Actions Over Words
One of the key organizing principles of the contemporary practice of communications is that you can’t think of your audiences as siloed. You don’t have internal and external stakeholders, you have an ecosystem consisting of diverse entities who exist in a shared environment. They may have different needs, but they are all in the same conversation. An unhealthy relationship with one will probably impact the others.
An excellent example of this story came from Verizon during the pandemic. (Verizon won top honors for top employer responses in Forbes). Let’s not forget what it felt like at that time…it was chaos and anxiety was high. You can probably double that at Verizon, which was responsible for critical infrastructure.
Like many companies, Verizon knew they needed their CEO out front of the effort. They produced regular live webcasts featuring the CEO, providing the best information the company had in an unstable situation.
Verizon did some other things that set them apart from most other companies.
First, the webcasts were organized jointly by communications and HR. That’s clearly a best practice in today’s communications environment…you need both (or all) perspectives in order to execute this communication while also ensuring it aligns with overall employee engagement goals and the company’s business strategy. You just have to have a process that doesn’t bog down. I’m not sure if HR included communications or communications included HR, but this is the way it needs to go.
Second, and way more importantly, is that these “internal” meetings were livestreamed on the web, where they were available to employees (yes), but also shareholders, vendors, family members, the media and even customers. Everyone in the Verizon ecosystem was able to hear what the company’s plans were—in real-time, the same message to all.
This accomplished so much.
First, we always tell clients that if you have nothing to hide, act like it. Clearly, Verizon was doing that.
It was way more than that, though. It was more like “if we are really all in this together, act like it.” With actions—not words—Verizon sent that message. If they got this far, you can expect that they topped the sundae by providing a human-level, appropriately-vulnerable discussion of the issues facing the company.
Everyone benefits here. We’ve all heard the phrase “never waste a good crisis” so much we could barf. Here, we see Verizon doing more than surviving a crisis—they are strengthening relationships and showing they can be trusted in tough times. Those bonds will still be there when the virus abates.
We can all hear the objections. The biggest one would be “letting the competition know what we are up to.” Certainly, there are times when you might not want the whole world watching. But, your close-in stakeholders? Don’t you want them to know where you are headed and their role? And don’t you think the competition has heard or figured out this stuff already? (Definitely don’t livestream your R&D meeting, OK?)
One of the things I think about 2020 is that it was a terrible year and involved a tremendous amount of loss for many people. We did learn some things, too. We are capable of more than what we give ourselves credit for. Let’s remember what we learned in 2020. We still have to tackle 2021.
And what if…what if…that sign behind him wasn’t an empty corporate wall-sign, like a boat poster from an airline magazine?
