Does PR have a place in the boardroom?

This article was first published in March 2024 in a commemorative printed edition of Influence to celebrate the CIPR's 75^th anniversary. Written by journalist Andy Silvester while he was editor-in-chief of City AM, the information provided in this piece was correct at the time of going to press.

It’s just past market close on 25 July 2023, and NatWest is about to put out a statement on the future of its chief executive Dame Alison Rose. Caught up in the farrago over Nigel Farage’s ‘debanking’ from Coutts, the bank is about to confirm that the boss is to stay – despite at least giving the impression of discussing a customer’s personal details. It’s a bold move but with the right comms strategy it might just work. 

The statement that appears in journalists' inboxes, however, fails to convince. Within minutes of the news leaving NatWest, my phone is already buzzing from City wags: this won’t last. Rose, of course, quit just a few hours later. 

Would the outcome have been changed with a different comms plan? That’s one for post-prandial speculation. 

What's clear is that from the moment the story broke onto the front pages, it would be impossible for NatWest (Coutts’ owners) to ignore. Rather than getting in front of the story, NatWest chose to let the story come to them, with predictable results. Did the board, fundamentally, misjudge the seriousness of what the bank was being accused of? Could the delay and inaction have led to an arguably unnecessary loss of a CEO? 

All food for thought and interesting in terms of thinking about the importance of a comms professional on the board, not just in the senior leadership team. A look at NatWest’s board reveals a group of highly qualified, talented individuals who are respected in their fields, from investment banking to customer experience specialists. But precious few who understand comms.  

VACUUM AT THE TOP OF BUSINESS 

NatWest is not alone in having a PR-free boardroom. Only three FTSE 100 boards have a dedicated comms professional on their board, according to new data from the CIPR, while just over half have a comms expert on their senior leadership or ExCo teams. 

And all that in an environment in which more and more of a firm’s bottom-line performance can be dictated by external reputation. Even forward-thinking analysts are slow to catch on. 

In a recent ‘board skills matrix’, the investor proxy body Glass Lewis listed the skills it wanted to see on the boardrooms of our biggest companies. Where communications is mentioned, it is grouped alongside marketing and customer service. In industries like pharmaceuticals and resource extraction, it is not even present at all. 

A STRATEGIC FAILING

Cast your mind back a decade or so, before Brexit votes, pandemics and regular prime ministerial changes sucked the air out of our public debate. One of the hot topics in British business was expanding the diversity of our boardrooms. Much of that effort, naturally, went on addressing the dreadful gender imbalance. 

Headlines were dominated by the race to 30 per cent female representation. Some, though, were making the case for diversity of thought around the top table, too. The argument went then, and goes now, that it’s not necessarily the faces or backgrounds of those around the boardroom that matter, but the diversity of their experience. Only then can a collective boardroom take a holistic view of the whole company. 

Marie-Noëlle Elissac-Foy, founder and director of The Talent Factory, feels strongly that this change needs to be urgent. 

“We need to take a serious look at diversity of expertise at board level. Inclusive boards and management is key to driving sustainable and impactful change in the world." 

“There is broad agreement on the benefits that diverse perspectives can bring to board discussions, not least in countering the ever-present danger of groupthink that can afflict the thinking processes of persons from similar backgrounds,” says Dr Roger Barker, director of policy at the Institute of Directors and a corporate governance expert. 

“So far in the diversity debate, some personal characteristics have been emphasised more than others,” he says. 

“Boards have further to go in identifying areas of professional experience and expertise that can enhance their decision-making capabilities. Directors with skillsets in technology, sustainability, HR and communication are still underrepresented on boards.” 

Barker’s comments were echoed, less politely, by one senior male City comms professional I spoke to who asked not to be named. 

“Andy, I could be the PR version of the second coming and I’ve still not got a hope of getting on the board unless I transition.” 

FIGHT THE POWER

Where does the resistance to communications around the boardroom come from? For some recruiters, it’s seen as a soft skill; other businesses, culturally, see communications more as a function than a strategic imperative.

Recruiters – who have a vital role to play in board composition – are looking to change that, recognising that corporate reputation can bring down a business just as quickly as a poorly executed commercial venture. 

“Although we’ve seen CMO seats at the board increase over the past decade or so, it’s still really apparent that a pure comms seat at the board is a rare occurrence,” says Clare Kemsley, Director at Hays. 

“When it comes to non-exec roles, it’s unusual for a board to appoint a non-exec with standalone marketing or comms experience. Boards are missing a trick here. As the internal and external voice of customers, the importance placed on the entire comms function is growing – and in a fluctuating market, the need to have a comms voice in the room is more essential than ever. 

“We’d advocate for giving comms, not just marketing, an individual voice on the board.” 

Some have suggested comms people don’t always help themselves. In a LinkedIn post that went viral, the experienced comms director Kate McFerran said the three mistakes made by PR people in the boardroom are: mistaking tactics for strategy, using the career-killing phrase ‘for information’, and “not reporting results like a boss”. 

In short, those from a comms background continually report as if they were still in the early stages of their career, noting the successes of individual stories or executions rather than reporting on medium- and longer-term goals. 

Changing perceptions is part of the process, too. Nestlé’s corporate affairs chief Cristina Macina told a Drum event recently that the best thing any comms professional could do is to put senior management through media training. 

“After they go through training, they have more empathy and respect for the work of comms to generate professionals. This level of understanding is a great way to generate appreciation,” she says. 

CRISIS ROUND THE CORNER 

In my time in business journalism, I’ve usually noted three things about businesses in crisis mode. One, they should have seen it coming, and two, they aren’t taking it seriously enough. 

The third thing, usually, is an over-reaction. The ostrich, having removed its head from the sand, often tries to become a chicken. This rarely works. Never has a crisis been such a constant fear for business. 

Just ask Anheuser-Busch, whose targeted Bud Light ad with a transgender campaigner became a business-critical issue. Social media storms can whip up over the smallest issue, but that doesn’t necessarily mean all require action. That’s where judgement comes in. 

“With more businesses dragged into battles over what’s woke and what isn’t – somehow managing to annoy the extremes on all sides – it’s more important than ever that firms listen to people who can offer advice on what’s noise and what’s signal,” says Steffan Williams, a City PR supremo now at the helm of Williams Nicolson alongside his business partner. 

“Some seek that advice from outside, but having that expertise around the boardroom can only help.” 

PERCEPTIONS

So, will the humble comms leader make it to the top table, invited in to offer advice on how something will land, rather than simply being presented with a stinker and being asked to have it smelling of roses by end-of- play tomorrow? Perhaps – ironically – it’s PR’s job to make the case. If not, journalists will keep making it for them. After all, can anyone put a price on a bad headline?

• Prepare for a role at the top table with the CIPR's new board-level training, covering the role of the director and the board, the role of the chief communications officer and the role of the non-executive director.

Andy Silvester is a journalist and former editor-in-chief of City AM.