Welcome back to Communication Breakdown, a weekly podcast from the Observatory on Corporate
Reputation.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Steve Dowling on the road this week.
And I'm Craig Carroll in New York City.
Each week Steve and I take a look at strategies companies are using to shape headlines and
sometimes save their skins.
It's a post game show for PR Pros.
As we turn the calendar page from March to April, we're putting the first quarter of 2025
in the books and it's an understatement to say the world looks a lot different this April
than it did last December.
So this week we bring you a new page from the OCR Playbook for Chief Communications Officers.
A framework Craig has developed that's a new twist on the old quarterly review process.
Time was 90 day reviews were about settling in.
One time corporate onboarding ritual where human resources checks in to see how you're doing,
getting along with your boss and making sure you hadn't burned down the office.
But it's not just for HR anymore.
Craig, you're telling CCOs they should be running their own 90 day reviews every quarter.
Is that right?
What's the thinking here?
Yeah.
Well, the thinking is this too many CCOs are running on momentum instead of strategy.
They're so deep into the day to day, reacting to headlines, managing internal fires, adjusting
to the latest regulatory curveball.
So much crisis in chaos going on that they're not stepping back to ask, did we actually
shape anything this quarter?
Did we just kind of manage through it?
Are we headed the next shift or are we playing catch up again?
And do we even know what's working or are we just making assumptions?
That's huge, right?
But I would say a 90 day review is sent about looking back.
It's about resetting forward.
If you don't stop, take stock and real line the next 90 days are going to do nothing but
look a lot like the last 90 days.
Okay, so let's break this down.
The 90 day reset isn't just a review.
It's a way to make sure that corporate communications isn't just keeping up but actually setting
the pace.
And to do that, you need five core pillars.
These aren't just theoretical, they're practical, it's a structured process to make sure that
your next 90 days don't look like a repeat of the last 90 days.
Okay, so there's five pillars.
First up is a strategic reset before we do anything else.
You've got to figure out, okay, what's changed or the leadership priority shifting is the
external environment throwing a curveball to us.
And then ask yourself, okay, what's non-negotiable here and what needs to evolve?
Some things need to stay the same.
But others, you know, your messaging, your focus, even your team's role might need some type
of adjusting.
And if you don't take time to do this, you're operating a last quarter's playbook and in
this environment, that's just a losing strategy.
So number two, the second piece is influence mapping.
Well, let's be honest, the power landscape shifts pretty quickly.
And the mistake that a lot of CCS makers is assuming that the same stakeholders from
last quarter are still the same one to matter most this quarter and that might not necessarily
be the case.
So what's actually shaping decisions now?
Well, regulators, policymakers, activist groups have some input.
The point is that sometimes the biggest voices aren't necessarily the ones that you're tracking.
So you ask yourself, okay, you know, who's gained power, you know, who's lost power?
And are you still engaging the right people?
Or are you overindexing on relationships that just aren't as relevant as much, at least
for this next 90 days?
And this is big, you know, the question is, does our company narrative still hold up?
Because if the conversation has moved on or you're, you know, you're still running last quarter's
talking points, so you're out of, you know, you're out of sync before you open your mouth.
And so this is a good time to pressure test your messaging, not just what you're saying,
but how you bring it to life.
The third is prioritization, or I would say operational reprioritization.
You got to be ruthless about where you're spending your time and resources.
A lot of times CCOs and our teams are running on autopilot, doing work that might have mattered
three months ago, but isn't exactly moving the needle today.
So here's what you ask.
You ask what's driving attention away from what really matters, where some wasted energy,
working communications actually drives the highest return.
Not everything deserves your time.
And then, you know, the question is, are you still fighting last quarter's battles?
Because if you are, you're already behind on what's coming next.
So you know, this really set about working harder is about making sure that you're focusing
your firepower.
We're actually counts.
The fourth is visible wins or signaling strategic value, if you will, you know, you have
to be able to show impact.
Here's the reality.
If leadership can't see communications making moves and, you know, your team runs the
risk of being sidelined.
So the question is, what are the top three one to three high leverage wins that you can
land in the next 90 days?
And are these wins that you can actually tie to business impact, or they just visibility
place, right?
I think ultimately we want to be able to connect to business impact.
And are you making sure that communications is indispensable because if you don't, somebody
else will.
Okay.
So the last one, it's the scorekeeping, you know, this is where a lot of teams, I'd say
most teams drop the ball.
You know, they do the review, they have the conversation and then they just move forward without
any built-in feedback loop.
And that's a mistake.
You know, you've got to have a system that keeps the momentum moving, you know, weekly execution
cycles asking, or we actually moving the ball monthly check-ins, not just a, you know,
just by what's been done, but see where we need to adjust in narrative testing.
Are we still aligning with the reality or is our messaging getting still?
So the idea here, you know, it's the 90 day deep brief, isn't just a review.
It's a repositioning exercise.
And it's what makes sure that you're setting the next agenda instead of reacting to
somebody else's.
That's the framework.
Five pillars, five things that separate the team were shaping the next quarter from
once they're just hoping things will go their way.
