The Communicator

Blogging is a wonderful way to build relationships, showcase ideas and motivate audiences. But do blogs work in every industry and for everyone? Certainly not.  

Blogs facilitate the sharing of ideas with like-minded audiences. They can be used to motivate, inspire, educate or placate, but – at the end of the day – their value rests in their ability to communicate ideas and opinions. 

In my very first post on this blog (To Blog or Not to Blog), I suggested that certain industries and functions – in particular those that generate ideas or motivate people – had more to gain from blogs than most other sectors. Here are some examples: 

Not-for-profits: For organizations that depend on public good will, blogs provide an excellent way to motivate donors, inform volunteers and advocate for a cause. Blogs are also great vehicles for improving an organization’s profile with stakeholders, media and the general public. 

Professional Services: No industry produces more thought leadership than the professional services. For consultants and ‘rain makers’, blogs deliver a safe and certain distribution channel that can be branded and reused as business development or marketing collateral. 

Industry Associations and Unions: With a geographically dispersed membership and only the occasional formal interaction with the members themselves, blogs offer trade associations and unions a way to highlight certain issues and motivate the membership around advocacy. 

Politicians: In most democracies, the public likes to know what their elected officials are thinking, planning and doing on a daily basis. Blogs provide a transparent and approachable way for politicians to further their agendas, rally constituents, and win-over their detractors.  

CEOs: Regardless of the type of organization, blogs have a large role to play in Executive and Internal communications. It is critical – especially in times of change – that executive teams be visible, approachable and honest. Blogs can be an excellent way to provide context to corporate objectives, motivate employees around a cause or inspire innovation and collaboration.  

Just over two years ago I ended my post with the following advice for professional communicators:  

Treat blogs like you would any other communication vehicle. Evaluate their reach, impact, cost and effort against your objectives. And if it turns out that a blog makes sense, the first step should always be to ensure that you have a long-term commitment from your organization, and the right resources to ensure sustainable success.  

And – regardless of your industry – that certainly hasn’t changed.  

Want to talk about whether a blog strategy is right for your organization? Contact Peter at peter@communicationsunlimited.ca.

Summer is just around the corner. But if you were expecting some much needed R&R… think again. 

For professional communicators, The Dog Days of Summer represent the best (and often only) opportunity to focus on the fundamentals. As executive teams start to shift their thoughts from goals to golf, many communicators take advantage of the relative ‘down time’ of the summer to prepare for the business year ahead. 

Not sure where to start? Here are five areas that should be a priority for any communications team this summer: 

• Clean up your website: All too often throughout the year, press releases, feature stories and news items are rushed onto organizational websites in an ad-hoc fashion to meet an immediate need or crisis – sometimes with little regard to strategy or process. The quiet summer months provide an ideal opportunity to bring some much-needed focus and discipline back to your website(s).
• Update your corporate collateral: With long review and approval cycles, multiple stakeholders and complex production schedules, updating your brochures, press kits and other corporate collateral can be a time consuming business. While the summer season won’t necessarily speed up the process, you will find that key stakeholders (Finance, HR, Operations, etc.) are much more open to participating in these types of projects when their plates are less full. 
• Media train your executives: The worst time to media train an executive is in the middle of a crisis. To be effective, proper media training starts in a relaxed environment, free from distractions and competing priorities. Many executives benefit from group training sessions, which are also much easier to coordinate over the summer.
• Prepare for issues: While most issues are – by nature – unexpected, there are several ways that communicators can use the summer to prepare for the unknown. Standby statements, draft Q&As and position backgrounders are great ways to get ahead of a crisis, and the summer provides the perfect timing to conduct table-top exercises to ‘stress-test’ your crisis manuals.  
• Build/maintain relationships: Never underestimate the intrinsic value of a strong working relationship. Take some time this summer to build on your valuable relationships with your colleagues, peers and suppliers, as well as any key opinion leaders in your industry (media, bloggers, industry gurus, etc.). Besides, it’s a great time of year for a few drinks on a patio!   

Above all, take advantage of the comparative calm to take a vacation, long-weekend or afternoon off, and remember that achieving work-life balance is (or should be) just as important as achieving your business objectives. 

