Line-of Sight is a communications agency helping corporations and organisations to ensure value in the huge resources spent every day on communications.
Especially in Denmark our culture has developed in an anti authoritarian direction. But the development is not merely a Danish phenomenon. Since the end of World War II the development in an anti-authoritarian direction has accelerated in the Western World. Important milestones are the 1968 Revolts, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of online-communication with social media as the latest phenomenon.
In communications the answer to this development lies in values-based and dialogue-oriented communication. Communication by giving orders and communication, which is perceived as dishonest and manipulating, create resistance. One example of this could be communication which is perceived as spin. Internally companies and organisations focus on the development of more values-based leadership. Externally communication about CSR-activities plays a growing role. Companies are players in a world where values are at the center of things.
If you ask the management of a company what are the values of the company, you will, to begin with, often get the answer, that the daily occupation as a matter of fact is about making a profit by selling the products or services of the company to costumers that are willing to pay for it, and that there is no higher purpose to it, really.
But just because a company’s values are not written down and subject of ongoing dialogue, it does not mean that there aren’t any. Most companies have some unwritten values. Frequently these values are not the same all over the company. Different cultures coexist, and there are different silos in the company’s organisation. Even the individual members of the top management can each have their own diverging values, if there has been no systematical dialogue about the values.
If the values of a company are unclear to the employees, they will have a significant need for having a concrete well-defined and binding dialogue about the values, which the company conducts its business according to. The surrounding world also wants to understand the values. Customers, suppliers and partners do also have a need for having a perception of the company as being a decent company.
The road ahead lies in dialogue with employees and with the surrounding world. In the short run an attitude, which is perceived as honest and engaged, to this dialogue is more important than the concrete outcome. Of course in the long run the outcome counts, which should be that the company is perceived as trustworthy and decent, both internally and externally.
In Line-of-Sight we have different tools, which we use to help our customers to develop their communications in a values-based direction. Our point of departure will always be to uncover, what values and perceptions exist inside the organisation and in the surrounding world. As the next steps we help with the development of a communication strategy and then with implementing it. A key element in the development of a communication strategy is the development of the company story.
News
Social media
The development online go hand in hand with a tendency, which has existed in many years in communications: New white paper on social media. April 2010. Download paper.
Overloaded managers
Communications departments demands much too much from middle managers. Opinion in Børsen 1 October 2009. Read the article.
Success without strategy
Most companies can’t say what their strategy is, but they should change. Opinion in Børsen 4 June 2009. Read the article.
Twitter and PR
The leading business daily Børsen focused on the possibilities in social media communication, when covering Line-of-Sight 27 May 2009. Read the article (Danish).