Corporate affairs directors find their career progression stymied when seeking leadership roles. Brittany Golob investigates the challenges they face in becoming non-executive directors

Trust in business is a changeable quality. Corporate reputation is based to a large extent on trust. When the economy is down, as it was following the 2008 banking crisis, trust goes down as well. The Edelman Trust Report noted this phenomenon in its 2009 report which showed that 67% of British respondents had less trust in business than they did the year prior.

Trust in an organisation can also encourage good leadership. The University of Westminster, IoIC and comms firm Top Banana examined this is in the ‘Building trust’ report by showing that good internal communications can increase trust from within the business. For those who actually sit in leadership roles as non-executive directors or other board members, reputation management has become, since 2008 if not before, a key role. Reputation accounts for 36% of market capitalisation for the FTSE 350, according to Reputation Dividend’s 2016 report.

Yet, those responsible for developing and managing a positive corporate reputation – communications directors – are not being considered for leadership roles. The ‘Beyond Corporate Affairs’ report by communications search and coaching firm Cayhill Partners, examines the possibilities for career progression from the highest levels of communications.

“It became obvious very early on in the research that there was a very overwhelming desire for corporate affairs directors to take on non-executive director roles. And there was a real frustration at how difficult they were finding it,” says director of Cayhill Partners, Dee Cayhill. Communications directors, she says, were not even being considered for board positions due to the perception of communications as a specialist, non-business critical function and a fundamental lack of understanding about what communications directors do.

To some degree, the latter problem is down to job titles. The report examined over 100 of those at the highest level in their organisations – often with the job title of corporate affairs director – in FTSE 100 organisations who lead staffs of over 100 and manage multimillion pound budgets. Of those corporate affairs directors, 75% report directly to the CEO and 45% have seats on the executive committee. Yet, Cayhill says the lack of standardisation in job titles may bestow the same title upon a communications director running a five-man team at a medium-size business.

“It’s going to take time. Corporate affairs is starting to gain traction. As the profession develops further it will change mindsets; managing reputations, thinking strategically, planning for the long term, is what this is all about”

Another challenge is the lack of options for career progression for senior communicators, 72% of whom have over 21 years of experience. The report shows that 85% of communicators were interested in non- executive director roles, but practically, most were looking only for similar roles at different organisations in the future. In fact, just 20% of respondents had ever held a non-exec role, and most were unpaid roles on the boards of organisations in the arts or third sector. Additionally, most chairmen prefer experience on a FTSE 350 board to an individual with a non-exec role in the third or public sector.

“Once you get to the top of your game in communications, the opportunities for advancement, or taking on broader responsibilities and significantly increasing income become rarer,” says John Moorwood, group communications director for Wonga Group.

Only 5% of respondents said they strongly agree that there are sufficient opportunities for career development. Almost half (49%) say they disagree and there is a lack of further opportunities for progression. Maxine Taylor, international & UK external relations director at King’s College London, says, “My best shot so far has been to take up a series of trustee roles over recent years for some great causes. But I recognise that this is not the same thing. I am simply not approached about NED roles but would dearly love to be as long as they were paid for. I would have thought there should be ample opportunity within a broad spectrum of companies for people with our skill set and more.”

But it’s not simply a matter of offering every corporate affairs director a board seat. “Not every corporate affairs director is going to be suitable for a non-executive director role or for other leadership roles,” says Cayhill. “Being an exceptional corporate affairs operator is a start.” She advises those who want to advance into leadership roles to pursue training opportunities, develop their skills outside of communications and engage in a lot of networking. One communications director interviewed for the report says corporate affairs experience is less valuable than finance, operations or HR for those appointing non-executive directors. They suggest communicators to emphasis business-critical skills like crisis communications to gain these roles.

The Institute of Directors suggests that non- executive directors should be independent, impartial, have extensive experience, special knowledge and personal qualities. That is a rare breed. Yet, communications can provide a valuable perspective, particularly with regards to corporate risk and reputation management.
Sara Lipscombe-Nott, group communications director at WS Atkins plc, currently holds a NED and role points to another valuable skill communicators can bring to the boardroom, “Be aware that being an NED is about listening, encouraging and steering the executive team into the right course of action without prescribing that course of action; it’s about influence.”

Cayhill says there is an education process that needs to take place in order to even see corporate affairs directors considered for board roles. “The key thing here is that this is all about influencing and educating,” she says. “It’s going to take time.

Corporate affairs is starting to gain traction. As the profession develops further it will change mindsets; managing reputations, thinking strategically, planning for the long term, is what this is all about.”

She adds, “I think what this needs is the industry, and everyone within it, to keep having those conversations with everyone outside the industry so we can start gathering momentum and raising awareness of the skills and experience and attributes that communications leaders can bring to a board.”

Worryingly, many respondents didn’t know exactly who to turn to for help with career development. Only 3% said they would consult trade associations or industry bodies for career guidance. However, if there is an educational challenge to be overcome, it may need to come from those organisations working on behalf of the industry. Most respondents also cited a lack of support and career development for high-level roles.

Despite the challenges they face in terms of education, perception and skills development, corporate affairs directors want to progress. The report cites 47% who are extremely interested and 38% who are very interested in non-executive director roles.

Yet, one chairman said corporate affairs directors lack commercial understanding. That perception challenge is an uphill battle when trying to secure a non-executive director role from a communications background. One person, a CEO of a trade association and former corporate affairs director, said they have a better chance of securing a board role as a CEO than they did in communications, despite the vast decrease in team size, budget and scope.

This perception gap is not only the fault of chairmen – many of whom value communications as an asset, though not a board-worthy one – but of headhunters who supply non-executive director candidates. That also translates into a challenge for communicators themselves. Most don’t know where to look for opportunities open for communications leaders at the board level.

“Recruitment of NEDs seems like a closed shop with a small number of headhunters putting forward the same profiles,” says Louise Terry, trustee of the Royal Institution, former deputy chair of Save the Children and former comms director.
There are of course, exceptions to the rule. The ‘Beyond Corporate Affairs’ report points to a slim list of 11 people, like MD of SABMiller Europe, Sue Clarke, who have transitioned from corporate affairs to leadership positions.

Again though, skills and experience are the key. “To be able to make this transition a corporate affairs director needs to do more than just be a brilliant communications director. Being an NED is not just about bringing excellent core skills to the table (companies can either have those skills in-house, or use service providers). Being a NED is about having the ability to contribute across the full range of discussions. As such, they need to have broadened their executive roles to encompass all aspects of a company’s business, and gained experience of other companies and cultures,” Claire Jenkins a current NED and former corporate affairs director says.

Transitioning from a corporate affairs director to a non-executive director or other high-level business leader will require not only personal ability and tenacity, but a shift in the perceptions of corporate affairs on the part of business leaders and to some extent, the communications industry itself.