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Spokesperson Coaching Tip #17: What’s the answer?

I once spent more than 24 hours — without sleep — drafting a Q&A document in preparation for a merger announcement. In fact, with more than 20 merger notches on my keyboard, I’m something of an expert at Q&As. I’ve carefully crafted perfectly worded answers to every possible friendly and hostile question my spokespeople might encounter. I’ve rehearsed them, drilled them, made them into actors performing lines. And now, after spending the past 18 months carefully studying spokespeople, I believe that such overscripting can actually detract from the effectiveness of the spokesperson.

Why? My theory is that when most people deliver words that are not their own, there is a perceptible difference in the way they deliver them. Based on my own experience working with spokespeople, it seems that scripted “key messages” and reliance on written Q&A documents for interview preparation tend to have a negative impact on credibility, as rated by both journalists and PR assessors on Spokesperson Assessments. Although I haven’t conducted any scientific research with broader audiences, the results I’ve seen lead me to believe that most spokespeople will be perceived as more open and honest when speaking in their own voice and style, rather than delivering scripted messages.

Every time I say this in a presentation, I get a barrage of “buts.” But we’re a public company. But it’s sensitive legal information so we have to sure of how it’s worded. But we have to be sure every spokesperson is saying the same thing. But our legal department insists…. I know, and I’m not saying it’s always possible to lose the Q&A doc. But where it is possible, and where credibility is key, I believe it’s preferable to work with the spokesperson to develop their own answers within a framework, rather than providing written answers. So here are a couple of ways to do that:

Keep the Q, Lose the A: Prepare your list of all likely questions, and provide it to your spokesperson in advance to allow them to think through what they believe the answers would be, then discuss them and make adjustments together. If needed for rehearsal or for releasing written statements later, transcribe the agreed upon answers. It’s ok for the coach to provide input, to wordsmith, suggest phrases. The point is that by doing it through discussion, rather than a written script, the spokesperson internalises the ideas, the words become their own.

Bullets, Not Prose: When providing key messages in writing, don’t script the words. Boil it down to a concept, a bullet-point, seven words or less, without punctuation (I know, this is agony for a writer!). Then discuss with your spokesperson ways they might be able to convey those concepts, with examples, stories, facts, etc.

Finally, I’ll close with an answer for the Legal department that insists on written Q&A: Written Q&A doesn’t guarantee anything, unless you take the live spokespeople out of the equation and simply issue them as written statements. SpokesComm research indicates that only one out of ten spokespeople is best prepared for an interview through written briefing documents. Many don’t bother to read them. Others don’t have good enough memories to deliver the scripts. And when it comes to communication, credibility and authenticity matter.

Spokesperson Coaching Tip #16: Honestly, it sounds like a lie

I wrote awhile back (in Spokesperson Coaching Tip #7) about how overuse of verbal crutches can undermine a spokesperson’s credibility and effectiveness.  The very worst of these are the phrases that are intended to convey openness and honesty, because they tend to have the exact opposite effect.  Words and phrases like “to be pefectly honest,” “frankly,” “candidly,” and “truthfully” act as red flags to the listener, rather than reassurances.  Once or even twice may not hurt too much, but if it becomes a frequently used verbal crutch, the spokesperson inevitably scores low with journalists on “seems open and honest” when we perform a formal Spokesperson Assessment.  And since that score has a direct correlation to the journalist’s desire to have a long-term relationship with the spokesperson to utilize them as a resource, the impact on your media relations efforts can be dramatic.

Even some of the most polished spokespeople fall into this habit.  At last week’s IABC international conference, held in New Orleans, the association presented its EXCEL award, honoring a senior corporate executive who is an outstanding communicator.  Stu Reed, executive vice president of Motorola’s Integrated Supply Chain, was the recipient, as well as keynote speaker.  He was incredibly smooth, personable, funny, and articulate.  But he had a near-fatal reliance on this particular verbal crutch.  In fact, he used all of the phrases mentioned above, multiple times.  I couldn’t help counting, and finally lost count at 24 (less than half-way through the speech).  Afterward, two other people mentioned noticing it (one of whom also started counting).  Many more, no doubt, didn’t notice the words, but may have been affected on a more subliminal level.  At dinner a the following evening, several people were discussing his presentation, and asked me what I thought.  Before answering, I asked them to give me their own impressions of him.  One woman hit the nail on the head when she said, “While he was speaking, I thought he was great.  But later, my feelings changed, and I’m not sure why.  It just didn’t ring true.”

