Stability & Change

What funny creatures we are! I say that because all of us - some more than others - are walking masses of contradictions. We desire and cling to consistency and stability. Who among us, for example, does not have favorite foods and clothes and shopping places? At the same time, is there any one of us who does not seek out change from time to time? That urge helps address our desire for greater fulfillment and a sense of esteem. Both elements are very much entrenched within us. Sometimes they coexist quite nicely while other times they are at loggerheads and result in giving us a high level of uneasiness.

This reality makes the efforts of professional communicators a real challenge. These folks, for a living, strive to appeal to various publics, including potential customers, to motivate them to take certain actions and/or adapt particular beliefs. In trying to do this, the communicators are faced with the question: which part of their targeted publics do they try to appeal to in their various messages? Do they focus on that which speaks to our desire for familiarity and the peace we feel when in our comfort zone? Or do they tap into one's desire for adventure, new perspectives and bold action?

While answers to these fundamental questions are not easy to come by, they speak to just how important is it for communicators to learn as much about their targeted audiences as possible. Yes, people often lock themselves into fixed positions. But just as often they also approach each day with an open-mind and a willingness to at least consider new perspectives and/or options. These days in the United States the debate over accepting gay marriages, specifically, and gays, in general, is a perfect example of this struggle between stability and change. How easily it is resolved will be depend a great deal on the level of communication between those with opposing points of view.     

   

Planned Informality

All of us talk almost all the time, yet few of us ever give formal speeches. There are several reasons for this: we do not have the opportunity, our jobs do not call for it, and speaking in front of a room of people is something that most seek out about as they do root canals. No doubt public speaking is a unique challenge. But talking, particularly in the form of conversation, is a different matter. We constantly connect with friends, colleagues, family members, etc. Still, while some of us may not even be comfortable with that kind of communication, generally it is far less stressful because we do it all the time and it is usually a very informal mode of interacting with others.

Thus, on the one of the interaction spectrum is informal conversation. On the other is formal speech making. Generally, people are far more relaxed on the conversation end than they are the speech end. This is because they are more relaxed and do not have to behave in a way that is different from how they are normally. People tend to view public speaking as having to conduct themselves in ways that are different and that run counter to how they really are. While I understand that, it is too bad. My theory is if people believed they could be themselves rather than something they are not, then they would find public speaking far less intimidating than they currently do.

The trick, then, is to combine the informality of conversation with the more formal requirements of public speaking. This is where "planned informality" comes into play. This concept derives from an attitude one sees in many well-trained professionals: they are warm and friendly while being cool and business-like. One often sees this in well-trained office managers or receptionists. For instance, with a smile, friendly exchange and nice manners, these men and women make office visitors feel welcomed. At the same time, they make sure no one gets to see "the boss" until he/she is ready and that the overall office itself is run efficiently and with little or no disruption. Planned informality.

Adding Meat to Bone

Communication is all about communicating. Perhaps a better, less redundant way to say that is communication refers to the act of folks articulating and sharing ideas, information, and feelings with each other. That, of course, is no small thing. As social creatures, it is vital for all of us to be able to put forth messages as a way of expressing ourselves, connecting with others, and even making a difference in the challenging world in which we live. Without communication, not only would all of us exist in a state of virtual isolation, but the odds are that whatever lives we did have would not last very long.         

One fundamental role that professional communicators play revolves around helping individuals and organizations reach out to make necessary and desired connections in order to do more than survive: thrive. In other words, they help facilitate the physical act of communication. In addition, they also can and do help provide substance to what messages people emit. All of us, I am sure, have been around folks who talk a lot but rarely, if ever, have anything worth hearing. They put forth words but seem to lack the ability or interest to contribute insight of substance. Professional communicators can help with this.

Turning comments into messages of meaning and quality is not easy, of course. It requires thought, reflection and planning. Additionally, it calls upon communicators to have a solid base of knowledge from which to draw facts and insights required to transform mere words into communiques worth remembering. As part of their work, professional communicators - certainly ones of substance - make research a regular part of the process of how they go about serving clients and facilitating all forms of communication. Their research helps them turn babble or rambling into perspective that actually  advances exchange between people. Professional communicators can and do add meat to bone.     

Connecting With Multiple Individuals

There is a built-in hurdle when it comes to communication, especially when one strives to connect with multiple publics. When attempting such a challenge, the trick is being consistent in the message that one sends out. While that is fine and in many ways fundamental to being successful in public relations, the hurdle is how can one articulate or formulate a message that addresses the numerous needs, questions and even characteristics of those comprising multiple publics? For instance, what might be one person's object of fear may be another's joke. What may be confusing to one person might be crystal clear to another.   

As all of us are told when growing up that we are like a snow flake: unique and special. Further, as adults we take pride in being our "own person;" striving to "march to the beat of our drummer," to borrow from Henry David Thoreau. With that comes developing our own perspectives and priorities. Communiques are sent our way and we receive and assess them in ways that work best for us. We view ourselves as being nonconformists and only choose to conform when it best suits our purposes and needs. The result is a public with individual members who approach each day with that overriding characteristic.

The professional communicator has the challenge of connecting with each of those individuals, yet in ways that are cost effective, timely and, of course, successful. How do they do it? One way is to recognize that despite the fact everyone is an individual, they also share a range of commonalities; similar characteristics that are and forever will be ever-present. People like to laugh, feel safe and feel good about themselves, to name a few. Such basics are "buttons" that communicators can tap into. In addition, they need to remember that has much as folks like to "do their own thing," they also strive to gain the acceptance of others. Addressing these key similarities can serve as the foundation for any outreach effort. .        
 

"We're All Travelers"

While getting to know the city of Seoul, South Korea, a bit better recently, I was taken by a message on a billboard - "We're All Travelers." It was and is one of those catch-phrases that captures all of us, no matter where we might be in the world, including in our own backyards. The fact is all of us spend our entire lives traveling. In some cases, we literally move from one location to another in search of new sights to see, adventure to seek, or new information to attain. In other instances, we "travel" with our minds in the form of exploring the Internet, reading books or other sources of information. Either way, it is all a journey; forms of travel.   

In essence, our constant traveling represents one more characteristic which we all share. We are all seekers of that which we do not know. This reality places great importance on those that compile, compose and put forth the information - all of it - that we travelers seek. In this case, I am speaking of all information, regardless of the topic. In such a global sense, it reinforces the great value of those that communicate on behalf of others. They are information providers. They provide the tools and/or aids that help us travelers travel.

The good news is that those communicators are not some sort of special elite group like, say, the Navy Seals. Just as all of us are travelers, all of us are also the communicators that make the traveling possible and, at times, fruitful. Within us is information unique to us. For instance, I now have particular memories and perspectives of Seoul that no one else has. Communicating or sharing that with another will help give others insight to consider as they develop their own views on, in this case, Seoul. We travel. We communicate. We share. These represent our enduring links. Collectively, they provide the means that allow us as individuals and as members of society to advance. It only breaks down when we fail to communicate.   

Planning is the Key

It is so easy to divide people into different categories,. People who like peanut butter and people who don't. Those who know how to jump rope and those who don't or can't. And so it goes. Even in this blog I have discussed this propensity that many of us share to categorize people. Our rationale - or at least mine - is that this helps us remember individuals more easily as well as provides help in how best to interact and/or cope with them. Having said this, however, I readily acknowledge such a practice is not always accurate or fair to those who are unknowingly lumped into various groups.

This is all to say public relations practitioners can be divided into two main categories: those who plan and those who do not. To those who plan, I give a "high five." To those who do not, my hope is your group is small just as I hope you join the other group as quickly as possible. Public relations, as a practice, is most effective when well planned and highly coordinated. Such characteristics are necessities no small things when it comes to conducting detailed research, devising strategies, and carrying out tactics. Further, these elements can and do provide clients with information they need to better assess the progress and ultimate success of their communication team or workers. In short, planning serves as a win-win for both the professionals and those they represent.

For those professional communicators who tend to be more free-wheeling in how they carry out their charges, their style is certainly understandable. Communicators, after all, need to be nimble and quick to adapt to the needs and whims of their clients. As is well known, communication - effective or not - often flies on the wings of many unpredictable variables. Consequently, those responsible for promotional efforts, helping improve images, and providing information to multiple publics need to be prepared to adjust to such things as the security of their client to outside influences that impact their messages. Despite this reality, planning provides practitioners with greater stability in a field where few things repeat themselves. 

