“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. “

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Image courtesy therainbowfish

Just earlier this month, President Obama signed an Executive Order on Federal Sustainability which challenges agencies to lead by example in energy and environmental performance. The agencies now have 90 days to set their 2020 goals for greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Since the Federal Government is the largest consumer of energy in the country, this seems like a pretty good place to start. Although this is a mandate for the agencies, the White House is also looking to engage Federal employees by initiating the GreenGov Challenge, a website where they can share their ideas, and vote on others for how the Government can become greener.

This is all part of the President’s “lead by example” initiative by not just issuing orders for the Federal agencies, but also including the people who make up the agencies, and tapping into the vast resource of their knowledge. The top ideas will go to the Steering Committee on Federal Sustainability, which includes representatives from all agencies. And this seems to be catching on. For example, the Federal Agencies in the Western United States – Leading by Example site is a voluntary, collaborative group which has formed on its own to further green Government and Federal Sustainability. The Army has even created a site, Sustainapedia which includes the GreenGov Challenge. Its main focus is on “how Web 2.0 can be used to help enable a culture of sustainability in the Army.” It can only become contagious.

The President is sending a very clear message that going green to save our planet is everyone’s responsibility, and that the Federal Government needs to lead by example. By starting with the Federal agencies first through the executive order on October 5^th, then engaging the people of the Government, the 1.8 million employees, he has set a tone for us all to follow. So what have you done today to be greener? Don’t just think about yourself. Find something green to do for your home, work, neighborhood, city/town, or for your Government. And if you are a Federal Government employee, I encourage you (as does the President) to take the GreenGov Challenge (through Oct. 31^st)!

The current economic atmosphere is one of fear and loss of control, and in such an atmosphere, productivity can suffer. But even in the face of communication budget and staff cuts, companies have the power to ensure that employees feel enabled and empowered. Robin McCasland, a director for Buck Consultants, said in a recent press release, “Communicating for optimal employee engagement is always a timely topic, but even more so during challenging economic times.” She continues, citing a recent poll, “Our results represent opportunities for communicators to have greater influence in delivering messages that encourage employees to remain productive, and to understand how their work contributes toward achieving business priorities.”

Companies can use a variety of social media tools to easily and inexpensively engage their employees in dialogue, including:

• Company blogs
• Podcasts and videocasts
• Internal social networks
• RSS feeds

Yet, 56% of top executives surveyed do not participate in internal and social media at this time. This begs the question; how do you engage your employees?

Ron Rosenbaum’s Slate article “Worst Framing Device Ever,” argues that Obama’s health care reform was undermined by the vague phrase “public option,” which in his opinion damaged the cause more than the incendiary rival phrase “death panels.”  While polls have been showing Americans either evenly divided or opposed to Obama’s overall health care plan, a Times/CBS poll in which the plan was described not with the words “public option” but as “a government administered health insurance plan—something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older can buy,” nearly two-thirds of those polled supported it.

I don’t know whether the phrase “public option” single-handedly derailed Obama’s health care reform, but I do think Rosenbaum is right when he says, “If you’re gonna try to sell me something, take some time to think about what you’re calling it.”

In over ten years as a communication consultant, I’ve helped many clients craft messages that persuade, so I understand the power of words and the difference they make to the receptivity of the target audience.  No matter what you are communicating, it’s important to focus on describing the benefits to the audience. Too often people focus on the features of a given product, service, or program, without spelling out clearly how those features will benefit those you want to buy or use it. The Obama team might want to take note. “Public option” refers to a feature of the plan, whereas Rosenbaum’s suggested “government health care safety net” at least alludes to a benefit. Maybe that would indeed have fared better when stacked up against “death panels.”

Photo courtesy of elbfoto on Flickr Creative Commons

Engaging communication—good storytelling and strong characters—is essential to entertaining viewers.  It’s also a great way to change social behaviors.

In Nigeria, radio dramas are used to change attitudes and behaviors that lead to overpopulation, abuse of women and children, and HIV/AIDS.  First broadcast in 2006 on public and private radio stations in Northern Nigeria, the serial radio drama “Gugar Goge” told stories of characters that improved their health and the health of their families by using maternal health and reproductive services.  A 2009 survey found that 66% of people that sought services at clinics said they were motivated by what they learned from listening to the “Gugar Goge” sequel “Ruwan Dare.”

Does this seem strange? It’s actually a very old form of communication that’s getting an update from the U.S. Census Bureau.   An October 7^th article in the Washington Post reports that the Census Bureau has partnered with Telemundo’s top telenovela “Mas Sabe el Diablo”  The story arc involves the character “Peral Baltran,” whose hard luck changes when she gets a job recruiting folks in her neighborhood for the 2010 census.  The Census Bureau is hoping to reach Latinos and show that participating in the census is “private, easy and very important.”  Will the Census Bureau campaign have the same success as the Nigerian radio drama? Stay tuned.

Photo courtesy of Telemundo

I was in a meeting last week where the client’s Director of Marketing expressed exasperation at her inability to keep the organizational website current.  “There’s just too much going on,” she fumed, “and people expect me to list and promote all the events happening here.  It’s just impossible.”  And if she had to be the only one to input all the data every day, I certainly agreed with her.

Fortunately, we live in a Web 2.0 world, where many people can contribute to our websites to keep them vital and alive.  By setting up a content management system or blog and giving a variety of people the ability to provide content or feedback (e.g. direct input, comments, RSS feeds) we can keep our sites alive, make many stakeholders feel empowered, and take the pressure off ourselves.  If you’re nervous that your contributers will make errors and put in inappropriate content, you can always moderate the input before it goes live.  Or you can simply let designated participants take full responsibility for their content’s accuracy and appropriateness.

