IABC Be Heard Weblog

I have read several articles and discussion boards lately offering advice for college seniors about to embark on their first professional communications job. It struck me that a lot of what’s being said could apply to seasoned communicators as well. I offer a few here.

Join and serve. No, not the army. Join IABC, but don’t just write your check and bide your time, become an active member. The best way to meet people is to join a committee and work on a project or event together. No doubt you can see the value of this when you’re just starting out, but networking like this can also help senior communicators. It’s a great way for sole practitioners and potential clients to connect. And for those who have a corporate job, it never hurts to keep in touch just in case your job becomes a victim of the economy.

Never stop learning. IABC members have access to numerous resources–publications, conferences, webinars, blogs, online discussion groups–from the international level to the local chapter. When you graduate college, it’s easy to think you’re done with learning, but it never stops. Sometimes I think senior communicators forget this, too (yes, a senior moment). It’s important to stay current on the latest technology. You don’t have to master it, but be willing to embrace it.

Read and read some more. Even though some newspapers are going out of business, there’s no shortage of material on the Web–especially blogs. In fact, several of our Houston chapter members have their own blogs. Here are a few. Let me know if you have a blog and would like to be listed on our chapter Web site. It’s one more linking opportunity!

Torma Take by Tracy Torma

The Portal by Elaine Krause

BlahBlahBlah by Beth Miller, ABC

Sandra Says by Sandra Fernandez

Salvo at Large by Suzanne Salvo

Think Foresight by Pam McConathy

Ed Schipul

IABC Cafe byIABC board members and staff

And check out the blogs of our Bronze Quill Awards keynote speaker, David Henderson. He’ll also be guest blogging in this spot in a couple of weeks. Happy Reading!

Barbara Gibson, ABC

Think you speak English? I always did. Granted, at times it was with a slight Oklahoma twang.  But having spent my entire life speaking the language, I felt pretty confident about my fluency. Then I moved to the UK, and found that my version of English is a foreign language, and that words are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to communicating across cultures.

Now that I’ve been in London for several years, I can spot an American long before I hear the accent.  Riding the Tube (the subway system), the Americans are the ones starting conversations with everyone around them, telling their whole life stories at the drop of a hat. The Brits, on the other hand, are avoiding eye contact, reading newspapers, and pretending to be invisible.  It’s just not done. One doesn’t talk to strangers.

Well, there are exceptions, of course.  A brief commiseration about the weather is acceptable, but certainly not an extended conversation.  The real problem comes when the friendly American initiates a conversation, because the Brit’s cultural rules also require politeness, regardless of the discomfort.  The American walks away from the conversation thinking they’ve got a new best friend. The Brit is just relieved it’s over, and needs a cup of tea.

After six years here, I understand how they feel.  I’ve experienced a gradual cultural shift, and in some ways I feel more British than American.  But in the early days, the differences in our cultures confused me, and created barriers to effective communication.  My accent, my personal style, everything about me, made me an outsider.  If I ever wanted to find work here, I needed to learn and understand the differences, to think like my audiences.

Fortunately, I had a ready-made learning ground in IABC.  A long-time member in the U.S., I immediately got in touch with the local IABC chapter, and volunteered to serve in any capacity they needed. Within weeks of arriving, I was serving on the chapter board, gaining valuable experience, making contacts.  I quickly learned one of the most important lessons of cross-cultural communication: listen first, ask questions, don’t assume that “the way we do it back home” is right.

Funnily enough, it comes back to the title of this blog, and IABC’s tag line, “Be Heard.”  If you want to communicate effectively, to be heard, you have to be willing to truly hear and understand those with whom you’re trying to communicate.  You have to be open to hearing things you don’t want to hear, to actually seek it out.  One-way communication isn’t actually communication, it’s arrogance.  Whether you’re communicating with folks in your own home town or half way around the world, it helps to listen more than speak.

Barb will expand on this topic at our luncheon on Thursday, March 26 at the House of Blues. Register now.

Thanks to Pennebaker fifthring and A Brink & Co. for sponsoring the luncheon.

It had to be one of those mild spring days where you’d rather be outside than couped up inside a building. As the IABC Houston board members arrived at the University of Houston campus last week, I couldn’t help but remember those days on campus when spring fever would get the best of me and I’d either be sitting under a tree or in the bleachers at a Cougar baseball game–anywhere but class!

Board members paid a visit to the UH School of Communication, recently renamed in honor of Jack J. Valenti, one of our most famous and dedicated alumni. He’s best known for his role as the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, which he held for 38 years. Thanks to Dr. Beth Olson, director of the Valenti School of Communication, and Kim Howard, director of development for arranging the tour and pleasant lunch. Thanks to the following board members for attending: Tracy Torma, Helen Fischer, ABC, Joi Lecznar, Steve Parker (UH alum), Merrisa Turner (photographer for the day), Nancy Trowbridge, Laura Wilson, Mike Emery, our faculty liaison with the UH Chapter, and David Gonzalez, UH Chapter president.

