HumanMarkets

About a year ago I wrote about “communications climate“.    The idea was that some periods, maybe all periods, have a communications sensibility that needs to be respected.  The premise was the that the “Obama Effect”, from our then, brand-new President, demanded “authenticity” in communication.

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I thought it was worth checking in after a year to see if that observation held true.  It does, but there is a foundational truth.  Competence matters.  Prior to being able to ride the wave of a communication culture like authenticity, you need to know what you are talking about and you need to get stuff done.  Authenticity is a great theme of promise;  it is a great theme of the here and now as well.  If you are in the here and now however, it must be based in competence or it sounds too much like poetry.  Poets are great inspiration, but do not themselves lead, as poets. 

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Authentic

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Political commentators are spending a lot of time on the question of how successful the President’s administration has been.  I think it is fair to say that many agree that the President has achieved a great deal of his legislative agenda – health care, financial reform and the stimulus package.  These are facts – they are done.  Reasonable people can argue as to whether they are smart or effective.  There also seems to be however a sense that the public is simply not satisfied that legislative achievement is improving their day to day life.  “Stuff” is getting done; stuff that I care about, may or may not be getting done.  The economy is still very weak; the Deep Water Horizon spill is still not technically stopped and it is not clear where the spilled oil is.  The fact is that the President is not popular right now with the American public.

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So here is my take on the mood.  Authenticity is actually more important that it was last year.  It remains the key to credibility and gaining audience engagement.  The learning for me from last year is that getting done is always more important than getting said – nothing profound there.  However, it is also possible that the more articulate and elegant the communication, the narrower the room for error in the execution of the tasks at hand.  The opportunity may be that the people get that economic life in this country is more difficult than it has been for some time.  People get that some problems are intractable and resist simplistic or easy solutions.  People get that life is hard.  If you call that out early as part of your communication, the expectation becomes less about the outcome alone and becomes about the quality and wisdom of the effort.  If doing is better than saying, even saying authentically; trying is better than not trying.

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The best lesson I can think of about how authenticity needs the credible foundation of executing well, is former BP CEO Tony Hayward very authentically telling us that he “wants my life back.” 

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The HR lesson maybe that transparency of motivation and clarity and openness about execution complements your authenticity.  Your employees will respect it and it may provide you some cover when some of the news or the action is unpleasant and unwelcome.  What has not changed is that great communications still matters and is at the heart of great HR.

No Comments | In: Communications, How to do HR | | #

Source: WSJ Online

David Wessel’s column on 13 May made the point that in the country today there is a significant amount of distrust, frustration and anger. 

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“The distrust goes beyond government: People are angry at pretty much the entire establishment. More than 60% of Americans in Pew Research Center polls say banks, big corporations and Congress have a negative effect on the way things are going in the U.S.—and the national news media don’t do much better.”

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“… … … they see unemployment at nearly 10% and more than five jobless workers for every job opening. For those with jobs, they see wages are languishing despite an eye-popping increase in labor productivity, or output per hour of work. Private-sector hourly earnings in the U.S. have risen at a 0.4% annual rate over the past three months, while prices have climbed at about a 1% pace, the Labor Department says. Weekly earnings are growing at about a 1.5% rate, but that’s because workers are putting in more hours.”

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It strikes me as a time to continue to be extremely careful in HR communications.  A focus on doing and the telling about how an employer delivers simple fair play into the work place, transparently presented, is an important focus to have.

No Comments | In: Communications, Employee Relations, Multiple Markets | tags: internal market, Transparency, Wessel. | #

Source: NYTimes.com

   By now you know that a “crude car bomb” was safely disabled by NYC Police with support from the FBI, NYPD.  It happened last night but Times Square is open this morning.  Stunning.  Thank you to the men and women of NYPD/FD and all public safety.

Here is the take for HR I think.  Hourly paid people, people in menial jobs, are not stupid.  Inadequate education, sometimes poor decisions in adolescence, bad luck, health or even just lack of ambition and drive, can all contribute to people being in an unskilled occupation.  Confusing that with stupid makes you… … … well, you get the idea right?

 Program design and communication for exempt populations will generally do better assuming people are reasonably bright but also allowing that they are relatively unsophisticated about the rules of benefits, management buzz words and financial instruments.  (Note that I did not say economics – you can bet that straight forward economics comes intuitively to bright people.)

