Communication

The corporate sector in particular must not only have strong governance standards effectively in place but it must also be seen to have these standards in place. Just as leaders are assessed for congruity between their stated message and their actions, the same is true with corporations. Leaders know full well that to be effective they need to have clear goals with a simple message clearly and constantly communicated to their target audience. The task of communication is a priority and a time-demanding one, as most business people can attest. It requires presentational skills which need to be developed, planning to produce a coherent communications programme and constancy of delivery to ensure that the message is heard. Most corporations, as well as non-profit enterprises, recognise the need to communicate to their constituents, but — at least in the corporate sector — it is unusual for much time to be spent communicating the issues of corporate governance. Indeed, the centrality of effort is around direct shareholder interest matters such as corporate strategy, financial performance, managerial competence and commercially specific issues such as brand awareness. Governance is typically dealt with in a formal way in the annual report or on an ad hoc basis in responding to press questions or criticisms as they arise.