By allowing more people to participate and removing ourselves as the bottleneck, we can eliminate much of the fingerpointing that occurs when some stakeholders feel marginalized or not heard.  It also takes a lot of pressure off one individual for keeping everything up to date.   It certainly is a different way of thinking (more collaborative and less controlling), but the benefits are significant.

Photo courtesy fitness360

One of my guilty pleasures is watching “Hell’s Kitchen” because this reality-TV train wreck combines my two passions: competition and food. Each contestant has to survive not only as an individual but as a member of a team to win the Grand Prize. Advancing through each round depends on whether your team can communicate, cooperate and collaborate during the assigned challenges. If you can see past the personal attacks and backstabbing, (I mean that figuratively since the image of Chef Ramsey always has him holding a knife), each challenge can offer valuable examples of group communication that lead to winning ways.

In a recent episode, the challenge was to prepare a special dinner honoring a Marine sergeant returning from Iraq. Chef Ramsey selected a representative from each team to discuss the menu with the sergeant’s wife. Robert represented the Blue Team; Suzanne the Red. Both reps met with the client at the same time, so each heard the same things in terms of her wishes and her husband’s tastes.

Robert communicated everything the client said about the menu and the sergeant’s background to his Blue Team members and allowed them to share their ideas. After their brainstorming meeting, each team member started working on his assigned dish. Suzanne used a different strategy with her Red Team members, dictating the menu, assigning cooks to each dish, and giving specific instructions on how each dish should be prepared. When her teammates asked for more information about the guest of honor, she gave short answers and dismissed them. She assumed the role of the dreaded ‘Information Hoarder’.

When it came time to present their dishes, it was apparent which team had the advantage. Each chef from the Blue Team presented his dish with confidence and enthusiasm. Each chef collaborated with the menu and was able to relate to the client and discuss and defend his or her choices. The Red Team was not as prepared. Their dishes were good, but they presented them like rookie waiters, very uncertainly and unappealingly. The client was impressed with how the Blue Team seemed to know her husband’s favorites, and selected their menu. The dinner went very well for the Blue Team and more importantly, impressed Chef Ramsey.

The lesson here is that great teamwork involves open and free flowing communication. The sharing of all available information, gives each member the opportunity to make valuable contributions to the team, strengthening their commitment to the effort. It makes collaboration so much easier and empowers each member to produce to their best work. And getting their best work is why the client chose the winning team.

Photo courtesy of Fox Broadcasting

I just got out from behind a van sporting two eloquent bumper stickers.

1. Warning: Driver carries only $20 worth of ammunition

2. Lost your cat? Try looking under my tires.

With as much sarcasm as can come across in writing I’ll say he seems like an awesome, friendly dude.

I actually can’t even figure out what he’s trying to do besides scare crooks and cats. I get paid to communicate so I realize I might give this more thought than the average bumper-sticker-reader, but I can’t help wonder why he used the time, why he made the effort, why he spent the money, to slap those stickers on his van. All communication takes time, effort, and often money so I can’t imagine extending any of the three just for the hell of it (or just to tell folks I’m kind of a jerk).

Sure, there’s a lot of communicating via social media that is essentially for the hell of it, but even those tweets and posts, I think, can be categorized as having the point of connecting with friends, sharing a laugh, or building a network. I’ll argue that all of those reasons, and more, are worth my time, effort, and even money.

But what about all of the organizations that are racing to social media platforms, often employing staff to lead an organized effort? Talk about time, effort, and money spent! Are the communications worth it all? Do they have more to offer than cat jokes? Building a community online can be valuable, but only if that community is basically doing what you want them to do. What action or change do you want to see? If you’re Health and Human Services I’m guessing you’d like to stem the H1N1 virus, for example. The Department of Energy might like to promote new advances in renewable energies. Now that’s something to talk about. But still what will they say and how will they say it? It’s not enough to tweet that X is awesome or to post Y on YouTube if those messages are not promoting a change in action or perception.

I recently received an RFP that include a requirement, “add interactivity to the site.” I’m not sure what to do with that if there is not some purpose or desired outcome dependent on those interactivities. A bit further down the RFP included that the organization would like to increase online donations. Aha, now we have purpose, so we can craft messages, features, and functions that support that. Whether it be indirectly, like supporing an online community which in turn might pursuade members of that community to donate money because they feel more connected and committed to the group, or more directly like allowing users to cast votes and opinions as to what the money they donate will be spent on, purpose driven messages and communications campaigns can inspire audiences to act in ways you want, not just hide their cats.

I recently added an application to my phone called Glympse, (sorry folks, it’s not available for iPhone yet). It is a GPS location app that simply shares your location (and motion) with specific people for a specific period of time, and even allows you to enter your destination so it can estimate your time of arrival.

Glympse’s tagline is “Share your where,” and for some reason it has really stuck in my head. I find myself wondering where all this social networking is going next, and what else we can share. Journey sharing may be the next big thing. Most smartphones will now capture your GPS location with the picture, so many of the photo sharing sites can display a map of where it was taken. One site, EveryTrail , will take the GPS track from your phone (whatever app you use on your device), add the photos you took during your journey, and create a map of your trip with the photo pinned to the location along your route. Then you share this with family and friends, or the world!

In this visual world, photos and videos do really help communicate more than just words. Sharing what you are doing or thinking via Facebook or Twitter is wonderful, but sharing where you are and what you saw begins to tell a story. I’m not saying we do away with Facebook or Twitter, but as we start looking for the next way to network, interact and build community, why don’t we start sharing our journeys as well? Go ahead and give it a try. Share a trip or simply a bike ride or hike. Who knows what journey sharing might lead to next.