“A King without a Throne“ DOWNLOAD ORIGINAL GERMAN VERSION AS PDF

The activities and responsibilities of company spokespeople have grown in number. And yet the authority of the PR head has not increased to the same degree. This is the conclusion of research conducted by British headhunting consultancy Watson Helsby. So how should representatives of German Dax-companies evaluate these findings?

Directors of corporate communications are usually very close to the CEO, and they are also licensed to talk about issues the CEO might not want to.

In a research study in which 28 FTSE 100 companies participated, Watson Helsby, a headhunting consultancy specialising in corporate communications, came to the conclusion that the activities and responsibilities of heads of corporate communications departments have grown dramatically in recent years. This is primarily due to increasing shareholder-activism, the demand for greater transparency, the need to engage with a growing body of influential stakeholders and an extremely critical media. In addition another cause was new reporting rules, and the increased speed of communications.

Authority and rank has not increased to the same extent as workload. Only 30% of PR heads have a seat on the board of directors. The study's publisher claims PR heads will have a greater influence over key decisions if they have a seat on the board. In order to justify this, heads of PR must clearly delineate their increased responsibilities, and demonstrate how communications contributed to the success of the business.

According to Watson Helsby, one issue could be that only 29% of those questioned have control of the entire communications process.

Watson Helsby calls for companies to integrate their reputation management activities through one function.

The results of the study do not compare directly with German companies. However, Thomas Gauly, head of corporate communications at Altana, agrees that PR heads have indeed gained influence. He does not see their presence on the board as an urgent necessity however.

Harry Roegner, head of corporate communications at Linde AG, says it is important that the head of communications has a fast, direct and trusting relationship to the head of the company.

Ernst Primosch of Henkel says it is important that IR and corporate communications work together as closely as possible.

DOWNLOAD ORIGINAL GERMAN VERSION AS PDF.