Who doesn’t like a good statistic? In the CEC Newsletter a few weeks ago, we kicked off our new quick poll initiative with three questions on communications activities around reputation management.

When the results came back, we got a picture of how communications priorities have changed in the last 5 years. With the proliferation of social media, it’s no surprise that messaging through new channels came out as the activity most communicators are doing more of. Perhaps less predictably, corporate advertising and branding efforts have seen the biggest drop off.

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Top 3 activities communicators are doing more of:

1. Messaging through new channels
2. Preempting negative coverage
3. Increasing transparency

Top 3 activities communicators are doing less of:

1. Corporate advertising/branding
2. Thought leadership
3. CSR reporting and messaging (tied for third)
   Traditional media relations (tied for third)
   Leader speaking engagements (tied for third)

Bank of Goodwill — Worth Pursuing?

As part of our ongoing discussion about corporate reputation, we found that the “bank of goodwill” is still highly valued— by 100% of respondents — for softening the impact of a potential crisis and increasing the likelihood of being considered. To learn more about how leading companies are using their reputation to achieve business outcomes, check out the replay of CEC’s webinar on strategic reputation management that took place on Jan. 24.

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Can’t get enough data? Neither can we! Expect to see another round of polling very soon in the CEC Newsletter and on Twitter. Is there a specific topic or question you think we should ask about? Don’t hesitate to e-mail me at jwohlmuth@executiveboard.com.

CEC Related Blogs

• Reputation Measurement – Is It Worth It??
• Focus on Business Goals, Not Just Comms Goals

CEC Related Resources

• Reputation and Brand Topic Center
• Protect Your Reputation
• Managing Reputation in Online Conversations
• Influencing stakeholders insight page

Three Trends and One Winner

1. Ubiquitous and Unique Hash Tags
Advertisers made sure that the entire experience—from pre-game “leaks” to the in-game 30 second spot to online chatter—united around one theme. The use of clever hash tags was no exception. Audi carried its Vampire theme over to its hashtag #solongvampires. GE tried to get people talking about #whatworks after showcasing how its people and factories create great, useful stuff, like the turbines that create beer.

While the hash tags were fun to comment on in real time, did they have an impact on the conversation around the brand? Somewhat. Cute or complicated hash tags may have just made it a bit too tricky for Tweeters to make use of it. For example,  mentions of Audi were 50% higher than that of its hash tag. So what have we learned here? Clever hash tags might be fun to brainstorm, but for the “Big Game” where buzz around the brand is key, it might make more sense to just stick with your brand or company name.

2. Employees as the Voice of the Company
Employees—and factories—took center stage in this year’s crop of Super Bowl ads. Eager to demonstrate a commitment to America’s people and products, companies like GE, Best Buy, Turbo Tax, and even NBC Sports let their people share why they love the work that they do and how it contributes to improving the American way of life. Here at CEC we say “Bravo!” Why not tap into the passion of your employees (that passion must exist, of course, before you can harness it) and share an authentic message?

3. Fellow Consumers and Cool Experiences Tap into our Emotion
An emotional connection with the company—be it in the form of shared values or some other feeling of ownership or investment—is the number one driver of a stakeholder actively supporting your company by sharing that positive sentiment with their friends (CEC Influencing Stakeholders, 2010).

Companies tapped into this emotional connection to drive conversation around their brand in two ways. First, Doritos, as it did last year, handed over the commercial-creation reigns to its consumers. The wildly funny Doritos “Slingshot Baby” by chip eater Kevin Wilson and the number-one ranked “Man’s Best Friend” by Jonathan Friedman showcased the fantasies of Doritos lovers. Second, other companies, notably Cadillac and Chevrolet showcased their car operating under “extreme circumstances.” Cadillac featured its ATS driving circles around competitors on Germany’s “Green Hell” while Chevy let boys be boys and take the Chevy Sonic bungee jumping, sky diving, and making a music video with OK Go.

