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A life lesson in comms
September 9, 2021
Working in PR, our job is to advise our clients on the most effective way to communicate a specific business message to their target audience. Communicating is our trade, but as with anything, there is always more to learn.
My most recent reminder of the importance of effective comms came during our house renovation. Whether communicating with builders, apologising to neighbours or trying to stay calm with your partner, this experience holds a myriad of tests.
Our neighbours (and builders) are lovely, but even the most level-headed individual has a breaking point, and we found that for one neighbour, the sound of floor sanding at 9am on a Saturday was it. For another, it was a pallet of broken floor tiles, literally weighing a tonne, left blocking a communal pathway for a night.
For the builder, it was us asking them the following day to move said weighty broken floor tiles one by one into the garden – on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year – when we both knew they’d need to move them straight back a few days later once the skip arrived.
Be it decision making, navigating around a building site or despairing at the mess, stress levels were high – and when we’re stressed, we tend not to communicate as effectively, precisely at the time when it is most important.
So, what have I learnt?
Prepare your story
Much like we advise our clients to prep before a briefing with the media, we’ve found that thoroughly preparing our case by writing every question or point down, as we think of it, means unnecessary repetition and quick conversations with builders. Sounds obvious but given how many conversations over the course of the day involve some aspect of the renovation, very often we didn’t have a phone or pen handy. Now, we’re prepared – and having an agenda, always makes for a more efficient meeting.
Always apologise
When it comes to handling crisis comms we advise our clients that sorry is ALWAYS the best policy. It doesn’t imply guilt, it won’t come back to bite you, and people are always more receptive to your future comms if you accept responsibility when something goes wrong.
Explaining the situation (the what), explaining why it happened, how long it will last and what you are doing to resolve it quickly works just as well for a couple apologising to their neighbours as it does for a business apologising to the masses.
Just look at how KFC handled the chicken shortage of 2018. An expert lesson in great comms – it admitted it had FCK’ed up and apologised.
Speak concisely
This is something we always advise our clients to do when speaking to the press, it makes for more quotable sound bites and helps any journalist understand even the most nuanced and technical product or strategy. In our case, we have a language barrier, so quickly realised speaking more slowly, and using fewer words makes life easier for everyone.
Be nice
Be it going out of your way to make a double espresso with two sugars for the builders, dropping a bottle of wine over to the neighbour to thank them for their patience or biting your tongue when you disagree on a minute detail with your partner – it’s always easier to err on the side of kindness. Of course, this is true in everyday life too, but when fixing up a home it might just mean you have more to gain – a discount, a look the other way, an easier life. Relationship building is a huge part of PR so knowing how to maintain long and healthy relationships pays dividends.
Florence Gartland