Corporate Communication in 2014: For Humanity!

It is high time we drew up conclusions about the developments in corporate communication and made some resolutions for next year. I would like to focus on several main directions, which I personally will set as my priority in 2014. In my opinion, they all require a deeper comprehension of the processes and awareness that people should always be at the core of any communication. First of all, we have to devote more effort to educating business leaders, who, now more than ever, must rethink their attitudes to business communication and corporate and social responsibility. It is high time we realised that communication goes beyond distribution of flattering press releases and providing comments: it is rather a strategically important two-way process, which has an impact on each and every business level and process. Who else if not the communication manager should take part in the discussions, where decisions important for company are taken? In its turn, the beautiful phrase “corporate social responsibility” is not limited to charitable donations or compliance with one's tax obligations, but rather stands for business management philosophy, which refuses to use the pretext “it’s just business” as a justification. I believe that company representatives very often fail to read the entire phrase stopping at “corporate social” – hence the focus on charity. I hope that in 2014 we will find time for learning the entire phrase up to the word “responsibility” and, as soon as we have got to the bottom of the concept of responsibility, we will review all business processes. It is imperative that in 2014 we not only talk more, but also take decisive actions regarding PR ethics. 2013 showed that crisis situations, which lead to public outcry, attract information parasites, who seek the spotlight at the expense of other people’s suffering. Similar situations reveal PR personnel’s professionalism (or the lack of it, for that matter), which totally depends on their ethical principles. There are limits, which must not be pushed to achieve a cheap publicity. I hope that in 2014, thanks to concerted effort by professionals who do care, we will be able to mark exactly where these limits end. I sincerely wish that in 2014 we had more time to analyse processes and develop creative long-term solutions. On the one hand, 2013 has been dubbed the year of three screens as many people literally live in social networks by constantly using their computer, smartphone or tablet. It forces us to create campaigns that are easily accessible on a variety of devices and to fight desperately for the attention of social media users. Consequently, we must learn to be useful, available, open, honest and interesting for our target audience instead of using social media as a draw game of a latest gadget. On the other hand, the time is ripe for overcoming the disease called “social media as a communication panacea” and realising that it is only one of numerous communication channels and should be used selectively. I think we have gone overboard with technologies just for technology sake. Let’s remember how lovely it is to communicate in person, meet each other and get phone calls or hand-written messages. I hope that in 2014 we will manage to integrate online and offline better. I am convinced that the demand for good experts will only increase in the coming year. That’s why I would like to speak out to those who are university students now: be keen to accumulate knowledge and skills, develop the skill of taking responsibility and come to the industry! We can't wait to welcome young, talented, proactive and competent experts. If I had to propose a toast with a professional twist, this is what I would say: «Let 2014 be a year of human communication!» And what kind of toast would you propose?