The New Balancing Act of Communication

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Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the

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podcast for PR pros, marketers and communicators who

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work for themselves. People like me, Michelle Kane with Voice Matters,

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and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hey,

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I'm doing well, doing well. I'm glad to see longer days

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and the sun is shining. It does kind of perk you up after what has felt like,

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Yes, well, spring has been interesting. So wherever you

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are, dear listener, we hope that you are not having some

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of the extreme spring weather with tornadoes and

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bad storms and hope that you're safe and sound and enjoying a

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Yes, absolutely. Because today we're

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going to talk about, we're going to enter what's been

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a shaky zone these days. You can't open your eyes without

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being aware of the Israeli-Gaza conflict

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and what's happening on our shores in the United States

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with a spate of protests across the country. And

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we thought today we would tackle the angle of

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how do you address this as, you

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know, how do your clients address this? Should they need to? and

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also helping to guide them through navigating this within their

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workplaces. Just really from a purely business

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perspective, where does the protest end? And

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the, hey, this is work time. Come on now, give us your

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eight hours and then do your thing. And to say

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it's a complex issue is minor, right?

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This is thousands of years. you

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know, in the making. There's no easy solution to the conflict at

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hand. Absolutely. No one likes to see major death or destruction. Nobody

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does. Well, I'm sure there's that little percentage out

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there that starts it. But it's just really

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been an interesting road and just seeing different entities having

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to navigate these waters. And maybe some

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of you out there, it's coming across your desks as

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Yeah, I am sure that all professional communicators have

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been watching what's unfolding on college campuses and

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sort of analyzing the actions that they're taking

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and how they might have handled this crisis a

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little bit differently, or in some cases where it's been managed

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very well. And I think what came up for me as

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questions are that we are in an era where

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this is not the only conflict, and this is not the only thing that divides

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us. And people have very strong opinions. And some

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of the ways that we used to manage those things

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or the way that companies used to talk about it or not talk about

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it, because let's not forget, there was a time that companies really were

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not involved at all in social and cultural issues

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for the most part. There were big things that sometimes there

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would be statements. But now, It's

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very different. We live in very different times. And so do we

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need to reexamine our policies around

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how we say things, what we allow to be said in organizations, how

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we communicate? It's, you know, it's an interesting thing to

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really take a step back and really reflect and look at what's working

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Right, right. Because it's, it's not going away. That's for

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sure. And I think everyone is reluctant almost

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to enter into the arena, so to speak, because,

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you know, certainly corporations don't want to make a misstep, because

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at the end of the day, they're beholden to a bottom line. And, you

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know, even though it's a humanitarian crisis

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all around, I think, like you say, it's not really something that

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they would wade into simply because it's It's

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not under their purview. It's not under their control for the

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most part. I mean, there may be some out there,

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corporate entities that, you know, shout their alliances from

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the rooftops. There may be. But we're talking about those that

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are, hey, hey, just trying to go about my day here. Just

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trying to sell french fries, you know, it's just like we're just going to

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stick to what we do and do it well and

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understanding that sometimes, you know, disruption may

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be necessary. But, you know, if you're just, you know, Joe company going

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along minding your business and this is

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happening in your workplace, how could we help guide

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them through this process, right? And how can we help

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them as their communication professionals find

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Yeah, it's a difficult position to be in

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because people no longer see

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nuances. And so it seems that people have

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a very difficult time understanding that. If an organization says,

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we don't have a position on this, but we respect all

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of our organization, people see that as either for or

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against whatever side they fall on. And so that

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doesn't seem to be a great option because people don't understand that you can

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care about an issue. So for example, you can

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be an American citizen and be pro-American and love

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your country, but disagree with policies. People feel

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like if you have any sign of disagreement, then

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that means you're against, period. And we've

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seen that bubble up in circumstances. And so for companies,

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and we as communicators, I think it does require very gentle

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and a very reflective touch. I saw something where

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an organization was putting on a webinar,

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and they used the three wise monkeys, which is

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the Buddhism symbols. And they used it in

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the context because it worked in that context. And then they

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pulled the graphic. because they felt like the

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monkeys would be offensive to other groups of people, to people

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of color. And I understand, of course, I

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understand that as an African-American in this country.

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However, I also understand that that symbol

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is something completely different. And if in the right context.

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So again, we tend these days to miss the context. So as

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communicators, how do we ensure that

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we tighten up the brands that we serve,

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the organizations that we serve, so that they are

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able to communicate and to really articulate that

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context so that people hear that. Because people really do

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want to jump to, for, or against, and they don't care about the

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context. You're either with me, or you're my arch

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Yeah, yeah, we have lost, we have lost a

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lot of the concept of the benefit of the doubt, of,

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you know, the first step perhaps being trying

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to understand where the company or

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organization is coming from, and then realizing,

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oh, okay, they didn't choose that because of

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anything nefarious. They just meant what they meant by it,

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and that's okay. And there's a whole other conversation we

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could have about the co-opting of symbolism. And,

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you know, not everyone's, it's like, it's like keeping up with, with

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the kids and their slang, you know, not everyone keeps

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up with, oh, oh, that's being used by X for

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Z. Oh, oh, oh, okay, well, we can't use that then. Just

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really, you know, it's funny, sometimes in

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my more uptight moments, I might scold myself, you know, don't keep up with

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pop culture, it's stupid. But we do have to keep up with pop culture, so we know all

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the things. But getting back to this point, yeah, just really being able

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to guide them. And it's not like you're going to preemptively say,

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in the fine print, P.S., we chose this image because blah, blah, blah, we

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did not mean. No, we're not saying that because that's just creating a whole other,

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and it makes you look foolish, I think. So it's just

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making choices that ring true with what you're trying to

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communicate without veering too far into

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the bland dystopia of

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not saying anything, about nothing meaning anything.

