Microsoft is changing how it communicates with the outside world. The company is moving its communications team out of its marketing organisation and into the corporate, external and legal affairs group led by Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, according to internal memos from Smith and CEO Satya Nadella. The bigger change, however, may be how Microsoft employees speak for the company. Nadella said the company wants engineers, sellers, partners and other employees who are close to its products and customers to play a bigger role in telling Microsoft’s story.“We will likely have more employees and executives acting as part of Microsoft’s public voice, including on social media,” Smith wrote in his memo.
Why is Microsoft changing its communications strategy
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described the communications shake-up as a response to a media environment that has become “increasingly fragmented and noisier than ever.” Instead of relying mainly on a central communications team to shape Microsoft’s public messaging, the CEO wants people closer to the company’s work to have a greater role.“In many ways, the people closest to the work have the best opportunity to shape how Microsoft is understood,” Nadella wrote. He said Microsoft wants engineers, sellers, partners and others “closest to our products and customers” to become “an even bigger part of how we tell our story, all connected by a shared strategy and set of principles.”Nadella added: “We will learn, we will experiment, and we will evolve. There is a fundamentally new way to think about communications, and this team will be central to building it.”
Microsoft communications team will now report to Brad Smith
Under the new structure, Microsoft’s communications function will sit within the organisation led by President Brad Smith rather than under marketing. Smith’s organisation handles Microsoft’s legal, regulatory and public policy work, including antitrust matters, litigation and government relations.The communications team will therefore sit alongside these functions, although Microsoft plans to continue coordination between communications and marketing.Satya Nadella described Smith as one of the few Microsoft leaders who “embody Microsoft’s voice” authentically. He also praised Smith’s “rare ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity, conviction, and trust.”
What happens to Microsoft communications chief Frank Shaw
The restructuring also changes the role of longtime Microsoft communications chief Frank X. Shaw. Shaw announced earlier this month that he would leave Microsoft at the end of the year after more than two decades with the company. He will now step away from his current responsibilities and serve as an adviser to Smith and interim communications leader Brent Colburn during the transition.Microsoft said Shaw will remain with the company through the end of the year. Shaw described the latest development as the formalisation of the plan that had already been announced.Microsoft said Shaw “has been a trusted counselor and leader at Microsoft for more than two decades, and we’re grateful he will continue to act as an advisor during the transition.”Satya Nadella also thanked Shaw for his contribution. He said Shaw has “made tremendous contributions to the company and to our communications function over the last 17+ years” and has been “a great source of counsel to our leadership team and to me personally, across the company’s biggest moments.”Smith also praised Shaw, saying he had “worked as closely with him as almost anyone” over the years. Smith added that Shaw’s “enduring impact on Microsoft and this team will be felt for years to come. I will miss him.”