[00:00:04.850] - Imogen
Hello and welcome to Dear Comms, the coffee break podcast where we tackle your biggest corporate comms challenges. My name's Imogen.
[00:00:12.560] - Amanda
And I'm Amanda. We're here to give you practical, no-nonsense advice so you can focus on the things that will really drive influence, engagement, and impact.
[00:00:21.870] - Imogen
Amanda, this week we had a comment in from Mark. Mark said, My employees are clearly frustrated with certain issues in the business, but my leadership is always pushing me to focus on positive messaging. Makes me feel a bit like a political spin doctor. Our employees are asking for transparency and honesty about what's going on. How do I balance the two? This is your, your classic communications tug of war, isn't it? It's that need to remain positive and drive people forward versus a desire to be open and transparent. Transparent about things that aren't going so well. And then add into the mix the pressure from leadership, the frustrations from employees, and it's really just another day in the life of your head of comms.
[00:01:10.050] - Amanda
This is something to do with not wanting to show vulnerability or admit that things aren't as positive as they could be. You know, sometimes as communicators, we feel as if we're being asked to put a shiny coat of paint on things, papering over the cracks, moving forward and ignoring that elephant in the room, maybe. We know that being overly positive without addressing the reality of our employees doesn't help anyone in the long run.
[00:01:35.980] - Imogen
No, it's tough. You know that great communications is transparent, authentic, vulnerable, and you know that anything that isn't those three things leads to more frustration. But at the same time, you've got to protect the company's reputation and maintain morale.
[00:01:52.030] - Amanda
Yeah, it's a balancing act. I think you need to look at the root of the problem. It sounds as if your leadership see transparency as risky. You know, maybe they've been transparent before for that to backfire. In the face of uncertainty, it can be tempting to gravitate towards putting a more positive spin on things.
[00:02:13.760] - Imogen
Yeah.
[00:02:14.560] - Amanda
The first thing you need to do, though, is rebuild trust in a more open approach. You know, your leadership might not be ready to expose themselves again. You need to acknowledge why they're so cautious and have an honest conversation about their past experiences. What happened? What was the end result? You've got to show them that transparency doesn't have to be talking about everything that's gone wrong. It can be more about focusing on solutions and future actions.
[00:02:44.460] - Imogen
And when you're talking about rebuilding trust, it's not just about rebuilding trust in the process, but rebuilding trust in us as communicators to be able to do the right thing, to be able to frame that story, right?
[00:02:59.130] - Amanda
Yeah, that we're a good judge of employee sentiment and mood, and that shouldn't be underestimated.
[00:03:06.810] - Imogen
Absolutely. And there is great comms theory which backs that up. There's a guy called Denning— can I call him a guy? He's a comms academic called Denning who created Eight Narrative Patterns for Leadership Storytelling. One of those patterns he called sharing knowledge. And in this type of story, the leader focuses on problems, but then shows through examples how the problems were corrected and mitigated and gives an explanation about how the solution worked. Now, if you combine that with a story around a future that the leadership wants to create, I think you'd start to have a narrative which not only helps people learn from mistakes, but then motivates them to work towards a future that you set. So, you're balancing that positive outlook without pretending that the issues don't exist.
[00:04:00.640] - Amanda
Yeah, and it's really, really important that we help our leaders face the problem head-on. We can't pretend the problem doesn't exist and hope it goes away. We're simply not ostriches.
[00:04:11.480] - Imogen
Putting your fingers in your ears and shutting your eyes and singing loudly and hoping humming or something.
[00:04:16.120] - Amanda
But it also doesn't mean that we're airing all the dirty laundry, but it does mean that we're acknowledging when things aren't perfect. Now, this is going to play two roles for you. One, it shows that leadership is aware of the problems. And secondly, it gives employees hope that change is coming.
[00:04:34.240] - Imogen
I think just admitting that there are challenges is so powerful for leaders. We say it, we say it the whole time to each other, to our friends, you know, asking help is not— asking for help is not a sign of weakness. Right? And it's the same here. Talking about challenges that have been faced is not a sign of weakness in your leadership. If you are silent, that is where the problem comes in, because it's saying a lot about you, about your leadership, about the organization. Sometimes leaders forget that they have a lot more information than the wider employee base does. And if they are not talking, if they are not sharing, employees are likely to interpret that silence or constant positivity and sunshine and rainbows, they're likely to interpret that as evidence that there is bad news on the way.
[00:05:26.200] - Amanda
It just isn't authentic, it doesn't work. You know, if your leaders are still balking at the thought of sharing less than positive news, why not show them that it's already out there?
[00:05:37.330] - Imogen
Do they think no one knows and that no one's talking about it?
[00:05:41.110] - Amanda
I don't know, it's possible. I think they hope It's not being talked about, but it is. Open up some two-way channels. That might be surveys, town halls, or Q&As. What's worked well for some of our clients is listening sessions, where a leader will sit in a room with employees and not say anything. They'll just listen to what's on the mind of employees in a safe space. I think if we can get the leadership to understand that the news that they're actually trying to hide is already out there and being talked about, they might be more willing to get in front of it.
[00:06:19.130] - Imogen
At the end of the day, it's about having control of the message. As communicators, we talk about this the whole time. If your leaders aren't telling that story, then someone else is telling it for you. And it's much better to be in control of the facts and be able to show what's being done than have that gap, that silence, be filled with rumors and supposition.
[00:06:41.010] - Amanda
Yeah, which happens if you leave a gap or a void. I come back to authenticity. There is a case study that's crisis-related, but it was General Motors versus Toyota. Both of them faced recalls, but they took a very different approach. We'll put the analysis in the show notes for you, but very briefly, Mary Barra, who was the CEO of General Motors at the time, was very open about what went wrong, but also what they were doing about it. Toyota, complete opposite, went on the defensive and looked to blame others. And I think leaders can learn from Mary Barra when she said, our reputation will not be determined by the crisis, but how the crisis is addressed.
[00:07:23.710] - Imogen
Uncertainty, and that's, that's really what you're creating when you refuse to be transparent in communications. Uncertainty is stressful for everybody and will have a significant knock-on effect on your employee morale and productivity. Which of course will then impact the bottom line. You don't even have to have the answers to everything though. I think that's also important. You just need to be open to acknowledging that there are challenges, acknowledging that things need to be done, and helping people along that journey out of the woods. So, setting milestones, setting different times that you will come back with more information.
[00:08:05.280] - Amanda
Yeah, that's right.
[00:08:06.110] - Imogen
I think leaders struggle when they don't have all the answers, but they don't have to.
[00:08:11.080] - Amanda
Yeah, I think, you know, if you can just edge leadership towards sharing a little bit more with a focus on the future, I think you're halfway there. You know, it is natural, we have to acknowledge that, that leaders don't want to tell the story about things not working. No one wants to admit they've made mistakes.
[00:08:30.940] - Imogen
I know.
[00:08:31.110] - Amanda
I don't think— no, me neither. However, if framing challenges differently, turning them into opportunities for growth and learning, you can build an organization that trusts in its leadership and is excited about the future, no matter what speed bumps appear in the way. Balancing transparency and positivity, it's tough, but you can do both without sacrificing either.
[00:08:55.400] - Imogen
And on that, I think we'll close today's episode. If you're facing something similar, let us know about it in the comments. We'd love to hear your thoughts and see how we can help. But until next time, see you soon.
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