Black Belt Dojo

Working with cartoonists (final chapter)

There’s an error in the title. I should write “working with a cartoonist, i.e. me”. Because I actually don’t know any other cartoonists personally, nor could I say how they work. I can only give you some insight into my own modus operandi. It’s fairly straightforward, but I’ve had to explain it to prospects many times before, so maybe someone will find this useful.

First off, there is of course the client briefing. It doesn’t have to be very specific, but it’s best to start off with a clear understanding of the client’s need. For instance, when the cartoon is to accompany an article, what’s it about? I don’t need the full text, just the gist of it will do. Which message do you want to convey? Do you want an innocent illustration or a candid cartoon? Obvious questions, but you’d be surprised how many times people don’t even think of these things. Of course, it isn’t up to the client to make stuff up themselves – that’s my job. Suggestions are always welcome, though. Creating something out of nothing is very hard.

In the next step, I do this secret trick which involves a bit of mental voodoo, some mysterious chanting and an extremely disturbing kind of exotic dance. Resulting in one or more ideas, which I then sketch out on paper. I scan these in and mail them to the client. It’s only after his/her final approval of a draft that I work it out in its final form. Even though all my work is done digitally, it takes quite some time to get it right, and it would be silly to have a fully worked out cartoon rejected, wouldn’t it?

The last stage is the one of me anxiously waiting for the client to pay the invoice. Notice that this whole process can easily be done without ever having to meet the client in person. It’s the 21st century baby!

So that was it from me, here endeth the lesson. Hope you enjoyed it!

Story-telling...

...is another one of those vague concepts IC people worry about.  It comes up more and more on the Black Belt and I've always found it rather problematic.

I say problematic, not because I don't like stories.  In fact the reverse is true and I even had negative feedback from a Black Belter who couldn't bear any more of my anecdotes!  Maybe it's my Irish blood.

No, I mean I struggle with the concept because much of what is written is actually quite vague when it comes to the practicalities.  I get the idea that people connect more to a narrative than they do to dry facts - seems pretty obvious to me.  But what does that mean in practice?  Do we have story-telling sessions at 3 pm?  Should the CEO talk about their personal life?  Does the legal department have to approve official tales?

Many of the write-ups of story-telling are connected to specific products that someone is trying to sell.  So the literature tends to be of the "this stuff is really important and if you want to do something, call our sales team on..." variety.  Not very useful if you just want a bit of inspiration about how to work into next year's strategy.

If it's not linked to videos/learning maps/CEO speech writing services the companies I respect are naturally loathe to give away the secrets of processes they have spent years developing!

One recent insight I got into this world came in the form of an HBR article that a friend (Thanks Jack) sent me.

It's an interview with Hollywood screenwriter Robert McKee who makes me stop and think.  You'll need to buy the article for yourself but I was struck by the following points:

• a compelling story has drama; a struggle against opposing forces
• the protagonist has clear human desires and human emotions
• a credible story needs to acknowledge frailty, uncertainty and even ignoble motives
• great stories are born out of self knowledge.

As I read it I ran a mental slide rule over presentations I've done or encouraged others to do containing cold and dry data and started to feel uncomfortable.  I found it a really challenging read and would urge people involved in coaching leaders on speeches or presentations to take a look...  Investor relations might not like it but...

Liam

I wish people were more boring sometimes....

Just had an experience….

Flying to Basel on a plane surrounded by off-duty pilots I put on the iPod to drown out the chatter about duties, other colleagues and the rates paid in other airlines.

Then on our final approach we dropped below the clouds and were hit by a massive cross wind and they fell worryingly silent.  As we bucked around they exchanged too many meaningful glances for my liking…  Then one of them asked another “who’s the Captain today?” which elicited more worried looks.

It was one of those rare occasions when you wished they’d carry on boring about restaurants they’d visited or the engine size of their new car…..

Liam

Trust - what's our role?

Reading through the latest issue of SCM, I came across an interesting article from Pam Hurley and Dr Johan Siebers of TOSCA.  It talks about a three year study from the Future of Work Consortium, which says trust has gone out of the window in a lot of workplaces, making basic communication and co-operation more difficult and leading to poorer business performance.

To build trust, they suggest following four principles when you communicate:

• Quantity - give people as the right information, but don't go overboard
• Quality - don't say things you don't believe or can't back up
• Relevance - keep your communication relevant to the topic
• Manner - don't fudge it, and get to the point

It sounds pretty obvious stuff, but they reckon a lot of communicators either try to avoid the principles (oh come on - don't tell me you've never done a spot of fudging in your time!),or try and look as if they're following them when they're absolutely not ... which is where the dreaded spin creeps in.