Taken together, each of these trends bear witness to the maturation of Marketers and Advertisers continued navigation of   the labyrinth of online vs. TV, social vs. promotional, and entertaining vs. informational. Given the complexity and the cost, what do you think the future of Super Bowl advertising looks like?

And the winner is…

Honda CRV

Why it works:

• Stakeholder-centric: This ad didn’t so much as target a demographic as it did a psychographic: anyone  who’s feeling a bit antsy about taking the next “big leap” in life and worried that they won’t get to do all those fun things before saddled with life’s obligations.
• Integrated with social…in a way that people want: So lots of ads (if not all?) were designed to get viewers participating in online conversations about the company or product, especially via Facebook. The site for the CRV wins, in my opinion, because it invites visitors to share something we love sharing anyway: our dreams. “Before I make the next leap in life…” makes it easy for people to share and fun for those visiting the site to see what their peers are dreaming of. Unsurprisingly, trips to Europe, running a marathon, and learning a new language top the list.
• And yes, Company-centric: Most of us remember the commercials, but not the names of the companies behind them. In both the Ferris Bueller-inspired (mimicked exactly?) “Matthew’s Day Off” spot and others, I thought Honda did a good job of showcasing the car that is designed to help each of us fulfill our leap lists.

So what’s your take? What other trends did you notice? Which ads were HORRIBLE? Which ones made you laugh?

Other Favorites:

• Cars.com “Neck” had me singing “Ooh, baby I want that car” all evening. Can I download it on iTunes?
• M&M’s “Just my Shell”: it was fun and funny, and I like the song. A good, happy moment in some otherwise “heavy” ads.

Worst Ads:

• Coca Cola’s Polar Bear spots seemed wildly out of touch with this year’s mild winter in North America.
• Bud Light Platinum. Looking just like the Bud Light you buy in an aluminum bottle at a Nats game, Bud Light Platinum missed a huge chance to differentiate itself. Wouldn’t you like to know it has 2% more alcohol than Bud Light? Or that it was a blue glass bottle on the screen?

CEC Related Resources

• Boost Your Audience Understanding
• US Stakeholders: A look behind behaviors
• Global Stakeholders: A look behind behaviors

CEC Related Blogs

• 2011: Lesson from Super Bowl XLV Ads: Americanize Your Message
• 2010: Boost Your Advertising Impact: Lessons from the Super Bowl
• Don’t Just Allow Office Pools, Encourage Them!
• I LOVE Beer! Unfortunately, So Do Teenagers.

Red Dawn

It’s another example of a new reality for Hollywood where screens abroad now account for nearly 70% (and growing) of box office revenue, according to the L.A. Times, and studios cater all elements of production to international audiences particularly in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China whose growth has helped studios survive a massive drop in DVD sales.  So, how’s Hollywood changing and can Communicators learn from their efforts?

Casting:  As noted by both the L.A. Times and Wall Street Journal, studios increasingly are casting international stars to broaden the global box office appeal.  For example, in Sony’s The Green Hornet Taiwanese star Jay Chou, of limited English or Hollywood experience, was chosen in part to broaden the U.S. centric appeal of co-star Seth Rogen.  Producers cast Byung-hun Lee, a major Korean movie star, and South African actor, Arnold Vosloo for key roles in G.I. Joe, a film executives worried would be too American for international audiences.  In the end, the movie grossed more than 50% of its $302 million abroad with South Korea accounting for a $16 million alone.

Versioning:  You may have trouble finding some recent blockbusters in foreign countries.  Captain American: First Avenger was retitled as simply First Avenger and Battle: Los Angeles became World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles.  But studios continue to explore more substantive versioning as well.  Producers of The Other Guys sought to re-shoot a key scene involving Derek Jeter with an international soccer star such as Cristiano Ronaldo, and while the player wasn’t available the WSJ quoted the film’s director Adam McKay teasing the future, saying: “It’s a whole new way of looking at movies.  Rather than trying to veer your audience toward the film, just tweak your film to the audience. Next, I’d like to start tweaking movies by region, one version for the Midwest, another for the East Coast, and the South.”