Looking for help to get ahead of your communications strategies this summer? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

Leadership transitions are always a turbulent time for an organization. To the rank and file, a new leader signifies a departure from the past, indicates a change in strategic direction, and is often a harbinger for dramatic change. Even the best planned successions can lead to a drop in productivity and loss of employee engagement. 

There are, however, a few ways for professional communicators to mitigate the upheaval that can come from a change in leadership. 

First, try to avoid the Cult of the Leader. While the strategy can work well in select cases – almost only with Founding CEOs (Bill Gates, Donald Trump, etc) – there is an inherent risk in tying an organization’s future to their leader’s persona: at best, the inevitable departure of an iconic leader impacts employee engagement and investor confidence; at worst, the organization spirals through a series of stand-ins who are forever doomed to be compared to the Great Leader. 

Instead, always employ a more diversified strategy incorporating the entire leadership team. Put particular focus on highlighting the skills and attributes that help them to meet corporate objectives or that embody the company vision. At the end of the day, the loss of a General can be overcome, but the loss of the King signals disaster. 

When the time does come for regime change – either from within the family or from those more hostile – the key to a smooth transition is to start communicating early. Introduce the Crown Prince as soon as possible and evidence their commitment to the organization’s mission and vision. If possible, take both the outgoing and the incoming leaders on a road-show together to demonstrate continuity to employees, investors and key customers.   

Throughout, try to position the change process within the framework of the organization’s core objectives. Take every opportunity to show how the change furthers the company’s goal of achieving its mission or long-term objectives. The masses will always back a new regime that helps them to achieve their personal and communal priorities.   

Finally, listen to dissenting views. Right or wrong, the grapevine is a mean propaganda machine, which quickly generates rumours and misinformation. But these can be easily mollified if taken seriously and addressed early. Be sure to identify and address potential rumours and contentious issues before the villagers show up at the gates with pitchforks and torches. 

Six hundred years ago, the cry of “The King is dead! Long live the King!” was the first sign of a change in leadership. Even then, communicators keenly understood the need for smooth transitions and continuity in leadership.

Looking for a professional communicator to help you through a leadership transition? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

Have communicators completely consigned their spelling skills to Microsoft and Apple? All too often these days, I find myself the recipient of emails rife with glaring spelling mistakes or sporting a completely out of place word. 

I’ll be the first to admit that I am often schooled by Professors Gates, Jobs et al., particularly when I’m short on time or enjoying the blessings of an (all too infrequent) brainwave. But rather than blindly right clicking and accepting the first offering that the magical red wavy line suggests, I always try to take the time to see my mistakes and learn from them. 

An even worse scourge, however, is the ever-helpful ‘auto-correct function’. This little gem has been responsible for frequent careless and often embarrassing mistakes around the office. I myself have been guilty of blaming the looming ‘pubic health crisis’ for many of society’s woes. 

Here’s the problem: as professional communicators, a basic command of spelling and grammar is a must. A disregard for spelling – and in fact for editing – only erodes your credibility as a communicator. Sure, your friends and family will forgive you the occasional mistake or misplaced word, but at the office, few will give you the benefit of the doubt. In the corporate world, spelling mistakes are indicative of two types of people: those who believe themselves to be too busy for ‘quality control’, and those that simply can’t spell. Communicators should fall into neither camp. 

Regular readers will know that I always like to provide a selection of actionable and practical advice for the challenges I raise. In this case, however, there really is only one solution: Always make the time to read what you have written. And while the importance of rereading your work should not diminish based on the length of the piece or the audience for which it is intended, communicators who have just pounded out a 30-page dissertation (or a short yet crucial quote from your CEO), will want to make sure they walk away from their drafts and return to re-read them with fresh eyes. And it’s never a bad idea to get a colleague to take a look over projects you have been staring at for a while. 

At the end of the day, communicators that do not take this simple but critical step may suddenly wake up to find that they have lost both their ability to spell and their credibility around the office. 

(Editor’s note: those with dubious sensitivities will roar in laughter at some of the ‘autocorrect’ horror stories found at http://damnyouautocorrect.com/. You may want to close your office door.) 