Which leads me to the next article that caught my eye. Ben Page, MD of Ipsos MORI, writing in PR Week. He's talking about the accusation often levelled at the British government to date that they've been too focused on spin over substance. (Yep, guilty in my book. I don't think they've done the reputation of comms people any favours.) Fallen over themselves to make announcements and 'manage the media', and ended up with a general public that trusts them less as a result.

His solution to building trust?  Stop communicating. Act. No more promises of jam tomorrow. Sort out the policies and actions first, wait until they're working, things are starting to improve and people are starting to notice, and then tell them what you've done.

It reminded me of Jim Schaffer's say/do matrix.  What leaders/the company say and what they do have to match, or the actions will undermine the words.

It also reminded me of the time I was working out the comms plan for a project that had been promised to staff for five years.  I was given it at the point it was actually going to materialise. It even appeared on the business plan as 'project we really mean it this time'. I think that's what's called a poison chalice ...!

Sue

Know your place

I've been spending a very happy weekend watching Glastonbury on the TV.  I've decided two things..:

1) Lily Allen can't sing and really is annoying

2) I'm going next time despite the mud

However, in between embarassing the kids by asking the name of every second artist on the telly I have been working quite hard (well I did get out on the bike as well - you've got to get the miles in...)

One of the good things about the work that Sue and I do is that it actually makes me keep reading – something I know I’d be lax about if it weren’t for the real deadlines that come with a promised development programme for a client.

Right now, I’m working on a unit on consulting skills for IC managers because we keep being asked what people need to know if they want to expand from implementers to advisors (it’s all part of the competency model)…

And as part of the process you have to look around to see what new is being said on the subject or track down data and case studies.

One of my real finds is a book by Alan Weiss called “Organizational consulting – how to be an effective internal change agent”.  And what I like is the fact that it underlines the point that was drummed into me when I worked for a project management consultancy – be clear about the roles of the different players in any given situation.

In project management they make a big deal about knowing the difference between a client and an end user.  When projects go wrong it’s often because these roles have been confused or left ill-defined.

And in consulting you have to be very clear about who is the client and who is merely an interested party.  Weiss talks about defining your “Economic Buyer” – the person who holds the budget, who specifies the required results and who will take ultimate accountability for the project not working.

He says you shouldn’t confuse an Economic Buyer with general stakeholders – people with something to gain or lose but no final accountability for the success of the project.

In a workshop the other day one of the team I was working with bemoaned the fact that in his organisation there seems to be an endless round of approvals and authorisations for the tiniest thing – a problem that is pretty familiar to most of us!  We’ve all suffered from our plan being tinkered with by every Tom, Dick and Harriet – but it never seems to become a better plan in the process for some reason.

Weiss has some thoughts on that and our unit will need to explore when you try different styles when dealing with different situations.

However I also think the good old fashioned RACI is a solid discipline to be applied in these situations.  At the start of a project identify the steps involved and for each stem decide who is ultimately Accountable (i.e. where the buck will ultimately stop is the task fails to happen or is poorly performed), who is Responsible (i.e. will be expected to help make it all happen), who needs to be Consulted and who simply needs to be Informed. (The acronym therefore stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed – I guess that although you’d naturally start you list with accountable, the resulting acronym isn’t that charming!).

So, now I’m off to Amazon to buy the novels of someone who was at the workshop this week!

Liam

And on the subject of knowing your place...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjxY9rZwNGU

Putting my money where my mouth is

If what I've said about using cartoons is true, at least this post should elicit some more reactions than my previous ones.

Last time I said there are many ways to find good cartoons. One thing I wanted to add: please don't steal them...

Sure it’s dead easy to scan a cartoon or just copy/paste it off the internet. But it’s a violation of the intellectual rights of artists who take pride in their work, and who have to eat too.

What do you think? 

Talking engagement (if I must)

OK, I admit it, I hate the 'e' word. It's joined 'strategic' and 'culture' as one of those wibbly terms that gets bandied about constantly whilst half the time people don't really know what it means ... but they manage to have an earnest-sounding conversation about it anyway.

I've seen a few debates on the go on various networks debating what 'the word' actually means. For a profession that's supposed to be about making the complex simple and creating understanding, we've done a great job at creating confusion by making a piece of jargon part of every day language.

I'm as guilty as anyone else. The first time I was asked to organise an 'engagement day' I moaned for ages about how people would think it was about wedding planning. These days it's just part of my vocabulary.

Excuse me for sounding cynical, but I've been in comms a long time (I have the scars to prove it) and the debates that go on around engagement are the same debates that have always happened. Except people used to talk about 'employee commitment' or 'involvement' or even 'morale' (ugh. Hated that one too. Yep, it's our job to make everyone happy smiley people. Where shall we have the Christmas party this year?).

