Navigating purpose and polarisation in corporate communications

A new Wadds Inc. report explores how the corporate communications function can help companies proactively manage the growing challenge of social and political polarisation.

We’re publishing our second report - Hindsight to foresight: Taking a proactive approach to purpose and polarization - commissioned by NewsWhip today. It asked us to investigate the role of corporate communications in helping companies manage social and political polarisation.

There is no bigger issue facing corporate communicators, according to the Page Society and PRovoke Media.

Polarisation lands on the desk of corporate communications as it is the only management function with a relationship perspective of an organisation. This position is uniquely based on internal and external context and a balance of emotional and intellectual intelligence.

Planning and decision-making are data-led and consider a wide stakeholder perspective.

Over the spring, I had the privileged opportunity to interview more than 20 communications and insights leaders at organisations in the EU, UK, and US to gather my own data for the report. Thank you to everyone who took part.

The Hindsight to Foresight report contains a lot of goodness and three original areas of insight to help organisations manage polarisation.

• How we got here - You can trace an arc from Milton Friedman’s focus on shareholder supremacy, through a broader set of stakeholder concerns manifested in CSR and more recently ESG, to COVID-19. Corporate communications during the pandemic were humanised and leaders were expected to speak out about a range of issues, notably wellbeing and mental health.

• Triggers for polarisation - We studied how issues play a part in the public conversation using first-person case studies and NewsWhip data. Polarisation is predominantly a media effect driven by social media escalation, media laundering, amplification, and publishing economics. It is also weaponised and used by politicians to appeal to voters.

• Management foresight framework - Geopolitics has rapidly shifted from activist leadership and organisations speaking out to more nuanced internal conversations. Values and risks are being managed carefully. We’ve codified a framework to help shift from a reactive to a proactive position on polarisation issues.

NewsWhip helps companies understand how issues are playing out in the media and public sphere in real time and provides predictive insights into how they are likely to evolve.

This is our second report for NewsWhip. Our first research project - Influence Through Insight - explored how the corporate communications function uniquely brings an external perspective into strategic decision-making and planning.

My thanks to NewsWhip for supporting this work. It enables me to explore issues related to my doctorate studies and makes an important contribution to asserting the role of corporate communications in management.

I’ll be discussing issues raised in the report with Paul Quigley, CEO, NewsWhip on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at 17:00 BST. You’d be welcome to join us.