practising what you preach

As an industry, PR is often criticized for not practicing what we preach. Often the response is a shrug and a comment along the lines of “The cobbler’s children often go unshod.” However, if we do not follow our own advice then, from a purely practical point of view, how do we know it works?

As I make my way through this new transition I am really trying to do change management by the book, commencing with the solicitation of feedback from the team – a process that consumed most of my first week. Easier to do with 30 people than 30,000, of course, but still not easy to manage. It’s given me a new perspective on the whole process of change communications, though, which I hope to be able to draw on.

I’ve learned five core lessons from this process – things I already knew but for which I have a new appreciation.

1. Suspend your agenda: I thought I had a pretty good idea of what areas of the business needed to be addressed, but I tried (not always entirely successfully) to use the feedback discussions to find out what other people thought rather than trying to convince them of my agenda.  In many cases their feedback validated my own perceptions but in several important areas it opened up new areas of exploration that I hadn’t considered.  That feedback has been central to my thinking as I plan the path forward.  It’s not always easy to sit back and let the other person take the lead in the conversation, but it does yield benefits and actionable insights.
2. Give people the time they need to state their opinions: We often complain that people don’t listen, but in a busy schedule it’s often too easy to fall into the trap of not listening yourself – checking your e-mail out of the corner of your eye while they talk or giving people limited time to fit into your own busy schedule.  I scheduled 45 minutes for a discussion with each member of the team and I’m conscious that many could have gone on a lot longer.  However, I found that the really interesting insights often came toward the end, when people had relaxed into the process and were feeling more comfortable about expressing themselves.
3. Listen with all your senses: I freely confess to struggling with listening skills.  I’m an inherent problem solver and I often try to cut straight to the solution without really going through the whole listening process.  I found the interviews difficult because I had to, quite literally, bite my tongue a lot of the time.  But I did notice that what people were saying, at least initially, and what their body language and tone of voice were telling me were sometimes two different things.  It’s easy to get a superficial idea of what people say they think, but to get to a deeper understanding you have to probe a little.  I don’t know that I was successful in every case, but I got a deeper appreciation of people’s issues and concerns than I would have done if I’d just accepted what they said at face value.
4. Have the courage to ask people what they think:  We talk a lot about mentoring and feedback, but it’s sometimes awkward to say to someone “Tell me how I’m doing.”  When I asked people what they thought about the direction of the business  they were very forthcoming.  When I asked what were their expectations of me as the leader they found it a significantly more difficult question to answer.  Feedback is an important guide to past and future behaviour, but as leaders we have to ask for it, not just hand it out.  It’s intimidating to look at yourself through other people’s eyes, but it is an important habit to get into.
5. Don’t think you have all the answers:  As the new leader in the office it’s easy to go in thinking “I have to have all the answers now.”  It might look like arrogance, but I tend to think of it more as an insecurity, a need to validate your position.  The wisdom of the room is invariably greater than the wisdom of the individual.  The answers to the problems that keep us awake at night may already be out there if we take the time to ask for them.

As I said, nothing that I didn’t already know at an intellectual level.  But going through this process has given me a new appreciation of the value of good PR counsel.  I’ve been through a number of leadership transitions and I don’t recall anyone ever sitting down with me and asking about what I thought about things.  I don’t know if the team valued the process, but I certainly came away not just with a deeper understanding of the task ahead but also a greater appreciation of the qualities and professionalism of the people that I am now privileged to lead.

That alone was worth a few days of my time.