The evolution of mankind has been a fascinating journey. It has evolved over centuries and has been growing with each passing day. Everything that we humans possess today or have possessed earlier (that has become extinct now) has some history behind it.
Just like the evolution of mankind, there has been a radical change in the way we talk, write, or express ourselves… In simple words, the way we communicate to one another today and the way it used to be in ancient times…, there has been a radical transformation. Communication ways and channels have evolved over the centuries. This change in communication has become a field to study and an art that needs to be mastered.
I get fascinated with the way communication ways, and means have grown. So I wanted to study and to know where it all started and where it has reached. Let’s go down the history lane……
EVOLUTION OF COMMUNICATION
“New to the city and getting late for work….smartphone is there to help with maps; logged in at workplace and on snapchat….chit chatted with the family and back to work. Come evening… looking for a place to hangout… Google is there to assist for cafes and restaurants; it’s late at night and wants to go back to the hotel…no need to worry OLA/UBER is there to take you back to the hotel. “
Wowww… it’s so simple and easy to communicate and stay connected. At every step, there is a way to solve day-to-day issues, and everything is available with the click of a button. Life in today’s digital age is so sorted and straightforward. But it wasn’t the same, and communication was difficult. It has come a long way from the cave paintings to this digital age. Communication and its modes have traveled a long journey. Let’s go back and refresh our memories:
The ancient phase of communication was in the form of pictographs where stories, histories, or instructions were used to be drawn on the walls of caves (the oldest cave paintings were discovered around 30,000 B.C.). These cave paintings were succeeded by “the petroglyphs” (carvings on the rock surface popular as “Rock Art”). The oldest of such rock art has been discovered around 10,000 B.C.
Such ancient forms of communication were a great way to depict and study about the history and the life back at the Stone Age. As the humans evolved further, the communication modes started changing, and another form was discovered called “the hieroglyphs,” which was in the form of pictograms and the logographic images. This particular ancient Egyptian communication mode had a total of 1000 distinct characters to communicate.
These mediums were all in the form of drawings that were on the rocks or on walls. With time, there was a desire to communicate over long distances, and “smoke signals” were invented. The first of such signals were used by Chinese soldiers guarding The Great Wall of China around 900 B.C. These are used in the present age as well by “College of Cardinals” for the selection of Pope. However, these smoke signals were discouraged because they were not considered a very authentic way to communicate.
The signals were succeeded by a very different mode of communication. With this, humans took the help of birds, namely “pigeons,” to communicate at long distances. Pigeons (that are considered a very “romantic” mode of communication in the present age) were used to send messages due to their uncanny ability to fly back to their homes. These were used during world wars also. This mode of communication became very popular during ancient times and became a topic to study by scientists (but they could not establish how pigeons managed to do this).
The above have modes that were predominant in the pre-industrial era, and with industrialization picking up the pace, the new ways to communicate were invented. One such invention was “the postal services.” The postal services helped in sending messages at the long distances and also helped a great deal in delivering messages to the paid employees of various industries.
Telegraph services were appreciated to a great extent because it was a direct mode of communication. But, with an increase in industrialization, there came a desire to communicate with a more extensive set of audience and describe how one industry is performing, what are its ways for employee welfare and economic growth. This gave birth to “the newspapers” and “the radio.” These two revolutionized the way communication happened till date. The revolution that these inventions brought about was unparalleled. However, these were still restricted to the geographical boundaries and the humans being so ambitious, some inventions came in the decades that followed. Newspapers and radio widened the net of information to a great extent, and people, in general, became a lot informed, a lot learned, and gave them the power to become think for a better future.
With the desire to send messages to the foreign land, there came “the telegraph.” Telegraph was a limited word message that could be sent with the help of clicks, tones, etc. Telegraph helped in sending coded messages to far land enabled people living in different areas to receive vital information. The 1st telegraph message was posted in 1844.
With the desire to scale new heights and the zeal for continuous improvements, Graham Bell invented “The Telephone” in 1876. Till now, telegraph transmitted messages through clicks and tones, but with a thought to hear a human voice while communicating, the clicks and sounds were given a form of social audio. Initially, it was developed for the local calls, but later, it was developed for commercial use and also for both national and international conversations. The landline services began by the 1900s. The telephone has been the most reliable source of communication to date.
Communication and its channels have been pre-computer era and post computer era. All the mediums to date have pre-computer age and in this era, before the computers were invented, there was one of the significant inventions that are the most reliable source of information and entertainment. The earliest broadcasts were during WWII, where the stills were in black and white.
The era of computers began in around the mid-20th century. Computers came in the 1950s and were followed by the introduction of the “World Wide Web (www)” in 1991. The introduction of the World Wide Web led to the influx of information, and everything was available with the click of a key on the keyboard. This gave a whole new dimension to the term “communication.” Emails were introduced with the birth of Yahoo! In 1994, which was followed by other platforms like Hotmail and Gmail or Google mail. All this made conversations faster and also made the world a much smaller place to live in. Time zones vanished, and emails could be sent and received during any time of the day. Life became fascinating…..!!!!
