PLUS restructures comms unit, introduces stakeholder advocacy team

Expressway operator PLUS Malaysia has restructured its corporate community and public engagement department, renaming it strategic stakeholder engagement with three units within - stakeholder and government advocacy, communication and digital engagement, and public engagement. Syed Mohammed Idid (pictured above second from right) currently leads the new department as head of strategic stakeholder engagement with 16 individuals reporting to him. He in turn reports to MD Azman Ismail (pictured above centre). Syed first joined in 2019 as head of corporate community and public engagement.

Leading the communication and digital engagement unit is Kamarul Adlan who was previously head of social media management under the old structure. Meanwhile, Mashitah Mohd Arshad is now head, public engagement. She was previously head of community engagement. Syed told A+M in a phone conversation that the new head of stakeholder and government advocacy will be joining PLUS within the first half of 2021.

Stakeholder and government advocacy is a new unit that focuses on strengthening the relationship with PLUS's key stakeholders including the government. According to the company, it is a crucial function to ensure that PLUS has close involvement in making an impact in every decision made by the government that involves the interests of the company. "We want to be part of the conversation, to have our perspective heard and achieve an equitable outcome that is a win-win for all," Syed told A+M.

Previously, all the individual departments under PLUS were responsible for stakeholder relationship and each had different levels of engagement with the various tiers of stakeholders. With this new unit, Syed said it becomes "a conduit that gives management a helicopter view of the level and depth of the engagement" and where it is going. "In the past, stakeholder and government advocacy was a siloed focus and everyone reported to the management on separate issues," he explained.

Meanwhile, the previous structure of corporate engagement, community engagement and public engagement has evolved to form communication and digital engagement, and public engagement.

The communication and digital engagement unit comprise digital and online media engagement, digital visual and design, and narratives and content development. This unit will ensure that all external messages and communications being delivered to PLUS stakeholders are aligned with the goals and direction of the company. It is also responsible for collecting data that is relevant to the company’s communication activities as well as analysing and measuring the consumer sentiment and corporate reputation. The team will also oversee PLUS's digital communication platforms as well as online and social media platforms. These are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube which are used to push curated content regarding highway safety and other issues including topping up Touch 'n Go cards before travelling, Syed said.

He also told A+M that the narratives and content development team, in particular, produces messages for pre-planned campaigns, press releases, talking points for the MD, FAQs, bylines, and feature stories. "At the moment, the narratives and content development team is working on a communications campaign for R&Rs because we want to bring traffic back to them as they have been badly hit by the pandemic. While we are not promoting interstate travel, we want to inform those who do have to travel that R&R is still able to provide sustenance and facilities for their usage," he explained.

At the same time, the public engagement unit comprises sustainability and community engagement and media engagement and crisis preparedness. The team is responsible for developing and managing a long-term strategic CSR plan aimed at improving the quality of life and well-being of the highway’s fence line community. It will also ensure the company's reputation is preserved and corrected or restored during times of crisis, and manage relationships with the media.

The new structure came into effect on 9 April and comes as PLUS saw the need to be more agile and strategic in its communications initiatives to become the premier expressway provider in the global arena. It also understood the importance of fostering closer relationships with key stakeholders, in line with its efforts to create a positive perception of the company and enhance its brand reputation. According to Syed, he was tasked to look into the reorganisation when he first joined in 2019.

"As things moved along, the alignment became much clearer on our future direction and we knew what PLUS needed was advocacy. Within the pandemic environment, we also got clarity that relationship engagement with key stakeholders is crucial to PLUS's growth and sustainability," he explained.

More on the interview here:

A+M: How has the pandemic impacted PLUS? How has the team evolved and adapted?

Syed: The impact of the pandemic was revolutionary for employees. While I joined in 2019, most of them have been with the company for an average of 15 years. You can only imagine that their experiences have now been quantumly propelled to handle things which we call the "new normal". Things are becoming more agile and response time is shorter, and we have to be more precise and succinct in our messaging.

That said, the employees have also become a team. Due to the exertion of the outward force, they needed to react and respond quickly, and they began to rely on each other for more support. Overall, the pandemic has really been a singular point that has pulled the organisation close together.

The enterprise focus on collaboration among all of us has really become much stronger, more powerful, and the pandemic has made all of us more resilient in the way we joined hands to deliver the outcome.

A+M: Which digital platforms are important to PLUS? Is the team also looking into new platforms such as TikTok or Snapchat?

Syed: We are looking into TikTok but we want to study it more and find out if it is relevant to us, a highway operator, otherwise it might look slightly frivolous. We do not want government stakeholders to think that we have gone off tangent. That said, we do look at what are the upcoming social media channels that will enable us to build a more heartfelt connection with highway customers.

We are utilising as many channels as possible, and that is why the narratives and content development team will work with the digital and online media engagement team to ensure the messaging adheres to the format of each social media channel. This includes how to make it compelling and informative, the tone and words used to provide a positive impact for the PLUS brand.

A+M: What takeaways have you gathered from the pandemic?

Syed: When you are working from home and you hardly see your team or your leaders, you need to have a very trusting soul. Trust that your team members are able to deliver. When that trust came, there was a lot of empowerment and in return, the team became more efficient in churning out the deliverables. Last year, we increased our new media content by +17% compared to 2019. Our content output for the first quarter of this year is also looking quite high.

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