Settings:  Hollywood blockbusters that most rely on foreign receipts are also featuring emerging markets as backdrops for the action.  Fast Five was set in Brazil and did 2x the business of the previous iteration of the series in that country.  Mission Impossible 4 was set partially in Mumbai, Dubai, and Russia, and even Cars 2 featured a host of international locations.  Fast Five producer Neal Moritz admitted to the Times that Brazil “not only was right for the movie but also for the international marketplace.”  Studios are even opting for international locations for their world premieres.  Michael Bay demonstrated his global savviness quoting the BRIC acronym like a Davos presentation when discussing the Moscow premier of Transformers with the Hollywood Reporter.  

Genre:  The growth of the international marketplace is changing the very nature of what Hollywood produces.  For example, a surefire hit in the U.S, Anchorman 2 was shelved because it’s brand of American humor didn’t translate overseas as well as pictures from more global comedy stars such as Sasha Baron Cohen of Bruno and Borat fame.  Indeed, many expect the overall number of comedies produced to decline in favor of action movies that required less cultural awareness to understand. 

Distribution Channel:   Many rural communities in emerging markets are difficult for studios to reach; however, companies like IMAX are opening up new opportunities with portable domes equipped with IMAX screens that broaden the reach of movies beyond economic centers like Shanghai and Rio.  

Production Sourcing:  Despite the growing importance of the international marketplace, Hollywood’s share of box office receipts in many international locations is actually declining against improving local competition.  To combat this trend, studios are investing big dollars to produce or co-produce locally developed content.  Hollywood-Bollywood studio partnerships have led the way in recent years with Indian hits like Saawariya backed by Columbia Tristar and even Tamil content produced by Fox-owned joint ventures.  Indian studios such as Reliance MediaWorks are supporting this trend with the development of top flight studios so Mumbai scenes in Mission Impossible no longer have to be shot in Vancouver.

So, how does a Communicator follow the Hollywood playbook?  To sum: Make multiple locally resonant versions of your content featuring stakeholders from different regions, with exciting but easy to follow themes, through creative distribution channels that reach all audiences.   Or partner with local content producers than can help you reach those audiences but add to the complexity of message development. 

Sound easy?  Well, here’s how the CEC can help…

Managing Communications Across Global and Virtual Teams

An Overview of Cultural Values that Shape Interpersonal Communication

Brazil Country Profile

India Country Profile

China Country Profile

But, as a communications professional, I will attempt to fulfill the mission as assigned by the stern taskmistress who runs the show here at the Insider…starting with:

#3: The Governor of Texas Can’t Count to 3
Gaffe: During a November GOP debate in Washington, DC, Rick Perry (the ever-so-momentarily leading contender to challenge President Obama) stated in no uncertain terms that when HE becomes president, his first order of business will be to eradicate three federal agencies: Commerce, Education, and…uhhhhhhh…the, uhhhh….

Lesson: (eesh, where to start?) If you’re gonna be specific, you’d better be…well…specific. If you’re gonna make inflammatory, controversial statements, you’d better be able to back them up. If you’re gonna prove that you’re smart enough to be the next President of the United States, you’d better be able to count past two.

#2: Companies Using Serious News Events as a “Hook” For Selling Stuff
Gaffe 2A: Shortly after British singer Amy Winehouse passed away, the Microsoft UK PR account suggested that purchasing her music through their Zune service would be a good way to remember the fallen star.

Gaffe 2B: In the midst of the Arab Spring uprisings and the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek, some marketing/PR genius at Kenneth Cole tweeted the following: “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online.”

Lesson: That brand of snappy, snarky wise-assery that sounds oh-so-edgy at your agency’s late-night brainstorming session just comes across as crass, commercial and crude to the rest of us.

And…this year’s winner…

#1: If Your Name Is Anthony WEINER, For Goodness Sake…
Gaffe:  What was worse — taking a picture of…(let’s just go with) yourself…and using Twitter to send it to a young female admirer – or…lying about it with the now-classic “Somebody musta hacked my account!”?