Looking for a professional communicator that understands the importance of good grammar and quality control? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

Employee engagement has never been so important. Across the board, workers continue to feel a deep sense of insecurity and anxiety. Understandably so: in many industry sectors and geographies, unemployment continues to run high; consumer optimism is virtually non-existent; and most corporate employees just count themselves lucky to still have their jobs. 

Employers are in a similarly tough spot. Unsure about the shape of the short-term economy, most organizations are now focused on increasing productivity at the lowest possible cost. Around the world, economic pundits are continuing to predict a largely ‘jobless’ recovery.  

The result is that organizations are expecting to realize much of their short-term productivity gains from their current employee base.  So if you kept your job over the past two years, expect to be working harder than ever before. 

The obvious challenge for executives now lies in re-engaging a distrustful and passive employee base.  

Professional communicators can – and should – take a lead role in responding to that challenge. 

And while short-term gains in engagement will be hard to measure in relation to bottom-line economic output, there are a few high-value areas where communicators can start to see some quick returns. 

• Go see your people – consider taking your executives on a ‘road-show’ to visit your employees at their posts. Far from a staged town-hall event or video broadcast, your executives need to be seen on the factory floor or in the lunch room. Take advantage of the face time to remind employees how important their individual contribution is to achieving the company’s goals.
• Re-vitalise employee programs – most organizations already do a decent job at investing in employee programs and training, but often fall far short when it comes to driving actual participation. Whether they use them or not, employers should highlight these programs to their employees as evidence of the company’s investment and long-term commitment to their staff.
• Band together for a cause – after the economic, environmental and social upheaval of the past few years, there are unlimited good causes to support. Build employee morale and a sense of unity by pulling together for an issue that everyone can feel good about.  

Many internal communications professionals have already recognized this change and started 2011 with a renewed focus on rebuilding employee engagement. Those that haven’t will need to quickly bury the ‘hunker down’ mindset of the recession, and take a much more proactive role in driving productivity and re-establishing morale. 

Looking for a writer to can engage your audience(s)? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca

At some point, every executive will need to speak in public. And invariably, it will be the communications pros that put the words into their mouths. But speech writing is very different from other types of writing and often calls for a unique approach. It’s not rocket science, but it is different. So here are our 5 tips for successful executive speech writing: 

1. Don’t overstretch – Nobody expects your executives to wax poetic about integration or to deliver earnings results in haiku. What they want is clear, compelling and comprehensive information. In fact, forcing the key messages into a contrived ‘theme’ can often do more to confuse the listener and dilute the strength of the messages (you can also get a few extra tips on creating content for executive speeches here).
2. Work with the speaker – This may seem self-evident, but you’d be surprised how often communicators write speeches without conferring with the speaker first. By taking an iterative and collaborative approach to the speech writing process, most communicators will find that they can not only cut down the review cycles, but can also instil a higher level of confidence and comfort in their executive speakers (we also covered coaching executives in an article you can find here).
3. Practice makes perfect – While many executives believe themselves to be consummate orators, the reality is that even the best of us can benefit from a little practice. Communicators should be firm with their executives that practice (preferably on site and with full A/V set up) is a key contributor to success. And for their part, communicators should always attend the practice session to see where the speech needs work or where the executive needs coaching.
4. Watch your tone – One of the great things about speeches is that you can use emphasis, tone and body language to accentuate a point. And since your executives are expected to be passionate about their topic, it is perfectly acceptable (and often beneficial) for them to repeat phrases to drive home a message, show pride when talking about their team’s achievements, and maybe even a little bit of fist thumping when fervour is required. Of course, nobody will trust an executive who comes off as a complete loony, so keep it within reason.
5. Control what you can – There is no shame in ‘seeding’ questions into the crowd, and no reason that the communications team can’t be the first to start the applause. The less that is left to chance the better, so take advantage of your ability to influence the way the speech is received or delivered. That said, these tactics may be glaringly obvious if the only participant asking questions is the PR Director, so try to find like-minded colleagues in other departments who can supplement your team in this regard.   

Executive speech writing is also one of those functions that in-house communicators often tend to outsource. And with good reason: executive speeches can be time consuming, stressful and somewhat political to write, while also calling for a very different skill set than most other vehicles. 

