Taking the pxxx

I've been a subscriber to the Melcrum communicators network for quite a while - I don't particupate much, but occasionally something really hits the mark and gets me thinking. 

Today was one of those days.

Someone wanted some advice with a tricky problem.  Apparently the gents bogs are disgusting and the facilities guys have done everything to promote more civilised toilet behaviors including nice polite notices.  They were at their wits end and the question was posed of how you make the point in a sensitive but impactful way.

As usual with the forum there were quite a few well considered responses and a couple I thought were very funny.

However, the response from US consultant and author Jim Schaffer got me thinking.

Jim's point was that getting sucked into this sort of issue can be of low value and distracts attention and energy from pursuing opportunities to really make a difference in organisations.  His challenege was whether something that delivered a low return on investment should be a priority.

I guess when banks are collapsing around our ears and rising food prices are bring hunger to millions of homes perhaps there are more important things to worry about than getting a bunch of oafs to pee straight.

However, the trouble for me is that many communicators can't and perhaps shouldn't fixate on the notional value that a particular activity.  Let me explain...

Firstly, a very large number of communicators work in organistions that simply don't have a strategy or indeed very much that would count as a business plan.  They have lots of 'to do' lists and an ability to react to a crisis - but a strategy?  When an organisation is run on a day to day or tactical basis what's a poor boy or girl to do?  The answer is attend to getting the day to day messages out - and if those messages include "stop acting like pigs gentlemen and show some respect for the cleaners..."  who is going to say that's wrong?  After all if the bosses don't set a strategic direction, is it the place of the internal communicator to act as a proxy strategy director?

Secondly, in my experience there are some organisations that simply will never get the idea of communications or how to value it.  And when you're buried three levels down in the office of the deputy head of legal services what should you do?  Spend your life regretting that your dull, staid and respectable company isn't Google or get on with doing the best you can to support projects and keep things ticking along?  Indeed you could argue that investing in sanitary bathrooms today could be the beginning of changing attitudes about the power of communication in the long-term.

Thirdly, I am firmly convinced that delivery is key to credibility in many organisations.  I know plenty of communicators who get taken seriously and have a voice at senior levels because they can also be trusted to take care of the tactical stuff - stuff that isn't glamourous or apparently high value.  And frankly, if you can solve with grace, tact and style the problem of boys who sprinkle  you could well be ideally placed to handle the corporate restucturing (both involve boys and willies).

Fourthly, most communicators work in small teams - often on their own.  And if they all declined to help the cleaners is with a sticky problem many would very soon find themselves replaced by someone who would find common cause with the mop pushers.

I'm sure Jim didn't mean that this stuff about toilets isn't important to someone and wasn't suggesting that the original questioner dismissed their friends from Facilities Management out of hand.

But we must get over the 'strategy' fixation that plagues part of our profession. There are too many people out there saying that unless it involves cosy conversations with the CEO then it's not worth doing.

I hope that I have understood Jim's point correctly.  If so, I'm sure he'd agree that the issue is to know where you add value and focus on that.  And if you add value by making sure that colleagues across the business can turn to you when they are desperate for communications inspiration then you're doing a pretty good job in my book.

Liam

Comments

[Marc Wright]

I liked the simple solution of putting a picture of a fly in the enamel of the men's urinals. It gives us something to aim at and dramatically decreases unwanted splashback...