“Walk the Talk”…the phrase sounds exciting, but this was one challenge that wasn’t met with to date. We have been communicating being in one place and could not walk while we were talking. This sounded an impossible task, but the ambitious human mind achieved what was once unthinkable. We call it “Mobile phone,” and in today’s age, it rests in the hands of every human being. The mobile fulfilled the dream of “Walk the Talk” and then came “SMS or Short Messaging Service” where messages could be sent from one person to another in a fraction of second in any part of the world. The 1st message was posted on 3rd December 1992. Today, it is 9 trillion SMS per year sector in mobile telephony.
The late 20th century was named “the modern age” where it was all about computers and the internet. It was at this time, emails, yahoo, and SMS were invented. It was at this time, the world was opening up its horizons and learning about new ways to converse and to learn to experiment. But the first decade of the 21st century was revolutionized with the digital world. It was the witness to the beginning of “the digital age.” The proliferation of smartphones leads to the development of apps. These apps made every bit of activity available in seconds and at the convenience of the user. This enabled the user to comprehend every bit of news and information and weigh its pros and cons to fit into the individual needs. WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. enables us to post pictures, upload videos, write views, and the sky is the limit….. With the digital age… eternity seems small.
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
Since the dawn of time, humans have shown the need to communicate. We developed various mediums of communication to enable us to work faster and achieve quicker. The development of these mediums improved the way we remain connected to our workspace.
Over the decades, communication has evolved in response to overcoming the obstacles in the workplace. From the top-down approach during the industrial revolution, we have reached the digital age where one can make itself heard through a variety of platforms and let the world know about a new innovation or make the world aware of the distress happening in any part of the globe. In this digital age, the gap between the corporates and the stakeholders have blurred completely, and corporate communications have seen a radical shift. Let’s understand the journey that the field of corporate communications has undertaken over the decades:
The industrial revolution saw the communication channel is only one way, i.e., the top-down approach. During this time, management used to pass orders, and both the junior management and the workers were to abide by the same. There wasn’t any mechanism to listen to the grievances of the workers. This, perhaps, became one of the biggest reasons for dissatisfaction amongst the employees and also became a significant trigger point to give rise to the trade unions. These trade unions were initially formed to bridge the gap between the management and the employees and to help the employees find solutions to their grievances. These unions were initially successful in their objectives. Still, soon there were a lot of differences that developed between the management and associations, and so the administration chose the direct way of communicating with its people.
The management employee direct engagement was a great way to bridge the gap between the two parties, but it had significant disadvantages also. In all this, the focus still remained the company first and employees second. There was no way where employees could share their apathy to the top management. However, the invention of telephones and computers made communication easier within the organization (with the phones came intercoms). The employees were now better equipped to share their ideas, discuss their issues, and get them solved. With computers, an initiative that various managements undertook was to publish the recognition of the employees. This was a huge morale booster for the people within the organization and helped the management grow leaps and bounds.
Corporate Communications is about maintaining a balance between the internal and the external stakeholders. While, during the industrial revolution, internal communications were all about the top-bottom approach, the external stakeholders and the communication channel with them was also one direction approach only. During that period, companies used to hire the P.R. agencies, and those agencies used to handle all the activities of the respective companies. These PR agencies used to manage all the activities ranging from media releases to client identification; from media management relationships to company customer engagement to a relationship with the government agencies or the law enforcement bodies etc.. With such a vast range of tasks, these agencies sometimes were unable to measure the dissatisfaction/ disagreement (with the company product or services)/ consumer complaints; making the entire process a futile exercise, and the efforts of the companies were not appropriately communicated to all these external stakeholders.
With the invention of computers, there was a better approach to communicate with the external parties, and the gap between the two was somehow bridged. However, it’s the digital age that has brought about a radical shift in the way the companies now view the role of “Corporate Communications.” In today’s digital age, communications have been taken seriously, and companies dedicate a separate department for the same. Now, we plan how, what, when, where, why, for whom the information needs to be communicated and what medium needs to be approached for the same. The digital age has enabled corporate communications to take a front seat in the company’s board room, and marketing plans are devised after the communication strategy is decided extensively.
With the pace at which the digitization is growing, the future of corporate communications will be more targeted, interactive, effective, and informative. It has the potential to shape culture, enable better decisions, and significantly move the needle on building an engaged workforce. For all this to build up successfully, companies need to recognize the unique needs of each communication category and specialized communication tools will have the greatest impact and return on investment.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
If society is to adequately address the issue of climate change, the solutions must come from the market and, more specifically, from the corporate sector. The market is the most powerful organizing institution on earth, and corporations are the most powerful organizations within it. Without business, there will be no solutions. With that as the starting point, communication of the importance of climate change within the market must mobilize business leaders and stakeholders. The idea is that climate change must be presented as a market shift if it is to be recognized as a business issue that will gain the attention of business leaders.
Companies are currently wrestling with the dual-threat and opportunity climate change creates, communicating a plan of action almost remains almost as difficult as taking actions. Companies that excel in integrating sustainability and social impact into their businesses, somehow fail in communicating to the world at large about their good work. Communicating well on sustainability actions can serve as both a multiplier for achieving sustainability goals and a competitive edge to stand out. Surely, communications can make or break a company’s sustainability strategy.
So, what is needed to keep in mind about communicating about the climate, its impact, and the actions we are taking????
Let’s study………………