But word to the wise – with election machines gearing up on both sides of the Canada/US border, speech writers may soon be in very short supply around the world.  

Need help with your executive speech writing? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca

Your leaders are under attack. All around them, new enemies are sniping at their heads and nipping at their heels, determined to bring them to their knees. 

It wasn’t that long ago that the reputation of corporate executives was inviolable. As the heads of big organizations, executives were often given the benefit of the doubt or afforded leniency by the press, shareholders and employees. For those that went too far, new roles were created in the ‘subsidiary’ in Majorca or Peru, where ne’er-do-wells could be kept well out of the limelight. 

But the last ten years have been particularly turbulent for corporate executives around the world. Maybe it was Kenneth Lay and Jeffery Skilling (at Enron) that finally burst the bubble in 2001, but ever since, executives have been under siege: activist shareholders are pushing back on management decisions; media relish lambasting and hounding those suspected of nefarious acts; employees are selling their executives’ internal emails to whistle blowing sites and Australian muckrakers; even the way executives are compensated has come under intense public scrutiny and debate. 

Sadly, executives can often be their own worst enemies. And while there is no excuse for those caught with their hand in the cookie jar (or using child labour, etc.) many gaffes are often the result of insufficient coaching and training. 

Indeed, as professional communicators, we must always remember that executives are not born with an innate ability to communicate. Rather it is something that must be developed and cultivated over years of training and experience. 

So many professional communicators will need to pull their executives – kicking and screaming if they must – through some intense coaching over the next few years, particularly in three key areas: 

Writing: Executives can be a bland bunch. In all of my time working with them, I have yet to tell a CFO to ‘tone down the passion’. But executives will need to demonstrate more character and conviction in their written communications, particularly with employees and shareholders. And while training executives to write appropriately is crucial, so too is ensuring that everyone on the communications team knows how to write for executives (for some tips on this, check out this article on executive writing). 

Presentation skills: From internal meetings to earnings conference calls, many executives will need to brush up on their presentation skills in order to maintain (or in some cases, re-establish) confidence and motivate audiences. Both executives and their communicators will need to recognize that their actions, deportment and mood can often speak louder than words or fancy PowerPoint slides. According to researchers at Stanford University, even the speech pattern of executives can indicate whether they can be trusted or not. 

Crisis training: As we saw from BP’s ex-CEO Tony Hayward, the way executives react to a crisis can have a huge impact on their credibility and the level of trust that the public is willing to extend to their companies. Indeed, many leaders – both in the business world and beyond – are now keenly interested in sharpening their crisis communications skills and finding better ways to handle issues (click here for more on this topic). 

But professional communicators should consider themselves warned: executive coaching is not easy. Meetings will be missed, lessons will be ignored and – in some cases – personalities may clash. Those that are successful, however, may find that they spend less time fighting fires and more time delivering proactive and valuable programs instead.

Coaching your Executives is one of our Top 11 Communications Issues for 2011. Next week, we’ll look at ways to cut through complexity.

Looking for help with your executive communications? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

Let’s face it; professional communicators can’t do everything at once. Sure, as keen wordsmiths and savvy strategists, we may seem like the obvious choice to lead almost every corporate project, but – the truth is – there are areas where communications can add significant amounts of value to an organization, and others where we add very little. 

As a result, more and more communicators are starting to look at ways to better define their roles and responsibilities to both manage their growing workloads and focus their efforts on areas where they are most needed. 

But for those readers that haven’t already embarked on this important process, we thought we would offer the following (somewhat simplified) 5 Step Process to formalizing roles and defining responsibilities: 

1. Define the role of communications within the larger organization. Focus on the areas where the communications function can add the most value or mitigate the most risk (for example: managing media outreach instead of writing inter-office memos). Don’t fall into the trap of mindlessly listing the team’s current services; start with a clean slate, an open mind and a clear focus on value opportunities. Try to be specific enough not to include the kitchen sink, but flexible enough to respond to changes in technology, structure or organizational priorities.