And the question is, you know, are you running the reset or is the reset running you because
in this environment, hope is in the strategy.
And if there ever was a quarter that called for reset quarter one of 2025 was that, you
know, between the shifting regulatory landscape, corporate leaders being pulled into political
crossfire and companies struggling to maintain control over their own narrative, this was a
quarter that tested every aspect of CCS playbook.
Well, that's for sure.
Since Trump returned to power in January, tariffs are the new corporate cliffhanger with
targets and deadlines changing day to day.
If you didn't have a plan for trade wars going into this, well, hopefully you do now.
Regulatory whip lashes, the new normal diversity and other workforce policies aren't just
being eliminated.
The executive branch would like them criminalized.
So if you're waiting for stability, don't hold your breath.
But chaos communication is a concept we've returned to time and again on this podcast.
It's a new skill communicators are developing by necessity, mostly defensive, but not without
the occasional opportunity for those who aren't afraid to put their hand up.
I'm going to say that I prefer the term chaos management over chaos communication.
Anyway, this quarter wasn't just about keeping up.
It was about controlling the playing field, you know, who anticipated the terrified and adjusted
before the fallout, you know, who positioned their company inside the policy battles instead
of reacting from the sidelines and who's still scrambling to make sense of what just happened.
Because in a quarter like this, if you weren't shaping the game, you were getting played.
Craig, let's start with the big picture.
What's your defining lesson from the first quarter from a comms management perspective?
We've been over the policy drama many times.
What's the takeaway we can apply to future chaos or even a return to normal if that ever
happens?
That's a great question.
I, you know, the defining lesson here, CCO's just can't afford to react.
You know, quarter one made it clear chaos isn't an event.
It's the environment.
There's no return to normal because normal was never stable to begin with in the first place.
So the big takeaway for CCO's is you need a structured way to reset and real line every
single quarter.
So you know, if you're not actually tracking what's moving the needle internally and externally
you're just guessing.
And if you're not adjusting your influence strategy, somebody else is shaping the narrative
for you.
And if you're waiting for stability before making your next move, you're already behind.
So, you know, the deal is the best CCOs aren't just navigating crises.
They're building a system to assess, recalibrate, and reposition every 90 days.
And that means structure tools like a 90 day review template, influence mapping dashboards,
quickly tracking systems, just to make sure that you're not looking backward, but that you're
actively shaping what's ahead.
Because in this environment, hope is not a strategy.
Now, you're positioning this 90 day period as a strategic reset rather than a passive review.
How much of a mindset shift should this be for CCOs?
I mean, one of the things I'm always preaching is continuity.
You want to be driving the narrative, which I know you agree with that, but how do you
advise we balance this need to reset with the need to carry on?
My main question about this framework is how dramatic does that reset need to be?
Well, it's less about making a dramatic reset and more about making a deliberate one.
A 90 day reset isn't about, you know, sliming on the brakes and making a new turn.
It's more about making sure you're actually steering and not just drifting through traffic.
And that's a whole lot easier.
If you're checking in daily, weekly and monthly, without adding extra work, I think that's
the important part.
So daily, I mean, you can think about just a quick dashboard check, where do my time go,
is I in the driver's seat or was I reacting to road conditions?
Just 60 seconds at the end of the day, what progress did I make?
What detours pulled me off, of course.
But weekly course corrections am I staying on the intended route or am I being forced on the
side roads?
What expected roadblocks came of?
What adjustments do I need to make before I get too far off track?
And then monthly, just kind of big picture navigation am I still headed towards my destination
or if I veered off course, if I spent too much time dodging potholes and not enough time setting
the route?
If you're doing this in simple, small steps, the 90 day review is in a heavy lift.
It practically writes itself.
You're not relying on memory or scrambling through emails, you're just checking the map,
making real time adjustments and ensuring that you're still in control of where you're going.
You can think about it like this, right?
You can't drive the narrative if you're not steering the car.
And CCOs fall into the illusion of continuity too often, right?
We tell ourselves that we're building a strategy, but too often, we're just reacting to what's
in front of us.
And if you're only making adjustments when something's forcing your hand, when policy shifts
or when the board starts asking questions, you're already behind.
So the mindset shift is this.
Continuity isn't just sticking to the plan, it's active recalibration.
Some things will stay the course, if positioning strategy is working, keep pushing.
Some things need to be reworked though, right?
If a message is getting stale, you gotta tweak it.
Some things are going to need to be dropped because if you don't decide what's no longer
serving you, then the market's going to decide for you.
The reset doesn't mean that you have to hold everything.
It means that you've got to have a system to check your positioning, adjust where it's
needed, and stay and control the game.
So the reality is, the best CCOs are waiting for chaos to force a reset.
They're building it into their leadership rhythm.
Now your model emphasizes both strategic integration and high impact execution.
Tell us what that looks like, delivering what you're calling visible, high leverage
wins while also working on the alignment parts.
Yeah, so I'd say, first of all, it's about playing two games at once.
One is visible and the other is structural.
High impact execution means delivering wins that the business, the board, and the market
can see.
Those are the moments that cement the CCOs role as a strategic leader, not just as a communication
function.
