We Have Noticed A Failure To Communicate…It Is Us

Hard to believe that SBJ’s Thought Leaders retreat was over a week ago already, but some of the themes my friend and colleague Abe Madkour pointed out in his weekly column from the event continue to expand and be amplified in meetings, conversations and observations in the week and a half since the event in Deer Valley, Utah.

I pulled a few items from his column and included them below and will add some other thoughts as well. Amazing how many of the topics and concerned had to do more with COMMUNICATION…INTERNAL COMMUNICATION…than anything else.

One other topic of silo ’ed thinking and actions, as well as building bridges not walls in problem solving, are things we have discussed almost too much already so I just highlighted a few earlier posts.

Back to Thought Leaders. If you have never seen the movie Cool Hand Luke, there is a scene watch it here,, spoken by the prison Captain (played by Strother Martin) after punishing Luke Jackson (Paul Newman). It means an unbending authority figure cannot force an unbroken rebel to submit. While I don’t think submission was a theme at Thought Leaders, the line certainly rang true.

The points worth noting for this subject in Abe’s column, which I think you can read here.

Silos are prevalent throughout organizations, resulting in departments making unilateral decisions that affect others across the organization, which impedes the progress and success of the efforts and lacks clear communication. Departments and their leaders are moving too fast, while thinking exclusively about their own “lane” or KPIs, and not thinking across departments. There was a lot of discussion of how to drive strategy across silos.

  Silos are also leading to poor decision-making. Often, bad decisions come from playing it safe and being fearful of risk. In addition, many cited leaders who are not making decisions.

  The group dug into the challenge of internal communications, and how that has stifled organizational excellence. Many admitted they aren’t doing internal messaging well enough, and are trying to model what good communication looks like.

That failure to communicate results in a lack of understanding what other divisions are doing and how it all fits together into an organization’s overall strategy. If the full organization isn’t understanding why decisions are being made or why divisions are doing certain things, it leads to ambiguity and confusion among staff.

This also gets back to where communications sits within an organizational structure and how, ideally, communications leaders should be a senior executive who sits on the leadership team.

I have heard the same mantra in just the past week from more than a few administrators and leaders at collegiate athletic programs, from CEO’s of at least three companies, from a search firm lead, and from parents and friends.

One great example came this week from my friend Terry Lyons, who talked about how a decision to let go of the Boston College radio team for men’s basketball spiraled out of control, because not enough people may have thought through the process early enough. Read it here.

Then on the college side we constantly hear about the explosion of content creators hired by specific teams…not by athletics…who have full control of their own messaging around a particular program, especially football and men’s and women’s basketball. While the rise of staffers to create and disseminate messages and content, even tied to NIL, is terrific, the lack of coordination in many places is troubling and frankly, fraught with disaster. The silo ‘ed thinking, and the lack of sharing messaging, creates the us vs them mentality that DOES NOT have to exist, stifles learning and collaboration, and hurts the amplification of great stories beyond a narrow universe.

The miss on amplification is not new by the way.   This too comes up with individuals, brands, teams, causes, league and the like. There is a misconception that if x person or team shares something that “everybody” sees it. The reality is that we live in an attention limited environment. Even someone or a platform with millions of followers and engaged audiences CANNOT reach maximum exposure on their own. In a college environment, or even in a pro team environment, asking to share and amplify should be step one in a collaborative process, not an afterthought.

My colleague Chris LaPlaca, when he was at ESPN, preached the idea of “360 Communications.” You can read it here. Essentially it’s telling the story about the story to an audience that may have a different POV, or want so different pieces. It’s not just retelling, it’s an expansion and ESPN even has a website for such content, Front Row.. That is so critical if you want to reach the largest audience and not just check the box, and many times, people FORGET that some of the best amplifiers of content or stories are those people right in their own universe.

Why? They are siloed, heads down, too busy and focused on a narrower goal than the biggest picture. It’s often times not anyone’s fault unless the opportunity is ignored. It just has to be part of a bigger strategy to amplify messaging.  

There should be no surprises if people listen, share and ask.

 The same holds true for internal communication. The biggest advocates of news are those involved in every level from the top to the bottom. Many crave information, little facts that make them feel informed and included. Newsletters and clip sharing are great, and we have helped numerous businesses develop the best way to share information to the wider audience. Socials channels are also vital. It amazes me when there is a positive storytelling effort about an athlete, an individual, a team, a brand, and that story is NOT shared across internal channels to the outside world. Often times I hear that the social managers feel the content is off message from what they feel the audience wants to hear? Really? Is there harm in trying? Nope, but that’s not what we do. It’s a mistake to NOT share positive news, especially from third parties that can help validate a claim for an organization, even if it may not fall into a “consistent narrative.” If there is negative feedback about sharing, OK, but if you don’t try you never know.

And if there is a good reason to not share something…well explain it in a communicative setting to those with the ask, don’t just brush it off.

In the end, yes we are all super busy, but the senior communications people can help build consensus, avoid surprises, marry messages and build such good will across silo’ed divisions if given the chance. It’s not a matter of credit for individuals, it’s a matter of information, sharing and finding the best narratives that all are aware of.

That’s how you reach the biggest shared audience with messaging, with everyone rowing together, and successful messaging flows, while issues are avoided.

Listen, share, be collaborative and preach the good news collectively, each and every day.