Are You Ready for 2022?

A Look Ahead Brief

?Right now, everywhere you turn, management teams, boards of directors, employees, investors, consumers – in fact, all stakeholders in our industry – are talking about 2022.?

More specifically, 2022 as the year of Impact.

From improving health care outcomes, patient journeys and customer experiences to providing more employee choice in work formats, career development and professional growth, organizations are fixated on moving the needle from maintenance to making a difference. As communications and marketing professionals, we are seeing the rules being set and the lines being drawn.?

So, the question is, “Are we listening?”

Let’s explore the year ahead and begin making plans to take advantage of an opportunity to redefine health, relevance, quality and confidence and thereby generate results that impact people. Starting with a pent-up need to explore, interact and integrate with society again, people are ready for new experiences and different paradigms. No more warmed-over programs, products, services or promises.?

Impact 2022 is about all things new. It’s about truly making an imprint on someone.?

In Health

?The most important areas of health today are access, care, efficacy and health equity.?In each case, Impact takes on new meaning, motivating people to envision an entirely new spectrum of creating well-being.

Access – For health care organizations, specifically pharma and biotech, initiating new efforts to engage their respective ecosystems in better access contributes to a stronger, more capable health system where everyone benefits from the right therapies and solutions when and where they are needed.???

Care – Similarly in care, improving outcomes in diagnosis, prevention and cures impacts society as a whole, benefiting the entire globe and the future of mankind. No small feat.

Efficacy – There has never been a more appropriate time to convey an organization’s belief system in terms of its ability to fulfill purpose, promise and intention to deliver the right products, services and solutions.???????????

Health Equity – Everyone has a distinct right to live a healthy life. This transcends gender, race, wealth, geography and social circumstance. What type of Impact can organizations have on ensuring their medicines, therapies, services and solutions are available and accessible to those who need them? This means a complete redesign of processes, systems and approaches to developing, commercializing and supporting health care products.

In Patient Experience

2022 will see huge gains in improving the overall patient experience – as health care companies have learned much during the pandemic in minimizing frustration, sharing information, offering multiple touchpoints, and improving access in their respective networks/ecosystems. Addressing patient experience includes being sensitive to mental health, diversity, inclusion, financial concerns and connected points or hubs of information and will ultimately change the paradigm.

What is your company’s Impact here?

?In Business

?If it doesn’t move the needle from a market share, EBITDA, loyalty or relevance standpoint, then it doesn’t matter. Impact is about outcomes. Budgets will be more difficult to secure if you can’t draw a line to tangible results.

?Further, Impact in business will equal value. Who are you impressing? What is it that impresses your stakeholders?

Knowing the answer will determine your value.???

In Technology

Make technology something people want to use. The only way technology truly works is if people grasp it and use it – repeatedly. Too much tech is for the developers. Spend time on adoption. Frequency of usage. Performance.?From product to service to process to system, technology accelerates the future when people adopt and adapt something new.?Then and only then will there be long-term benefits.

Impact in technology is about what you want it to do. It’s about combining knowledge and information about what technology can do and judgment about how to use it. For Impact.

Many business transformations are begun based on technology overhauls, equipping the enterprise with a competitive advantage in operational excellence, market positioning, corporate relevance, product development, innovation, commercialization, ESG compliance, talent acquisition and sales growth.

Technology in 2022 will impact the organization – if and only if stakeholder needs and concerns are addressed in a holistic manner, incorporating communications as a strategic ingredient.??????????

In Employee Commitment??

Employees Are Not An “Audience” But An Active Enabler

Employees are no longer a spectator, but a player fully engaging in all aspects of the business, influencing decisions, raising issues, breaking down silos, shifting mores and tenets that long plagued effectiveness and openness.

How Smart and Engaged Do You Want Your Employees to Be?

2021 saw the Great Resignation unfold – but 2022 will be the year of the employee. It starts with respect.?Listening. Responding. Recognizing. Being fair across the board.?Same rules for everyone. No exceptions. Internal communications can be an incredible asset in this regard, strengthening organizational confidence and cementing trust and keeping dialogue, discussion and debate fluid and open.?

Commitment internally is about empathy and information. It’s about discourse. It’s about treating employees as intelligent, practical, honest human beings. It’s about restoring the position of manager to professional. Affording the opportunity to weigh in on decisions, guide and mentor staff, and make judgment calls without critique.

