights I reported on were:
· Record attendances at our events and teleseminars;
· Membership growth – we remain the largest Chapter in the Asia Pacific Region.
· Finances in a healthy state – brought back from a loss to a profit position.

I would like to thank the Board who worked with me for nearly two years to make this happen – Simon Covill, Nicole Tankard, Peter Salt, Janet Nagly and Louise Denver. I would also like to announce your new Board for the year ahead:

Simon Covill (President)
Barbara Palframan Smith (Immediate Past President)
Nicole Tankard
Peter Salt
Jonathan Champ
Neville Anitelea
Paul Murton
Nic Allum
Marie Kelly.

We received 5 nominations for four new Board positions and voted to accept all of them. I wish the new Board much success and hope that you will join me in congratulating Simon on becoming President of the Chapter. To all the Chapter members who supported me during my term, I say a big “thank you” – and hope to see you again at the exciting events that we have planned for you in the months ahead.

Regards
Barbara Palframan Smith

I am proud to say I have been elected as one of 5 incoming board members. IABC provides an exceptional service for communicators, and I will do my best to serve our local chapter.

Links
www.iabcnsw.com

“How to build communication partnerships for better business results”
This is the topic of a full-day workshop I will be conducting on 23 October at the upcoming IQPC Internal Communication Summit in Sydney.
The interactive session will cover how to work with partners within an organisation to deliver more effective results, across boundaries within an organisation.
Details of the conference are available from IQPC:
http://www.iqpc.com/cgi-bin/templates/genevent.html?event=10862&topic=233

In a recent presentation to the IABC International Conference,
technologist and consultant Tudor Williams noted a number of emerging
trends for internal communication.
Williams quotes research from Stromberg Consulting and identifies seven
potential future trends:
1. Democratisation of information enabled by blogs, wikis and other
collaborative technologies
2. Continuation of the shift from ‘information’ to ‘influence’ for
organisational communication channels
3. Continued focus on engagement and ‘loyalty’
4. Focus on ROI
5. Globalisation
6. Simplicity
7. Personalisation

This list is interesting as it shows that some of the key concerns for
communication remain constant. The shift from inform to engage,
emphasis on demonstrable financial return and the challenges of a
global communication marketplace are not new challenges for
communication. However, the speed at which these issues need to be
addressed has changed, with the technologies leading the charge. The
challenge for communicators and leaders is to keep the balance:
accepting that technology is shaping communication practice and
designing good communication practice within those new technologies.