by Susan Johnston | Mar 21, 2006 | Rants, Ramblings and Riddles |
Did they ever trust us?
That’s the question IABC Chair Warren Bickford asks in response to my blog post, March 20, about the Léger poll that suggests more than half the people in Canada don’t trust professional communicators.
Of the 22 professions measured, PR folk are the fourth least trusted professional group. Even lawyers fare better. Journalists, too, are trusted by less than half the population. Ouch!
The chart shows the trend, along with scores for the most and least trusted professions. Not much variation over five years. Maybe, as Warren suggests, they never did trust us.
So what’s the deal here? Should the public trust professional communicators? If so, how do we make that happen? If not, what’s the point of our work? Besides paying for groceries.
So, let’s say that, along with buying groceries, communicators want to gain the public’s trust. Can we take our own good advice – do the things we urge our clients to do?
- Be visible.
- Listen to your audience.
- Acknowledge people’s feelings.
- Answer their questions.
- Tell the truth.
- Admit when you’re wrong.
- Do what you say you will.
- Remember that actions speak louder than words.
I think we know the answer. Let’s look at a few of the steps.
Be visible. The first action is to step out and talk about what we do and why we do it. Let
the public see that “spin doctors” and “muckrakers” are dinosaurs. PR, done well, is not about hyperbole or avoiding the truth. Journalism, done well, is not about pointing out the bad things in society or glorifying conflict. We know our work is to find out what people need to know or want to know and present it as clearly and accurately as we can. Let’s make that obvious by talking about what we’re doing. Let’s also stand up for those codes of ethics our professional associations promote, and apply some pressure to practitioners who cross the line.
For example, I know of a situation where, based on the contents of a news release, a newspaper printed an account of a meeting involving locals visiting a far off land. The next day, one of the alleged (and quoted) participants called the paper to state that the event never actually took place. Enraged, the reporter wrote an article about how the event was misrepresented, in which the PR woman admitted that, perhaps, the news release wasn’t exactly accurate. It was based on what was supposed to happen and sent out to meet the newspaper’s early deadline. The reporter didn’t verify. The PR woman didn’t verify. Honest mistake? Ethical violation? Either way, they both should have been slapped! I’m guessing each one learned an important lesson.
Listen to your audience. We need to get out there and talk to real people. Not our cosy colleagues. What do they think of our professions? Where do they get their impressions of us? How do they feel about our work? What would it take to make them trust us? Is trust even possible? How will we know when we get there? These are not questions pollsters are asking – not until we pay them to ask. We need to get out of the office and talk to people – not about the content of our communication, but about the nature, context and utility of it.
Acknowledge people’s feelings. Let’s look at the feelings that underlie trust and mistrust. Some emotional intelligence theorists suggest that all feelings boil down to “mad, sad, glad, or scared.” So what’s the emotion? Do those who don’t trust us fear that they’re not getting the real story? That’s my take on it. Do I hear a good argument for angry or sad?
Answer their questions. What do people want to know about our professions? Apart from the usual whine about journalists, “Why don’t you ever write about good news?”, my guess would be, “They don’t really want to know much.” Maybe we need to let them know how we operate, so they can work with us to bring their interests and needs to the attention of people who can make a difference for them and, in the case of corporate communicators, for our employers. Maybe some of us already are doing this.
Tell the truth. Admit when you’re wrong. Do what you say you will. I’m thinking these suggestions don’t need expansion.
Remember that actions speak louder than words. We communicators need to take our own medicine. If, on our own behalf or on behalf of our profession, we actively and visibly practise the habits we urge our clients and audiences to adopt, we’ll surely gather some goodwill along the way. We might even get better at our jobs, since we’ll actually be using our “products.”
Will the public ever trust us as much as, say, firefighters? Maybe not. Maybe yes. Maybe it’s time to think big.
Coming next: Disintermediation – and CEOs who blog.
by Susan Johnston | Mar 20, 2006 | Uncategorized |
"So how was the Women’s Show?" curious friends asked me. "Well," was my cautious answer, "I’m not sure what to make of it."
Talk about life!
It was fun. No question there. Very little lights me up more than talking to people about their lives and their work. Women of all ages stopped by to pick up a fortune cookie and laugh at my bad joke: "Your fortunes improve when you work with a coach!" (Just because it’s true, doesn’t make it any less corny.)
Many who stopped by agreed to do the "Life Wheel," sharing how satisfied they are with eight major dimensions of life. The result of that conversation is a "snapshot" of their situation and, often, some insight about where they might want to do some work. "It’s not that I didn’t sense this," said one of our booth visitors, "But I didn’t really see how out of balance things are."
Mini Trends
I noticed some patterns that weren’t surprising.
Many of the people who reported that they aren’t having much fun in life also report concerns about their health. And vice versa. That mind/body connection is clearly at work.
There seemed to be a similar relationship between satisfaction with one’s financial situation and the personal growth dimension. Those who are yearning for more of one, tend also to be yearning for more of the other.
The people visiting the show on Saturday were more likely to rate their satisfaction with career as a 7 or 8 out of a possible 10. The Sunday folk tended, on average, to be around 5. Theories anyone? Perhaps people who just jump in and do things, whether it’s work or play, just have a better time.
The other interesting thing was that some of the people who visited the booth actually knew what life and business coaching is and wanted to come and talk about it. (It didn’t hurt that the business section of the Saturday newspaper featured an article on how coaching isn’t just for executives anymore. )
Theme: More of everything
As for the rest of the show, anyone looking for a pattern was left confused. Booths around us included local colleges, the police department, cosmetics of all sorts, belly dancing, armed forces recruiting, fitness clubs, chiropractors, sewing machines, handbags, aromatherapy, mutual funds, real estate – in a word, "eclectic." The only conclusion I drew is that women are interested in everything – like that’s news to anyone?
by Susan Johnston | Mar 20, 2006 | Rants, Ramblings and Riddles |
Once again, professional communicators have scored near the bottom of the heap in Canada’s “Who Do You Trust?” sweepstakes. Produced by Léger Marketing for The Canadian Press, the survey, done in February and released today, polled a representative sample of 1,500 Canadians to determine the degree to which they trust members of 22 professions.
Politicians hung on to their usual spot at the bottom of that list, with just 14% of the population trusting them. Joining them in the low trust zone are the folks in auto sales, with just 19%.
Fourth from the bottom, barely squeaking past trade unionists in their battle for the hearts and minds of Canadians, are PR practitioners. Only 40% of those polled trust them. Journalists aren’t far behind, trusted by less than half the population.
I don’t pretend to be surprised by this; however, I am saddened. It’s not because I’ve actually practised both these professions and, despite that, want you and the rest of the world to love and trust me. It’s that both these professions are making a great deal of noise about professionalism, integrity, honesty, ethics, and all that wonderful stuff – and it just doesn’t seem to be working.
Never before have so many Canadian universities and colleges been offering under- and post-graduate programs in journalism, communication and public relations. It is almost impossible to get a job in any communication-related industry without such a degree or diploma.
In addition, organizations such as International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) are enthusiastically pushing professional accreditation. (I can’t speak for the APR, but I know as a one-time testee and, now, a tester, that the ABC is not a cake-walk. It outranks MBA Finance in the, “Yikes, you have to be smart for this!” department.)
These professional associations, like the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), also have codes of ethical standards that guide their members. In most academic programs and the professional association certifications, the study of ethics is offered, if not mandatory.
So if we’re all so smart and filled with integrity, why don’t the people trust communicators?
- Is the word not getting out?
- Is the message just not believable?
- Are we so busy telling everyone else’s
story that we don’t have the energy or time to tell our own?
- Are we
failing to use our hard-won, well-honed skills and, therefore, failing at our own game?
- Is it time we did some advocacy for the communication profession?
I say, “Yes,” to all.
And I’ll plead, “Guilty,” to the sins of omission. As a professional communicator, I’ve quit jobs (in both TV and PR) over sleazy practices, yet rather than take a loud and public stand, I quietly walked away. As a member of IABC, I’ve been calling for the organization to do a better job of marketing the profession, yet I haven’t been screaming from the rafters, “Hire a communicator!” (Frankly, I haven’t even been screaming, “Hire me!”)
So, the series begins. “How do communicators earn the public trust?”
Feel free to share your ideas by posting comments.
by Susan Johnston | Mar 11, 2006 | Build your own skills |
On Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be one of an
estimated five gazillion women – and fourteen men – who’ll be at the National
Women’s Show (www.nationalwomenshow.com)
at the Ottawa Congress Centre. I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ll have a chair
when I need it.
Six of us, flying the banner of the Ottawa
Coaches, are hosting a booth located just where the Business & Career
section merges with Minding Your Body. It’s a perfect spot, because we’re all
about looking after yourself – in work and in life.
Our mission is to talk to people about
coaching – who we coach, how we coach, what to expect and what you can achieve
working with a coach. Each of us has a different specialty. There’s a
retirement coach, a parenting coach, a work/life balance coach, a leadership
coach, a communication coach (me) and a get-off-the-sofa-and-live-your-life-now
coach.
As we put the booth together today, I was
impressed by how quickly six very diverse strangers had worked so quickly and
smoothly on this project. We had, not surprisingly, taken a coach approach to
the task.
Regardless of the type of people we work
with, or the type of goals our clients have, at the heart of our work are some
fundamental steps that look something like this:
Clarify your intention
You have to know what you want or you can’t
do a thing about it. For the Women’s Show, our intention is to raise community
awareness of coaching and its benefits. We want an attractive and professional
presence with opportunities for interaction. And we want to create an
environment where people feel comfortable asking for a sample session, with the
appropriate coach, after the show is over. Getting dozens of clients to sign up
on the spot is not the intention. This is about waking up a potential market.
Examine the situation
At the Women’s Show, we’ll bump into a lot
of people who might benefit from and can afford coaching yet know little about it.
But evidence suggests they won’t be beating a path to our booth to learn about
it. The show will be noisy and crowded and people will be in a hurry to get
their free food samples, catch the decorating demos, or have their eyebrows (or
whatever) shaped. There’s no way we can do coaching at the booth. But we can
get them to come and talk with us if we give them a reason.