Employee commitment is about having people make the argument themselves. This means the internal communications model must be a system of content, context, formats, platforms, cadence, feedback, tonality and frequency. It must be viewed as a strategic force in shaping organizational behavior if Impact is to be realized.???

In Talent

In 2021, we witnessed the Great Resignation – thought to be due to people taking time to re-examine careers, job choice and company/brand affiliation. The pandemic has led to longer hours, isolation and sense of loss. As a result, businesses of all sizes and types are fighting for workers. This search spans the talent spectrum.

Impact here is about a new model of managing based first on empathy. Then information. Then discussion and debate. Then choice.

2022 will uncover the organizations that truly respect and reinforce talent and those that don’t.??

In Corporate Communications

A Look Ahead: 2022 Trends, Expectations, Approaches

Digital Is an Operating Principle

Digital is about connectivity, fluidity and intuitiveness. It is not meant to be a goal but a way to conduct business, build relationships, get smarter about marketplace dynamics, and innovate quicker. The pandemic has created a new reality that digital technologies are no longer a “nice to have.” The blending of digital touchpoints with offline engagement is how companies will realize Impact.

Are you digitally savvy?

Convey the “How”

After years of worrying about the “why,” communicators saw a shift to understanding exactly the “how” of decisions, strategies, messages, promises and statements. If you are not prepared to answer the “how,” then you can forget about the “what.”

Most industries and markets, particularly health care, speak to the “what,” but few recognize that the key to breaking through is the “how.”

How are you unlocking the “how”?

Data/Analytics/Insights to Get Smarter About the Business (vs Communications)

Impact in data must be used to better comprehend the business – policies, decisions, leaders, efficacy, value, connectivity, communications, products, stakeholders, dynamics.

How are you employing research, data and insights to educate leaders, employees and customers and become more precise in product development, service, marketing and communications?

A recent study indicated that two thirds of organizations are operating corporate communications based on outdated knowledge of stakeholders, resulting in wasted resources.

Audience comprehension and prioritization versus a focus on channels must be the north star for corporate communications.

You can’t have Impact with your stakeholders if you don’t know what they’re about!

ESG Is a Philosophy Not a Program

You’ll be hearing more about ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) as the financial community places more metrics and importance on organizational compliance in these areas.

The key learning for communicators is to ensure ESG, DE&I and CSR are clearly understood and defined.?

ESG represents a corporate philosophy that dictates how the business is being operated and managed.??

Corporate Relevance Determines Viability

Corporate Relevance is the new Reputation.

Relevance determines whether someone listens to you, knows you, believes you and engages with you. It captures positioning, leadership, products/services, narrative, employees, value and connectivity.

Relevance is determined by stakeholders who view your organization as important, involved, progressive and future smart.

How are you ensuring your organization is relevant and guiding it around a sea of sameness, a lagoon of lethargy, and an arc of apathy?

Social Media Has the Strongest Reach

It’s no secret that social media provides an accelerated pathway for disseminating information, establishing relationships and engaging with stakeholders in an efficient, effective manner.

Corporate Communications Must “Own” the Corporate Story

Without a story, an organization doesn’t exist.

Bottom-line: Corporate communications and communicators need to drive creation and management of the corporate narrative.

How the business talks about itself. The language it uses. The examples it provides. The culture it nurtures. The policies it espouses.

How are you shaping the story for the marketplace?

Although social media is an excellent engagement vehicle, it has experienced unprecedented change and disruption over the last 24 months. Reputational challenges with large social platforms have dominated the landscape. Social will continue to be an essential part of the communications mix, but now is the appropriate time to be considering new platforms to reach your audiences. Communicators must continue looking for new ways to reach audiences and generate desired Impact.

In Relevance

Real Chemistry’s best-in-class Relevance Quotient, which assesses an organization’s relative relationship with stakeholders as a means of driving business results, has been tracking the Fortune 500 for five years, seeing the maturity of Relevance scores rise as leaders become more adept at monitoring expectations and adjusting narratives and initiatives to better align with the marketplace.