Lesson A: In the history of mankind, no one’s dog ever actually ate their homework. And, therefore, no one’s ever gonna believe that YOU didn’t send that tweet. So, don’t even think about steering toward that exit ramp, in an attempt to leave the freeway of your own stupidity.

Lesson B: If any part of your name sounds like a word that vaguely describes any part of the human anatomy, you’ve just gotta know you’re playing with fire. (That’s why so many grade school science teachers are so deliberate in pronouncing the name of the seventh planet from the Sun as “YUR-a-niss.”)

Lesson C: Don’t ever send anything to anyone that you wouldn’t want…your grandmother…a priest…your CEO…CNN…to see.

FINAL CONCLUSION: Hey, we’re all communicators here. Every day we all write and say stuff that others will hear, analyze and criticize. Sometimes the things that come out of our mouths (or keyboards) (or smartphones) aren’t as well thought-out as they oughta be. So…as 2012 dawns, and the whiteboard of the past year is erased clean…then, between us, we should all remind ourselves…let’s be careful out there.

HOW ABOUT YOU?  What memorable communication gaffes would you add to the list?

CEC Related Resources:

• Twitter Strategy Builder
• Stakeholder Engagement Topic Center
• How to Communicate About Challenging Issues

CEC Related Blogs:

• How Not to Waste Your Time on Twitter
• The One Question You Need to Ask Your CEO
• Reputation Management: 3 Tips to Cope with New Threats

So a year ago we were asking ourselves the same question: what are the top things on a communicators’ wish list. It’s been a year full of hard work but for many communicators, the wish list in 2010 looks pretty similar to the one today—check it out! As technology has gotten smarter, and our stakeholders’ expectations have changed, there are a few things I would add:

1)      Internal Collaboration Vendors: Technology has moved us beyond discussion forums or internal “Facebook”-like sites and enabled our intranets to act as business collaboration tools with social activity streams that put relevant content and people in front of our employees.

• Check out this best practice from MITRE and explore vendors with collaboration capabilities

2)      Message Planning Support: Now, the dream gift for most communicators and marketers would be access to NeuroFocus—access to neurological research which maps the emotional connections and associations that stakeholders have with certain products, messages, or experience to scientifically plan messages and campaigns. Teams like Frito-Lay have seen the monetary returns on this type of information.

For those communicators who are unable to strap an EEG to your stakeholders’ heads, the CEC has developed a close second—a new Writing for Impact Workshop. This half day session digs into tactics for deep stakeholder understanding to help you reflect stakeholders’ interest, values, and language as well as how to prompt action through the way we write or package messages. Really, it’s a gift for the whole team.

• Learn more of schedule a session for your team here.

3)      SEO Optimization Tools: Get the messages you spend so much time crafting actually seen by the readers we care about online. Fine tune text for the web by using online tools which improve optimization.

• Click here to review the top 50 search engine optimization companies

4)      Vocal translator: Overcome writers block and quickly capture your thoughts to get more done faster with a vocal translator that turns spoken words into simple emails or documents.

• Check out Dragon Naturally Speaking speech recognition software

5)      Pocket Camera: Save thousands of dollars on high-end video footage with a simple, portable cameras which can provide engaging, cutting-room-floor content to share with

• Create your own unique design on a flip camera

6)      Coffee: Keep the energy up for what will be a busy and exciting 2012!

• Recommendations from my hometown of San Francisco (known for our epic coffee house rivalries): Blue Bottle Coffee and Four Barrel Coffee

Wishing you a happy holidays from the CEC!

As 2011 draws to a close we look back more than 200 blogs published by CEC Insider during the calendar year.  The posts featured below were our top 5, having been downloaded by more CEC Insider readers than any others.  They address five communications topics that, while all different, are sure to remain of interest to communicators in the new year.  

3 Skills to Improve Your Job Security

• Job security does not exist. One of the most effective ways to ensure your future employment is to develop new skills continuously.   Since launching the CEC’s overhauled competency framework in the spring, nearly 1,000 communications have already taken the Skill Maturity Assessment to indentify and address the skill gaps of themselves and their team. In this blog, we examine the three weakest skills of most communicators.

