TIP #1 | Start the conversation
The only way to meet a challenge is to dig in and start communicating about it.
Tip #1
I've spent my career in Public Relations with a specialty in difficult subjects. I coach people to talk about hard things with their staff, the news media, their board of directors, their donors, etc.
The great thing is that the coaching works for everyone who needs to have a Tough Talk - whether it's at work or at home. That’s why I'm going to start sharing a few training tips with the goal of helping us all communicate more successfully during challenging times.
Speaking of challenging times, I think most of us would admit that our world seems fractured. One of the reasons many of us point to is the amount and quality of our communication. There’s a lot coming at us from all directions and we don't know who to believe anymore.
For me, that’s the best reason to get to work on this now. We need clear, purposeful, thoughtful communicators. If I can help you do more of that, then I’m all in.
Check this space where I plan to share some of the tried and true methods I've used and recommended through the years.
I'm starting with an obvious one, but it's a good one. Sometimes, my job involves convincing one of our leaders that we need to say something. The story isn’t going to tell itself. The challenge isn’t going to solve itself, so we really need to say something. Honestly, that really is the hard part.
Decide to start the conversation and then decide what you want to say.
In the early days with my current employer, one of my favorite writers at our big daily newspaper had an idea for an interesting behind-the-scenes story. It was a story that needed to be told, but leadership wasn’t ready so they said no. When I asked them to reconsider, the answer I received was, “we don’t owe them anything.”
Whoa. I think we always owe people a thoughtful explanation or even a peek behind the curtain once in awhile. The only way to do that well is to decide to start the conversation.
Click here for a link to Tip #2 - what problem do you need to solve? You’re having a Tough Talk to solve a problem, so be sure you’re clear on what it is and create messages to address it.