In Social Causes

The COVID-19 pandemic represented the first of many things, but for business and leaders it was the start of a more public, more proactive discourse on social and cultural issues and topics. Driven by heightened expectations from a dismayed public upset with their government officials, companies have had to step up and re-examine policies and protocols and explain positions on a range of topics. Perceived impact in DE&I will be tied to employee expectations for greater leadership accountability. Leaders must listen deeper in the organization and model inclusive leadership behaviors to truly impact the entire workforce. Linked closely to an organization’s DE&I, impact believability will be its external face and commitments to address systemic barriers to economic, social and health equity.

This new reality will only get more acute in 2022, and an organization’s Impact will be judged rightly or wrongly on if, when and how it handles the situation.

In DE&I

There is no greater blemish on society and business than the lack of diverse and inclusive workplaces. Rather than counting the number of people of different genders, races, ethnicities and origins, it’s now time to see the world clearly and honestly. This starts with viewing people as human beings with the same rights and goals who possess novel and important opinions that add to the greater good.

Impact in DE&I in 2022 will be focused on upending policies and constructs, removing barriers to development and growth, and lifting the veil of bureaucracy so individuals can contribute freely and openly.??

In Corporate Communications Functions

If nothing else, corporate communications teams will need to rethink their very purpose. Do we exist to convey the company’s story? To mitigate risk in relevance and reputation? To ensure the company operates according to its mission? To ensure the company reflects its stakeholders’ needs and interests? To navigate the future state????

Impact in this regard must align with the long-term aspirations of the enterprise. It must be seen in skills, thinking, behavior, curiosity and attitude.

Impact Is About the Cause (vs. Symptom)

The need to dig deeper and search wider for “why” things are the way they are will prove to be a winning formula in 2022. This is where analytics and insight come into play and where counsel and strategic thinking direct the conversation and decision-making process.

What is often found is that the “problem is not the problem.”

Solving for Impact

The answer to making an Impact in 2022 rests on one thing: “Owning the Story.”

Internal: For employees, there is more information than attention. For some, this causes confusion, whereas for others it leads to paralysis. To break through, it’s important to establish a core theme or message each month to guide clarity and influence behavior.

External: Similarly, to maintain or enhance corporate relevance in a competitive global market, organizations must seize the narrative, ensuring it’s aligned with stakeholders and provides real difference.?

In both situations, it’s about owning the story and being proactive in advancing the company’s strategic intent. Rather than just responding to myriad issues, inquiries and interventions, it’s about defining and articulating a value proposition to the market.

In 2022, leaders and communications and marketing professionals should be clear about their strategy, clarify their story arc, and design a suite of content for internal and external audiences for maximum benefit.

Running Through Impact 2022 Will Be Curiosity, Change

Leaders and professionals who can seize the moment each day and recalibrate their actions to align with the shifting currents of the environment – internal and external – will carve out a huge position in their industries and markets.?

Such a profound statement on business and society can literally change the course of events for the better.

Are we ready for Impact 2022?

Gary and the Real Chemistry Team?

Real Chemistry is a global health innovation company founded by Chairman Jim Weiss. The company operates offices globally and is dedicated to making the world a healthier place by empowering patients to access the right treatment equitably and cost-effectively at the right time. We leverage the best data-driven, tech-enabled and digital solutions to deliver clear, concise communications, engagement, activation and value across a full range of health care stakeholders – patients, payors, providers, caretakers and regulators.

Our patient-centric approach pairs owned and partnered real-world data sources and proprietary technologies with analytical insights and modern marketing and communications services to solve today’s biggest engagement and commercialization challenges, including speeding clinical trial awareness and enrollment, expanding product lifecycles, and shortening the revenue curve. From finding patients with complicated or rare diseases to participate in clinical trials to targeting digital marketing efforts to exactly the right audience, Real Chemistry is advancing transformation at the intersection of consumerization, personalization and digitization impacting health care today.

Real Chemistry’s “A Look Ahead” Brief is an annual preview of the year ahead from a corporate and strategy perspective. Gary F. Grates is a Principal at Real Chemistry specializing in organizational communications, corporate, M&A, business transformation and corporate relevance.

Contributing to this POV: Mary Stutts Global Chief Inclusion & Health Equity Officer; Paulo Simas, Global Brand Officer; John Capodanno, President, Financial, Corporate and Capital Markets; Chuck Hemann, Practice Leader Integrated Media; Felicia Vonella, Practice Lead, Investor Relations; Marie DiFrancesco, Practice Lead Corporate/Strategy; and Alan Chumley, Managing Director, Corporate Intelligence.