But I don’t feel it’s a word internal comms people should use too much if they want to be successful in a business.
Nor should the word 'yes'.
Too many internal comms professionals suffer from Corporate Client Afflictions and always say 'yes' particularly with demanding stakeholders who are 'doing the most important things in the business which everyone needs to know about right NOW!' The result is a comms team drowning in workload, rapidly losing their resilience and the ability to consult properly. Knee-jerk, non-integrated and ah-hoc communication might keep the client happy but it sure as hell will confuse everyone else in the organisation.
The best advice for dealing with tricky stakeholders is to take a deep breath and remember someone has come to you for your friendly professionalism, expertise and guidance. Some may be up against a deadline themselves or been given strict instructions by their boss to ‘get that comms out!’
Avoid 'no' and too much 'yes' by simply adopting a positive stance on any request for comms assistance and couple this with further explanation and context to qualify how best you can help. Try to show you understand their point of view. Empathy is very, very productive in this situation.
If you strongly disagree over a particular issue, a firm, fair, diplomatic approach is entirely within most people’s capabilities coupled with constructive suggestions of a way round it.
Once in a while you may get someone totally obnoxious – ‘a unique individual’, which I feel is a brilliant euphemism, wielding their job title around like a great big sword. They can make you feel personally affronted, raise your hackles high and make it difficult to think on your feet. A good tip is to say something like: “I understand what you are saying and it is obviously important so give me a bit of time to think about the best solution and I will get back to you shortly.”
Thinking about the best solution and taking time out like this will give people a very good impression of a professional who cares a lot about getting it right and will strengthen how you work together now and in the future.
If you still can’t work it out, there is always gin!
Top tips from Scott Eblin on dealing with rude people: http://tinyurl.com/6k6glj2
Sarah, this encapsulates so much of my recent working life. A classic example of this rock and a hard place yes/no challenge can occur when your most senior stakeholders ask you to create an internal logo or brand solely for their own uses or to represent a function within a larger part of the organisation. If you say yes you go against all of the principles you know to be correct as a communications professional, and guardian of the brand, but if you say no you risk looking like (in their eyes) you add no value. For the record this happened recently, I said no in the most diplomatic and politically astute way possible but was told to just do it, as they 'didn't care'...we can but try.
ReplyDeleteLike these practical, no-nonsense tips. Saying ‘yes’ when it should be ‘no’ may not be good in the long run. And I’d add that chipping away to get the heart of what your stakeholder actually wants to achieve usually helps the conversation.
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