IT is certain that communication will be the next hot topic and key responsibility to be discussed at board level in your company. Your new director of communication will play a pivotal role in raising to a strategic level the medium that holds us all together.
In case you have wondered why your corporate strategy or TQM initiatives have stalled somewhere and failed to materialise in hard market results, consider poor communication.
For it is the key component which oils the wheels of change.
To look at the factors which account for this latest board level requirement, think of two concepts.
First, in Peter Drucker's book, Post-Capitalist Society, he says: 'Knowledge is not just a resource, it's the only resource.' Today, oil, land, buildings, machinery and cash have meaning only in relation to the knowledge which allows their use. The use of knowledge is power, and an organisation's intellectual property is its greatest asset.
The second concept is the quantum scientist's view of the world. 'Relationships are not just interesting, they are all there is to reality.' It is quantum physics that drives today's world. So it is not surprising one of its basic principles applies equally to the business world. After all, what are the powerful forces we talk about day after day: partnerships, strategic alliances, networks, teams, people empowerment, leadership - they are all relationships.
To apply, package, exchange and share knowledge, and to develop, maintain, expand and nurture relationships, there has to be communication.