You are literally paid to say that!
Let me preface this post by admitting that, in the past, I have committed the sin I am about to rail against. But in the rapid evolution that is Corporate Communications I admit my crime and humbly ask for the mercy of the Communications Court.
On this basis I submit the following testimony:
Anyone from an in-house Communications function that posts any derivation of; “Very proud to work for [XXX BOSS] because they have done [YYY AMAZING THING]”, is ringing the inauthenticity bell with a clatter that is damaging your function.
It does not matter that you are being transparent by using the hashtag [#COMPANY ZZZ EMPLOYEE], because what you are not doing is indicating you are an employee working in Communications.
Now some of my peers will indicate that they have a right to be proud of their organization, and that’s fair, but they also have an obligation to be fully transparent.
Now, I admit, I didn’t always feel this way, but I came to this conclusion when someone commented on such a post; “You are the Chief Communications Officer, you are literally paid to say that.”
Communications is a function reliant for its credibility, more than any other, on transparency and authenticity. Anything we do that even remotely appears contrived or inauthentic defeats the purpose of our action.
This is where we need to take the extra step on transparency. Perhaps if we want to continue this practice we need to have our own hashtag, [#COMPANY ZZZ COMMUNICATIONS EMPLOYEE]
Scott Davies