2. Assess and align individual roles. Communications leaders will need to take a hard look at their teams’ current skill sets and capabilities, and align these to the needs of the organization. In some cases, this may require developing individuals’ existing skills to match service expectations; in others it will lead to the identification of areas where outside support may be required to deliver high quality results. It may help to categorize services into ‘process-oriented projects’ and ‘strategic initiatives’, each of which requires significantly different investments in time, effort and skills.

3. Set service level expectations. Not every project is going to get ‘the works’. Some will be high-risk or high-priority, and will demand shorter timelines and senior counsel. Others will be largely symbolic in nature, requiring little more than a cursory review and approval. Indeed, most communicators will find that formalized Service Level Agreements will not only provide better definition around their roles, but will also help reduce the amount of peripheral work (like building PowerPoint decks or managing translation services) that often accompanies large corporate projects.

 4. Identify and respond to gaps. In reality, every communications team provides a few services that don’t – in the true sense of the word – add value. Maybe it’s a legacy service that the CEO still demands, or a necessary corporate function that simply doesn’t fit anywhere else in the organization. And while many of these services must be continued, there are a number of ways that communicators can reduce the level of effort that they require (outsourcing, self-service models, cooperative approaches, etc.).

5. Communicate the new process. Perplexingly, many efforts to define roles and responsibilities ultimately fail as a result of bad communications. Internal clients don’t understand the change and, before too long, things go back to the way they were. As most communicators know, it is critical for the success of any change initiative to communicate not just the new processes, but also the reasoning and ultimate benefits for the company as a whole. This will lead to wider acceptance and adoption and, if executed properly, may elevate the image of the department within the organization.

5 steps to formalizing roles and defining responsibilities is one of our Top 11 Communications Issues for 2011. Next week, we’ll look at communicating with mobile audiences.

Looking for a savvy writer and communications strategist to supplement your team? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

2010 was – by most accounts – a rather uneventful year. And while there were certainly a fair share of scandals (such as WikiLeaks and the BP debacle), the world pretty much got on with the task of rebuilding national, business and personal balance sheets. 

2011 will likely be much the same, as both companies and individuals take stock of their finances and reassess their strategies for the future. A slow and largely ‘jobless’ economic recovery will mean that everyone – especially professional communicators – will be expected to do a lot more with a lot less. And while companies will likely start to loosen their purse-strings (particularly for projects that demonstrate bottom-line benefits) towards the middle of the year, communicators will still need to focus on working more efficiently to meet their targets and objectives. 

So how will all this affect professional communicators? This week, we take a look at what (in our humble opinion) will be some of the top issues for our industry in 2011. And, with a nod to the mantra ‘do more with less’, this year we’re offering eleven topics rather than the usual ten. So, in no particular order, here are our Top 11 Communications Issues for 2011: 

1. Being more productive: While workloads will almost certainly increase for communicators, don’t expect to add any staff this year. Instead, most communicators will be looking for ways to work better, smarter and more efficiently to achieve their goals without killing their work-life balance. Click here for 4 tips to becoming more productive.  
2. Formalizing roles and defining responsibilities: This year, communicators will focus on the areas where they can add the most value, rather than trying to do everything at once. Look for a rise in the use of Service Level Agreements and formal role definitions.  Click here to see the 5 steps to formalizing roles and defining responsibilities.
3. Communicating with mobile audiences: It seems that almost everyone has a smart phone or e-reader these days. As consumers and audiences migrate more of their communications activities onto mobile devices, professional communicators will need to pick up new skills and strategies to make the most of these new channels. Find out what the top five challenges will be here.
4. Managing social media cynicism: The honeymoon is over. As the most popular social media sites (particularly Facebook and Twitter) slowly tip the scale from social to commercial, audiences will become more cynical, creating new challenges for communicators in this sphere. Find out what they are here.
5. Coaching executives: The past year did highlight one fact quite significantly – most executives need better crisis and communications training. Whether they ask for it or not, communicators will increasingly focus on coaching executives on how to stay cool under pressure and stick to key messages. Click here to find out how.
6. Cutting through complexity: Over the past few years – particularly as a result of the recent economic turmoil – businesses have grown increasingly complex. Communicators will have to become much more adept at breaking down complex concepts if they expect to have any real impact internally or externally. For a few quick and easy strategies, check out this article.  
7. Working with new audiences: Long gone are the simple days where communicators worried about a core group of audiences (media, customers, employees and executives). This year, plan to spend significantly more time on new and influential audiences such as environmental groups, transparency watchdogs and local influencers.
8. Getting the most from suppliers: Communicators will start to put increasing pressure on their suppliers in an effort to pass on the ‘do more with less’ approach to business. Look for pricing pressures, value guarantees and even some risk-sharing over the next year, as communicators search for the best supplier for their needs.  
9. Writing to differentiate: No matter how fast technology moves or what new devices are offered on the market, one thing always remains a constant: the written word. Indeed, with a proliferation of new communications channels, most communicators will find that their corporate writing style is about the only thing that really differentiates them from their competition.  
10. Updating websites: Now that some of the web2.0 technologies have come of age, many communications professionals will find themselves spending more time working with IT to update their website content and tailor their architecture to respond to new audiences and technologies. 
11. Reducing environmental footprints: As one of the most prolific users of paper in most offices (with the possible exceptions of Marketing and Legal), communications professionals will start to take a closer look at their environmental footprints, creating programs that both protect the environment and stand as an example to peers, customers and suppliers.  