               Additional Resource: CEC’s Communications Skill Maturity Assessment and Diagnostic

  Spot the Symptoms of Change Fatigue

• Don’t wait for your annual employee engagement survey to address change fatigue in your organization.  After all, with 82% of employees experiencing at least one major change in the past 6 months, odds are that the negative effects of a high-change environment are being felt throughout your employee ranks.  See what we communicators can do spot the symptoms and protect your business’ bottom line. 

              Additional Resource: CEC’s study on Building a Change-Ready Organization

 Coaching Leaders: 10 Tips for Effective Presentations

• CEOs may be experts at setting strategy and managing a leading organization, but unfortunately not all of them can walk up to a podium with confidence and truly engage their employees, investors, or stakeholder audience.  That’s where Communications can shine.  These 10 presentation tips are sure to effectively prepare your senior leaders for their next speaking engagement.

              Additional Resource: Communications Leadership Coaching Overview

 5 Questions That Will Change the Content of Your Next Message

• Stop assuming that your stakeholder audience knows what you know and start giving more consideration to their vantage point.  Consider these five questions when crafting your next message and you’ll find that the content reflects

              Additional Resource: Tips for Improving the Content of Your Messages

 The 7 Freshest Ways to Engage Your Audience

• What happens when someone zones out of a conversation? Their nods of agreement go on auto-pilot. Their eyes glaze over. Their mind wanders. Why? Because they’re not engaged in the discussion. They’re being talked to, not with.  Here are 7 ways to ensure audience engagement as you look to 2012.

              Additional Resource: Stakeholder Engagement Topic Center

Today’s the day that CEC has been counting down to all year… No, it’s not the renewal date of your CEC membership – it’s our Christmas party (at least, it is in our European HQ, where I’m based). I must say, I’m looking forward to it, and most of the CEC crew assures me that they are as well. However, in speaking to several of my friends from other companies, I’ve been struck by their negativity, cynicism, and trepidation at the prospect of navigating an event that one of them described to me as “the most socially awkward of the year”.

Of course, for CEC’s audience of loquacious communicators, “social awkwardness” isn’t an issue – we’re good socially! But remember – not everyone else is. What happens at one of these parties when you’re stuck between the weird lady from the IT help desk who’s pushed past you at the coffee machine all year, the social recluse  from Finance who prefers spreadsheets to his own family, and the spotty graduate whose name no one can remember, but is irritatingly keen to impress?

This, of course, leaves you with two options. One is to politely excuse yourself and head for the bathroom, the bar, or – if things have got really bad – home. The other is to use your skills as a communicator to enable some social interaction between your colleagues.

Building Social Connections

And funnily enough, this is something that CEC can really help with. One of the things we often get asked is how communicators can encourage peer sharing among employees. As companies become more complex, organizational barriers increasingly prevent employees from connecting, sharing and learning with each other. And, interestingly, the same principles that will help a couple of socially inept guys from IT to open up at a Christmas party will also apply to creating an organization in which peers open up and share their expertise with each other.

1. Base Conversation in People’s Personal Interests

The problem: One of the most trying aspects of a work function is that a lot of people just end up talking about work! Funnily enough, this isn’t what helps build connections.

The Solution: Search for people’s personal interests. Try asking Sue, the lady from the coffee machine with the sharp elbows, a personal question:

“Sue, didn’t you go on holiday to Tanzania last year? Tell us about it…”

Sue will be so much more likely to open up and chat than if you ask her how her week at work was – CEC members, check how Sabre Holdings got more than 69% of their workforce actively participating on their internal networking site by humanizing virtual interactions and basing connections in staff’s personal interests.

2. Tap Social Motivators for Sharing

The Problem: So you’re all standing around – Sue’s chewed your ear off about as much as you can bear about Tanzania, and the talk is falling into another lull. You notice that Horatio, the spreadsheet fan from finance, hasn’t had much opportunity to share during the conversation.