I  have to say here that I’m confident that Mr. Reed was, in fact, being honest with his audience.  He’s an outstanding speaker in every other way, and I’m certain he fully deserves the honor he was receiving.  But this one minor weakness undermined his credibility with at least a portion of his audience.   And he’s probably not even aware of it.  I’d guess his PR team is (it’s hard to miss), but they may not have realized its importance, or had the opportunity to address it with him. My point is that spokesperson assessment is not only for very weak spokespeople.  It can be a way to identify relatively minor things that can have a major impact on spokesperson effectiveness and often are easily fixed with targeted coaching.

Spokesperson Coaching Tip #15: Overcoming Spokesperson Arrogance

Maybe there should be a 12-step program for spokespeople, where, like with Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step is admitting you have a problem. The second step, turning to a higher power, would be listening to your spokesperson coach. The other steps would take care of themselves. But from the hundreds of conversations I’ve had with PR people, it’s clear to me that arrogance is the greatest weakness of most of the corporate spokespeople out there.

I’ve mentioned before that my research with spokespeople indicates that the average spokesperson has had only four hours of media training, more than 10 years ago, with no ongoing development since that initial training. So we gave them the basics, usually delivered by an outside former-journalist-turned-media-trainer, then set them off to do their real learning on the job. Without solid feedback, they came to judge their performance on a pass-fail scale. If they survived the interview, it was good. And after doing it for 10 years, they assume they’re good at it. Never mind that the interview often goes off track, that they are frequently “misquoted” or that the coverage is strategically off the mark.  In fact, their skill as a spokesperson has likely not progressed much at all over those 10 years, and they have possibly even picked up some bad habits along the way.  And now, they’re senior executives, very experienced and knowledgeable in their own roles, so it’s harder than ever to tell them they need further development.

Or is it?

Here’s a secret:  it’s all an act.  In every case I’ve encountered where the PR person said their spokesperson was arrogant and not open to coaching or training (including when this was my own perception of my own spokespeople), where I have asked the spokesperson to complete a short self-assessment across the same 12 skill areas that we measure in Spokesperson Assessment, the spokesperson has rated their abilities only about average.  Almost all also indicate they believe they would benefit from further coaching or development.   That alone is incredibly powerful.  They just flew through steps 1 and 2 of our program!    So the arrogance is a cover for their own insecurities.  Down deep, they know they could be better.   While their self-assessment may not be entirely accurate (they often don’t know their real weaknesses), it opens the door for a discussion of how you can help them reach their full potential as a spokesperson.  It opens the door for a formal Spokesperson Assessment, for you as spokesperson coach to provide meaningful feedback, targeted coaching or additional training.

I’ve developed a simple self-assessment survey that takes the spokesperson only a couple of minutes to complete.  You can easily adapt it to your needs as either a printed or online survey, and roll it out to all your spokespeople, to serve as a starting point for your spokesperson development efforts.  If you try it, let me know how it works for you.

Media Matters Podcast Features Spokesperson Assessment

Although I haven’t yet tried my hand at producing a podcast, I’ve finally entered the podosphere (is that a word already being used or did I just make it up — clearly I’m not paying enough attention if I don’t know).  Eric Bergman, ABC, a media trainer in Toronto, Canada, interviewed me for his 18th March Media Matters podcast. 

So if any SpokesBlog readers want to turn the tables and be my spokesperson coach, I’m open to feedback on my performance.  Just remember to use the bad news sandwich to soften the blow.

