This article is the second of a new series called “Looking Ahead: the Future of Communications for Good,” produced in collaboration with the Communications Network. Look for additional pieces every other Wednesday, and add your thoughts in the comments. Read the first one from Cecile Richards on storytelling.
I’m greeted by a card on my desk each day. It says: “To a good friend, and an even better Facebook friend.” My inspiration for deep connection! Well, maybe not ...
As the Communications Network celebrates its 40th anniversary, it is collaborating with the Chronicle to figure out what’s coming next.
We all know that technology is transforming the field of communications (and, well, pretty much everything) at a stunning pace. Obviously, a lot of good has come from this.
But it’s worth remembering that tech is no more and no less than a tool and a tactic. It is a complement to an “asset” that has existed since the beginning of time and will be relevant until the end of our days: relationships. Real human connection.
Relationships with trusted colleagues, friends, and professional collaborators can help leaders learn faster and better and solve problems in ways that technology alone simply can’t do.
This is as true today as it was 40 years ago. It’s what hasn’t changed since the Communications Network opened its doors.
In 1983, I was looking for a job. I placed a call to Frank Karel, the communications lead at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He was the pioneer of public-interest communications for foundations and other nonprofits. I didn’t know him, but a colleague told me he might be hiring. Three days later, Frank and I had dinner.
I could say that my dinner date with Frank was unusual, but it wasn’t for him. He had thousands of those dinners. You would never find him passing out his business card to the masses. And he didn’t “work a room” with superficial chatter and hustle. But he was a networker, one whose personal communication was about authentic relationships.
He was all about one person at a time. Frank founded the Communications Network on the premise that real, meaningful relationships could be the basis on which people could learn from each other and build genuine community in service to a better world.
But in the name of progress, while staying current and in touch through any number of social platforms, we communicators today too easily dismiss the pursuit of relationships as too time consuming and inefficient, not to mention daunting.
‘We Don’t Know Journalists’
Many in our field earn a living in media relations but don’t know journalists. Too many “relationships” are confined to email and MailChimp blasts. We reach hundreds of reporters and producers off sophisticated lists, and when we get a 10 percent “open rate,” we find reason to declare victory. Feature-story placement is especially challenging because we don’t have the relationships that would lead a reporter to hear the pitch in the first place.
Policy communicators work off various online platforms to reach their audiences, showcasing “likes” and online petitions, when, in practice, their audiences are probably a specific, targeted group of people for whom a personal connection can be the difference between a perfunctory greeting and actual policy change.
Let’s be clear: By “relationship,” I’m not referring to an interaction that must rise to the level of BFFs, or even friendship. But a genuine human connection must meet the bar of authenticity, taking the honest measure of the other person. I want to know what they care about, what drives and motivates them, and what we might have in common. This need not take vast amounts of time, but it does take some time, as opposed to a click or a stroke of a key.
Sometimes in-person communication isn’t feasible because of the miles that separate us. So, Skype and Zoom are today’s revolutionary substitutes for direct engagement. In our line of work, a single human moment can sometimes have value that far exceeds a hundred impersonal digital encounters.
This is particularly true in the nonprofit world where understanding community is paramount, where personal encounters in the neighborhood, at the school, at the clinic, at the shelter, in the museum, or in the prison are irreplaceable. And, as storytellers and content generators for online and traditional media, there are limits to how effectively we can convey our ideas and plans for community-based change through digital communication alone.
A Role for Board Members
Foundation and nonprofit board members and leaders can model professional relationship-building in all sorts of ways, many of them “old-fashioned” but every bit as relevant today. Site visits to meet grantees are valuable not only for the program officer but also for executive leaders. It may be tough to get a journalist to reply to an email, but why not invite a reporter to moderate a foundation-sponsored event or conference or be the featured speaker on a topic of mutual interest?
Grant makers have their own procedures for the application process. But what’s to stop a prospective grantee or group of grantees from requesting a meeting with a foundation executive for the purpose of inviting her or him to address an important audience or write a piece for an organizational outlet? And, in the spirit of educating policy makers, if an influential advocate retweets a message, why not take it a step further and offer to brief the person, providing expertise that may be welcomed?
Mayors and Governors
Here’s some personal evidence for why these strategies work: the experience I had last fall riding on the night van with the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, learning from a doctor about research needs at the intersection of housing and homelessness. Or the big-city mayor who sat with me for three minutes, heard my request, and authorized me to pitch my idea about reducing gun violence to her health commissioner.
Or the former governor who shared a lament over breakfast at a retreat, leading to a jointly written op-ed piece that framed the environmental-activist argument supporting the rights of indigenous people to manage their forests. Or simply my many colleagues who tell me that they appreciate my taking the time to speak with them about something rather than sending them an email or Slack notice from three doors down.
None of these opportunities happen in the absence of human connection. My experience is that human connection breeds productivity, creativity, and understanding — and good ideas! The future of communications for good is online and in person. It’s not an either-or, and we delude ourselves if our advocacy is limited to one or the other.
Chief Listeners and Messengers
Over the next decade, thoughtful and ambitious foundation and nonprofit leaders will need to focus on relationships and network-building as a core part of their operating and change strategies. This is especially true for the communications executives who serve as the chief listeners and messengers for their organizations. Doing this will be easier said than done because the default is increasingly about technology — e-contact not as a complement to human interaction but as the sole mechanism for communicating.
What does complementary action look like? For starters, it means creating time and funds for staff to meet people in settings that are conducive to conversation. It means articulating our ideas in such a compelling way that journalists want to meet us. It means inviting people whose attention we seek into our organizations as speakers, moderators, and experts — in the spirit of meaningful interaction. Within our world as communicators, it means fostering small-group interactions, independent of when we are “spoken to.” And it means encouraging our organizations to convene colleagues in formal and informal ways that breed authentic conversations.
Relationships require investing time (and sometimes a little bit of money). Social-media platforms are obviously indispensable to modern-day communication, but they are not substitutes for the unique value of authentic personal engagement that is absolutely essential for rallying social change.
Andy Burness is founder of Burness, a company that provides communications advice to grant makers and nonprofits.
