If you want kindness, be kinder.
If you want gratefulness, be grateful.
If you want support, give support.
If you want transparency and openness, be transparent and open.
If you want candour, be candid.
If you want honesty, be honest.
If you want trust, give trust.
Our environment is a reflection of how we behave, and we have the immense power to influence it.
Every day.
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.
Can you argue against your beliefs?
Can you make the effort to see the world from an opposite perspective, to scrutinize what you think is true, to approach the same problem from radically different angles?
And come back on the other side with a changed mindset?
If so, nothing will stop you.
You've got this 