It’s never a good idea to stay in one place. Do the same things the same way all the time forever and ever. This is so despite the old adage, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ a line I was always so surprised to learn is attributed to a banker. Banking, like communications, doesn’t run on passivity.
Luckily, comms professionals embrace change. We’re early adopters – of technology, platforms and more. We’re agile. Pivoting is no problem. The key is knowing what to pivot from and towards. And when.
Of course, these shifts are not cast in stone. These, too, will change at some point.
But that’s OK.
Here are three considerations for pivots today that may offer an ‘aha’ moment of clarity or confirmation of something you’ve been thinking all along.
Expanding to owning the front foot as well as the back foot: There’s no question that comms is at the table when the company, brand or leader is on the back foot, for example when a business-critical issue has arisen or there’s a crisis to control. This is an extremely important and valued position. But there is also a huge and significant role for comms in keeping the company and leaders on the front foot. We’ve got the technology and the know-how to stay ahead of issues, negative sentiment, or potential barriers. Reputation work and strong narratives come into play here, creating the vocabulary, relationships and trust that yield opportunities, mitigate risk and pave the way for stakeholder forgiveness should a misstep occur. These takes investment, commitment and a regular seat at the table. There’s a lot more to front-footedness, but I hope you get the idea .
Pivoting from traditional scenario planning to readiness: Every speaker was fantastic at the #THRIVE meeting sponsored by the PRomise Foundation and Reputation Today in Columbo last week leaving all of us with much to think about and apply to our own work. Amit Narayan, partner at Control Risks, delivered a talk that kicked off a lively discussion when he said scenario planning was ‘dead.’ He suggested crisis preparedness needed a complete overhaul beginning with a pivot to what he called ‘trigger monitoring,’ – preparing for specific impacts (not just issues or incidents) vs. being in a ‘permacrisis’ mode or spending precious time and resources trying to predict every possible scenario. I completely agree. For me, trigger monitoring is part of ‘readiness’ — organizational, marketing, leadership and cultural, a sweet spot area of mine. Pivoting to readiness as core to business strategy (and not a situational line item), gaps and strengths are revealed and organizations have at their fingertips the confidence, the words, and the actions to handle virtually any situation, regardless of the cause.
Returning to empathy: During COVID, CEOs and others in senior management at most companies leaned into their own empathy offering a more personal approach in their communications. This shift to ‘care and connect’ was welcomed during a period of extreme uncertainty, boosting morale and productivity internally and public perception externally. Healthcare companies, the area I work in most, saw a significant improvement in public perception during this time. After the crisis phase passed, however, empathy waned with companies and leaders in most if not all industries returning to business (and communications) as usual. While, thankfully, we are not living through another COVID situation, uncertainty is very much alive and well in today’s business and geopolitical arenas. Add to that how AI is shifting the sands right under our feet. In my view (and I’m not alone here), humanity and empathy is desperately needed.
Communications is the discipline to bring the warmth, care, and empathy of companies, brands and leaders back to the fore. Just today, I recommended to a biopharmaceuticals company client an initiative to shine the light on the voices and compelling stories of their medical and development teams developing a new approach for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease. These are people who have very personal and human reasons for bringing their energy, intelligence, creativity and passion to change the way PD is experienced and treated. These are stories that should be told and heard alongside the clinical results of their studies.
Sometimes a pivot is organic. It happens without anyone even noticing a shift. Other times, the pivot is a choice followed by a set of considered, deliberate actions. What’s your next move?
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