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Leadership Communications in the Social World
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Leadership communications: How a communicator in the social media world can support and maximize the impact when an executive communicates
Mark Schumann (@dmarkschumann), past Chair, ABC
http://re-communicate.com
This is the first half of this discussion, as this excellent talk covered a long list of advice for corporate communications and speechwriters. The role is not just to help executives communicate effectively, but also to educate them on effective communications. One of the most important things it to help them understand that people react to the context, as well as the content of the message.
Why executive speechwriting is a tough job:
- Preparing the leader so they reach a comfort and confidence in the message, tone, and approach.
- Tone, not necessarily the message, is what people will react to the most.
- Wearing a smile when the leader gets it wrong.
- Accepting all of the blame and none of the credit.
- Leading leaders isn’t easy or expected
Some communicators continue to fall into the trap of the traditional formality of corporate communications:
Formality of message capture and delivery – Communications are now faster than ever, can be delivered in multiple formats, and captured with something as simple as a cell phone camera.- Formality of the setting – Communications used to be in person, in a big room. Even if it’s a big room, speakers need to make the room smaller. Take the opportunity to work the room and introduce themselves to people in advance to make it more intimate.
- Formality of the responses – Feedback has often been limited, often because many people, in general, don’t like feedback.
- Formality of the process – Preparation meetings often become formal events. They don’t have to be. Try more meetings with your speakers in 15 minute blocks. You’ll often get more done, you’ll be efficient with your time, and the leader is more willing to give you 15 minutes than an hour.
5 Rules corporate communicators must live by:
- People memorize the tone – People remember the humanity of the voice and how it made them feel. Be sure to organize content that contributes to the tone. For example, begin with a story to set tone. Even if it’s financial info… tell a story to help them remember it’s about accomplishing the goals of the company.
- People retell the stories – Stories help to humanize the situation, or make the message simpler. The only way to do this is to encircle the facts with something that’s appealing to the audience.
- People want humanity and humility – Ultimately, we’re helping leaders reveal their souls and using how they communicate to reveal who they really are. Step back from clinical messages to think about what the audience will remember. Tip – have the leader talk about something they learned – from an employee, from their area, from the situation, etc.
- People ignore the facts – People will remember the things they want to remember, often what’s most relevant to them. What we can do is set the tone, create the voice, frame the content, manage the ego.
- Help people believe in how they are led – Perhaps the most important role of the corporate communicator.
5 things we have to acknowledge
- Leaders think really big
- Leaders have the capacity to act small
- We have to educate leaders about the risks – what happens if… the Powerpoint breaks, an event occurs, etc.
- We have to inspire leaders to want to be heard
- We have to coach leaders to be believed
Dangers signs of leaders who may be difficult to work with, when they say:
- I was on the high school debate team – It typically means they like to argue.
- I like to wing it – It means they don’t listen, want feedback, or prepare for what they want to accomlish with a speech.
- I don’t need to rehearse – Everyone needs to prepare and rehearse. Spontaneous is too spontaneous to be prepared for.
- My spouse or partner coaches me – They aren’t ready to listen to you.
- I really like Power Point – They rely too much on it as a crutch, and often repeat what’s on the screen.
- I have a great sense of humor – Trying to be funny tends to get in the way of being genuine or caring.
One of the biggest challenges is to make leader feel like they’ve been a part of the process regarding their own communication. Find a way for them to help. Get them to write the first draft – you then get to see what is most important, and then you craft it.
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Hey Kevin thanks again for extending the reach of this information. Interesting side note about #4 above. I agree people ignore facts and listen for what they want. Tone has an exaggerated impact. A recent On The Media piece on bias displayed this clearly. They asked a handful of self-identified conservative to keep a diary to record any factual bias they heard in NPR programming and at the end if the collection period no one had a single factual example and yet all maintained that a bias existed and it presented itself in tone.
Then yesterday Frank Luntz talked about how using numbers repeatedly regardless of their actual validity tends to make people believe the speaker is factual. Is this just a coincidence of debate structure or do you think it applies to leadership communication as well? If so, what obligation does a speech writer have to conveying a factual message and not just manipulating devices to create the desired affect in the audience?