The Year of the Communicator: Hear Us Roar

How about making 2010 the “Year of the Communicator” in addition to the Year of the Tiger, the Chinese Lunar Year 4078? We’re well suited to be guiding our leaders through the treacherous terrain of the information age, both in the virtual and real worlds.

In a recent issue of The Economist Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz explained how leadership has changed with the proliferation of information. The changes she cited play to the strengths of communication professionals.

For example, Bartz said that leaders need to be honing two leadership tasks that they often neglect: 1) listening and 2) identifying and mentoring thought leaders.

Today, according to Bartz, these thought leaders aren’t just the high potential employees who can climb the leadership ladder. Instead, they’re the ones who “have the ability to digest and interpret information for others.”

Do you feel the love? Communication leadership professionals are the quintessential listeners, synthesizers and interpreters.  We talk with people, curate conversations and clearly articulate the call for action. We can do this regardless of what level we’re at in our organizations.

Yet, we need to do more than just deal with the deluge of information coming through all of the various global channels. We also have to take an active role in managing corporate reputations. As the Edelman 2010 Trust Barometer study shows, ”trust and transparency are as important to corporate reputation as the quality of products and services.”

So start by stepping up the talk so your leaders will be better equipped to connect with stakeholders. For example:

Point out the good, bad and ugly to your leaders regularly. For many of us now, Toyota has replaced the almost 21-year-old Exxon Valdez disaster as the poster company for bad and ugly behavior. These days, when you’re the bad boy or girl, you’re not just hogging headlines and TV spots. You’re the trending topic on Twitter, the villain of the blogosphere, and the heavy on YouTube. You can’t sit in silence; you need to act quickly and conscientiously.

Also acknowledge the lost opportunities that can be as costly as the mistakes. Just think that Tiger Woods is in hiding now when he could be basking in the glow of being associated with the Year of the Tiger. Talk about bad timing!

Challenge assumptions. The world is changing so fast and information is growing exponentially that what was true last decade—or even last month—may not work now. For example, make sure you question what customers value in your services and products. Confirm what channels your stakeholders prefer. Test your messages. So on and so on.

And as you query, question the unquestionables. Many crises these days can stem from unexamined, faulty assumptions. Just think again about Toyota, which had been known as the quality car maker who concentrated on customers. As Ian Mitroff, the father of crisis management, says: you need to “think like a sociopath but act like a saint” especially when examining your assumptions.

Enlarge the tent and bring the outside in. Recognize the vast number of stakeholders who are important to your organization. These include customers, vendors, employees, the community government, investors, and others. How often are you listening to their voices?

For example, are you making sure you include a diverse group of employees in terms of jobs, age, experience, geography and other differences when you seek inputs? Also, to what extent are you tracking what internal and external bloggers and tweeters are saying about your leaders and the organization?

And are you encouraging cross talk? These days, insider information is a quaint concept except for who are so focused on their work that they have extreme tunnel vision and lose sight of what’s happening. The communication professional can add value by curating conversations with all stakeholders.

What are you doing to add to the “Year of the Communicator”?

Liz Guthridge is a consultant, author, and trainer specializing in strategic change communications. Department leaders of Fortune 1000 companies hire Liz and her firm Connect Consulting Group LLC when they need their people—who are confused, angry or in denial—to adopt complex new initiatives so they can quickly change the way they work. For more information, contact Liz, liz.guthridge@connectconsultinggroup.com or 510-527-1213. Follow Liz on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/lizguthridge.