NO MORE SKIRTING THE ISSUE

For a while now, we’ve deliberately avoided the topic … even though we’re an MWBE company.

But when piles of recent clippings talk about communications differences between men and women, when our own body of work acknowledges the gaps, and when more academes are seriously studying gender conversations, we figured it’s time.

And despite the naysaying about John Gray’s decades-old philosophy stating that Men are from Mars, Women are From Venus, there’s much proof that he’s right.

Women talk. 

Men shy away from openness (especially in stressful times). 

Rosalind Wiseman, in her Masterminds and Wingmen, interviewed dozens and hundreds of teenaged boys, with the conclusion that as boys enter manhood, they do begin to talk less.  Even if they’re as emotionally invested in relationships as girls.

That retreat mentality should be obvious to anyone who’s worked in the business world, even when there’s no reason to dive into a cave.  Straightforward prose and (some) dialogue infuse meetings and reports when males are in charge.  Many women bosses tend towards the chatty, the ‘let’s talk’ narratives, preferring to expose all aspects of a particular issue and all its possible solutions. 

No, this delineation isn’t100 percent true.  But we see it often enough to question if there needs to be some sort of segmented communications by gender as well as by demographics.  Or, perhaps, messages that are composed and directed to specific audiences, each with the same content but different presentations.

Are we on opposing planets?  Please RSVP …

THINK. THANK. THUNK.

Almost every client and colleague, no matter the size of the company or type of department, agrees on their biggest talent issue:  The lack of critical thinking among young professionals.

Statistics, of course, back them up:  When Harris Interactive last year polled employers and about-to-enter-the-workforce employees about the state of preparedness of grads, the disconnect was drastic.  Nearly 70 percent of millennials said they were ready to work, while fewer than half of employers concurred.

The next obvious question (and its add-ons):  How do you teach critical thinking – and how can you identify and measure it?

No easy answers:  Recruiters rely on take-home exercises and behavioral interviewing to assess a candidate’s capabilities.  So, too, managers might opt for a series of conversations about process and open-mindedness, two attributes so important to making good decisions.  Or simply by learning on the job, with practicums and examples pulled from everyday challenges.

Another option from our across-the-ocean counterparts:  U.K. students can select “resolution of dilemmas” and “critical reasoning” courses.

All well and good.  Yet it still leaves many of us needing to train staff on thoughtful and reasoned considerations, the art of good decision making. 

What’s your solution?  Hand out books?  Walk through workshops?  Assign case histories?  Or announce, as did U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, that “you know it when you see it.”

A NEW FOUR-LETTER WORD

They’re everywhere.

Kindles fingered during el trips.  Dog-eared library books read on buses.  Even standing commuters, somehow, managing to peruse a page or two in before business starts.

More than occasionally, books sneak into the workplace. 

There’s a tongue-in-cheek app that disguises tomes in PowerPoint presentations on desktops, ready to close when a manager appears. 

More seriously, a number of companies today boast book clubs, voluntary associations of employees who read and review and discuss selected volumes. 

There’s even an Ohio-based Books@Work nonprofit that deliberately matches nearby college and university professors with companies that want to start, not a book club, but an employee development and idea-sharing habit.

For those of us who devour the word, digital and printed, somehow those ideas aren’t enough.  Sure, we all have to put in eight to 12 hours a day getting stuff done.  And time to squeeze in a book chapter can’t always  fit into the schedule.  At night and on weekends, there’s so much to do that reading – whether literature or business – loses.

But why not dedicate a business hour or two each week to reading?  Not just magazines and news, but literature and non-fiction that will make a difference.  Asking employees to skim and discuss a tome can begin to create the kinds of environments we thrive in, develop the types of colleagues who are curious and communicate well with others, build teams that step up to those big hairy goals we all strive for. 

It’s not too much to ask of a book, is it?

WE LIKE. THEY LIKE. YOU LIKE.

Maybe Facebook got it right.

Social media ‘likes,’ it turns out, are a pretty good predictor of who gets hired, who gets help at work, who’s trusted.  According to University of Massachusetts’ researchers, no matter how strong the business case, if auditors presented well-organized arguments, managers complied.  On networks like LinkedIn, recruiters seek individuals who seem to have a high level of trust – and authenticity.

What does this have to do with us communicators and designers and marketers?  Likeability boils down to a few personal attributes that, not surprisingly, are common to compelling communications:  Empathy, warmth, eye contact, and confidence.   Let’s see how they’re translated:

• Empathy.  Think listening.  Does your brand or your company have an ear to the ground – and actively project what others are asking and needing?
• Warmth.  It’s all about fake – and its opposite, credibility.  Genuine care and concern are easy to spot; the opposite, just as simple to pinpoint.  Take a good look at how you’re saying and doing; it might be a true indicator of external perception.
• Eye contact.  Personal appeals work, if they’re sincere.  So even if your medium is print, it’s not hard to infuse the pictures with a sense of individuality and ‘I’m talking straight to you.’
• Confidence.  Selling in an idea or initiative relies on the power of your belief, the faith you show in presentations and conversations and other media.  Infuse it with curiosity and a true concern about your audience – and bingo!  A sale.

Experts say likability can be taught, unlike charisma.  How do you (and your communications) measure up?

THE NERVE TO SAY NO

It must be the onset of a new year.  Or, simply, musings before making resolutions. 

Whatever. 

We’re ruminating on what makes us stellar communicators, designers, marketers, branding gurus.  All prompted by a recent AdAge interview with Sir John Hegarty (yes, the founder of agency Bartle, Bogle, Hegarty) who said, right in front of us, in print:  “I think what our industry has lost is courage.”

Immediately enter the Cowardly Lion, in our favorite Wizard of Oz.  He’s eminently qualified, by his species, to be courageous.  Yet somehow he seems to have lost the nerve, until, of course, he’s awarded the Medal of Courage from the Wizard.

Courageousness isn’t specified in most job qualifications we see today.  But, at times, our mettles are tested.  How willing are we to confront, to right what we consider as wrong?  Regardless of our position in the company.  And regardless of the outcomes. 

What are our triggers for being brave … illegal practices, long-standing workplace institutions, authenticity, or just plain hard decisions?    Are we being seduced by dollars and complacency?  Do we understand what it takes to face real risk, and the sacrifices we might have to make?

Yeah, you could say courage is situational.   Heavily reliant on the who, what, when, where, and why.    A client who demands a certain campaign be killed (when you know it’s still got legs).  A leader who avoids telling it straight.  Groups spending money on initiatives that won’t net enough benefits.  Metrics that, somehow, don’t add up.

And so on.  Do any of us have the nerve to say no?