The solution: People always want to look cool or feel smart. Tee people up to discuss things they’re proud of and watch them roll! Ask Horatio:

“Horatio, I’m thinking of running the London Marathon next year. I heard you ran it recently, and got a great time. Do you have any tips?”

Gently massage his ego, and, sucking in his gut to show all the weight he lost in training, he’s good to go for another five minutes. Mitre do something similar – they filter connections so that staff are only pinged with requests for peer sharing if they’re amongst the most knowledgeable in the whole company on a specific topic. So, if their staff get asked for help, it’s not  burdensome – it’s a compliment to their knowledge of a topic, and an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise.

3. Create a Safe Space

The problem: How many times have you seen awkward conversation between senior staff and their direct reports? No one’s comfortable – the team members don’t open up fully, fearful of saying the wrong thing and getting a black mark against their name, and the senior staffer looks awkwardly as if they’d rather be anywhere but there.

The solution: Lose the hierarchy. If you’re a part of a stunted conversation across different levels of seniority, why not break the ice by getting the senior staffer to open up – thus setting the tone for others to chip in.

“Boss, did you know that Clive here shares your passion for stamp collecting / tiddlywinks / ultimate frisbee?”

Watch your boss and Clive the timid graduate hit it off, forgetting the hierarchical divide to discuss their shared interest. Leading communicators understand that hierarchy stifles peer connectivity, and ensure that social interactions occur on a level playing field. Check CEC’s Principles for Enabling Peer Sharing and Learning, and think about how best to leverage existing employee interactions for peer sharing.

Related CEC Resources

-          Principles for Peer Sharing and Learning

-          Principles to Drive Participation (Sabre, Sprint, Aviva, TD Bank)

-          Peer Learning Platform (The MITRE Corporation)

Going mute, however, isn’t the healthiest way to enjoy the upcoming holiday. Practice these three communications skills from the 16 skills of a modern communicator to get the most out of the words that you do say.

Dialogue Enablement: I enable dialogue and facilitate peer-to-peer interactions in my communication strategy where appropriate. I can spot—and help others spot—opportunities for creating a narrative around a given message.

On Thanksgiving, family members travel from near and far to convene in one place for a decadent meal. Shortly after the initial hugs and requisite statements that, “You look so good,” each person turns his attention back to their device of choice. Your brother flicks his finger on the screen of an iPad to dictate the trajectory of AngryBirds. Your mom asks Siri on her iPhone, “How do I make cranberry sauce without cranberries?” Maybe you all just have less to say now that you can monitor each other’s movements on Facebook?

Don’t let this scene happen to your family! Someone’s going to have to facilitate conversation, and that person can be you. To get the family to drop their device and start to communicate with one another, I recommend that you take a topic of shared interest—let’s say your family’s last vacation together to the beach—and follow these simple strategies:

1. Ask open-ended questions. For example, “What was your favorite part of our trip to Ocean City this summer?”
2. Make sharing safe. Show genuine interest in everyone’s perspective. Avoid a critical or dismissive posture. Don’t say, “Dad, really? You liked those oily boardwalk French Fries? That’s disgusting.” Instead try, “That’s interesting, Dad. Can’t say I loved the fries, but I did have a delicious crab cake one night.”
3. Forge connections. Point out links or contrasts between family member opinions. Aim to cultivate a “network effect” of communication among the family rather than a series of direct exchanges with you. For example, note “Mom, it’s interesting that you and <brother> both commented on the large crowds on the beach. Where would you want to go next year to avoid the crowds?”

If this approach sounds far-fetched for the dinner table, give it a shot back in the office with the help of CEC’s Dialogue Self-Service Tools.

Negotiation: I take time to understand business partners’ views and find “win-win” solutions. I stand strong when faced with pressure to perform non value added activities.

There’s less of a need to facilitate conversation at the dinner table. Each person is focused on consuming the 4,000+ calories Americans are granted on such a day.

