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I enrolled in the IABC Executive Accreditation Seminar (EAS) with a single goal: to attain my ABC. And I was ready. Together, my accreditation mentor and I tore apart and reassembled my portfolio. I rehearsed my presentations ad nauseum. And I plowed through my texts with a nerdy delight I haven’t felt since graduate school. By the time my taxi turned in to the Royal Roads University campus this past March, my goal was in sight.
However, I was not prepared for the professional journey on which I was about to embark.
As senior communicators, we hone our skills defining communication goals, strategies, tactics and measurement. And while these aspects are critical to our work, we discover time and again, that success is found in the intangible, human elements inherent to the very fabric of what we do. My time with my fellow EAS participants demonstrated just how true this is.
And it reminded me of a few things that we, as communicators, can be guilty of overlooking every once in a while in the midst of our best efforts planning, researching, writing and leading.
There is no substitution for live, person-to-person connection.
Twenty-nine of us participated in this inaugural IABC seminar, and as we assembled the first day, we each stood to introduce ourselves. As the last of us sat down, one participant commented, “What was I thinking? I’m not even in the same league with these people!” But on day six, after a week of working, sweating, listening to and creating with his peers, the same participant said, “I am so blessed to have spent this week with all of you.”
As senior communicators, we recognize the value of virtual relationships. And while we at EAS could have come partway down the path together via virtual networks, I don’t believe we ever could have reached the levels of trust and authenticity we did through an intense week spent working face-to-face. As one member of our team put it, “I don’t think we’d be as successful if we were a virtual team. We’d struggle if we couldn’t read each other’s faces.” EAS demonstrated that face-to-face communication is more than a mere channel. It’s a tool, and when used correctly, it can become a super-charged, high-speed, steel-tipped barrier-buster. And we’ve got to be wise about when (and when not) to use it.
It’s our job to look for that single “nugget” that changes everything.
Over the course of our week together, each EAS participant presented and defended their portfolio submission. One of our Canadian participants recounted her experience watching the first Olympic athlete receive his gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. As she put it, she mulled over what she’d seen for days afterward; something about that image was important to her organization and she was compelled to put it to use. I saw her portfolio as a demonstration of listening for and adapting to that “golden nugget,” that concept, image or comment that changes everything, even our best plans.
Her communication team, she told us, hadn’t incorporated Olympic themes into any of their 2010 plans. They certainly didn’t have rights to the image. And when she began pitching her ideas to company leadership, they told her, essentially, “Keep dreaming.” But, I suppose, like a pebble lodged in her shoe, that “nugget” of an image stayed with her and eventually, with perseverance and creativity, she carved a navigable path to her goal. The resulting campaign became an impressive benchmark for her organization.
We gain much when we move from asking “Why?” to asking “Why not?”
During the “leadership challenge”—the portion of the seminar in which participants worked in teams to consult with and deliver communication solutions to a local organization—our team struggled mightily with the challenge our client asked us to address. They asked us to rally local, national and even international support for their cause. But as a team, we struggled to help the client move beyond a single question: Why? Our client’s cause was local, so why would national and even international audiences care?
Ultimately, what our team recommended to the client was to let go of answering the “why?” question. We asked them to let go of ”being the cause”; the cause barely got them beyond the borders of their own town. Instead we encouraged them to think in terms of “why not.” Why not think bigger than the cause? Why not take their cause to the masses via a larger platform on which their organization could stand and invite millions of other organizations with equally worthy causes to stand with them?
An audible gasp broke out in the room at our suggestion. And for a moment it felt like we’d committed treason. But minutes after we wrapped, the client team reserved the URL for the new concept and the team buzzed with energy.
There is a Taoist quote that says, “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” What can we, as wise communicators and leaders, help our teams and clients to let go of and become? How can we begin to ask ourselves, “Why not?”
The goal isn’t the end. It’s a means to a new horizon.
At the time of my writing this, the results of the ABC exam—the final requirement standing between me and my accreditation—are not yet known. So did I reach my goal? Technically, not yet. But now I understand that accreditation is much more than three letters at the end of my name. The Executive Accreditation Seminar gave me a new, international network of colleagues and peers with whom I will keep in touch, and from whom I will continue to learn. The people, even more than the letters, will reveal new horizons along my career path. And that’s a result I should not have underestimated.
Gretchen Anthony, ABC candidate and president of Tilt, is a change communication consultant and strategist. She can be reached at
or via Twitter @tiltcomms. |
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