Corporate communication is no longer limited to conveying messages: today, it plays a key role in building leadership, collaboration and innovation within organisations. In the field of Key Accounts, this evolution has transformed the Communications function into a strategic driver capable of connecting teams, building trust and aligning shared objectives. Through real-life experiences, cross-functional training programmes and collaborative working practices, this article analyses how influence has become an essential tool for driving projects forward, accelerating business transformation and strengthening staff engagement. In a context where artificial intelligence is redefining the way we work, the ability to connect talent and build shared visions is emerging as one of the key success factors for organisations.
Key summary
- Communication in Key Account Management has evolved from a support function to a strategic discipline that is involved from the very start of projects.
- Modern leadership is increasingly based on influence, trust and the ability to connect people from different areas.
- Cross-functional collaboration enables the generation of better solutions than teams working in isolation.
- Programmes such as Speed Racing, Digital Ambassadors, Imparables and Protagonistas demonstrate the value of collective learning in driving the business forward.
- In an environment shaped by artificial intelligence, the ability to connect talent becomes a distinctive competitive advantage.
Communicating to lead: influence as a competitive advantage in Key Account Management
For years I thought that communication was, above all, about explaining things clearly. Today I am convinced that communication means something far more ambitious: getting people with different responsibilities, knowledge and perspectives to want to build things together.
In my previous article, I argued that communication had ceased to be a support function and had become a strategic element for the business. Today I’d like to take it a step further. Because behind that evolution lies a factor which, in my view, marks the difference between organisations that merely manage change and those capable of driving it: leadership.
That is, probably, the most important lesson I’ve learnt from the evolution of Key Account Communication. I’m not talking about leadership in the sense of authority or decision-making power. I am talking about a much more discreet, less visible, yet increasingly necessary form of leadership. The kind that arises from connecting people, building trust and creating spaces where ideas can flourish through collaboration.
Because, if there is one thing I have learnt over the years, it is that, in my experience, projects rarely fail due to a lack of talent. In my view, they fail when people work in isolation.
How strategic communication has evolved in Key Accounts
Not so long ago, our work began once a project had already been defined. We would design the communication plan, prepare the materials and launch the message.
Today, the exact opposite happens. Communication is involved right from the start. When ideas are still taking shape. When different departments begin to share their perspectives. When there are still more questions than answers.
This change has also transformed the way we lead. In Communications, we rarely have hierarchical authority over the projects we’re involved in. However, we work on a daily basis with Marketing, Sales, HR, Business, Customer Experience and other departments that bring different priorities and perspectives to the table.
Our challenge is no longer simply to coordinate projects. It is to connect people so that projects can come to fruition.
We do not lead through authority. We lead through influence.
And influence only exists when you have first managed to build trust.
Why trust is the foundation of influence-based leadership
Trust is built by listening, understanding what each team needs and finding that point where differing interests cease to compete and become a shared goal.
Experience has shown me that, at least throughout my professional career, when people feel they are part of the same story, collaboration ceases to be an effort and becomes a natural way of working.
It is an idea we find in many leading organisations. One of the examples that inspires me most is that of Microsoft. In my view, the cultural transformation driven by Satya Nadella played a fundamental role in the company’s subsequent evolution. When he took the helm at Microsoft, many expected a technological revolution. However, one of the transformations that struck me most was his commitment to breaking down barriers between teams, fostering continuous learning and replacing internal competition with collaboration.
Innovation came later.
And I find that sequence particularly revealing.
First, people change. Then, results change.
Collective learning and cross-functional collaboration: the experience of sales training programmes
I’ve had the opportunity to experience that same philosophy, albeit on a different scale, in one of the most enriching projects I’ve ever been involved in.
During the pandemic, the possibility of continuing face-to-face training for the Key Accounts sales team disappeared, practically overnight. We had to react quickly, but the real challenge wasn’t simply digitising the content. It was keeping learning, commitment and a sense of belonging alive at a particularly challenging time.
That’s how Speed Racing came about. Next came Digital Ambassadors, Unstoppable and, finally, Protagonists.
Each stage has responded to a different phase in the organisation’s development, but they have all shared the same conviction: learning generates far greater value when it is built collectively.
If anything has evolved over the years, it has not merely been the programme’s name. The way it is built has evolved.
Every week we hold a meeting attended by representatives from HR, Product Marketing, Sales and Communications. We analyse the business’s needs, review the content calendar and agree on the masterclasses that will subsequently be rolled out to the sales network.
Over time, this weekly meeting has become one of the best examples of what it means to work across departments. It is not a forum for allocating tasks. It is a forum for building a shared vision.
How cross-functional collaboration creates greater value for the business
In this collaborative space, each department brings a different perspective: talent development, portfolio evolution, sales experience or the creation of a shared narrative.
None of these perspectives would have the same impact on their own.
In my experience, together they generate a result far more valuable than the sum of their parts.
But perhaps the most interesting thing is that the conversation doesn’t end when the meeting finishes.
We listen constantly to those taking part in the programme. After each certification, we analyse the feedback on the masterclasses and frequently invite sales representatives who have attended the sessions to find out first-hand what they found most useful and what we can improve.
This ongoing dialogue has enabled us to evolve with each new edition, incorporate specific pathways for sales specialists and tailor the content to the business’s real needs.
What collaborative projects teach us about leadership and business transformation
Looking back, I realise that the most important lesson I’ve learnt from this experience has nothing to do with training.
It’s about leadership.
I’ve learnt that the best ideas rarely originate in a single department. They emerge when different departments are able to listen to one another, challenge one another’s assumptions and work together to build a solution that is better than anything any one of them could have devised on their own.
And that’s where Communication plays an essential role.
Not because it’s the department that does the most talking.
But because it helps everyone to understand one another.
Artificial intelligence, human leadership and the ability to connect talent
We are living in a particularly exciting time. Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we work, analyse information, generate content and make decisions.
It also forces us to rethink how we lead teams where technology provides increasingly rapid answers, but where the really important questions still depend on people.
The greater the capacity of technology, the greater our ability to connect talent must be.
Data generates knowledge. People generate commitment. And without commitment, there is no transformation.
After more than twenty years at Telefónica and a decade dedicated to communications, if I had to summarise in a single idea what I have learnt about leadership, it would probably be this:
Ideas set projects in motion. People are the ones who make them a reality.
That is why I believe that leadership in the future will not be measured by the number of teams a person leads, but by the number of people they are able to connect.
Because, ultimately, Key Account Communications is not just about explaining what an organisation does. It is about creating the conditions for people with different knowledge, responsibilities and perspectives to share a common vision and be able to generate more value than any of them could achieve on their own.
And this vision ties in directly with Telefónica’s value proposition, which is based on helping people and organisations realise their full potential through technology and connectivity. As the company maintains, innovation has a greater impact when it is put at the service of people, collaboration and shared progress.
And when that happens, communication ceases to be merely a supporting function of strategy. It becomes one of the reasons why that strategy works.
Because the best projects aren’t the ones with the most resources. They’re the ones that get very different people to decide to move in the same direction.
And when that happens, communication ceases to be merely a tool for communicating change.
It becomes one of the reasons why change happens.
That, to me, is the true essence of leadership
