Communication professionals are not to be envied: Anyone who has to fulfil a multitude of needs from different stakeholder groups in an often very volatile environment, usually with too few resources and in too short a time, needs nerves of steel.

And yet hardly any communications professional would want to change jobs: The opportunity to manage exciting topics in direct dialogue with top management and technical experts is appealing and varied.

Seven operational challenges

Communication professionals at all levels are particularly challenged as they have to deal with the seven most important drivers at the same time:

1. High expectations of stakeholders

Managers, employees, customers, suppliers, authorities, and many other stakeholder groups expect mobile access to all important company information, 24/7 availability, rapid response times and a high level of dialogue, a first-class stakeholder experience and clear and measurable added value.

2. Content and values

No matter what is sent: The information must be newsworthy and relevant to the target groups, ideally data-based and accurate, authentic and credible and - at least occasionally - entertaining.

3. Demanding employees

Despite all the digitalisation, the communications business is always a people business, where people communicate with people. Anyone who ignores this will quickly be reminded of it. The employees who drive the business are often young, purpose-driven, have a healthy level of self-confidence, expect diversity and inclusion and a healthy work-life balance.

4. Resources

The mountain of tasks all too often faces lean communications teams that try to keep their heads above water (and under budget) by outsourcing. However, the management of outsourced resources is often more time-consuming than that of additional employees – if you had them.

5. Technology and processes

The wave of digitalisation hit the communications profession 20 years ago. However, new areas of tension are constantly being created, for example through automation processes, generative AI, high time pressure or the constantly increasing requirements for data protection and security.

6. Ecosystems

The profession of communication is becoming less and less tangible, filled with highly specialised content providers, an agency world that completely reinvents itself every three years or so, and a never-ending flow of different requests.

7. New risks

The real or even just the potential existence of so-called social media echo chambers, misinformation and deepfakes destroy trust and make it increasingly difficult to get through even with fact-based information. The fact that so-called opinion leaders in the media, social media and politics, and even in science, often succumb to the herd instinct and like to copy others, and that form and reaction time are usually more important than content and depth of reflection, makes communication even more difficult.

Two strategic challenges

The operational drivers are often overshadowed by two strategic challenges, which – as important as they may seem subjectively – make the former fade into insignificance:

1. Expectations of customers, the board of directors and management

The customer is king, and the boss calls the shots. It's as simple as that when it comes to communication. Behind the expectations and demands of the Board of Directors and Executive Board with regard to corporate communications may lie clear strategies and solid plans, they may reflect the demands of pressure groups, or they may just be the result of a whim. Communications professionals must be able to deal with this mix of facts, visions, values and other influences.

2. Challenges and disruptions in business

Form follows function. This also applies between communication and the company. In other words, every company is subject to major forces from (geo)politics and regulation, must deal with social innovations and changing customer needs, is driven by economic and, in particular, technological developments and feels the effects of climate change. Accordingly, communication must also constantly reinvent itself if it wants to fulfil its core mission – conveying information, creating trust, and incentivising behaviour.

M-P-R-L creates clarity and an overview

Despite all the information stimuli, the path through this jungle is not all that complicated. It primarily requires clarity and an overview:

• Mission: What is the mandate for communication, what are the expectations of the most important stakeholder groups?
• Plan: What is the strategy, action plan, timing and KPIs that we derive from this?
• Resources: What human, technical, spatial, and financial resources do we have at our disposal? Are these sufficient to fulfil the assignment properly?
• Leadership: Are we able and willing to systematically implement our strategy? Do we have the necessary authority, decision-making freedom, and expertise?

Those who can answer all these questions with a clear affirmative will be able to assert themselves as far-sighted communication professionals even in a very complex environment.