Elaine Ng has played a key role in Royal Philips' transformation into a health technology company. She works to raise the awareness of the Philips brand, value proposition, and differentiation that Philips plays in the HealthTech industry -- ultimately aiming to position Philips as the market leader.
Elaine will be speaking about her experience at the Asia-Pacific Communication Summit. She chatted to Communication Director about the integral position of communicators in business transformations.
Why does it still happen that communicators aren’t called in early enough to contribute strategic value to a change process?
I believe it’s because people tend not to fully understand the role and depth of expertise of communicators. The role of communications is sometimes perceived as more “executional”, hence, unfortunately, there are situations where communicators are called in too late in the process.
Elaine is part of the speaker line up at the 2016 Asia-Pacific Communication Summit, taking place on October 27/28 in Singapore. To hear more great insights from leading communicators, make sure to register.
What role does the communicator have in engineering a business transformation?
The communicator plays a pivotal role in engineering a business transformation! It is more important than ever to keep employees and external stakeholders engaged while you manage change at the same time as the business transforms. These days, most companies go through changes for one reason or another, and at a much faster pace than before. If you don’t change and adapt, you risk being left behind. Some employees – especially those who have been with the company for a long time – are uncomfortable with change. However, change is the new constant these days so it is more important than ever to ensure you motivate employees who are nervous and apprehensive, most likely wondering where they fit in, as the business transforms.
To your external stakeholders – your customers and business partners – there is also the need to inform and educate them as your business transforms, while reassuring them of how you will continue working with them.
“Change is the new constant these days so it is more important than ever to ensure you motivate employees.”
As your business transforms, you will engage with new customers and business partners – your communicator can play a significant role in helping you establish your new strategy and brand identity in these new circles while ensuring that your brand reputation is well known amongst new friends.
Why does a change process – such as new office launch – provide such a great opportunity for a transformation of the entire business?
When we launched the Philips APAC Center, our new regional headquarters, we always had the vision that this was more than just a new office building that was meant to serve the needs of our business and a new work culture. As Philips continues with our business transformation – from being a supplier of advanced medical and consumer products to a provider of innovative Healthcare Technology solutions and services – our physical premises needed to transform as well. Hence, we leveraged the new office launch to tell the story of our business transformation.
Image: Philips