But hurrah for 'engagement' - it's been a great excuse for survey producers and conference promoters I've never even heard of (where the heck are they all springing up from?) to persuade people there's something else they need to buy.

Not like me to rant, I know, but Liam's working overseas this week so I'd hate you to feel you were missing out...

Sue

 

Small is beautiful

This week I was at a speed networking event at the CIPR in London, sponsored by  recruiters VMA.  I have to thank Charlotte for the photos.

Two things to report - a very funny conversation with Charlotte talking about social networking sites like Melcrum's Communicators Network.  We both admitted that we want to have more friends than anyone else and she promised faithfully that she'd be my friend and NOT SUE's on the site (that's the last time I trust you Butler!).  And when I got home I discovered that Sue's got two more mates than me (although we're both miles behind Angela Sinickas - she really does know everyone!).  So if you've ever vaguely met me, do say hello on the network.  I couldn't bear Miss 'oh no I don't do sport' Dewhurst getting all triumphant about it...

Secondly, speaking to an Australian about development and she said that she thought she'd been lucky starting her career in a small company doing everything.  Her thought was that although you don't get the career opportunities or really massive projects you do get to dabble in lots of things giving you experience in a range of disciplines.  Given that she now worked for one of the biggest investment banks in London there was some truth in what she said.

Liam

More on cartoons

In my previous post about the use of cartoons in IC, I raised the question of when they are suitable. Once you decide to brighten up your message with a funny picture, which cartoons to use is, in my view, an equally important question. I’ll start with a disclaimer: working as a freelance cartoonist (shameless plug!), I am extremely biased on this point. But here goes: I utterly resent those cliché clip art images you always see in presentations. Yes, there is a vast supply of cheap stock cartoons available on the net, but they are mostly stale and outdated.

Hire a cartoonist, if you can. It’s not the cheapest solution, but you know quality has its price. A cheap image will only devaluate your message. A professional cartoonist will work with you to achieve maximum results with a tailor-made, unique image that really complements your communication efforts.

Then the obvious question is: where to find one, and what’s a fair price? You could start by searching freelance ‘marketplaces’ like guru.com or elance.com, where you can request quotes for a vast array of services. Mind you, the quotes that are mentioned here are generally hourly rates. Personally I prefer to work with a fixed rate per assignment, which (if you really want to know) varies between 75 and 150 euros, depending on the size and complexity of the cartoon. So everyone knows what to expect.

In my opinion, word of mouth marketing remains the most effective way to find the right person. So have you worked with cartoonists you can recommend? Or do you know of any other interesting websites where you can find good illustrators?

New UK research

I've just been looking at the latest research from the UK's Work Foundation into the shape of IC.  And quite interesting reading it makes too.

Having moaned before about reports without any rigour I have to say that this one seems to fit the bill quite well - they conducted interviews under test conditions and from what they say, I think you can assume that the data collection element was robust.

However, I do wish that they'd included the questionnaire...then perhaps I wouldn't feel slightly uncomfortable with the findings.

Let me explain - the report goes into quite a lot of detail about the variety of channels in use, the size of IC teams and budgets.  It also attempts to explore if there is a relationship between high performing organisations and particular approaches to IC.  But it doesn't really reach any conclusions that shed new light on the issue for me.

OK, it reinforces the messages that there are an awful lot of channels in use in most organisations (apparently they proliferate more in the public sector).  And it includes some input from CEO's to the effect that IC is important.

Yet the three main conclusions are:

• CEO's and Boards should embrace the strategic value of IC
• We should look at all the tools in use and keep an eye on what works
• It would be interesting to research further where IC is best located in organisations and what evaluation methods are useful.

There are some gems hidden away in there - there seems to be a relationship between weak business performance and traditional approaches to team briefing (now that IS interesting!) so I do strongly suggest that people take a look at the report.

But overall, it rather left me flat.  It didn't say much that anyone who's worked in IC for a few years would know to be true.  The call to CEO's to communicate has been on the agenda of the Financial Times, the Economist, The HBR, the Wall Street Journal etc for as long as I can remember - and I can't believe there are many leaders out there who would say "You know what? I think all this stuff about communications is over-hyped".

So I have two thoughts.

Firstly, is this the state that IC is in in the UK?  Are we really people that are tactically obsessed bemoaning the lack of attention from senior managers?  Is the reality that most IC people do spend their time fretting about  better channels?

For me, I just wished it had challenged that and looked at some of the advisory and consulting work that is being done in organisations.  It would have felt more like a rounded picture to me.

Secondly, wouldn't it be brilliant if someone could spend a few years looking at exactly the questions that the study starts to ask at the end?  In particular, they ask "How can IC teams ensure that communications is seen as an investment rather than an overhead?".  Getting an answer to that one would be worth the sponsors' cash!

Liam