Failure to appreciate

In the iconic movie “Easy Rider,” the classic line that has remained etched in our minds is probably the line: “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

Whether it involves different generations, computers, or nations, we all know that the failure to communicate can have dire, if not economically devastating consequences. Marriages fail, businesses fail, humanity fails when they fail to communicate. That being the obvious, “experts” have spent decades hammering the message “Communicate.”

In the last 10 maybe 15 years, I’ve spent a good deal of time and effort trying to breakdown and simplify the process of communication particularly for executives and corporations. Recently I’ve even been invited to be a lecturer at the Development Academy of the Philippines for communications and media management.

After conducting a series of workshops and executive coaching, I’ve discovered that most of the experts spent too much time on the “how to” aspects of communications and often overlooked or undervalued the relevance and importance of our “failure to appreciate.” By this I refer to our failure to appreciate the nature, need, requirements, role and repercussions and plain simple appreciation of the importance of communication.

Whether it is at home, at work or just about anywhere else, we often take for granted the importance of communication because we don’t appreciate what it can do for us and what it does for others. I can buy my Mom 10 dinners in a row, but I won’t soon forget how she beamed when I told her how nice she looked with her “hairdo” and nice dress. Being a grump simply makes people get out of your way, but telling them you have a toothache or something’s worrying you, will illicit more sympathy and create less enemies.  The same goes for business.

I recently conducted an impromptu interview of a top executive without indicating that the camera was “rolling.” I casually inquired about the executive’s news gathering habits, preference of media and order of priority, levels of trust, as well as whom the executive trusted. I then moved on to work and media related experiences and expectations and how the executive saw, used and engaged media in pursuit of business goals and interest.

It did not take very long for the executive to tell the often told tale of executives who come up with products and ideas, call in their communications and PR managers, agree on what, when, where, how. And then stage their product launch or event. After all is said and done, executives look back and comment that the list of media personalities who attended, were often few and the mentions or features in the papers, magazines or broadcast were scant and often in passing. In other words, the outcome is always dismal compared to expectations.

But when I begin to dissect the actual involvement of executives in the communications process, the first flag that shows up is that they left all that to the communications manager or the PR director. The bigger the organization the more dramatic the disconnect, and it all boils down to: “It’s someone else’s responsibility” or “It’s not my job.” Unlike specialist tasks, communications is a team effort and failure to contribute results in failure to promote, educate, market or advertise.

The fact that senior executives are disconnected leads to the next level of disconnect which is ignorance of the “mechanics and interaction in communication.” Senior executives tend to think that other managers such as the communications manager and the PR director have as much control and influence over the business process as they do and can therefore influence, demand, or pressure stakeholders to get what they want. As a result, senior executives tend to have unreasonable expectations based on ignorant assumptions.

The classic example would be the society page that’s full of photos of celebrities at a party or an event. The simple-minded assumption would be throw a party at a chic venue, get photographers and media to come and voila’ your on the society page! WRONG! The other assumption is gather the Rich and Famous and you instantly land on the full spread photo feature of the society page. Wrong again.

Those parties take careful planning, requiring the services of one, two even three “eventologists,” a celebrity host who has influence or professional links with lifestyle editors, one or two entertainers – performers, a handful of legitimate celebrities willing to attend, support and endorse your party to others and it costs oodles of money, food, drinks, gifts and product party bags. On top of it all, if you don’t know the society page editors, the owners or hosts, chances are you had a great party that only you and your friends on Facebook will ever know about. Unless you know the mechanics, you can’t engineer the results.

Perhaps the biggest “failure to appreciate” would be in the wrong attitude people have about media. I now regularly remind my “students” to replace their OS or operating systems or delete memory regarding their established views on media. For the longest time, people view media as the traditional formats in their traditional roles. Print and broadcast giving us the news, chasing after crooks and cutting down politicians to size. The backlash on business has been that media has also been perceived as the unwelcomed guest, the unwanted attention and the potential corporate stalker out to make life miserable for executives.

In the day and age of internet and social media, our modes of communication have changed and we in business also need to change along with them. We need to understand and appreciate that various media have varied relevance to different businesses and activities. Media today is a potent solution for alternative marketing, promotions and economic efficiency. What was once a weapon against corruption and ignorance is now a necessary weapon for corporate advancement and strategic engagement. Only when we appreciate the usefulness of tools can we use them to our advantage.

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