Time flies like an arrow (but fruit flies like a banana)…

Ok, it’s embarrassing, my last blog post was three months ago.  I have no excuse really.  Lack of discipline, probably.  Lack of ideas.  Then guilt set in, because days had turned to weeks.  And my very effective way of dealing with guilt is procrastination and denial.  Blog, what blog?  I feel better already. 

But today it’s time to face the music.  Times four, since I’ve been neglecting not one, but four blogs.  Ah, perhaps there’s the problem.  Over-ambition.  There’s this, the business-related blog.  Then there’s the personal one, which was supposed to become a repository for all my travel stories, photos and personal adventures.  The third is a children’s story blog, featuring my dog, Noggin, and his best friend, Izzy.  And finally, I’m supposed to be a regular contributor to IABC’s chairman’s blog.  I’ve been avoiding all four since December. 

If there are any readers still out there who have noticed or missed me, I apologize.  In any case, I’m resolving (again) to do better.   I’ll make time, I’ll be disciplined, I’ll have brilliant ideas.  At least, I’ll write a little more frequently.

Dealing with prejudicial questions

Over on the IABC Media Relations Commons, my buddy Eric Bergman, ABC has written a good post, “Deliberately Avoiding Questions,” on how to answer an interviewer’s question when the question is worded to force a negative admission, like the old “Are you still beating your wife?”.  What I like most about Eric’s approach is that he doesn’t encourage falling back on canned “key messages.”  In his example, a petroleum refinery plant manager is asked the question “Do you pollute?”  Eric writes:

One alternative is for the plant manager to challenge what is known in philosophical circles as prejudicial language by asking the reporter: “What do you mean by pollute?” The word “pollute” can be applied broadly. Technically, people who do not turn off the tap when brushing their teeth (or a reporter driving a vehicle to an interview) can be accused of polluting. Answering the question without having better understanding of how the word is used is dangerous.

Another alternative is to turn the initial question into a series of questions and answer them: “Do we have emissions? Yes. Do those emissions ever exceed strict federal guidelines? No. Do we have systems in place to do our best to ensure that they never exceed those guidelines? Yes. Would we tell you if we had? Absolutely.”

So the next time you’re counseling clients to answer questions — whether to internal audiences, external audiences or both — teach them to go beyond key messages and play an active role in the process. They have the right to understand what it is they’re answering. They have the right to probe, question and clarify.

Here, here! 

Eric’s got a new book out, Media Training with Excellence, available through the IABC Knowledge Center.

Spokesperson Coaching Tip #14: Tell me a story!

Once upon a time, in a very big and powerful kingdom, there was a king who didn’t know any stories.  Almost every day, the royal newspapers and television channels asked for a story, because that’s what all the people in the kingdom wanted.  But the king only made royal proclamations, full of key messages written by the royal scribes.  The people of the kingdom didn’t understand the proclamations, which were full of big words that didn’t mean anything real, so they stopped listening, and soon, the newspapers and television channels stopped asking, too. 

The ability to tell a story is one of the key skills every media spokesperson needs.   But we’re not talking about elaborate theatrical techniques learned in a trendy corporate storytelling seminar.   Our goal is to organize our thoughts in a compelling way to help draw the listener in to our narrative, to interest, entertain, inspire or educate.   Our stories may be factual or fictional, long or short.  We may have one big story, or use little stories to make up the whole.  But how can we help our spokesperson develop their storytelling skills?  The most effective way I’ve found is to devote a coaching session to the topic, utilizing a series of 3-minute exercises (timed with a kitchen timer)  to get them comfortable telling stories from their own experiences.  Here are a few that generally work well:

• Tell me about your most memorable family holiday.
• Tell me the story of the worst storm you’ve ever been in.
• Tell me the funniest thing that ever happened to you.
• What one person in your life do you most admire?
• How did you and your spouse/partner first meet?
• What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
• What was your first job?
• What about this company reminds you of your family when you were growing up?
• Can you draw any lessons for business from what you learned in your first year of school?
• What’s the best customer service you’ve ever received?
• What was the worst travel experience you’ve ever had?

