How communicators can add value to governance.

• Author: Kristie, James
• Position: Book it: Best bets for board reading

From Business Essentials for Strategic Communications by Matthew W. Ragas and Ron Culp. Copyright [c] 2014 by the authors. Published by Palgrave Macmillan (www.palgrave.com).

Corporate governance is a particularly tricky area for strategic communication professionals because the communication function does not necessarily have a direct hand or voice in governance decisions like executive compensation, board diversity, or shareholder rights.

But a strategic communicator can add value in this area by:

1. Staying current and educated on trends in good governance and stakeholder activism, to know whether an organization is in-line or out-of-line with a specific governance practice (and vulnerable to activists).

2. Making sure there is a program in place to monitor and listen to the governance concerns of a range of stakeholders (not just shareholders) while relaying these priorities to business managers.

3. Encouraging the organization to release more timely and accessible information on governance topics that stakeholders indicate...