The easy option?

I've been reading an article in my mum's Sainsbury's magazine called 'Can a book change your life?'  It has four people reviewing self-help books 'to see if they really work'. Each review followed a general pattern:

1. "I can't believe how blindingly obvious the content is. I already know I should be doing all that"
2. "But here are 101 reasons why all those things are too difficult. So I'm not doing them."
3. "Pretty useless book really. Makes sense, but where's the v.easy and miraculous solution that doesn't involve any effort on my part? Pah. Some hotshot self help guru THIS is."

I think it must be human nature or something. We do it in IC too. I reckon sometimes the reason people stand up at conferences and describe apparent miracles, as Fiona said last week, is because they know that's what we're secretly hoping to find. A hundred people looking up at you expectantly, waiting for you to deliver the Eureka moment. No pressure!

Yes, we trawl conferences, read case studies, listen to webinars looking for THE thing that's finally going to solve our problems. But it's the same old stuff about linking comms to the business agenda, setting objectives, knowing your audience, measuring, blah blah blah. We know all that. Where's the innovative new solution?  What's the BEST practice that we can just take back and copy?

We might 'know all that', but are we doing it?  Or do we decide, half the time, that there are 101 reasons why we CAN'T segment our audiences/ test things/measure results/ use techniques that get people to have a dialogue and learn for themselves instead of just sending things out and telling/selling as hard as we can?

Sometimes, you do either need a miracle or a ticket out of the organisation to somewhere else that appreciates you. A lot of other times, the 'stuff we know already' will work - not miraculously, and not without some huffing and puffing, a fair bit of patience and a sense of humour - but it will definitely make a difference.  For me, what the books/conferences/webinars do is

• remind you of what we already know
• inspire you to actually act on some of it when you see how well it's worked somewhere else
• give practical ideas or different perspectives about how other people have done it that make it easier to take the first step or give you food for thought.

Where do you get your ideas from? Anyone got any examples of things you learned from other people/organisations that have worked for you? (simple ones - although if you happen to have a miracle up your sleeve, Fiona's still waiting to hear that they actually exist ...)

Sue

 

Comments

[Liam]

Funny you should say that... I'm working on a session for some managers this week. And many of them have come back from a session run by Marcus Buckingham (so no pressure there Liam...).

Several of them are raving about Buckingham's message that we spend our lives trying to fix our weaknesses (and those of the people around us) when in fact we should concentrate on playing to our strengths.

Could it be that we should actually stop worrying about the "amazing" things we're not doing and put more effort into the wonderful stuff that we ARE making happen...?

Liam

[Vicky]

A book maybe cannot change your life but it can certainly make you feel you are not alone. I think back to the early days of my 7 year career in IC (so far) when I worked for a leadership team, reporting to a director. I attended the launch event for the Inter-Comm matrix in 2003 - and without wanting to sound too evangelical - it was a turning point in my career. Sitting in a room with communications professionals from director level to those "doing it off the side of a desk", it was a revelation to me that the issues I tackled daily were ones that affected my more senior and experienced peers.
I used the matrix to explain the development and training I felt I needed to my director and was able to relate it to the value I would add to the organisation. My director was impressed by the confidence this networking experience had encouraged. She seemed to start taking me more seriously because I now took myself more seriously.
And now, again, four years on I found an article that has inspired me and made me feel like I am not alone - "Building a framework for internal communicators". After six months in an organisation where I have struggled to get to grips with the role of a business partner (what is the boundary between advising and doing?) this article has given me a way of approaching this subject with my manager. It has also served as an interesting source of discussion with my colleagues who now tell me this is something the department has struggled with for the last six years. How might they have addressed these issues sooner? Admitting we all struggle with the definition and boundaries of our role would have been a start. By sharing our experinces and looking outside of our company we would have discovered we are not alone.

[Sue]

Hi Vicky,

Comments like this make it all worthwhile! I'm really glad the Inter Comm matrix helped, and that the new competency framework is hitting the mark.

You're absolutely right that people struggle all time time with boundaries and questions around 'what type of comms person should I be' and 'where can I best add value'. We put the framework together to give people a structure for those conversations, so it's great to hear it's helping provoke discussion.

Sue