Communication Isn't About Communication - Blair McPherson

The first item on the Executive Team agenda was communication.

The Chief Executive looked around the table.

"I've discovered our communication strategy isn't working."

There were a few raised eyebrows.

He explained. With HR's help he had started inviting small groups of employees to Friday afternoon birthday tea parties. Five or six people whose only connection was that they were celebrating a birthday that week. No speeches. No presentations. Just tea, cake and conversation.

"I wanted to know how people were feeling about working here," he said. "I didn't ask them about the mission or the values. I asked them to describe what they did. Were they proud to tell people where they worked? What did their friends think about the organisation? What made them optimistic about the future?"

Only then did he ask about the organisation's vision, values and strategy.

The answers surprised him. Very few had attended a leadership roadshow. Hardly anyone read his weekly blog. Most didn't know the vision and values statement existed. The only person who had read it recently was a new recruit who had received it in their induction pack.

"So why," he asked, "is our communication strategy such a dismal failure? And what are we going to do about it?"

Around the table came the predictable suggestions. Better briefings. More videos. A redesigned intranet. More leadership events. More opportunities for staff to hear directly from senior leaders.

Then someone asked a different question.

"What if communication isn't the problem?"

Every organisation has two organisations. The formal organisation is built on structures, strategies, policies, budgets and performance measures. It communicates through leadership roadshows, newsletters, blogs, values statements and presentations.

Alongside it sits another organisation. The emotional organisation. It is built on trust, hope, pride and organisational memory. It communicates through experience.

Every message passes through the emotional balance sheet before its meaning is decided.

When that balance sheet is healthy, people give leaders the benefit of the doubt. Trust and hope act like credit in the bank. Leaders can draw on them when difficult decisions have to be made.

When the balance sheet is overdrawn, every message is interpreted through accumulated experience.

The formal organisation says, "Trust us."

The emotional organisation asks, "Why should we?"

The formal organisation says, "This strategy will deliver."

The emotional organisation replies, "You said that last time."

The formal organisation says, "Things will be better in the future."

The emotional organisation hears, "You'll have to work harder, be more flexible and cope with fewer resources."

The formal organisation says, "Look at our values."

The emotional organisation says, "Show me."

This isn't because employees are cynical or resistant to change. The emotional organisation is simply drawing on experience. It has a long memory. It remembers the restructuring that was described as the last one. The change programme that quietly disappeared. The promises that weren't quite kept. The recognition that never came. The values that seemed to apply to some people more than others.

Communication isn't simply about transmitting information. It is about credibility.

Trying to improve communication when the emotional balance sheet is in deficit is like trying to make yourself understood by shouting louder. The volume increases. The credibility doesn't.

This is why good managers often succeed where sophisticated communication strategies struggle. They know today's conversation is never heard in isolation. It is heard alongside yesterday's experience, last year's restructuring, the promotion that never happened and the promise that wasn't kept. Organisational memory is always in the room.

The best managers understand that communication is not about finding better words. It is about creating experiences that make those words believable. Every conversation, every decision and every action either adds to or subtracts from the emotional balance sheet. Over time, that determines whether the next message is greeted with confidence or scepticism.

The formal organisation decides what will be said.

The emotional organisation decides what employees hear.

blairmcpherson.co.uk