For What It's Worth http://melissatizon.posterous.com Occasional musings from a health-care communicator posterous.com Sat, 12 Jan 2013 18:00:00 -0800 What Corporate Communicators Can Learn from the Writers at Pixar http://melissatizon.posterous.com/what-corporate-communicators-can-learn-from-t-12838 http://melissatizon.posterous.com/what-corporate-communicators-can-learn-from-t-12838

They say meaning is the new money.  Today’s employees are just as interested in working for a company they can believe in as they are in bringing home a paycheck.

That’s why, as corporate communicators, one of our main responsibilities is to help our workforce connect to a larger vision. Think about the janitor at NASA who, in sweeping floors, believes he’s doing his part to put a man on the moon.

At the end of the day, it comes down to telling the company’s story in a way that inspires and motivates. It comes down to storytelling.

As you prepare to write that next speech or memo for your chief executive, watch this Ted Talk, “Clues to a Great Story,” by Pixar’s Andrew Stanton.

“We all want affirmation that our lives have meaning. And nothing has a greater affirmation than when we connect through stories,” Stanton says.

Here’s how we can apply Stanton’s tips to corporate writing.

Know your punch line. While we’re not doing comedy, every piece of communication needs to have a purpose, a call to action or as they say in corporate jargon, a “key take away.” Be clear on what that is. Make a case for it. Create the context. And always tie it back to the mission and vision of the organization.

In Pixar screenwriting speak, “it’s knowing everything you say, from your first sentence to your last, is leading to a singular goal and ideally confirming some truth that deepens our understanding as human beings,” says Stanton.

Make me care.   With emails, instant messages and texts bombarding workers every day, corporate writers have to break through the clutter and get people interested. It starts with an engaging opening line or lead. If you’re writing a monthly message from the CEO, for instance, a compelling lead is like a promise to readers that it’s worth their time. It motivates them to continue reading.

“A well-told promise is like a pebble being pulled back in a sling shot that propels you through the story to the end,” says Stanton.

Invoke wonder. In other words, inspire. Help employees see the bigger picture. Highlight strategies, projects and teams that are examples of how the company is innovating or making a difference. Find those stories and tell them. 

Use what you know. Connecting with your audience is the secret to effective communication. And that starts with how you, as the writer, personally feel about the topic you're communicating about. When you sit down to write, ask yourself: What is it about this subject that’s interesting to me? How does it make me feel? When you’re in tune with your personal feelings about the topic, you can craft the communication in a way that’s more likely to connect with your audience.

Certainly corporate writing will never be the equivalent of a blockbuster screenplay.

But it doesn’t have to be dry and boring. And most of all, it shouldn’t be spin. If it’s genuine and done well, it can create a sense of meaning for employees who work hard and give of themselves every day. And in my mind, helping them understand how their work connects to something larger is a worthwhile endeavor.

Agree? Disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

 

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Fri, 04 Jan 2013 01:03:00 -0800 What Corporate Communicators Can Learn from the Fiscal Cliff Debate http://melissatizon.posterous.com/what-corporate-communicators-can-learn-from-t http://melissatizon.posterous.com/what-corporate-communicators-can-learn-from-t

While I’m not sure there were any clear winners in the recent fiscal cliff debate, I give the most points for message discipline to Team Obama.

Whatever your politics, I think any professional communicator would agree that -- at least on this issue -- the White House demonstrated the classic fundamentals of message strategy:

1.     Be relevant
2.     Appeal to reason
3.     Keep it simple
4.     Be consistent

They boiled down an otherwise complex tax plan to two simple ideas:

  • No tax hikes for the middle class
  • The wealthiest two percent of Americans would be asked to pay more

The message was relatable and reasonable for many middle class Americans. Case in point: Look how many people jumped on the band wagon of the White House’s social media #My2K Twitter campaign in which middle class Americans were asked what they would do with a $2,000 tax savings.

And in terms of consistency, the president hasn’t wavered from this position since he first hit the campaign trail in 2008.  

Breaking Through the Clutter Requires Discipline

With all the noise that competes for the public’s attention on any given day, it takes tremendous discipline to break through the clutter and deliver messages that are heard let alone resonate. By my scorecard, the Obama Administration did that more effectively than their Republican counterparts.

Those two simple messages weren’t knock out punches by any means. But the precision and consistency left their opponents wobbly.

As communicators, pushing the C-suite to distill an issue down to its simplest form is some times the hardest task and keeping everyone on message even harder.

That’s why seeing message discipline in action, like we did from the White House in recent weeks, can be a helpful lesson for communicators in the trenches.   

Obama Stumbles on Message As Often As He Succeeds

And by the way, Obama doesn’t win every round when it comes to message discipline. Look at the second debate of the presidential election this fall when he was anything but “on message” or the complete lack of message during the health-care reform debates in the summer 2010.

Professional communicators can learn from the president’s messaging missteps just as much as we can from his successes. 

Of course, the fiscal cliff debate isn't over yet. We'll see how he does in the next round over the debt ceiling. 

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