How will communicators deal with these issues? Stay tuned over the next few months as we explore each of these issues in more depth. Each week, we’ll try to offer some insight, as well as actionable tips and tools to help communicators navigate through the challenges ahead. Coming up next week: Being more productive. 

Not confident in our predictions? See how we measured up to last year’s Top 10 for 2010 forecast. 

Need to create remarkable content this year? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca.

Most professional communicators will agree that writing for executives is a thankless and difficult task. It requires a careful mix of well-honed skills that include: an uncanny ability to emulate the right tone of voice; an innate awareness of the prevailing business environment and key issues; a strong sense of personality and character; a keen awareness of the value of words; and an inexhaustible ability to stroke egos. 

Over the past decade, the job has become increasingly complicated as new vehicles (blogs, webcasts and other social media) rise in popularity, each demanding a unique tone, approach and writing style. And then just when one thinks they have it all worked out, new complexities like leadership changes and mergers come out of left field, forcing communicators to quickly retune their executive writing styles and processes. 

However, regardless of format, style or personality, there are – in our humble opinion – five key characteristics that underpin all executive communications: 

• Efficient – With the exception of the occasional speech, executive communications should strive to be short and to the point. Be selective in your word choice. Where possible, use brief, clear sentences that make a single point in a comprehensive and straight-forward way. And, while Microsoft’s ‘Shift-F7’ option can be a great resource, communicators should be extremely careful to ensure that they fully understand the exact meaning, nuance and bias that surround each word they choose.
• Effective – Executive communications should be clear about their ‘call to action’ or key message. There are few things worse than listening to an executive drone on for hours, only to walk away wondering what their point was. Communicators, therefore, should always try to use the inverted pyramid style to ensure that their messages are clearly imparted and – in certain media – may consider using graphic options such as bold text, descriptive subtitles or underlines to further emphasize their points.
• Valuable – By the same token, executive communications must be relevant and meaningful to the intended audience. This means that – rather than focus on the points that seem most significant to the executive – communicators may need to spend some time looking at the issue from the audience’s perspective and balance their needs against those of the executive.
• Inspirational – Executives are supposed to inspire, motivate and engage their audiences. In stark contrast to most other business writing, executive communications can – and often should – display a passion for the topic, a vision for the future and a confidence in their beliefs. And while leveraging emotion can often open a Pandora’s Box, most communicators will find that there is a clear line between stirring up emotions for financial gain, and being passionate about one’s convictions.
• Appropriate – Communicators must ensure that the tone, complexity and context of their executive writing properly reflects the relationship that the individual executive has with the audience. This may mean taking a more formal tone, using a certain level of industry jargon with some audiences, or providing the right amount of context to properly frame the message for others.  

Finally, always keep in mind that – while we may have logical and substantive reasons for our word choices and tone – the final piece will reflect directly on the executive. And so, ultimately, it will be their opinion that will trump all.

Looking for a freelance writer with exceptional executive writing skills? Contact Peter at Peter@CommunicationsUnlimited.ca

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