News from the FIR Blog

Return on Investment (ROI) is a term that is tossed around loosely in some circles. Strictly speaking, ROI is expressed as a percentage determined by dividing the return (or benefit) of a monetary investment by the cost of the investment. That’s not what most communicators measure, yet the industry frequently refers to the ROI of communication. Is that a number that applies to communication? Can communication contribute to an organization’s overall ROI? What are valid alternatives to ROI that company leaders will appreciate when communicators share them?

Four IABC Fellows gathered at noon ET on Thursday, April 15, 2021, to discuss these and other questions.
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Corporate Social Responsibility has never been hotter. With younger workers insisting on working for purposeful organizations, a surge of interest in investment funds that focus on sustainable companies, and organizations embracing comprehensive ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) initiatives, communicators have their hands full. From reporting ESG results (annual ESG reports jam-packed with data are becoming commonplace) to pitching companies’ CSR commitments, challenges abound. Simply checking off CSR boxes (donation made: check) no longer cuts it.

At 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 18, four IABC Fellows will spend an hour discussing the communications role in developing and promoting modern CSR efforts. The live-streamed panel (listed below) will take your questions in real time. You can ask your questions or share your observations in the YouTube chat or via Twitter (add the hashtag #COF67).
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What does it take to be successful as an independent communication consultant? How do you transition from your current corporate role, with all the support and resources that come with it, to working on your own? How do you drum up business, manage multiple clients, and handle all the administrivia (like contracts, invoicing, accounting, and… Continue Reading →

By any standard, 2020 was a challenging year for everyone around the globe. Communicators were among those who had to cope with the personal impact of the year’s events while simultaneously coordinating communication to their organizations’ or clients’ diverse audiences — both regular, ongoing communication and crisis-related communication.

At noon 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 21, a truly global panel of five IABC Fellows will convene to review the year in communication. (Panelists are from Australia, The Philippines, and Canada.) The panel will take your questions in real-time via the YouTube Live chat function or via Twitter (using the hashtag #COF65).
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Can communicators help create the right environment for their companies? Can they help sustain an existing environment?

At noon ET on Thursday, December 17, four IABC Fellows will answer these questions and explore the various ways communicators can influence the corporate environment. The panel will take your questions in real-time via the YouTube Live chat function or via Twitter (using the hashtag #COF64).
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For a while, the wave of new technologies offered communicators obvious opportunities to incorporate these new tools into their communication strategies. The introduction of Twitter and Instagram, the rise of mobile use, chatbots, and other technologies that were grounded in communication were introduced at a dizzying pace.

Many of today’s new crop of technologies have less obvious communication applicability. That doesn’t mean communicators should ignore them. From Artificial Intelligence to Blockchain, from live streaming to machine co-creativity, there are technologies gaining steam that can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of both internal and external communication.

On November 14, four IABC Fellows will gather for a live-streamed discussion about emerging communication technologies; they will take your questions in real-time via the YouTube Live chat function or via Twitter (using the hashtag #COF63).
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Safety communication is vitally important. Besides the obvious vital outcome of avoiding injury or death, a focus on safety tells employees the company cares about them. There is another dimension of safety communication that is often overlooked altogether. Psychological safety may not be addressable by wearing PPE and eliminating hazards like exposed electrical wires, but it is equally important in achieving the goal of employees being able to bring their best selves to work every day and go home whole every night. All these dimensions of safety communication will be on the table when four IABC Fellows join moderator Shel Holtz at noon Eastern Time on Thursday, October 15.
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In his book, “The Great Game of Business,” Jack Stack introduced the business world to open-book management. The Great Game of Business website points out, “Open-book management at its most effective far outperforms a definition as simple as “sharing financial information with employees”. Open-book isn’t just about opening your financials to your company, it’s about responsibility, ownership, results, and growth, all of these things can come together to drive the needle forward in your organization. With proper training and knowledge, all levels of your business start to act and engage just like the owner, or leadership.”

Clearly, communication is a vital dimension of open-book management. On the next Circle of Fellows, four IABC Fellows will look at the communicator’s role, including introducing the concept to leadership. At noon ET on Thursday, September 17, join moderator/Fellow Brad Whitworth and IABC Fellows Jim Shaffer (who worked with Stack on the concept), Tosh Hattori, and Amanda Hamilton-Attwell for a fascinating conversation.
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Episode 43 of Circle of Fellows — back in March 2019 — addressed the communicator’s role in supporting their companies’ diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts. The topic has undergone dramatic transformation since then and, notably, since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Suddenly, companies that had merely checked the D&I box are revisiting their commitments and introducing more meaningful policies and practices, in addition to taking direct action.
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The weekly FIR Zoom Chat is making a change.

Rather than a chat about anything (or nothing), we’ll focus on a topic. For the first theme-based FIR Zoom Chat, we’ll talk about the move toward empathy and emotion in marketing and its applicability to other communications (corporate, internal, investor, community, etc.).
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