Roundtable Recap: Using your communications currency to build value

From changing technology and volatile business conditions to rising internal and external scrutiny and elevated expectations despite a flat budget, the challenges are many for communications leaders. But every challenge comes with opportunity.

On that note, Mary C. Buhay, Ragan’s chief growth officer and head of councils, kicked off a Nov. 13 roundtable discussion at Ragan’s Future of Communications conference in Austin, Texas. The hourlong conversation, sponsored by Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council, focused on how communicators can assert their position as strategic value creators.

Communicators are at the forefront of change, Buhay told the group of more than two dozen communications leaders, and the opportunity to share practices and learn from one another is essential to success.

Highlights of that conversation are below. Insights are unattributed to allow the group to share freely and candidly.

How communicators demonstrate value

Buhay asked the group of internal and external communicators to share how they express the value of their work to the organization.

Responses ranged from specific performance indicators like followership on social media and growth in the number of employee brand champions to less concrete factors like a lack of negative publicity and a lessening of impacts from a crisis.

Quantitative measures are critical to proving value, said one roundtable participant.

“Define the outcome that stakeholders would like to see and then work forward to measure against that,” they said. “It’s a success if you can get business leaders to see that we are bringing forth those outcomes and changing behavior.”

The biggest challenge, another communicator said, is how to show value internally. They are working with HR and IT teams to show progress to shared business goals, such as how communications helps drive higher productivity or recruits qualified job candidates.

Communications as an intangible asset

The prevailing notion of how value is created in the organization doesn’t do communicators any favors in that effort. The classic value chain model ignores the role of communications entirely. Functions like logistics, operations, financing, product development, marketing and sales dominate.

“Communications should be integrated throughout but it’s often an afterthought,” said one communicator.

Communication is about moving a critical piece of information from one place to another, said another roundtable participant. The value is created in moving that information from point A to point B.

“It’s difficult to record long term value of things that aren’t traded in a marketplace or lack physical dimensions on income statements,” Buhay said. “Communications falls into this category. Relationships are hard to quantify.”

The language of the C-suite reflects the short-term results that investors care about, she added, but the work of communicators is long term and measured in how they increase the value of intellectual property, grow corporate reputation, and build strong relationships with customers or top talent.

Those assets can be assigned a value and help a business command a premium from customers or a potential buyer sizing a company up for an acquisition.

Establishing communications currency

Leaders care deeply about how they are perceived, said one roundtable participant. Their company conducts an annual leadership survey and sends a report to every leader’s organization with a comparison of how they perform against their leadership peers.

“Leaders really care whether their year-over-year metrics are increasing,” they said. “There’s direct value when a leader moves up because direct reports place more trust in them.”

Leaders wear their employee engagement score like a badge, they added, and other team leaders will often approach the communications team to find out how they can improve their results. That trust becomes a valuable commodity.

Sometimes leaders are too far into the weeds, said another communications executive. As strategic advisors, communicators ask good questions, clarify goals and analyze results to build trust. But that’s not enough. Communicators need to network and actively market their services inside the company.

Find executives you helped and demonstrate to others how communications became the problem fixer, said one roundtable participant. That includes translating qualitative data to quantitative results and showing a throughline to communications.

Communications may not appear on the classic value chain model that is commonly taught in business schools, Buhay said, but the way that value is created and exchanged is different than it once was.

“If we don’t assert the value of communications now, will we be squandering our golden opportunity?” she asked.

Mike Prokopeak is director of learning and council content for Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.  Follow him on LinkedIn.

Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council offers an array of in-depth resources and networking opportunities for communications leaders. Learn more about joining here.

Future Comms Playlist

As an icebreaker, roundtable participants shared a song that described the challenges and opportunities of their work in 2025. Here are their recommendations: