You Don't Say

Anyone who is a parent has suffered embarrassment at the hands of their kids. I think it's part of the territory. I thought I would share one of those moments with you today.

Many evenings, as my oldest child is finishing her homework, I will walk my two youngest to get the mail from our mailbox which is two blocks away. I make a game of it: playing Simon says, follow the leader, or I spy along the way. Sometimes I have them run races. This was one of those nights - Bubba and his sister were running mini races as we made our way down the sidewalk. We'd hit a driveway and all chant "ready, set, GO!" as they took off for the next drive. Well, apparently Bubba wasn't in the mood to be beat by his sister that night, because he started to get upset just as we approached a group of people standing on their front lawn talking with some neighbors. After prepping Bubba with a dose of encouragement, I sent the kids off for another mini race. My daughter quickly took the lead and Bubba started shouting after her. Now, I know my son and his linguistic quarks - among them, 'f' often sounds like 'b'. I know what he was trying to shout was "No you faster!" meaning that he wanted his sister to go slower so he could catch up. That's not what our new neighbors heard. After all, Bubba is two and still working on his mastery of the English language. What our new neighbors heard (much to their dismay and ultimate amusement) was my son repeatedly yelling at the top of his lungs "No, you bastard!" My first reaction was embarrassment but that quickly turned into worry that they would think I had taught my son the phrase he was shouting with such gusto. After all, aren't kids a reflection on their parents?

Fortunately these folks had young kids too, and after a quick appraisal of the situation, they figured out what he meant and got a good chuckle out of the whole thing much to my chagrin. (I'm assuming at the same time I was released from any culpability.) But as I thought about the whole thing later, I kept coming back to the importance of being understood and the inherent risks associated with allowing somebody else to represent you. And, that brings us to our...

Tip of the day: Choose & train your representatives carefully.
This seems like a no-brainer, but too many times I have seen things go incredibly wrong because this wasn't done. Here's a few points for consideration:

Determine who is/can represent you.
First, let's talk about the traditional spokesperson. If you are going to be the spokesperson for your organization, are you equipped with the information that you need to perform your job intelligently? Aside from the basic information, do you know all the appropriate industry jargon so that you can "talk the talk" or do you sound like Bubba, close but not quite on point? If you, as the public relations lead have identified someone else to be the spokesperson you also need to consider a few additional points. Does this person connect with an audience? Are they relatable? Are they believable/genuine? Can they stay on message during interviews? Will they be viewed as having the authority to speak for the organization? Sometimes this person is the president or CEO, but often times, the best person for this role is found at a second tier level.

Clearly identify your representatives.
Regardless of who is selected, it should be clearly identified and made known to the entire organization. i.e. Only Mr/s X has the authority to speak to the media on behalf of the organization. For the purposes of creating a strong crisis communications policy - you may wish to identify several authorized speakers. This will not only provide you back-ups should your 1st option be unavailable, it also can help identify a pool of internal subject matter experts who are able to address different topics.

Train your representatives.
Whether you are the chosen spokesperson or you have identified someone else, make sure that they have the experience and training to feel comfortable speaking in front of a crowd or on camera. For general public speaking training and practice, check out your local Toastmasters club. For on camera training there alot of great resources available at the national level, but you can also frequently find them in your own back yard. For one organization that I was with, I organized one-on-one on camera training via the news director at the local TV station. He was happy to come out and build relationship with our leadership and get some new story ideas. It was invaluable for our executive team though because they got to practice being on camera, see their interview played back, and get critiques from a media veteran as well as their PR gal (me.)

What about your online reputation?
In today's Social Media environment, you are more often represented by the "unofficial spokesperson" than a selected designee. Does your organization have a social media policy? Again, there are a lot of great resources and a few best practices are beginning to rise to the surface. For years, Southwest Airlines has allowed multiple people throughout the ranks of their organization to represent them in blogs. It's part of how they establish a personal connection with their customers. You are just as likely to see a blog post from a Southwest baggage handler as you are the CEO. The key to this type of open policy is vigilance. Make sure that those who are representing you in the social media world are functioning as brand zealots. Do they share your value and views? Do they accurately (or appropriately) represent your organization to your customers?

The bottom line is, it doesn't matter who represents your organization as long as they can do it well. Make sure they can connect with their audience (media, general public or online community) and arm them with the information they need to represent you in the best possible light. After you've sent them out to do their job, monitor the results closely so that you can make any needed tweaks.

Choose carefully and train carefully - because representing an organization isn't child's play.