Grayling Blog

Let us keep on learning how to communicate

Posted on 1.02.2012 by Carmen Martos

In the past few years we have observed that the traditional journalistic model has evolved towards a new status, basically due to the growing influence, first of online press, and later of social networks. And changes continue to happen at a speed that makes even professionals with many years of experience in communication, sometimes have serious difficulties when approaching certain issues within a new scenario.

Without entering into the debate of where the media are going – frankly, I wish I knew -, we cannot obviate the fact that there are less and less purely journalistic spaces where a company or an institution can be benchmarked and achieve market visibility. Any minutes in radio or television, or the prospect of being included in a press release, especially on printed press, should be valued like something very precious for anyone with something to communicate, and made the most of as such. This is only feasible if you have something to say and, above all, if you know how to say it. Otherwise, the result can be disastrous.

Not all senior executives necessarily have a natural ability to communicate in the most suitable way, and there are multiple factors such as shyness, ignorance of certain protocols, inexperience in talking in public, etc. that can prevent a very competent person in crucial fields of performance from giving a speech that is up to standard with his/her training. But communication executives have an obligation to help them handle this, by using all the available tools. Experience has taught us that when the person in charge of a company is able to structure his/her exposition correctly, knows the appropriate approach and conveys confidence when delivering it, he/she has a high probability of guaranteeing market credibility. His/hers, and that of the company in question, of course.

From my position as professional in “the world of communication” I witness, with alarm, how the budget cutbacks in companies and institutions frequently fall, in the first place, on such essential issues for accomplishing this credibility as training courses for their spokesmen.

Responding before a crisis is not the same as informing of an award. The way of addressing the several media at a press conference differs enormously from participating in a radio debate. Being intercepted in a corridor by a television camera has different codes and communication needs than sitting for a long time chatting with a journalist. Communicating to the media, any type of media, is not the same as communicating something to the employees, shareholders, or the Board… and in each case, knowing the rules of the game, the needs of the person at the other end and the best ways to guarantee success when it comes to say what we want to say and how to say it, is imperative. And this can be learned. It can also be taught. Let us bear this in mind, because the immediacy of the information today makes issues such as transparency, credibility, agility and veracity more necessary than ever.