4 Comments | In: Communications, Employee Relations | | #

4 Comments | In: Communications, How to do HR, Multiple Markets | tags: Air Force One, Communication, Influence, Travel. | #

Source: healthdiaries.com

If you give every employee a shiny red juicy apple, for no reason other than it is a gift of a beautiful piece of fruit – here is what will happen.

Someone will be pissed off because they just bought an apple.  “Can I get reimbursed for the apple that I bought this morning?”

Someone will like oranges and not apples.

Someone is offened that the apple is from Chile and not a US grown apple.

Someone will break a tooth on the apple, or will ruin a silk blouse from apple.

Someone will come in and say thank you for the apple it was delicious and I really appreciated a surprise gift.

Most employees will say nothing.

Don’t focus on a few complaints – you will get them no matter what you do.  Listen to the group as a whole, even if they do not say anything.  Doing the good and smart thing should be even when you get a few complaints.  In a big enough population, anything is going to piss off at least someone.  When you play to satisfy the fringe, you are sure to undermine the confidence of the group as whole, in your decision-making.

There is a market for confidence – strong players have the courage to distinguish consensus value from quieting irrational complaints.  Like Dan Rather used to say, “Courage.”

10 Comments | In: Communications, Employee Relations | tags: Apples, Courage, Dan Rather. | #

When you are at a stop sign and you want the other person to drive through the intersection first what do you do?

I bet you do what most people seem to do.  You rapidly wave your hand back and forth, fingers pointing at the other driver, palm facing sideways towards your torso.  I have sat at an intersection and seen virtual “wave offs” of one driver urging the other to go only to be met by equal urging in the other direction. 

I invite you to share in an experiment for a couple of weeks as you drive.  When you are at the next intersection, don’t do the wave thing.  Rather, do an “no after you” move.  Take your hand, palm up generally.  Tilt your palm at roughly a 45 degree angle with the palm up but tilted toward your body.  For extra style points also pull your hand back a slight bit toward your wrist and then move your entire arm in the direction that you are INVITING the other driver to go.  That is to say, if you are offering the other driver the opportunity to travel from your right to your left, do the move with your left hand.  If you are offering the other driver the opportunity to travel from your left to your right, use your right hand.

There is a market for manners in life.  People who try to navigate the market of intersection sequencing by telling other what to do, are not as successful as those who come to that market making a generous offer. 

I offer you to try the experiment and then look for a posting on September 1 where HumanMarkets will ask for results.

4 Comments | In: Communications, Multiple Markets | tags: Driving. | #

Tell me you have ever seen a company culture that is as powerful, or as powerfully communicated, as that of NetFlix.

2 Comments | In: Communications, Employee Relations | tags: Culture. | #

There is a prevailing mood that does not define a time, but does influence, communication.  The “Roaring 20′s”, the “Depression Era”, the “Me Generation”, are times that have a sensibility.  My sense is that for effective employee communication, we need to soak in the the broader messages that culture, society, government and commerce are gravitating to.  I think that in our time, this is roughly, the “Obama Effect”.

Simply put, rational is better than emotional;  inspirational is better than threatening, transparent is better than “we-know-better-than-you-do.”  Most important – simple authenticity is the defining context for group communication in our day. 

The economic conditions today might suggest “austerity”,  but the President, and others with well developed antenna for the public mood, know better.  Austerity is born of fear, of despair, and of loss.  That is not our situation.  We know that we are still a great society and a wealthy society.  Austerity is not authentic.  “Simple” means not extravagant; means reasonable, means sustainable and efficient. Simple authenticity might just say it all.

One example – the President and the First Lady have been noted for their “date nights”.  (Put aside the Air Force One issue – that is unique to their station.)  Date night, tie-less dinner, is simple and authentic.  Austerity would have them “cooking mac and cheese in the residence”, or calling in for pizza.  It would provide the same media attention, but might also feel just a bit too contrived.  Relative to a NYC restaurant, pizza might seem simple, but recall, this is a couple that if they want to, can orchestra a state dinner for just about anybody on the planet that they want.

For other examples, look at the Eygpt speech, look at the D-Day Speech and look at how health care reform are all beign communicated by the President.

There is a market for employee attention.  You are competing with other professional communicators to take up the mind share of your organization.  Getting the mood right helps you compete better.

5 Comments | In: Communications | | #