My former boss and I used to have an ongoing conversation about the name of my team and what we did. We were the Internal Communications team. I was the Senior Director, Internal Communications. He had a real problem with that.

Why? Because he believed that communications referred to the tactics and vehicles ...we create communications. Communication, on the other hand, seemed more all-encompassing...the strategy, planning and tactics. It was about the act of communication (big picture) to connect the dots, fill in the gaps, and deliver business outcomes.

When I started my own company in 2014, I kept this in mind - Inner Strength Communication Inc. was born. It's funny how often clients and colleagues say it with the 's' at the end of Communication thinking I've made a mistake.

As an expert corporate communication professional, he convinced me to adopt this small change in my lexicon.

The term Communications only gets used when I refer to the vehicles. For example, "The communications we will use to deliver our strategy include the intranet, email and towns halls."

The term Communication, on the other hand, gets used when referring to our profession and strategy:

• I am a Communication Professional

• I use the power of communication to enable organizations to deliver their strategy and their brand.

As we strive, as a profession, to get more respect for our strategic versus tactical role in enabling organizations and initiatives through communication expertise; let's think about how we brand ourselves.

I've heard communication professionals argue the term both ways. Any thoughts or opinions out there? I'd be interested in hearing them.

P.S. As I tried to put tags on this post...everything had an 's' at the end of communication ; (

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