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I, I agree because I think it's interesting. I

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was thinking about how companies used to be. We, we

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didn't really acknowledge like all of the holidays or

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all of the theme months and, and now there's so

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many and there's so much diversity. You mentioned one thing,

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you're leaving out something else. For example, may is national

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deaf history month, I believe. And it's not widely celebrated.

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Well, all these years we've been ignoring, you know, the deaf and hard of hearing.

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by not acknowledging their month. So when we

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are advising companies, I think one of the first steps is that

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we really have to make sure that we are providing guidance on

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constant communication in advance of a crisis. We

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as public relations professionals, we know this, this is

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our wheelhouse. So this is nothing different. We know that you

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actually are contributing to that bank of

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trust every single day. And so we need to consistently make

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sure, we need to make sure that our organizations are consistently communicating

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the culture, the values, the mission. I believe

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that most companies want to have a culture of respect for

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the human beings that work for them. It's really important to

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not only articulate that, but to live that. Because if

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people are clear on who you are as a company, when

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you remind of policy, it doesn't

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come across as you being against them. And

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then I think that in the past, we would advise companies to stay

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out of certain conversations if it wasn't integral

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to their publics. However,

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these people that work for you, this is the world that we live in.

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I would say that there are ways to invite these discussions, you know, you

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can host roundtable events like, Hey, we know that this is on the

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minds of a lot of people, we're going to host a roundtable event, have,

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you know, a committee staff that have a professional moderator

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or psychologist there, so that people have an opportunity

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to air their feelings about it in a safe environment where

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things can be contained, and where you

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can help to drive consensus and mutual respect.

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Because it is OK for us to disagree. It's even OK for us

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to have very passionate discussions. It's

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not OK to take the stand of hatred. And so

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in that way, we're tending to the mental health of

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our employees who clearly live

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in a world where so many things are happening. We haven't even touched

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on the horrors around the world that are happening because probably

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somebody in your organization is affected by something that's happening somewhere.

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That's just reality. So I think we

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have to fall back on what we do and

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the principles in which we operate under and

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our own code of ethics and take

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those steps. And we have to make sure that we're helping

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companies to navigate in that way and to be meticulous

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Yeah, I agree. And it really falls back to something you

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stress so many times on this podcast, that we really need

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to help our companies live out of their mission, vision and values, right?

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And if you're doing that well, and if you're doing that consistently, that helps

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create that whole benefit of the doubt. I mean, there's still going to be

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people who may be unfamiliar with you from the outside and, you

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know, just go after you anyway. But, that definitely

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helps build a most solid foundation. And

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certainly then your employees know who you are

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and what you stand for. And that

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can go a long way in preventing any

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Yeah, these are tricky times. And I'm

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sure for all communicators, we also are

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living through the horror of the events that are, you

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know, happening in our own country and around the world.

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But from a pure professional standpoint, it

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is truly an important and exciting time to be

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in this profession. And I've always said this, because

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it's truly what I believe. I believe that public

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relations professionals are in such an important space.

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And we actually have the opportunity to

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change the conversations and to return sanity back

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to person-to-person communication. We, if anyone

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can do it, it's us. just by doing our job and

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by using the skills that we've been gifted with, and the way that

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we show up in the world. So I love it when we

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speak up and we allow our voices to be heard, and we share the

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best practices and things that we're doing that are working well. And

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when we're out there inflecting optimism and reason

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and sanity into conversations and leading by example. And

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so I want to encourage, you know, our audience members to

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continue doing that, because It is desperately needed

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Yeah, that is so true. Both, you

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know, just as the way we carry ourselves throughout

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the days and also, you know, I'm sure some of you out there and

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I know I've had it happen where even though you are the communications professional,

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sometimes you're not the first voice that is sought to

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advise re-communications. Assert yourself and

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send the email, have the conversation of, hey, we need to be ready

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for this, we need to be thinking about this, and here's why, and

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send some points along. At least then you'll have felt that, okay, I've done

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my due diligence, I can't make people act

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in a certain way, but at least I have said my

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piece, so to speak, and made sure that I have provided the professional

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counsel that's needed in this scenario. Well, we hope

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you've enjoyed this episode. Not one that we were really looking

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forward to. We thought, oh, this is so tricky and such a dicey

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conversation. But just from the communications aspect,

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we needed to talk about it. So, you know, we'd love

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to hear your feedback, your experiences. How is this unfolding where

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you're working? So hit us up at soloprpro.com. And

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please do share this around. Sign up for the newsletter at soloprpro.com. Do

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we have any other announcements from that end of the world,

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We do not. Here's my announcement. Karen Swim is very, very

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Truth to that. It is. Tired days for both of

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us. And I'm sure you're nodding to that too, if you're

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listening to this, but we'll get through it day by day. And until