by Tyron Devotta
Can a company have more than one narrative statement?
To say we are in a continuous state of change these days is not an exaggeration. Change is happening across every aspect of our lives. We are seeing the rapid technological transformation and its impact on society; we experienced how a two-year lockdown due to quarantine reasons ended in a spontaneous outburst of emotionally charged political activity, so powerful among sections of society, that it could topple an elected government. We saw the momentum a mere hashtag on social media could create, and the role it played in ousting a democratically appointed leader. Then there are the geopolitical shifts as far as the Ural Mountains, affecting our fuel prices and acting as a catalyst to topple our economy — the list can go on.
Are we prepared for the future?
At the bottom of it all is uncertainty. So we may as well ask, how are we preparing for the future? Or to be more specific, how is the corporate sector preparing itself for a future it cannot predict? The strategic planners in corporate businesses are probably busy right now, mapping out contingency plans to shape the future of their respective organisations while working to balance off strategic risk against political risk.
But how much emphasis is given to figuring out the narrative companies must deploy in managing and mitigating such risks? To begin with, we need to delve a little deep to understand what a corporate narrative really is. There can be many options and combinations, where one observes the past, and rethinks the position one took, finds real time solutions to the current issues and is in a continuous process of reimagining the future. Today, one of the key factors of writing or narrating one's story, past, present or future, is not only the story, but the medium used to communicate it. Without a proper understanding of this area, particularly the digital media, one's narrative might end up being as good as a whisper on a beach on a very windy day.
Local corporates were not Aragalaya ready
Company narratives are no longer what one prints out once a year on an annual report, nor what one nails down on a corporate website and forgets about. In today’s world, a narrative is a dynamic flow of information presented continuously. It can be as simple as a press release or can be an informative rollout of social media updates. Whatever form it takes, there has to be a strategy behind, and that is what will ultimately manage political risk, which today has become an important component in the stability of a company. We live in an era where social media and the spontaneous uprising of people trumps the protests of old, like strikes and go-slows. Given that, corporates need to manage not only their internal environment but also what’s happening outside and the ways they respond and interact is important. Companies need an action plan that clearly proves their corporate citizenship, and a powerful tailor-made narrative that will sustain them during uncertainties of the future. And what is primarily important for a corporate narrative is that it must inspire and give direction.
We saw big companies in Sri Lanka quaking under the rallying call of protests, during the Aragalaya, which by far and large was a group of people on the street seeking social justice. They forced some of these companies to prove their loyalty to the cause. While I may be wrong, this writer is guessing the top management of these organisations didn’t really believe in doing just that, but whatever the intentions, some found themselves on ground zero (Galle Face Green) being a part of a protest to overthrow a government. This writer is not sitting in judgement of the virtues or inequities of the people’s campaign, but one factor emerged out of this — i.e. the corporate sector was not ready for a move by the masses. In so much, that the corporate narrative fell flat on its face during that time. The only response they had to the Aragalaya’s demands as a corporate narrative, were hastily written responses that resembled foot-in-the-month missives, more or less.
Now that the Aragalaya seems to be done and dusted, the corporates are back to business as usual, with not much thought given to what happened; whatever promises they may have made are now not relevant, relegated to the dustbin of history!
So, again, the question, what makes a corporate narrative? What it is not, is a long array of dusty words, stating the number of awards one won or what a CSR walla one has been in contributing to good causes, all the while sitting on one's laurels. What it actually should be is the showcasing of a systemic approach to current day social issues and demands, while positioning the company's DNA. All this has to be packaged in the right words that inspire employees of a company from top to bottom and bottom to top. It also involves managing communication platforms at various levels and focusing on the right messaging to stakeholders and consumers on that platform.
Can you have over one narrative?
One of the main issues in writing a vision statement is the horizon that keeps shifting and the fact that the future is unpredictable. Therefore, when saying a company is going towards a certain coordinate in the future, one is guessing. In the volatile world we live in, having just one vision statement might be a risk in itself. When we read the vision of a company, are we seeing a definite way of moving towards that future, like looking through some kind of crystal ball that is 100% on track?
