The Long Game: Making Communications Part of Your Business Strategy

Whether you’re running a business or playing 18 holes, the long game matters.

Golf requires patience, focus, strategy, consistency and the ability to recover quickly when things don’t go as planned.  As I finished a round this Labor Day weekend, I couldn’t help but see parallels to the discipline of communications.

You can hit a beautiful drive down the middle of the fairway and then completely shank your next shot. (or maybe that’s just me!)  You can play several great holes, then lose focus and find yourself in a bunker wondering what happened.  And sometimes, despite seemingly doing everything right, the ball simply doesn’t go where you intended. 

Your best results come from playing the long game.

In business, it’s tempting to think about communications as a support function or one message at a time. We need a press release. We need an employee email. We need a social post. We need talking points for the CEO. Those things matter, but they’re individual shots, not the strategy for the round.

Good communication starts before we set foot on the course.

What are we trying to accomplish? Who needs to understand it? What do we need employees, customers, investors or other stakeholders to know, believe or do? What could get in the way? And how do we communicate consistently enough to build understanding and trust over time?

That is why I believe businesses that treat communications as part of their strategy, not a support function, are more successful.

When communication is planned early, leaders have time to anticipate reactions, identify gaps, align messages and make better decisions about how and when to communicate.

When it comes in at the end or as an afterthought, leaders are often left trying to explain decisions rather than successfully navigate them.

One great shot doesn’t make a great round.

The same is true of communications.

A great announcement or compelling CEO message can create momentum for a minute, but reputation isn’t built through one communication. It is built through consistency.

Employees pay attention to what leaders say and look for it to match what they experience. Customers remember whether a company communicates when things go wrong, not just when there is something positive to announce. Stakeholders form opinions through hundreds of interactions over time.

Great companies understand this and don’t just communicate when they need something. They establish a clear story, reinforce it consistently and build credibility long before the stakes are high.

Focus matters, especially when the pressure is on.

Golf has an incredible ability to punish you when you start thinking three shots ahead or three shots behind. The same thing happens in business.

During a crisis, transaction, leadership change or major transformation, there may be dozens of competing priorities and audiences demanding attention. That is precisely when communication discipline becomes most important.

What matters most right now? Who needs to hear from us? What do they need to understand? What is the next best communication?

Getting the right message to the right audience at the right time sounds simple. In practice, it requires judgment, focus and a clear understanding of the business.

And sometimes you have to recover.

Every golfer hits bad shots. I know I do! Every organization will occasionally miss the mark, too.

A message may not land as intended. Employees may have questions you didn’t anticipate. Customer communication may not have been clear. A business decision may receive criticism.

The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is having a communications strategy that you can assess, refine and adjust so that you can take the next shot with confidence.

After nearly three decades working in corporate communications through growth, transformation, mergers and crises, I’ve learned that the organizations that communicate best don’t leave it to chance. They view communications not as a function, but as a way of doing business and leading people.

Whether you’re running a business or playing 18 holes, the long game really does matter.

One great shot feels pretty good, but it’s the strategy, consistency and focus across the entire round that ultimately determines our score.

#StrategicCommunications  #Leadership  #PublicRelations