Functions & Roles
Communication & Corporate Affairs
Challenges
The big shift in corporate affairs is the mobilization, as mobile devices began to reign supreme. This requires a major re-think of the way corporate affairs approaches communication which means that they must be focused on how their organization maintains a presence where they are spending the bulk of their time.
Especially importance is given to corporate affairs’ role to protect and enhance the business’ reputation through issues and crisis management, which is accentuated in an era in which information and news can flash around the world in a heartbeat. Making an emotional connection with the business strategy is one of the main challenges for corporate affairs professionals, both for internal and external audience.
But as the way accessing information has changed, so too has the type of content watching. The traditional ways corporations communicate with stakeholders have made a volte-face. Now, it’s all about making an emotional connection with the audience. More than ever, the role of corporate affairs is to tell the story of the business with authenticity and humanity: this is critical.
Professionals
Communications and public affairs executives are now actively defining business strategy and manage personally crucial stakeholder relationships, quite often they are members of BoD. They have shifted from advisors to integrated leaders. Companies are paying hard attention to how to attract, retain and develop these executives, which come now often from non-traditional backgrounds; they need corporate affairs professionals attuned to all of corporate stakeholders and interest, able to bring a rounded perspective in guiding the strategic imperatives.
Taking the business along the journey means a re-positioning of the corporate affairs role. Agility, flexibility, creative problem solving, business acumen, outstanding influencing and diplomacy skills, strong grasp of social and digital and know how to integrate communication for external and internal purposes, using traditional and innovative channels, energy and ability to lead through disruptive change are major skills and competences for professionals in this function: companies need high skilled professionals not only anticipate and protect reputation, but mainly to advance the corporate mission and agenda.
PfB Knowledge and Expertise
In PfB we can help you identify internal and external Corporate Affairs talent and also developing these leaders through engaging and proven solutions.
Our team has the experience and expertise to support identify the candidate profile meeting your strategy requirements, needs and cultural fit. We work closely with you with you to develop a detailed profile of your ideal corporate affairs candidate. We keep you update with market trends and support you with advice regarding competition, market profiles, compensation packages, employment relations. We go much further than just recruiting; we support you to attract, select, retain and develop the talent you need to move forward, based on your strategy, market conditions and trends; What we are aiming for, is a role analysis, which will summarize the “outer” needs and “inner” desires of each position; this is why we have zero replacements.
When the candidate profile calls for an external hiring, we apply specific selection techniques and take advantage of our broad network of corporate affairs executives. We use “pull” activities, meaning advertising our jobs in all means available in order to attract active candidates or use our own candidate database. However, we mainly focus on “push” activities, meaning actively and directly addressing the market, in a methodical and thorough way, in order to locate and attract the most talented candidates out there. After assessing them, we choose the most suitable, those who are the “best fit” and present them to our clients.
Having worked in numerous projects, we possess both the experience and the critical recruiting skills. We know what to say and what to do when approaching a candidate who is already employed. This ability provides us with a great competitive advantage. This is why the gap between those who passively source and those who actively recruit remains wide.
Our added value is not limited to successful hirings. For newly appointed executives, the first few weeks and months in the role are critical. They must quickly understand corporate culture, set the right priorities, and establish credibility with colleagues and stakeholders. BONDING START includes a series of sophisticated questionnaires, answered by both the placed executive and the line manager. By analyzing the answers, we help them better understand each other, boost their communication and maximize the expected results. In this way, line managers learn how to enhance communication with new members, how to motivate them, how to help them in overcoming obstacles, thus reducing the induction period and moving forward to productivity. The placed executive on the other hand, acclimatizes and understands the aspects of own new role faster than before.
Functional Roles
Working with multinational leader corporations as well as with local companies and family ones, we have a deep expertise in the following corporate affairs roles:
Corporate Affairs Director
Corporate Communications Manager
Investor Relations Manager
Public Affairs Director
Government Affairs Manager
Media Relations Manager
CSR Manager
Regulatory Affairs Manager