Facing the Fear

All of us have things in our lives that make us nervous. For some, it is heights. (How come, by the way, no one is ever afraid of widths?) For others, it may involve being inside close quarters. Public speaking, of course, is an act that makes many folks weak in the knees. Without doubt, speaking in front of a room full of mostly if not all strangers and risk not sounding coherent is tough. The fact is everyone at some point struggles with it, particularly when they are first learning how to do it. Public speaking, as scholars Joseph Valenzano, Stephen Braden and Melissa Broeckelman-Post report, is a skill, not a talent.

Practice is the key to overcoming or at least downsizing the fear or nervousness that comes with public speaking. Sadly, no silver bullet exists that makes someone - any one - an effective and captivating public speaker. There are, according to Valenzano, Braden and Broeckelman-Post, several suggested strategies to help keep speech anxiety in its place. One is visual success. See yourself giving the speech from beginning to end. In doing that, visualize doing it with confidence and spot-on delivery. Let such an image be your self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, why project failure when you can project success instead?

Another suggested strategy is to not think of one's audience as a speech before many. Instead, view it as multiple simultaneous conversations or dialogues. Most of us are a lot more relaxed conversing with another person than we are speaking to a room full of folks. Therefore, approaching a public speech from the perspective as multiple one-on-one conversations might help reduce whatever nervousness one feels. While such suggestions might not work for everyone, any thing that helps enhance the act of communication is worth considering. The great thing about effective communication is that it touches all of us. 

Courage: A Vital Ingredient

It has been written and articulated by many both inside and outside the communication profession that communication is not easy. To say the least, two people making a connection and then maintaining it is not always smooth sailing. The same goes for multiple publics. Attempts by communication are filled with detours, stops and starts, wrong turns, and good old fashioned misunderstandings. It is enough to make most wonder why any of us try to communicate at all. We do, of course, because we are social creatures and connecting with others on some level represents one of our fundamental needs.

However, wanting to communicate well does not always result in communicating well. I want to be a multi-millionaire, for instance, but still have a long way to go before taking a bite out of that particular pie in the sky. Successful communication often takes commitment, perseverance, and an acknowledgement that in our world of constant interaction one is going to fall short as often as they succeed. I, for one, wish that was not the case, but wishing and achieving as tangible entities rarely swim in the same pool. Effective communication represents an ideal much in the same way as being unflinchingly loyal or unwaveringly brave do.

In a special sense, striving to be an effective communicator requires a level of courage that, while not unique, nevertheless should be recognized. Any time a person attempts a public act with the knowledge they may very well fall short and be judged by others on the success or failure of their effort, courage is part of the mix. It is not easy for any of us to put ourselves on the line in that way. None of us like failure or rejection, yet this is what we risk when connections are attempted. While such bravery may not be a par of rescuing a child out of a burning building, nevertheless it is important for us to recognize courage as a vital ingredient in the act of communication.        

Buying A Comb

Here in Songdo, South Korea, it is no surprise to be interacting with many people who speak Korean. Not all of them, however, speak English. And some of those folks do not speak my native tongue all that well. As I do not speak any Korean, whenever I attempt a conversation with someone I quickly find myself in a kind of mock game of charades. The other day in one of the local markets, for instance, I was looking for a comb to purchase. In trying to explain what I wanted to a very patient and sweet sales person, I soon found myself coming as close as I ever thought I would to impersonating Eddie "Kookie" Brynes from the 1950s television show, "77 Sunset Strip." Fortunately, it worked out. I got my comb and the sale person no doubt had a funny story to tell her family that night.

That short but memorable interaction was a reminder that not all communication is dependent upon words. Facial expressions and body language can and do play key roles. Also, when it comes to connecting with others, this incident also proved that to communicate effectively, one must be prepared to be flexible with little or no warning. I initially approached this sales person under the assumption that she spoke English. As neither one of us could speak the other's tongue, we were both forced to resort to other measures.

In addition to being flexible and patient, there was one other variable that contributed to the ultimate success of our interaction: both the sales person and I wanted to succeed. Though limited in our communication tools, the two of us shared an unspoken commitment to work together to make our encounter a successful one. That, in the end, was what enabled us to achieve our respective goals. This little episode reinforced a belief of mine that effective communication is rarely, if ever, not an attainable goal. It simply takes a willingness to succeed.