Having all the confidence you desire in your value-add

The value adding question can nag away at anyone.?But surely nobody more than IC Specialists.?After all, IC is the only business activity everyone else does too.?Not everyone manages people, or budgets.?Not everyone designs or runs IT systems, does sales, or Facilities Management.?But everyone communicates with their boss, and usually colleagues.?So it’s surely going to be tougher to prove you’re adding value to an activity which ‘anyone can do’.

Or is it??It’s common for many people to want to feel they’re adding value: that their work is having a real-world impact.?The key seems to lie in your answer to this question.?What do you want to be able to do as a result of having identified that value?

That may seem an odd question.?And maybe it is.?For some people, feeling they’re adding value isn’t a means to doing anything; a sense of self-worth is an end in itself.?But for people who have that curiosity, will the answer ever be complete??Whatever the answer, might it not almost inevitably lead to follow-up questions: “Am I making as big a difference as I could??How much more of a difference could I be making?”?

Adding ‘enough’ value

Given that you’re a specialist in the only business activity which everyone else in the workplace is also doing, will your value add ever be enough to banish completely the shadow of Impostor Syndrome?

The answer to that question will always depend on your personal values. But is there a way of coming at it which can give you justifiable confidence in your ongoing value-add??After all, for decades IC Specialists have been looking for ways of demonstrating the value they add.?But it never seems to quite meet the need.?Every time we’ve asked other IC Specialists they start listing the things they’d like to do differently.?

• Getting more budget, or a bigger team.?
• Investing in better kit.?
• Changing the way they work, or
• Just generally having more ‘clout’.

And that all sounds great, but for one thing.?If the game plan is to be able to change the status quo, your measurements will have to create a catalyst for change.?And if all you’re doing is measuring the value of what you’re doing at the moment, where’s that catalyst??It’s a great baseline to start from.?But you’re already worth that much as it is.?

The key to getting what you desire; to adding ever more measurable value, lies in demonstrating how much value you’re not yet adding.?How much more?value?could you add were you able to make those changes?

What if you could produce some credible figures?for that, and then re-measure each year to see how much you’ve moved the needle??What’s exciting about this is that such measurements will enable you to see just how far that needle can be moved.

IC Practice Governance

The very fact that everybody does IC means you’re sitting on an eye-watering amount of potential (should you choose to tap into it).?For example, repeated studies continue to show a significant majority of employees don’t feel their line managers communicate effectively with them (in 2021, a Harris Interactive poll put that figure at 91%)?The emotional, financial and reputational costs of this must be huge.?Might that be something you could address??Finance Specialists are able to help line managers (who aren’t qualified accountants) to handle their budgets effectively.?Might it be possible for you to provide a parallel type of support for line managers with their communication activities??

Of course it’s unlikely to be something you’re set up to do right now; chances are you don’t have the people, procedures, authority or infrastructure for this.?Yet.?But what if you did??

Just imagine much value could you and your team be adding if you were to add this?‘IC Practice Governance’?string to your bow.?With that much ‘eye-watering’ potential at your disposal, getting any other resources you’d want should be a doddle.

But you may have other schemes in mind to add extra value.?Even so, it may be useful to have this in your back pocket – given the extraordinary value-adding potential it carries.

Likely business benefits…

…for you:

In broad-brush terms, you and your team should get a working life that’s a joy: operating in ways that add ever-growing, measurable value.

…for your organisation:

It will likely save itself squillions, and significantly increase its employee performance and retention, and its brand value.

Where to start?

Whatever your intentions for adding extra value, research is the key first step:

1. Is there enough untapped potential for this to be worth exploring?
2. What shortfalls (in terms of skills, business policies, procedures, infrastructure etc) are giving rise to that potential?
3. What resources would it take to address those shortfalls?
4. Do those resources even exist? And if they do, how could you get hold of them?
5. What investment would your organisation need to make?
6. Does the business case stack up?

If you’re curious about IC Practice Governance, this list may look a little daunting.?But the answers are simple to discover.?If you’re curious, we can help you find them.

In conclusion

No matter how much value anyone adds, there will almost always be more.?The question is, how can you be justifiably confident you’re adding so much more ‘above and beyond’ value that you have no reason to feel even a hint of Impostor Syndrome??

If this post has prompted any fresh ideas for you, please share them. That way everyone can benefit from that bigger picture. And, together, and we can all end these forever frustrations, for everyone's good.

About the author

We are Russell+Olivia Brooklands (ROB) - and we've been working in the field of Internal Communication for over 25 years.?Through our consultancy work and training programmes we've helped IC Specialists to up their game on four continents, in blue chip companies like GSK and Airbus, and major national and international bodies, including the European Central Bank and the UN. We were one of the founding Directors of the Institute of Internal Communication.?And we're leading the IC Practice Governance initiative, to help IC Teams better support line managers in becoming increasingly effective communicators.

You can find out more about our work, and how we can help you to easily make your life better, at commgame.co.uk