Companies are struggling with talent issues across the board — high disengagement among employees and decreasing intent to stay year on year (latest figures from our sister HR program show an 8.7% drop relative to Q2 2009).  However, heads of Communications face their own talent challenge.  As the function becomes more of a strategic business partner – enabling communication between stakeholders to drive greater productivity and execution against company goals – the competencies of the professional communicator are also changing.

The Council believes that there are 5 core skills required of this new communicator role:

1. Listening: to learn about our stakeholders across many different channels
2. Analytics: to derive insights from the stakeholder data we collect
3. Project Management: to manage to key outcomes, yet be nimble about getting there
4. Training and Coaching: to make others more effective at communicating directly with stakeholders
5. Social Media Aptitude: to capitalize on new communication tools and behaviors in building stakeholder relationships

I’ve been asking our members how confident they currently feel about the talent within their teams and the answer tends to be that they feel very confident in one or two folks, but then there is a significant gap among the rest, who have more of a “doer” profile.  So, what is the right answer for the communications team looking to build a solid footing for the future and avoid relying solely on the talents of one or two high potentials (who may already be looking around)?

Here are some of the tactics we’re starting to see companies employ:

• Re-defining communications competencies – Gone are the days when your Rolodex and writing skills were enough to set you up for a glorious career in communications.  New competencies are now required.  Companies such as Johnson & Johnson have rethought their expectations for communications roles.  They have developed an explicit set of competencies that include areas such as problem solving, business understanding, and consultative skills.  Each competency is clearly defined at levels from beginner to expert and standardized across the global team.

• Implementing targeted skill development – Recognizing the inconsistency of consultative skills within their teams, companies like Toyota and KeyCorp have created structured processes and workshops to develop core problem-solving skills.  The Council has developed a dedicated consultative skills workshop based on these companies’ experience and processes.  (CEC Members: Talk to your Account Manager if this is of interest.)

• Re-organizing the function – Some companies have gone so far as to re-organize their teams so that they are focused on strategic objectives, rather than a siloed audience or channel.  Southwest Airlines‘ project managers focused on outcomes take an integrated view of stakeholders and a channel agnostic approach, utilizing consultative talent to liaise with business partners.

• Hiring new talent – We have also seen communications teams seeking new people with different profiles; people who have more project management and core business experience, as well as the traditional communications skills.  It is not uncommon to also see high potentials within Communications do rotations with other functions and business areas to build their understanding and credibility within the company.

Have you found it difficult to keep the talent in your team?  What have you done to develop skills and keep your colleagues engaged?