Just hypothetically thinking, one can have several visions and missions running parallel. This thinking may get a resounding no from the corporate sector. WHY? Because a company needs focus and direction and traditionally speaking, the visions and missions of a company are written on stone, unshakeable and constant as the northern star. However, predicting and planning for a single outcome can be dangerous in the current world we live in, and that’s why those managing strategic and political risks know how to plan for the future. But then, why is that not reflected in the narrative?
If this is difficult to understand, just imagine the different audiences large conglomerates interact with in their day-to-day business; then try to imagine the different generations within those audiences. Each will have a different shelf life; each will have a different expiry period and timeline. Will one mission and vision statement inspire them all? When the corporate world met the Aragalaya, they quaked in fear. That’s because they lacked a narrative that the Aragalaya understood. What shook the corporate sector the most was finding their young and sometimes older employees joined the protests at Galle Face after work. They heard the rumblings in the corridors and at the water dispenser during working hours. The top management huddled together and asked ‘how do we handle it? Do we stamp it out of them or join them?
Turning the system inside out
What we were facing during those times was pure disruption. The system turned itself inside out and therefore the standard operating procedures turned upside down. In responding to this situation, it would be interesting to understand how they gathered information, what keywords they used to position their company’s stand. Were they listening to the 9 o’clock news or reading the morning headlines, or using other methods. While the tradition media is an important indicator of any trend, tracking social media conversations is also a smart thing to do.
In today’s world, we must not build narratives on board decisions and corporate communication edicts. Narratives must be responsive, and this done by listening and understanding the audience, and they must suit top down and bottom up objectives. Today, corporate communications and PR teams must be asked how many listening posts they operate, on what platforms and how do they respond? It is not only what we hear on those listening posts but we also need to watch out for the blind spots. We need risk management and mitigation teams constantly auditing processes, fixing gaps and accessing the messages. The vision and mission of a company should be constantly on appraisal and fixed to a moving target in the future.
Preparing for the future
In reality, what does it mean to have over one narrative? This means having a plan for different disruptive scenarios, and that means creating shadow visions and missions to meet the future coordinates in the company's roadmap. The best disruption example in Sri Lanka would be the current political volatility that has become a ground reality. A change in government. Companies need to have a shadow narrative to navigate changes when this happens. The narrative is not only for external consumption but for internal purposes. Keeping employees and shareholders informed about the direction of the company will take the weight off a sudden twist on the road especially in ever changing socio, political and economic conditions. The pandemic, and sudden lockdowns is another case in point where corporates did not have a backup narrative to guide them in moving from brick and mortar to the virtual world.
There is a paradigm shift needed here. Think of it as three different stories about your company in three different scenarios. Every story has a beginning, middle and end that will guide the perceptions of the company. It will give the employees, managers, and other stakeholders the opportunity to understand different eventualities and how they should adjust to achieve goals. It will create different road maps in the web of minds of the corporate entity.
Fluid changeable narratives
As we have no doubt learned by now, one cannot have fixed coordinates on the future direction of a company operationally. There must be leeway in having fluid changeable narratives when looking at vision and mission statements. SOPs have to be reviewed regularly. One choice is to have a team constantly developing alternative narratives in draft form, which can be aligned to the narrative of strategic risk mitigation plans and manage political risk on a wider canvas. Think of it as a fictional story about your company that may turn true.
The situation gets more complicated when one comes to the Web. Most companies operating in Sri Lanka have a wide understanding of the digital world in their marketing and sales divisions, but sadly lack understanding when it comes to corporate communications. Most messaging is in Web 1.0 format and style. They haven’t even got to fully understand what Web 2.0 means, and now there’s talk of Web 3.0 — an avatar world of the future which can operate in independent pools of connection and interaction, with no control by the government or even the corporate sectors. It's time that we wake up to this reality.
Intro image by Freepik
Article Image by pch.vector on Freepik