by Adam Fuss

A higher standard for communication professionals

Well, after several years of contemplation and another year of getting my act together, I’ve finally done it. By ‘it’ I mean that I’ve finally earned my SCMP (Strategic Communication Management Professional) credential from the Global Communication Certification Council (GCCC).

If your first reaction is to quietly say to yourself, ‘I’ve never heard of the SCMP,’ then rest assured – you’re hardly alone. The credential, which was launched just under three years ago for senior communication professionals, has been admittedly slow to take off. To date, just over 100 people have sat the SCMP exam. Roughly the same number have sat the CMP (Communication Management Professional) exam, which is designed for mid-level practitioners with at least six years of professional experience.

The experience of sitting, and, thankfully, passing the SCMP exam during this year’s IABC Leadership Institute wasn’t a herculean undertaking by any stretch. While the application admittedly took some time to complete and the 100 multiple-choice questions on the exam itself stretched me in a way I hadn’t been stretched since my student days, it was all quite manageable.

In the end, however, the experience gave me pause to consider something I hadn’t given much thought to before, which is how much the communication profession is missing out by not committing to more widespread certification.

I just want a seat at the table

It’s a refrain that we hear often. Many communication professionals, leaders in particular, long for what they see their colleagues in other functions getting year after year with apparently little effort – a seat at the table, bigger budgets, and more respect across the C-suite.

This gap between aspiration and perceived reality is one for which the communication profession actually bears a lot of responsibility. In an article last October, ‘Are we Communicators or Communication Professionals?’, Toronto-based IABC Fellow and senior communication executive Priya Bates makes the compelling case that communication professionals do themselves an incredible disservice simply by the language they use to describe themselves – ‘communicators’ instead of ‘communication professionals’ – and the lower standards to which the profession has traditionally held itself.

How can we right the ship and gain that seat at the table? We can start by holding ourselves to a higher standard and to pursue the same rigorous professionalization that other functions have.

‘Human Resources has done a wonderful job rebranding themselves as human resources professionals through their certification process,’ Bates writes in support of the new CMP and SCMP certifications. ‘Project Management Professionals (PMPs) have done the same. They think they’re good enough to refer to themselves as professionals. Is the real issue that we don’t?’

But certification isn’t…

During a panel on certification taking place on the final morning of this year’s IABC Leadership Institute, a few arguments against the new GCCC credentials crept into the conversation. The cost of both sitting the exams and in many cases traveling for them was one. Another was the absence of proven ROI and the credentials’ lack of recognition in the field. Still another was the myriad of other certifications that communication professionals can obtain, including PRSA’s APR and several university-based offerings.

Cost is a very real concern, particularly for folks who live outside North America where far fewer exams have been held to date. The GCCC needs to make the exams available at global testing centers rather than relying on local IABC chapters to organize testing if we’re to see greater numbers of people seeking certification. In addition to achieving far greater reach, this would have the added benefit of promoting certification in regions where IABC doesn’t enjoy widespread membership but that nevertheless have strong networks of communication professionals. It would also help counter the notion, which I heard expressed more than once by naysayers, that the GCCC is really just a branch of IABC.

Yes, the CMP and SCMP do lack proven ROI and have thus far failed to achieve widespread recognition in the field. But voicing these concerns now is really the equivalent of putting the cart before the horse or, as Ms. Bates argues in another blog post, getting held back by ‘a classic “chicken and egg” scenario.’ It only stands to reason that little if any data exists on ROI because the certifications are still so new. Likewise, it only stands to reason that many seasoned professionals in the field don’t have a clue about what the certifications are and what they signify – again because they are so new. Look no further than the numbers I cited above; there are only several hundred holders of both certifications – globally. That’s an incredibly small number.

It’s also true that communication professionals do have other certification options, but the GCCC is the only certifying body that is aiming for a truly international credential that covers the profession broadly and that will eventually achieve ISO recognition. Communication professionals looking to align with a globally relevant standard will want the CMP or SCMP.

What’s in it for me?

 Any internal communication professional worth his or her salt will understand the importance of addressing this question when communicating a major initiative or transformation to employees. And so it goes with certification. We have to be honest – a pay increase, promotion or new job are unlikely to follow as immediate benefits to successfully sitting the CMP and SCMP exams. But the same could also be said for far more established credentials. In most organizations, after all, compensation and status are tied to performance and tenure rather than credentials. It’s naïve to think that it’ll be any different with the CMP and SCMP.

Neither will CMP or SCMP certification guarantee a seat at the table or a bigger budget. Nothing but consistently demonstrating how we as communication practitioners add value to an organization and drive business results can do that. But that doesn’t mean that these credentials hold no value. If the counterarguments above don’t provide enough of a reason, consider three more compelling arguments in favor of investing in certification. CMP and SCMP certification provides experienced communication professionals:

• a baseline standard to which they can be held
• a framework to pursue continuous learning and development (mandatory for maintaining the credential)
• greater professionalization of the communication function as more people achieve certification

Finally, as for what’s truly in it for me, I would be lying if I said my reasons for pursuing certification are entirely about the greater good of the communication profession. That’s part of the story, but so too is the benefit I hope to eventually reap. This isn’t necessarily a direct and immediate financial payoff but rather the possibility that holding the SCMP credential may one day open a door I never knew existed. I am, after all, part of a still small group of early adopters who are spread across four continents. If the wealth of insight, experience, and professionalism demonstrated by this small group is indicative of what we might see in a broader base of credential holders, then this will have proven to be a global club well worth joining.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn on February 25, 2020.