From activity to impact in Corporate Affairs and Communications
Updated: 2 days ago
Communications and corporate affairs leaders are under increasing pressure to demonstrate impact rather than activity. But what does that mean in practice?
How can these teams demonstrate the value they create, earn a stronger voice at the executive and board table, and strengthen their influence?
Challenging the function’s value
Being busy isn't the same as being valuable.
A common frustration among communications and corporate affairs leaders is that the function is often perceived as a cost centre, excluded from discussions about growth, value creation and business performance. And because trust-building and reputation-protection activities can be difficult to connect directly to business outcomes, the team's contribution to the bottom line often remains opaque.
As a result, the function is often narrowly viewed through the lens of media relations, content creation or social media activity, rather than recognised for its broader role in building trust, reducing risk, strengthening stakeholder relationships and protecting organisational value.
In reality, communications and corporate affairs teams influence outcomes that matter deeply to organisations. The challenge is demonstrating that value in ways that resonate with executive leaders and boards.
Activity for activity’s sake
The biggest mistake communications and corporate affairs teams can make is reporting on ‘busy’ activity: slide after slide, spreadsheet after spreadsheet showcasing the volume of content executed. Metrics that demonstrate effort but not impact.
In doing so, they can inadvertently reinforce the perception that communications and corporate affairs is simply an execution function, brought in after decisions, or mistakes, have been made.
Execution metrics, while easy to quantify, can also obscure important truths. For example, ‘reach and mentions increased by 40% versus the previous period’ may appear positive at first glance. However, increases in coverage and impressions can include negative commentary, increases in engagement can be driven by controversy rather than advocacy, and heightened visibility at certain times or on specific topics can weaken trust, amplify reputational risk or simply generate attention without influencing outcomes.
The real question that needs to be answered is: did the activity change or influence what matters?
When a function is too focused on execution, it can lose sight of the end goal, generating mindless volume rather than real impact.
Reporting on what matters
Communications and corporate affairs functions need to move beyond vanity indicators and towards governance, risk and enterprise value creation.
The most effective teams help leaders understand where risks are emerging, how stakeholder perceptions are shifting, whether those perceptions are influencing behaviour, what impact these factors may have on organisational performance, and which actions are most likely to shift the needle.
In line with this, there are five questions every function should be able to answer.
Are stakeholders becoming more or less confident in, engaged with, satisfied by or trusting of the organisation?
Perception metrics indicate how stakeholders feel about the organisation. Depending on the stakeholder group, this may include indicators on trust, reputation, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, brand health, advocacy and net promoter scores (NPS).
Are stakeholder perceptions influencing behaviour?
Behavioural metrics help determine whether stakeholders are more likely to support, recommend, advocate for, remain with, or engage with the organisation. Examples include attraction and retention rates, referral activity, participation levels and stakeholder advocacy.
Where are threats emerging or issues escalating?
Monitoring media coverage, social commentary, stakeholder complaints, activist campaigns, incidents and investigations can provide early warning signals and help organisations pinpoint reputation risks and address issues before they escalate.
Are we leading conversations or merely reacting to them?
Influence measures an organisation's ability to shape discussion and understanding among stakeholders. Key indicators may include share of voice, quality of media coverage, message penetration, executive visibility, thought leadership performance and citation by influential stakeholders.
What financial value is our reputation creating or protecting?
Reputation is often viewed as intangible, but its effects are far from it. High levels of trust and a strong reputation will support revenue resilience during periods of disruption, enhance investor confidence, reduce crisis recovery costs, strengthen talent attraction and protect long-term organisational value.
Reputation: a whole-of-enterprise issue
While reputation measures are not solely owned by communications and corporate affairs teams, nor should they be, they are often best positioned to translate signals from across the internal and external landscape into meaningful insights for executive leaders and boards.
Truly effective reporting treats reputation as an enterprise risk because its impacts are wide-ranging and rarely confined to communications.
Because trust and reputation exist in the minds of stakeholders, reporting should identify which stakeholders matter, what they’re thinking, and where their confidence is strengthening or eroding. This enables clearer linking of stakeholder perceptions and behaviours to potential operational, financial, regulatory and strategic consequences. It also enables organisations to answer the question: what is likely to happen if current trends continue?
For example, weakening stakeholder trust frequently predicts customer attrition, reduced advocacy and diminished support when an organisation faces scrutiny. Declining employee engagement often precedes higher turnover, lower productivity and increased recruitment costs. Growing opposition within local communities can delay future projects and approvals. Increasing concerns about business governance and strategy can reduce investor confidence and drive share price volatility.
STAKEHOLDER | RISK | EXPOSURE | TREND | DRIVERS | CONSEQUENCES | MITIGATION |
Delivering communications and corporate affairs value means not only delivering the foundational, visible work, but also helping leaders understand what matters, what is changing, and what the implications are for the organisation. It means having a voice at the leadership table, helping shape decisions and developing solutions that build trust, mitigate risk, influence outcomes and protect reputation.