After five or six stories, you can examine together what makes each one work or not work — from both the teller’s and listener’s point of view (i.e., choice of examples, personal experience, humour, exageration, suspense, drama, etc.), and finally, you can brainstorm possible ways to use stories to deliver your media messages, and have them try one or two (again using the timer).  

Spokesperson Coaching Tip #13: Picking up on Non-verbal Cues

One of the key spokesperson skills we measure against in SpokesComm‘s formal Spokesperson Assessments is the spokesperson’s ability to pick up on non-verbal cues coming from the interviewer, in order to adjust their style, ensure understanding, or otherwise meet their needs.  I’ve seen examples all too often of spokespeople who seemed oblivious to obvious clues of boredom or confusion, or who spouted a constant stream, not allowing the journalist a chance to raise a question or comment.  Sometimes, this is a nervous response, or an attempt to prevent the journalist from asking a challenging question.  It may also simply be an indication of a weakness in interpersonal communication skills.  In either case, it’s essential to improve this skill to help ensure consistent success of media interactions.  Here are a couple of tips to help in coaching for this area:

1. Evaluate in non-media interactions.  Observe the spokesperson in conversation with other people, paying close attention to body language of the listener and the spokesperson’s style.  During your own conversations with the spokesperson, vary your body language and facial expressions from interested to confused to bored, and see if they react.
2. De-brief after every interview.  When monitoring media interviews, observe the journalist’s non-verbal communication and any instances when the spokesperson didn’t seem to pick it up.  Following the interview, discuss your observations, and any resulting fall-out.  For example, did the journalist’s boredom with the topic lead them to try to take the conversation off track?  Did an inability to insert a question into the monologue prevent the interviewer from fully understanding the topic? 
3. Video the interviewer.  This will probably require an internal interviewer, rather than a real media interview, but videotape an interview with the camera pointing at the interviewer.  You can review the tape together with your spokesperson and point out cues that may have been missed, discussing what changes may have been possible in order to improve the interaction.

Back from South Africa

I got back on Monday from a fantastic trip to South Africa, where I had the pleasure and privilege to speak at the IABC Africa Region Conference, held at Maropeng, a world heritage site known as the “cradle of mankind,” about an hour from Johannesburg.  In keeping with the conference theme of “Communication Through the Ages and Beyond,” my topic was “Survival of the Fittest: Arming Your Spokespeople to Survive in the Media Jungle.”  It was an outstanding conference, attended by around 70 delegates from across the region.  IABC International Executive Board Vice Chair Todd Hattori, ABC, was also there as a keynote speaker, and the two of us also had the opportunity to participate in a Leadership Institute with region and chapter leaders.  

I also got a chance to get a taste of my own medicine, since they had arranged an interview for me with a cable network business news channel.  Although I worked in television early in my career, I’ve largely been the person behind the spokesperson for the past decade or so.  So it was a good reminder for me of what it’s like to be in front of the camera, and to be the one receiving the feedback afterwards.  Utilizing the “bad news sandwich” feedback method that I had discussed in my presentation just an hour or so earlier, Todd and conference organizer Brenda Kennedy tactfully informed me that I have a habit of opening my eyes wide in surprise when I get a question I didn’t expect.  Thankfully, although it was visible to them when watching the live camera feed in the control room, it didn’t show up in the edited broadcast of the interview.  Whew!  Now I’ve got work to do.  Thanks to Todd and Brenda for being my coaches!

And thanks to IABC Africa Region, the leaders, volunteers, and conference attendees who all made me feel so welcome. 

The pic above is of a baby cheetah (that I got to pet) at the Cheetah Outreach centre near Capetown.  The other is Todd with a lion cub (that’s my toe he’s chewing on – the baby lion, not Todd, that is) at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve, where we went on a game drive.  For anyone interested, there are lots more pics and a fuller account of the trip on my personal blog, and children’s stories on my dog’s blog, “The Spectacular Adventures of Noggin and Izzy.”