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Hosted by veteran communications strategist and leadership trainer J.Marie, Your Friend in Leadership is an inspiring and approachable podcast created to empower today’s public leaders. Each episode delivers strategic insights, transformative ideas, and actionable communication tools to help you better connect with your communities and move your mission forward. With deep appreciation for the important work of public leaders and the knowledge that leadership and communication are skills that can be built and improved, this podcast is your guide to confident and effective leadership every step of the way.
(Music)
J. Marie
Greetings friends and welcome back to this sweet little podcast about leadership and communications. Back in the very first episode, we talked a little bit about the importance of shifting your focus so that you're not only focusing on your particular goals and vision and mission, but that you are also focused on knowing your audiences, knowing your constituents. And I want to dig into that a little bit more today. And it also builds on some other conversations we've had in previous episodes. We've talked about kind of an organizational communications 101,
J. Marie
what are the key aspects of a systemic communications program? And that includes knowing what are your key messages? What do you want to say? What are the tools you're going to use to help get those messages out there? Who are you communicating to? And what's the timeline that is necessary for you to do that work? We've also talked specifically in a previous episode about the variety of tools available to you and how to make good decisions about which tools serve which purposes. So we're just going to continue that vein of kind of the basics of communications with this focus on your audiences or your constituents. And I will start by saying it's interesting how often leaders will overlook their internal audiences. And yet that's really the place you need to start. So when you think about who are the audiences for your message, it's really important to start internally first for a few reasons. One, these are the folks that actually implement the vision, mission and goals of your organization. So it's important that that they are fully on board with anything that you are getting ready to roll out in a more public way. Oftentimes, your frontline staff are more trusted communicators. The general public trusts what your frontline staff might say in the grocery line, for instance, or on the sidelines at community athletic events or student activities, then they do the official word from the leader of the organization or the board of directors.
So not only are your internal audiences the ones who have to do the work and implement the big ideas, but they're also your more trusted messengers. So think about them first, talk to them first, make sure that they are not surprised by questions from the community. That puts a bad taste in their mouth. They feel less trusted and included and less connected to your organization and mission if they feel like they were an afterthought. But it also means you've missed a critical opportunity to connect with a public constituent member. Because if someone from the public asks one of your staff members about something that's in your newsletter and a staff member isn't familiar with it, it undermines the sense that your organization is on the same page and that you all know what you're doing. So for many reasons, start internally. I would also say this takes on even deeper importance in times of crisis. When you are facing a critical incident or a serious issue as an organization, think of your communication audiences, the different people you need to reach. Think of it like a pond that you've tossed a rock into the middle of and how that creates these kind of concentric circles moving out. And you want your messaging to do the same thing, especially when people's emotions are high. And I think about that sometimes when I'm talking to leaders and helping them understand the correct order of communications in a critical situation, I think of it a little like making a big family announcement.
So let's say you and your partner have decided to have a child. If you go tell your second cousin twice removed about it, and they circle back and ask your mother about it, and your mother doesn't yet know that you've made this decision, mom is going to be offended. But if she already knows, and then someone comes and talks to her about it, she can share in this case, it's a, you know, even though I'm using this example to say why it's important to start internally when emotions are higher, when it's a crisis in this situation, emotions are high in a positive way, you know, in this example, and by making sure that mama knows first before the second cousin twice removed hears about it, she gets to now share in the excitement of this story, she becomes a positive ambassador for it. Whereas if she gets surprised, her feelings are likely to get hurt, and she's going to come talk to you about it. And now what what was a positive sharing a positive event, becomes sort of an a family version of damage control. Anytime emotions are high for either good or sad reasons, you want to be particularly mindful of that idea of concentric circles, make sure you talk first to the people who are closest to the issue, and then roll out who's next closest, who's next closest after that.
So start internally, then, as you think a little further out, I'm going to shift gears back to public organizations and how you would communicate about a new initiative or an important message. After you've ensured that you've done good engagement with your staff and your internal folks, then you want to think about who are the people in my larger community who are, I kind of hate this, that this word has been co opted in, in social media realms, but who are the people who influence others who, you know, so when I think about influencers, I think about it kind of in a pre social media context in a more pure form of the to influence others, you know, who are the people in your community who have other people's ear, and those folks, you want to talk to them first kind of for the same reason as you know, you don't want mama to be surprised by important news. These folks are often are people who take pride in being well connected in the community. And there's a little bit of if you, if you stoke that pride, by making sure they know things first, they will be ambassadors to help spread your message deeper into the community.
