Invest in strategic competencies and measurement capability to counter growing reputational risk and rising demands for communications services.
Mike Prokopeak is director of Communications Leadership Council learning, community and content.
The reputational risks facing organizations are growing. From political pressure to regulatory actions, from leadership transition to plummeting trust, there’s a cascading series of real and potential crises facing communicators.
That was one theme coming from Ragan’s eighth annual Communications Benchmark report, which is available exclusively to members of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council. However, the executive summary is available for free.
The download: At a time of increasing volatility and risk, communications can be your organization’s superpower.
The challenges of 2026
Asked about the biggest reputational risks facing their organizations, the 800-plus communicators worldwide who took the survey spotlighted a range of issues. Political pressure and regulatory actions came out on top, followed by misinformation and disinformation, cybersecurity, leadership transitions and trade policy actions.
While the list reads like a hierarchy, the reality is they are a series of overlapping risks playing out in real time, making the ability to respond in real time in a variety of ways to a range of emerging issues paramount.
At the same time as there’s increased demand for agile communications, there’s a long list of barriers to more effective communication. Top of the list are resource constraints like lack of staff and budget.
There are operational barriers as well, including a deluge of last-minute requests, lack of strategic decision making and lack of consistency.
Despite those challenges, communicators are pushing forward. According to the report, nearly six in 10 communicators (57%) plan to launch major communications initiatives this year.
An AI window of opportunity
In some ways it’s an opportune time for communications. Despite widespread concern that AI will replace communications jobs, there is little evidence that is happening yet.
Asked how they are using the time or resources saved due to increased use of AI, half of communicators are creating more content. Nearly a third (29%) are using savings for strategy development, and a quarter (24%) are spending more on measurement and analysis.
Only 5% of communicators said they are reducing headcount, indicating that communications teams have a window of opportunity to redeploy their teams to deliver more strategic value to their organizations.
Developing your superpowers
So where should communicators invest their time and energy? Benchmark data points to a set of strategic competencies that enable communicators to influence stakeholders, align messaging with business priorities and navigate complex organizational environments.
Integrated communications planning (78%) stands out as the most critical competency, underscoring the growing expectation that communicators think holistically about how messages, channels and audiences connect and intersect. Relationship building (68%) also remains essential, reflecting the collaborative and cross-functional nature of the role.
Rounding out the top competencies are business fluency (42%) and emotional intelligence (41%), which point to the increasing importance of interpersonal effectiveness and strategic alignment. Combined, these competencies enable communicators to move beyond execution and play a more influential role in shaping organizational direction.
Measurement is key to unlocking strategic value
As communications functions take on more strategic responsibility, the ability to measure impact is increasingly important.
Monthly (37%) and quarterly (29%) measurement are the most common approaches, while 10% measure weekly and 5% measure daily. Another 14% measure on an ad hoc basis, and only a small share (4%) measure annually.
Slicing the data more finely, those teams that are more advanced and mature in their measurement capability are approximately 15–20 percentage points more likely to measure daily or weekly. This indicates the importance of shifting from periodic reporting to more continuous performance tracking.
KPIs are the key to strategic alignment and business influence
And finally, key performance indicators (KPIs) are clearly another area where communicators can see a significant return on investment.
While most organizations report some framework in place, one-third (33%) are aligning with business KPIs in an ad hoc fashion, meaning they occasionally align comms metrics with business goals. Nearly one in five (19%) have no alignment. Just over a quarter (26%) said they have defined alignment between comms KPIs and business goals, meaning there’s a documented process aligning comms and business KPIs but it’s not consistently applied.
The remaining quarter (23%) either have operationalized comms KPIs that are consistently mapped to business goals and reviewed with stakeholders, or have achieved strategic alignment, where comms measurements are tightly integrated with business KPIs and are used to inform strategy and investment.
Successfully connecting communications metrics to enterprise goals elevates the role of communications within the business. Teams with aligned, strategic KPIs are as much as 10 points more likely to influence leadership and secure a seat at the executive table.
The demand for communications expertise is clear. Communicators’ ability to deliver on its potential as a superpower depends on targeted investment into a set of strategic capabilities that elevate the function.
Download the full executive summary now.
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