It’s not you vs your boss, your colleague, your partner, your friend, your child.
It’s not us vs the bigots, the social media, the conservatives, the progressives.
We suffer as they suffer. You feel as they feel. I act as you act.
Life is not a dichotomy and you are very rarely required to take sides.
It’s in the shades that we meet and thrive.
Company principles and values should be literal and absolute.
Saying that you care about people is a powerful statement. If you then put that in practice only when people do what you want, not so much anymore.
Saying that you foster collaboration and learning is a powerful statement. If you then do that only after everyone has achieved their own personal goals, not so much anymore.
Saying that you pursue innovation at all costs is a powerful statement. If you then keep quiet every time someone makes a mistake, not so much anymore.
Companies add fine prints to culture statements all the time. Employees figure that out in no time, and they get disengaged.
Start from how things work, from what is actually happening, from reality, and work your way up.
It’s the only way to build an effective culture.
People who come to you with a problem is rarely asking you to find the solution.
It is about talking it through with someone, letting it all out, righting thoughts that might be taking the wrong turn.
We hear a problem, we want to fix it.
And that harms the relationship.
Stay with what you have heard, sit there and listen, nudge the other in the direction they want to go – what else? and tell me more about his.
This helps.
Today, I write my blog post number 1,000.
1,000 days of writing every day. Almost three years since I have decided to give it another try.
And one thing has become more and more clear during this time. The end goal is the act of writing itself. It is not the views – for those, I am grateful. It is not the likes – by those, I am humbled. It is the sitting down in front of the screen every evening, no matter where I happen to be, no matter the kind of day I had, no matter whether I know what I will write about or not. It is the habit. It is the doing.
We need habits. And we need to go back to choosing the ones we dedicate time to.
When companies hire or appoint a person in charge of internal communication, what they often seek is somebody who understands Public Service Announcements.
This person ends up being a sounding board – or setting up a sounding board – for decisions that management is too lazy to communicate or does not know how to communicate. All-hands-on-deck meetings, intranets, committees, chats and channels are all manifestations of a role that slowly turns into a PR service for upper management: let’s give executives a way to share their views and opinions with everyone.
Communication is two-way, though.
And so, when is the last time your company’s all-hands has sparked an interesting discussion? When is the last time that a post shared on the intranet has led to the improvement of a process, to an idea for a new product? When has a conversation on a public channel been effective at changing the way you look at problems?
Communication is two-way. And it happens whether you are prepared for it or not.
So, if you are about to be appointed as the new internal communication manager, give this some thoughts. How can I start an actual conversation on an interesting topic? How can I make sure that ideas emerge and get discussed? How can I affect the culture, so that communication is no longer a role, but the way we do things around here?
The role is going to feel much more exciting right away.
You've got this 