As the best dishes get gobbled up, the need to practice negotiation kicks in. “Can you pass me the mashed potatoes?” you might ask your brother. “I was going to have more myself, actually,” he responds. “There’s only a scoop left, not enough for the both of us. Sorry.” And so begins your crash course in negotiation. Your options:

“Have you tried the sweet potatoes yet? They are sweet and delicious, almost like a dessert.”

Your Goal: Get to know what else your brother is considering for leverage.

“I see you’ve already had a whole bowl of potatoes. Why do you want more? Are they that good this year?”

Your Goal: Understand what it is the your brother really wants (e.g., He wants to  deny you because he holds a deep grudge; to  show his wife that he really liked her potatoes even though they taste chalky.)

“OK, I understand. I really want to have a bite of mashed potatoes today since it is Thanksgiving and all. If you give me the last scoop, I’ll open up my 1970 Bordeaux that I’ve been saving for a special occasion.”

Your Goal: Determine how important the potatoes are to your brother given that he is also a wine lover.

The best communicators don’t back down. They are direct and forceful, but never rude.

Oral Presentation: I listen with empathy and seek to understand the intent and subtleties of others’ communication. I deliver compelling verbal communication—even on contentious topics – with confidence and sensitivity.

In many families, it’s impossible to get a word in edgewise. To get your story told this year, I recommend that you take a cue from leaders in oral presentation:

• Actively listen to your family. What stories have been “hot” all afternoon? Which stories are people sick of talking about? Adjust your story to account for what’s already been said.
• Keep your story concise. Only very old relatives get a pass on this. You do not. Allow your facial expressions, tone, and gestures to build your story, not your lung capacity.
• Adapt to your audience. The story that you can get away telling after the bottles of wine have been opened might be different than the one you can share during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Be aware of your family’s mood and share accordingly. Before you open your mouth, ask yourself, could what I’m about to say be misinterpreted?

If you can master these skills among your family, I promise you can use them to improve your effectiveness as a professional communicator. Good luck!

CEC Related Resources:

• Responsibilities and Competencies of Key Communications Roles
• The Modern Communicator’s Skill Set
• How to Guide Your Career in Communications

CEC Related Blog Posts:

• The Communicators’ Guide to Professional Development: Part I
• Public Speaking Pet Peeves
• 3 Ways to Be More Assertive with Clients

But (for reasons which still elude me), we once had it professionally tuned. Now, I’d seen pianos being tuned before. It’s done electronically with a device that analyzes each note and indicates whether it’s flat or sharp. But the guy who tuned our piano had no device — cause he was totally blind.

Think about it. A blind piano tuner (watch the video). Born without sight, this guy’s hearing was so super-sensitive, he could immediately detect the slightest imperfection in each note, and adjust it back to pitch-perfect just by listening.

To him, an out-of-tune note is like a physical discomfort, and he’s the doctor who relieves patients of their pain.

In some ways, that’s what we communicators do. Only not with musical notes, but rather, with words. When we hear something that’s not right — we just know. It gets under our skin, and makes us uncomfortable. In some cases, it triggers our gag reflex and makes us wanna lose our lunch. And we’ve gotta fix it.

We came across a posting on the Harvard Business Review website recently where a noted wordsmith ranted on about speakers and presenters who use the phrase, “Does that make sense?” as a way to faux-interact with their audience. He also invoked Strunk and White’s axiom “Always use definite, specific concrete language” in railing against the overuse of qualifiers like “pretty much,” “actually,” and “basically.”

I have a few hurl-inducers (and I bet you do, too!):

• The complete and utter dependency on tired, overused hack phrases. When I hear: “at the end of the day,” “getting my (whatever) on,”  and the syrup-of-ipecac-like “thinking outside the box” it makes me feel like I’m on the Tilt-A-Whirl right after slamming three funnel cakes. (FYI: The satirical newspaper The Onion burns these cliches the way diesel engines consume sweet Texas crude.)
• Over-acronyzation. Every industry and every company has ‘em. I come from the airline business, and I could go on all day about PAWOBs and AOG and FOD.  But if I did, before I got to my point you’d already be DOA. Which means I’d be SOL.
• Improper pronunciation of the word “the.” Such a simple word (the most common in the English language) and yet, so frequently mispronounced. There’s a huge difference between “thuh” and “thee.”  When the next word starts with a vowel-sound you’ve gotta say “thee” instead of “thuh.” Learn it. Know it. Live it. I recently listened to a woman (who I know to be really smart) who got “thuh” and “thee” wrong about 50 times.  She said, “We need to appeal to thuh end user.”  And, “When you put the shoe (said correctly) on thuh other foot (said incorrectly).” She then said she’d take questions, “…at thuh end of the presentation.” Here’s my question: “Where’s thuh barf-bag?”

