Many organisations still treat communications as a function that explains decisions rather than helps shape them. Teams are brought in once the strategy is set, the policy approved, or the programme designed. At that point, communications becomes a finishing service, not a strategic one.
By then, the opportunity to raise stakeholder concerns, test assumptions, or anticipate reactions has often passed. Sometimes, that ends up being costly to an organisation.
Thankfully, that is changing in many organisations globally. A recent Wall Street Journal article showed that communications is moving from a support function to a C-suite seat. Unlike previously when communications professionals were relegated to the periphery, organisations are now ensuring communications teams are front and centre in the C-suite.
This is partly attributed to fears by many CEOs that even the smallest misstep could easily spiral into a corporate disaster. The leaders now want better control of the corporate narrative at the very top.
A 2025 research by executive recruiter firm Korn Ferry showed that 47 percent of chief communications officers in Fortune 500 companies now report directly to the CEO, up from 40 percent two years earlier.
At first glance, this looks like a communications story, but it is also evidence that organisations are rethinking where trust, reputation, and stakeholder confidence sit in strategic decision-making.
Nearly half have made the move. More than half have not. In Kenya, the proportion that has not made the move is almost certainly higher.
The shift did not happen overnight. Three forces converged. The explosion of digital channels fragmented attention and gave audiences more power to tune out, push back, and amplify on their own terms.
The erosion of institutional trust across governments, corporations, and media raised the stakes for every public statement.
The Covid pandemic then compressed years of change into months, forcing organisations to communicate under pressure with audiences who had both the tools and the motivation to fact-check everything. Many of the organisations that emerged strongest from this period shared one characteristic: a clear and consistent voice.
If communications enters the conversation only after decisions have been made, your organisation may be operating with an incomplete view of risk. At a time when trust shapes who people buy from, work for, fund, and believe, that may prove very costly.
In Kenya, the uncertainty that surrounded the rollout of SHA is a good example of how quickly questions of trust, understanding, and stakeholder confidence can become central to the success of a major reform. The lesson here is that execution without influence will not protect reputation when it counts.
For leaders, the starting point is simpler than restructuring an organisational chart.
Look at your last major decision and ask a straightforward question: At what point did communications enter the conversation? If the answer is after the strategy was approved, the policy signed off, or the programme designed, you may be bringing the function in too late.
Giving communications a seat at the table is not a privilege; it is a precondition for good decisions.