That looks like CEO positioning on a key issue, getting ahead of a regulatory shift
before it happens.
It looks like proactive engagement with policymakers, not just waiting until the legislation
is written, but shaping the narrative before it reaches the floor and shifting media narratives,
not just issuing statements, but ensuring that your company is setting the agenda instead
of reacting to it.
But alignment work is just as critical, even if it's less visible.
And that means making sure that the C-suite and board see the same external landscape before
they start making reactionary decisions, internal messaging, and external positioning match because
if they don't, employees are going to be the first ones to notice and that the right stakeholders
are engaged early so that you don't spend the next 90 days in damage control.
Because it's not up to be loud.
I mean, you have to be loud in the right places with the right alignment behind the scene.
So in a 90 day reset, the CCOs got to ask, what's the win we need to make?
That's visible this quarter.
What moves the needle externally?
And what alignment needs to happen internally to support that?
Where are the gaps and who's not on the same page?
So if you don't do both, you either look misaligned or you're just making noise that just
doesn't stick.
And you've outlined five pillars for this 90 day reset sprint.
Which do you see as the most challenging for communications leaders?
And what advice do you have for making them happen?
I zeroed in on what you're calling influence mapping where you say rebuild stakeholder
alignment.
Yeah, look, influence mapping is for sure the hardest part because let's be honest, power
is always shifting.
So I'd say the biggest mistake that CCOs make is thinking that the stakeholder map that
they had last quarter still holds up.
It just doesn't.
If you're running in a real 90 day review, this is where you have to look beyond the usual
suspects.
That's the C-suite media employees and festers.
That's just the surface level.
And if that's all you're tracking, you're going to be missing key forces that are shaping
your operating environment.
And for me, that's why this idea of the 90 day reset is rechecking who's actually influencing
the decisions that are affecting your business.
This includes third party actors, you know, NGOs, trade groups, think tanks.
These groups are laying the groundwork for policy arguments that regulators are going to pick
up next.
Not factoring the men, you're setting yourself up to be blindsided.
We have to think about shadow influencers, not the people in the room, but the ones whispering
in decision makers ears, policy advisors, industry lobbyists, former officials who still
hold some kind of sway.
If you're not recessing these networks every quarter, you're already behind.
Certainly supply chain risk.
This is something that has been growing over the past five years since coming out of
the pandemic.
There's suppliers, distributors, global partners, they have their own battles and their own
vulnerabilities, and they can quickly become yours.
If they're caught in a trade war or a regulatory squeeze, you could be the one taking collateral
damage.
And then of course, we can't forget about internal power struggles, right?
You know, sometimes the biggest roadblocks aren't just external.
Legal sees risk one way, government relations sees it another way, and suddenly communications
is handcuffed before the first statement even goes out.
Okay, but how do you actually do that inside of a 90 day review?
Because I get it power is shifting.
We've all experienced that dynamic at one time or another, but it isn't something I think
most CCOs have built into their routine.
That's exactly the problem.
You know, most CCOs are adjusting in real time, but they're not stepping back every quarter
to reassess who has leverage what gaps are forming and where they're losing ground.
And when you don't make time for that reset, you're just reacting.
So this idea of the 90 day review force you should have stopped and asked, you know, who's
gained the most power in the past very much policy makers, regulators, activists who are
shaping the agenda now, who's lost power and what does that mean for your positioning?
Are you over indexed on the wrong people while missing new voices in the debate?
Then the outside have to look internally or the right people inside your company aligned
on the external landscape.
You know, it's legal seeing the same risks as communications or they being pulled in different
directions is government relations engaging early enough or are they constantly in reaction
mode?
And beyond strategy and alignment, there's also the personal question that every CCO needs
to answer, you know, my managing my own energy, or am I running at a constant deficit?
What am I delegating?
What needs to come off my plate so that I'm focused on high impact moves?
Because this job is just about running the playbook.
What's about having the capacity to actually execute it?
If you're too drained or spread too thin, you're missing opportunities before they even present
themselves.
And not every win is going to be loud, right?
The best CCOs aren't scoring headline grabbing victories.
They're also banking quiet wins that shift the power dynamics, stopping a bad policy before
gains traction, strengthening and internal alliance that prevents future misalignment and
preemptively de-risking a crisis before it surfaces.
And that's the difference between tracking power and actually influencing it because if
you're only reacting when the landscape shifts, you're already behind.
The real work happens in the 90 day reset, assessing, recalibrating, repositioning and
reprioritizing before the next quarter actually resets for you.
But it's all interesting food for thought.
Craig, thank you.
These last 90 days certainly have felt like a sprint and I think everyone listening realizes
it's a marathon as well.
We'll do our best to keep up, starting with a new episode next week.
Communication breakdown is a production of the Observatory on Corporate Reputation.
We want to thank our producer, Sean P. Neal and the People Forward Network for making
our podcast possible.
If you have a question you'd like to discuss on the show or a topic you think we're missing,
drop us a line, our email address is podcast@ocrnetwork.com.
Thanks again for listening.
I'm Steve Dowling.
And I'm Craig Carroll.
Thanks for listening.
We'll be back next week.
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