When Does a Business Need a New Communications Leader?
by Martin Mvelle, Search Associate
As businesses grow, restructure and change direction, their expectations of corporate affairs evolve. The leadership that served one phase well may face very different demands in the next. For boards and executive teams, the question is whether those demands require a new approach from the existing leader or an entirely new appointment.
What does the business actually need?
A profit warning, employee uncertainty or reputational barriers to growth may prompt a business to reconsider its corporate affairs function. However, identifying the problem only takes us so far. Understanding how the business intends to address it reveals the capabilities required.
Most experienced communications leaders can explain a business strategy. Putting it into practice may depend on political relationships that support investment, particular media connections that rebuild credibility, or an internal communications approach that helps employees feel part of a changing culture.
These requirements can overlap. A commitment that reassures investors may unsettle employees; a public position that attracts positive coverage may complicate government relationships. The leader needs the judgement to navigate those tensions and understand their consequences for the business.
What does longevity tell us?
A longstanding leader knows why previous initiatives stalled, where influence sits and which promises employees and external stakeholders remember. That understanding can help them anticipate resistance. Established trust may also allow them to challenge decisions in ways a newcomer initially cannot.
Long tenure can itself reflect considerable adaptability. Someone who has worked through successive CEOs, acquisitions and changes of direction may have effectively led several different functions within one organisation.
Yet the number of years tells us relatively little about the breadth of those demands. A leader whose remit has centred on government and regulatory relationships may have had limited exposure to sustained media scrutiny. Their knowledge of the business remains valuable, but familiarity alone cannot supply experience they have never needed to develop.
What would somebody new change?
An incoming leader may already have worked through the transition ahead. They can bring relevant relationships, recognise difficulties the business has yet to encounter and question assumptions that have become accepted internally.
However, a successful approach elsewhere may depend on relationships, authority or a culture that does not exist in this organisation. Previous success needs to be understood in that context.
The decision therefore involves weighing two learning curves: the incumbent developing new capabilities, and a newcomer learning the business. If the existing leader has the judgement to lead the transition and can bring in the expertise required, continuity has a strong case. If the gap concerns their ability to set the approach, build the function or operate in the environment the business is entering, additional support may be insufficient. A new appointment becomes more compelling when that gap is fundamental to the transition and the business has limited time to close it.
MadlinHanna Consulting is a recruitment consultancy specialising in public affairs, corporate communications and financial PR. Contact us in London on +44 (0) 20 8088 4102 or in Brussels on +32 (0) 2 586 38 98 for more information or a confidential conversation about these services and more.