PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATORS CAN contribute significantly to the bottom line of companies.
According to international communication consultant Angela Sinickas, their value to business goes way beyond preparing PowerPoint presentations and Press releases.
“One of the issues for communicators is that we speak a different language. We like words and most executives really like numbers,” she said during a recent interview with BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
The president of United States-based Sinickas Communications Inc. was in Barbados at the invitation of BrainWave Consultants Inc. to conduct two workshops for public relations professionals.
She noted that communicators should leverage their skills to help top executives make key decisions rather than distribute information.
Sinickas said the global economic situation provides an opportunity to “look at communication not just as a way to notify people . . . but to look at communication as a process and see how we can [use] better communication to deliver better business results”.
The pioneer in the field of organizational communication measurement noted that many problems within organizations result from a breakdown in communication between departments.
“At the end of the line, it creates a loss in potential revenue or just costs more to get something done.
“If we use our skills as communicators to observe that process and look at how that information flows and where the breakdowns are, we can show management a very big return very quickly,” she said.
Sinickas noted that culture can influence the importance placed on communication within an organization.
“Part of it is how much focus there is on the bottom line and I think in Europe there is less of a sense that communication can or should have a measurable effect on the bottom line than in North America.
“I think the Caribbean is much more in the North American sphere than it is in the European sphere in that way.
“There’s a lot more pressure, I think, to deliver results,” she said. (NB)