Words matter. They send signals (conscious and subconscious, emotional AND physical) that have a huge bearing on your company’s ability to succeed. They are our mileau, our weapons, our tools. Guard them with your life.

HOW ABOUT YOU?  What words or phrases get under YOUR skin?

1:53 PM

As I leave the elevator bay and turn the corner to my hallway, my stomach sinks and I feel a surge of panic come over me — I see my colleagues rushing for the emergency exit.  I want to know what’s going on, but I don’t have time to think it through.  I jump in line and ride the wave of bodies down the stairwell, corkscrewing 17 floors to the street.

As we pour on to the sidewalk I can see that everyone has their cell phones out, contacting friends and checking websites to figure out what just happened.  “My twitter feed says that it was an earthquake, 5.8 magnitude,” someone says.  “Apparently it spanned from the Carolinas to New York.”  My phone buzzes with text messages from family wondering if I’m okay.  Thankfully, at least from what I can gather, everyone and everything is fine.

2:17 PM – I’m standing in a nearby park with my colleagues when I receive an e-mail from our Communications team.

“CEB DC Staff,

 A 5.8 magnitude earthquake was reported in Mineral, VA.  The Arlington county fire department has asked that all staff remain outside of Waterview for the moment.

 We will email additional information as soon as it becomes available.”

I can’t help but laugh at the timing of the incident —  I am currently working on a crisis communications project for CEC and one of the aspects of the research is Communications response during the initial moments of an incident.  Since I am actually experiencing a real life situation, I take out my phone and jot down the questions that I, as an employee, want to know.  Here’s what I captured, in chronological order:

• What do I need to do to make sure I’m safe?
• Are others safe?
• What happened?
• What caused it to happen?
• What are the chances of the situation continuing/escalating?
• What is being done to remedy the situation?

As you can see, in those intial, tense moments I wanted to know the facts — mainly related to safety and security — and I wanted to know them quickly.  After I knew that I was safe, I wanted to make sure that my family, friends, and colleagues were safe.  Next, my focus turned to finding out what happened and what was being done to ensure that we’d be safe if and when we re-entered the office.

2:54 PM– Another e-mail from our Comms team.

“CEB DC Staff,

Building engineers have completed an inspection of the building and have given the all-clear. Please safely make your way back inside.

The IT team has confirmed that access to member websites was not disrupted during the earthquake and that all IT systems are functional and working as expected.  The US Geological Survey has also advised that the affected area should be prepared for aftershocks, particularly during the next 8 – 12 hours.  Please remain vigilant and exercise caution by evacuating the building immediately should you feel an aftershock.”

Overall, I’d say that CEB did an excellent job of providing appropriate information to employees in a timely fashion.  The Comms team quickly addressed my initially safety concerns.  Later, once they had additional facts, the team provided information on the steps that the building engineers had taken to remedy the situation as well as shared guidance for future events. Thankfully the incident only amounted to a few moments of excitement and a real life fire “drill.”  Let’s hope for no aftershocks!

CEC Related Resources:

• Crisis Management: Our Latest Observations
• Building a Crisis Communication System
• Crisis Communication Tools
• Avoiding Crises: How to Build a Preventative Safety Culture
• Communicating through a Product Crisis
  

CEC Related Blogs:

• What’s Worse than a Crisis?
• Discussions Spotlight: Crisis Alert Systems
• 4 Lessons on How to Manage a Crisis (and it’s not how NewsCorp did it)