Calling out a “Talk” vs. “Walk” Gap:? A view from the other side of the camera

As someone who has specialized in internal communication for 20+ years, and who has mainly been a consultant working behind the scenes, the last few weeks have been an unusual experience.?

It's one that's involved being the front man for an NGO on its signature issue.?

Not only did I find myself in the far-away Federated States of Micronesia, I was suddenly starring in a series of short videos to promote my client’s cause.?

And despite being a newcomer and an outsider, I had to deliver a direct and pointed statement to a key meeting of a multilateral body governing nearly 60% of the world's tuna supply.?

The issue is that this governing body, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) , conducts secret meetings while denying such secret meetings are secret .

Except a brief social gathering where the observers were able to catch some beer-fueled chatter from disgruntled delegates, observers were not welcome at the part of the meeting where the key decisions were made, or were they privy to the discussions.

The experience highlighted some crucial distinctions between internal and political communication.

A lot of what we as communication professionals do is help our clients - particularly businesses and public sector organizations - manage the discrepancies between “the talk” and “the walk”. This minimizes the inconsistencies between their words and behaviors.

From my internal communication perspective, I find that for companies to maintain these discrepancies, especially over the long term, the impact is to put employees under enormous pressure to deny and defend their organizations’ behaviors to stakeholders and customers, including their colleagues, friends and families.?

The pressure is more intense when the gaps are understood and obvious. And the sensitivity required to resolve them without adding extra exposure is, in essence, the core skill of the communication professional.?

So the opportunity to do the exact opposite - to direct maximum attention to the discrepancy between “the talk” and “the walk”? for a public organization that is actively promoting such a gap in the world of oceans and fisheries management has been quite an experience.?

There was no getting around it in such a distant location, I had to be the cameraman and the face. A tall order for any outsider given the ethnically strained political dynamics of the Pacific fishery.?

One observer condescendingly said of my delivery, "You came off as a foreigner lecturing them on what they can and cannot do."

There was no dispute I was very much a representative of the know-it-all, do-gooder West.

Yet, I still was charged with delivering an agenda-setting message for my client:

"There is no accountability without openness, and no sustainability without accountability."?

As BBC presenter Victoria Valentine said this week after her final broadcast, “You can choose comfort or courage, but you can’t choose both.”?