Whereas if they feel like they've been shunned, that might carry over into a negative feeling that they have towards you as a leader or your organization. So make sure you know who those people are. And they are not always people with official titles, right? Sometimes it is the person who runs the coffee shop, or it's a hairdresser in your community, or it's a parent who volunteers for Boys and Girls Club and after school activities and is an athletic booster, right? Like people like that, their connections are woven into the community in multiple places. So by communicating with them, you begin the process of communicating with all of the people in their circles.
And then you think about, okay, how do I share this information with the community in general? Is that through my website, my social media platforms, my newsletters, perhaps there's a media outlet that is local to you that can be an excellent tool for getting content out, be intentional about thinking about it kind of in the order of how you're going to communicate. And then before we close out today, I'd also like to talk about the idea of who should you communicate with, you know, I've given a few examples. But I also want to encourage you to think more broadly about your audiences. One of my former bosses, a superintendent who was just masterful at community engagement, used to say that finding the wisdom for the right thing to do depends directly on the diversity of perspective that was considered along the way.
J. Marie
And he didn't say that out of some political leaning to the left or to the right. He was saying it from a standpoint that the best decisions, the decisions are those that take into account the broadest possible perspective.
J. Marie
And the reality is every one of us has a perspective on one part of the world and how it works. We also have big blind spots into other parts of the world and other parts of our community and what does and doesn't work for those other parts of our community.
J. Marie
None of us are experts in everything and none of us really understand everybody else's perspective. We have ideas of it, but it's important if the more important the decision you are making, the more important it is that you have engaged the broadest possible swath of your community. So when you're thinking about who needs to know about this, who needs to contribute to the conversation early on, I want to encourage you to think about who are the people with resources connected to the work that you're engaged in, whether it's a goal that you're wanting to speak to, whether it's something as boring as your budget, boring but important as your budget, whether it's a new activity that you're hoping to launch, or whether it's a process improvement initiative or something that you're already doing. Think about who has resources and by resources I mean it could be fiscal resources, it could be resources of time, it could be resources of knowledge and experience. So think about resources broadly, but think about who brings resources to this particular topic or conversation. Also think about who are the people with authority related to this. So who gets to make decisions? Might be your board of directors, it might be your frontline staff is going to have authority in how they implement a new idea, it might be voters who are ultimately going to vote up or down on a ballot initiative or who are going to, if not in the immediate moment, make a decision over time are going to determine what kind of resources are available for your organization. So think about who has resources, think about who has authority, think about who's affected, who actually lives with the decisions or with the new idea or the initiative that's being rolled out. Make sure their perspective is included early so that you can, you will do a better job of framing your idea or your initiative so that it is actually effective. If you have thought through who will benefit from, who is going to receive or be affected by the decisions that are made, bring them into the conversation early. And quite frankly, if the decision you are contemplating is one that will have negative effects for some people, bring them in early.
J. Marie
And I said that with a little bit of extra gravity, because I think oftentimes we are afraid to have a conversation where we tell someone that we are contemplating a decision that's going to negatively affect them like that. We recognize that that could be an unpleasant conversation. And so sometimes the natural tendency is to put that conversation off. And I am here to tell you that if you are going to need to make a decision that has negative effects, the sooner you have that conversation with those who are going to be affected, the easier that conversation will go, in part because you're giving people a runway to come to terms with it. And you were demonstrating respect and care for them that you prioritized communicating with them early in the process. And I've already mentioned this, but I would just say, make sure you're also communicating early with the people who will actually implement your ideas. Who are the frontline folks that are going to do the work? Make sure their perspective is included in the decision making process as well.
J. Marie
So ultimately, it demonstrates maturity of leadership when you can take what's important to you and tie it back to the audiences and the people that you are connecting with. So I really appreciate the work you do as leaders in your community. I appreciate you spending a little bit of time with me here today thinking about leadership and communications. And specifically, I encourage you to give a little time while this idea is fresh in your mind, give a little time to thinking about who are your audiences, who are your constituents, and maybe as a little homework challenge, is there a particular part of your organization or the community you serve that you're not as well connected to? And if there is a segment of your community that comes to mind when I ask that question, give some thought to how you can deepen your connection with that community. Can you identify someone that you can maybe go out to coffee with and have a conversation with? Is there a group that already gathers that is representative of that group that you could ask for an invitation to just go join them in some activity and listen and learn? Thank you, friends. Lead well, be well, and until next time, take good care.