Skills Critical for Employee Communicators
<p><strong>Chicago — April 23</strong><br />Employee communicators need good all-around skills and tend not to specialize too heavily, according to new research. </p><p>These findings from development experts Sue Dewhurst and Liam FitzPatrick challenge common views that the best professionals are focused on providing strategic advice rather than getting involved in delivery work.</p><p>Dewhurst and FitzPatrick began researching competencies among employee communicators to support their training courses. </p><p>In a global survey, they explored what jobs communicators are doing and the attributes they need to be effective.</p><p>"In recent years, there's been a general feeling that all internal communicators need to be high-level consultants," Dewhurst said. "But when we talk to people, we hear that they're really doing a much more balanced range of things."</p><p>FitzPatrick agrees.</p><p>"What this seems to be saying is that organizations need their employee communicators to be strong all-rounders — writers, planners, advisers and organizers, and what it's not saying is that employee communication (EC) people can only make a difference if they're working as employee consultants."</p><p>Their findings are published in a new report by Melcrum, "How to Develop Outstanding Internal Communicators," which also includes a set of 12 model competencies that can be used to help recruit, develop and promote employee communicators.</p><p>The 12 model competencies are:</p><ol><li>Building effective relationships</li><li>Business focus</li><li>Consulting and coaching</li><li>Cross-functional awareness</li><li>Craft (writing and design)</li><li>Developing other communicators</li><li>Innovation and creativity</li><li>Listening</li><li>Making it happen</li><li>Planning</li><li>Specialist</li><li>Vision and standards<br /></li></ol><p>These competencies cover the core skills, knowledge and experience that communicators say they need to do their jobs well. </p><p>As a follow-up to the survey, the researchers interviewed dozens of practitioners and held focus groups to refine these competencies and identify the behaviors that might be displayed at a basic, intermediate or advanced level.</p><p>Importantly, the competencies highlight the need for communicators to have both advisory and delivery skills. </p><p>"We were continually told that EC professionals are most valued when they make things happen and don't just talk about it," Dewhurst said.</p><p>The study also showed there was agreement among practitioners at every level on the core skills that all EC practitioners should display. </p><p>"Although no one could be expected to be a master of new media and all the tools at our disposal, there's a clear consensus that EC people need to be able to at least write well and be skilled in the core areas that matter in their workplace," FitzPatrick said. "Our research confirms that colleagues expect the EC team to be able to provide expertise in some fundamental areas."</p>