I asked fellow board members to take a tour of the facility with an eye towards how IABC Houston could support its programs and students. What we found was cramped classrooms and office space. They had once been adequate, shiny and new when the facility opened in 1980 when I began my senior year. The television production studio back then was impressive. Today, it’s sad, reminiscent of a small town television station that keeps things running with chicken wire and duct tape.

One bright spot of the tour was the Communication Technology Center outfitted with Apple computers and multimedia equipment. Of course, it too could use more room and updated equipment, especially since the UH CTC was recently selected as an Apple Authorized Training Center. To learn more about Mr. Valenti and the Valenti School of Communication visit the Web site.

Within a year of renaming the school in Mr. Valenti’s honor, $3 million has been raised for new facilities and student support. Groundbreaking is targeted to start by the end of this year to begin work on a beautiful building that will house new production studios, technology labs and more classrooms. The look will match the talent and energy that come from the 1,600 students in the college.

Board members Helen Fischer, ABC, (center), Tracy Torma (right) and me (seated), along with Kim Howard, director of development for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and Mike Emery, our faculty liaison with UH student chapter, pose in front of the drawings for the Valenti School of Communication. Groundbreaking is anticipated by the end of this year.

So where does IABC Houston fit in? We have already started by supporting an active IABC UH Chapter. The students will have an opportunity to meet with IABC International Chair Barbara Gibson, ABC, separate from her presentation at our monthly luncheon on March 26. Our Bronze Quill keynote speaker, David Henderson, former CBS newsman, author and social media strategist, is also looking forward to meeting with students separate from his gala appearance on April 30. These are great opportunities that IABC can offer.

Our board also plans to sponsor a table at the school’s annual scholarship luncheon on April 13. Proceeds from the event benefit UH communication students through scholarship support. Let me know through this post or email me at theresa@torma.com if you’d like more information on attending this special event. As for future support, the board is exploring scholarship support of its own either through annual operations scholarships or through an endowment. And wouldn’t it be great if IABC Houston could sponsor a lecture series to attract high-caliber speakers to not only inspire the students but our professional members as well?!?!?

It’s an exciting time to be a UH School of Communication alum. Just think how great it will be for future students to be graduates of the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication!

Smoking is politically correct when you’re at a barbecue of course! Not the puff puff kind but that tantalizing cloud of smoke that wafts from the grill and not only permeates your nostrils, but your clothes, hair and skin. Such was the case at our monthly luncheon last Thursday. Rockin’ Ronnie Shewchuk, ABC, presented his Employee Communications Cookout at the Armadillo Palace. The food was great. Check out the menu–grilled asparagus, quesadillas with smoked gouda, Monterrey Jack, Granny Smith apples and fresh rosemary, salmon, lamb, brisket and grilled pears.

And the information was abundant and timely. A few of the nuggets I recall:

Establish a set of communications values. Just as your company has a written set of values that drive its mission, you should have guidelines that you follow that help you remain true to good communications.

According to Towers Perrin, only 21% of employees are fully engaged at their companies. That means there a lot of employees out there just going through the motions to get their paychecks and not really being an advocate or ambassador for their employers.

The Values Shift, a book by Charles Izzo and Pam Withers, details six expectations that employees have: 1. work/life balance; 2. work as a noble cause; 3. personal growth and development; 4. partnership in a collapsed heirarchy; 5. community at work; and 6. trust.

As communicators, we can do the following to embrace these shifting values. Tell meaningful stories. Recognize employee accomplishments. Put a human face on your organization. Don’t wait until it’s perfect before you talk about it. Show, don’t tell.

Web 2.0 tools such as intranets, blogs, wikis, podcasts and social networks are slowly being adopted by companies. A McKinsey study showed that about 1/3 of the companies surveyed are using blogs, RSS, wikis, podcasts and social networks. Only 1/4 of employees are using Web 2.0 tools, but at companies that are satisfied with them, more than half of all employees are using them.

Only 67 of Fortune 500 companies have blogs.

Corporations are using social media for:

Internal use: managing knowledge, fostering collaboration, training, product development, internal recruiting.

Interfacing with customers: improving customer service, acquiring new customers, getting customer participation in product development, letting customers interact.

Interfacing with partners/suppliers: achieving better integration, tapping network of experts, lowering purchasing costs, getting supplier participation.

Social media in the workplace can encourage dialogue, increase collaboration and information sharing, improve productivity, enhance training, create communities and strengthen relationships, reward leadership, bring issues to the front and provide useful feedback, and preserve institutional memory.

So how can we jump on the bandwidth? Ron suggests:

Nail down a social media policy.

Take baby steps and learn by doing. Remember how we all had to learn the new world wide web frontier?

Start with your business goals and look for natural fits such as using the tools for recruitment, retention, engagement and change management.

Consider allowing employee access to external social networks.

Don’t lose sight of the tried and true like face to face communication and print.

Rethink your role.

For more information on employee communications or some great tips on barbecuing, contact Ron at rshewchuk@longviewcomms.ca.