IABC Café

As I mentioned in my CommaKazi Speek blog, it was an eery coincidence that I was moderating a comment here from Gerard Braud just minutes before the first shots would be fired on Monday morning at Virginia Tech.

Gerard and I today recorded a podcast on the topic of crisis communication that you can hear on my podcast site. I’m looking forward to learning more about the importance of leadership in crisis communications when I join a group of communicators this June to participate in Gerard’s pre-conference workshop and bus tour prior to the start of the IABC International Conference in New Orleans.

The need to prepare to communicate in a crisis was brought to my attention three times within the past 24 hours, so I’m paying attention.

It started when I registered yesterday for a pre-conference workshop to be delivered by Gerard Braud at the 2007 IABC International Conference in New Orleans. Braud’s workshop topic, “Katrina: Lessons in leadership and communication,” will provide a real-life example of crisis communications in action.

I’ve never worked with Gerard, but our paths did cross immediately following Hurricane Katrina, and it started on this blog. Past Chair Warren Bickford–who escaped from New Orleans as the hurricane was striking– had written a post looking to spur interest in chapters assisting in hurricane relief efforts. Braud’s reply to that post was both moving and alarming. In part, he wrote:

The problem is, there is no way to get information to anyone in an official capacity who can get me in to help. I need an official police or emergency vehicle to get from Destin, Florida to Covington, Louisiana. Only official vehicles are allowed on the interstate.

As with most disasters, everyone is busy handling the crisis and no one is communicating. I have a broadcast camera and computer editing in my car. If I can get in, I can drive back out to places with power to get this information out to citizens who need it. ONE MILLION people are trying to get official information and there is NO SOURCE FOR IT. One Million people will be HOMELESS for week and don’t know it yet. I have the tools and the know how. I just need a way in.

I contacted Braud later that day and posted more information on my former Blogger site. I’m looking forward to meeting Braud in person this June and discussing lessons to learn–and to avoid.

The second item about crisis communication was in the Friday, April 6, 2007 New York Times. The article, “An S O S for 911 Systems in Age of High-Tech,” (registration required) is an eye-opening update on how the 9-1-1 emergency number used in the United States has become very ineffective in this age of cell-phones and Internet telephony. According to a source quoted in the Times article, “40 percent of the nation’s counties, most of them rural or small-town communities like this one, cannot yet pinpoint the location of cellphone callers, though the technology to do so has been available for at least five years.”

The third item is information about the First European Security and Safety Summit that will be held on June 6-7, 2007 in Brussels Heysel, Belgium. The European Emergency Number Association is planning to offer sessions at the summit that will be dedicated to all aspects of emergency telecommunications (112, interoparability and alert systems issues).

We U.S. citizens haven’t had to face the technical and political challenges that come from being one of several adjacent nations, each with its own emergency number to dial. The 112 initiative seeks to popularize that number as the single emergency number for the European Union nations. Of course, they also must tackle the questions of how to trace calls made by non-landline phones.

When an accident or disaster occurs, communications between emergency services, authorities and citizens are needed the most, while availability can be limited–or nonexistent. Consider brushing up on this topic so that you can help your clients or company executives to communicate at those times.

The boxing reference to an ongoing debate between veteran communication consultants Shel Holtz, ABC, and T.J. Larkin seems appropriate on the surface.

Both have expressed differing views on the importance and effectiveness of supervisors and CEOs in the company communication channel–particularly when news of major change needs to be disseminated and accepted. The first round occurred shortly after Larkin’s June 28 address during the IABC International Conference. Holtz strongly disagreed with Larkin’s major premises and questioned his research conclusions in a lengthy post. Round three occurred when Larkin sent his own lengthy response in response to Holtz’s comments republished in an email newsletter distributed by Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc.

My thanks to Judy Gombita for alerting me to two new Ragan online articles that provide additional insights into the main issues at the core of the Holtz/Larkin commentaries. One article, dated next Monday, Aug. 29, is titled, “When Larkin talks about supervisory communication, what is he actually talking about?” The second is titled, Face to face, with reality which asks the following question:

TJ and Sandar Larkin have dined out for 20 years on their theory that supervisors are the key to employee communication. But are they right?

At the beginning of this post, I stated that the boxing metaphor seems appropriate on the surface. But as the discussion continues–among Holtz, Larkin and everyone else–the truly appropriate thing to do is to focus on the issues, NOT the personalities. We all should consider how the questions raised by this discussion can help us to be better communicators. We shouldn’t make this a battle of personalities.

As I’ve sifted through the many points raised by Holtz and Larkin, I’ve found places to agree, and disagree, with both of them. I’ve also sensed that they have occasionally missed the meaning of a point made by the other. It’s like I learned in marital counseling once (don’t ask for details), sometimes two people can become polarized to the point where they don’t really hear what the other person is saying.

This discussion is too valuable for any of us to need a mediator to keep moving it forward in a positive direction. So please read the Ragan articles and post your thoughts. Just leave the boxing gloves off while you type.

Tom Keefe, ABC