Gather resources
Because someone already had a huge box of
them from another event, we’re giving out fortune cookies. Did you know your
fortune improves when you work with a coach? A big Wheel Of Life chart has
escaped from some other purpose to spark in-booth discussions – and we’ve
created smaller versions people can fill out while they wait in the inevitable
line-ups. Banners, easels, tables all manifested as if by magic as we assessed
what we had and compared it with what we needed. Assuming I remember to pick up
the balloons in the morning, it’s a fine looking booth. (Only my lovely readers
will know that we didn’t hire a booth designer to make an impression.) The
beauty of this step is that, whatever the goal, if you look carefully, you’re
likely to discover you already have the resources to do it.
Take action
Moving from planning to action is the place
where both fun and fear lie. Taking action is pretty much the only way we’re
ever going to get results or have anything to celebrate. Yet fear – often fear
of what others will think of us – can stop us from taking steps that will get
us where we want to be. “To become involved is to reduce your fear,” Susan
Jeffers writes in “Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway.” So I’m involved.
Get results
Getting results follows doing something as
night follows day. It may not be the result you intended, or even the result
you want. That’s when you revisit the earlier steps, using the knowledge you
gained on this round. One of my favourite business quotes comes from Thomas
Watson, founder of IBM, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your
failure rate.”
Celebrate
Eventually, you’ll get a result you want,
which may not be the one you intended. At minimum, you’ll learn something
useful. Either way, it’s something to celebrate. Just what the six of us will be
celebrating after our trade show outing is hard to say. Stay tuned.
by Susan Johnston | Aug 29, 2005 | Build your own skills, Rants, Ramblings and Riddles |
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene V)
Greatness. What a concept. It’s not something we ponder every day. At least, I don’t. Make that didn’t. Two recent events dragged greatness into my awareness. First, I was invited to contribute to a book called, Become Your Own Great And Powerful: A Woman’s Guide To Leading Your Real, Big Life. There was that great word, right in the title, waiting to be explored, understood, and written about. Second, I began the process of coach certification. Hanging about with coaches, you seldom go for more than an hour without hearing that word. You need to “elecit your client’s greatness,” which, perhaps not surprisingly, you do by “coming from your own greatness.” Apparently it takes greatness to know greatness.
You might say greatness was thrust upon me. Clearly, I needed to understand what this concept of personal greatness is all about. What a great opportunity.
Our Conditioning
Find the word “great” in a dictionary and you’ll get many references to size. It’s derived from and Old English word meaning “thick” or “coarse,” neither of which strike me as being particularly great. Over time, like the word “magnitude” it has come to mean more than “large” and is imbued with attributes of significance and superiority.
In childhood, it was definitely not cool to entertain the idea that there might be something great about oneself. I, and maybe you, learned from peers that to be boastful or “stuck-up” was close to the worst thing in the entire universe. “She thinks she’s so great,” was definitely not a compliment. Trying to fit in and be accepted, our active little egos squashed any efforts by our greater selves to be seen in the world. For many of us, they still do.
That can leave us with a yearning to be more and better that’s at odds with a long-established habit of limiting our own reach. In trying to understand why some of us choose to play small rather than go for it all, I see a kind of modesty that doesn’t really serve us well. It may not even be genuine. True humility is not self-conscious; it’s unconscious. A colleague recently suggested that when we are consciously being humble our ego is in the driver’s seat, trying to control how we appear to others. When we’re concerned with others’ approval, who’s really steering?
Our True Selves
I’m starting to understand greatness as being directed by your true self, not some version of yourself that comes from outside you. I’m not advocating anarchy, impulsiveness or life as an outlaw. Far from it. I’m hoping to unleash that “spark of the divine” in us all. Explore what, by your inner standards, gives you a sense of real peace, real accomplishment, real purpose. It’s a way of being that looks at your world and says, “This is possible – and it brings me to life.”
Greatness is living fully, using the interests, intellect, spirit and talents you were born with in ways that inspire you. Greatness is not about saving the world, though that might happen if we all lived that way.
The first thing you have to do is regognize that you have greatness – current, potential, and possible greatness. We’re quick to point out our flaws, failings, weaknesses, and warts. But ask us about our strengths and we’re speechless. We need to rewrite the stories we tell ourselves all day long, those movies running in an endless loop in our heads.
These new stories will include the great things our true selves are and do and will continue to be and do. And I would suggest we write those stories down, though we may be their only reader. The act of writing can make the stories seem as real as they are, by getting them into the body and onto the page. Burn the stories, publish them, save them, read them – it doesn’t matter. The point is to create them, see them, believe them, and live them.
Isn’t it time to tell yourself the story of your greatness?
++++++
If you’re interested in the book project that inspired this column, follow these links to find the book, Become Your Own Great And Powerful: A Woman’s Guide To Leading Your Real, Big Life and a recording of a radio interview with our editor, Barbara Bellissimo, about writing and publishing a collaborative book.
