Bringing the Global Standard into Your Practice

(Blog 3 in a series of 3 on the Global Standard of the Communication Profession)

Mary Hills, ABC, Six Sigma

16 March 2015

The refreshed Global Standard was the first deliverable from the Career Roadmap Committee (CRM) that had been instituted from the IABC Life-long Learning Summit held in October, 2011.  Qualitative research began immediately to identify “core themes /concepts” found in the practice of communication.  In May, 2012, an external research house surveyed IABC members via a full membership survey to establish the importance and usage of the themes in professional practice.  The survey findings, valid and reliable, resulted in the Career Purpose and six Principles of the Global Standard.  Some have viewed the work done by the CRM to be the most significant work done by IABC since the excellence work it did in the 90’s.  Similar to the Excellence Study, the CRM’s impact and relevance to the communication professional and their daily work continues to morph.

So, where do we see the Global Standard in the everyday?  Let’s take a look at four communication professionals on different career paths to see the Global Standard in action.

Please meet Emma, our Communication Coordinator.  (Foundation Path)

This is Wei, our Internal Communication Manager.    (Generalist/Specialist Path)

Let me introduce Samuel, our Corporate Communication Director.  (Strategic Advisor Path) And, may I present Ivana, a member of our Executive Team. (Business Leader Path)

As Emma, Wei, Samuel and Ivana have shown, using the Global Standard daily in our communication practice can guide us in mediating organizational challenges and give us a reason for acting. How do you see the Global standard impacting you and your work?

Blog 1 & 2 - The Global Standard Grows UP!  and Body of Knowledge, Terms and the Global Standard can be read here.

Body of Knowledge, Terms and the Global Standard

(Blog 2 in a series of 3 on the Global Standard)

Communication or communications?  Professional communicator vs. communication professional? And, where does practitioner and practice fit in?  Not quite the issue of consistency surrounding the English word tomatoe but we can only guess as to the countless hours spent by communication professionals around the world who have debated labels/terms in our profession.  (FYI - Tomatoe can be spelled tomatoe or tomato, pronounced tomātoe or tomăto and is categorized both as a fruit and a vegetable.)

In 2012, the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) put discussions on communication(s) and professional before or after communication to rest by releasing the terms to be used by communication professionals.  Here is a great way to put it in context:

We are communication professionals who work in the field of communication (science) often using communications systems to deliver communication messages.

 

The plural of communication – communications -- refers to technical things like systems, infrastructures, smartphones or cables.*  A communication practitioner (someone actively engaged in a profession) can support, or not support, this practice (the actual application or use of an idea, belief or method as opposed to theories about such application or use) as they chose.

Of all the terms associated with the Global Standard, “body of knowledge” is probably the one that builds and expands our thinking on the communication profession more than any other.  Wikipedia** defines a body of knowledge as

the complete set of concepts, terms and activities that make up a professional domain, as defined by the relevant learned society or professional association.

Through the last 40 years, as the field of organizational communication evolved from individual disciplines into today’s organizational communication industry, practices grew into reliable processes and procedures that inform the development of a communication practice. We identified processes to use when building plans, programs or campaigns.  Procedures, specific instructions for performing the tasks or activities in the processes, were captured from best practices in getting tasks/activities done effectively and efficiently.  Based on this body of knowledge, communication policies rose in companies, businesses and organizations throughout the world that stated rules and guidelines to ensure consistency and compliance in communication within the organization’s context. 

Using results from a global survey of communication professionals, the Global Standard of the Communication Profession isolates six areas – termed principles – that make up the core body of knowledge as the foundation for organizational communication.  Ethics, context, analysis, strategy, consistency, and engagement guide us in developing a practice. The Career Purpose guides our constituencies and us as to the role of a communication professional. 

*Whalen, Patricia. (2005). Corporate Communication from A to Z: An Encyclopedia for Public Relations and Marketing Professionals. P.32.

**While Wikipedia is not recognized as a credible root source, its role as a launch point to root sources is useful here.

Blog 1 – The Global Standard Grows UP! can be read here.

Next - Bringing the Global Standard into Your Practice

The Global Standard Grows UP!

If you asked an IABC member what the Global Standard was four years ago, they might have said, “Isn’t that about being accredited, an ABC?”  And, that would have been somewhat right.  However, even four years ago, the Global Standard referred to the use of the strategic communication management process when practicing organizational communication.  Those practitioners that exemplified this competency in their practice went through the accreditation process to earn the ABC designation.  But just as all things and disciplines evolve, the Global Standard grew in 2012 to include a shared career purpose with six guiding principles for communication professionals around the world known as the Global Standard for the Communication Profession. (Global Standard)

Based on independent, third-party global research, the Global Standard presents a shared career purpose among practitioners – our purpose is to represent the voice and conscience of the organization to its many and diverse stakeholders.  The six guiding principles – ethics, context, analysis, strategy, consistency and engagement – provide the foundation for the way competent work is done in diverse cultures and in organizations of all types and sizes around the world.  This Global Standard refresh aligns with the current state of the industry and truly is THE Global Standard for the Communication Professional.

 

Career delineation has also been mapped with career paths defined as Foundation, Generalist/Specialist, Strategic Advisor and Business Leader.  Development of a refreshed IABC certification, currently underway, rests in the Strategic Advisor level when practitioners have built and developed competencies to serve as an advisor/counselor to an organization’s leadership. 

The Global Standard has grown into an amazing foundation for professionals to use knowing it is a benchmark for a global organizational communication practice.  Is it the base for your practice?

Coming 5 March 2015:  Body of Knowledge,Terms and the Global Standard