Kind truth... the PR adviser's paradox.

Are your corporate affairs advisers telling you what you need to hear? Or are they sparing your feelings and avoiding a difficult conversation and important truth?

PR consultants navigate some of the trickiest client relationships in the corporate world.

If we tell you "what we really think" we might annoy you, hurt you or lose your trust.

If we don't tell you what we think, you, and we, might screw up so badly that neither of us ever work again.

Sound like an overstatement? It's not.

I've had to tell the chairman that what they want to tell the ASX is so close to fiction that their credibility will be ruined and at least two regulators will take an unnatural interest in them. I've also had to tell CEOs he (or she) is risking their job and their reputation unless they change direction. And then there are the people I've represented who had actually done the wrong thing and I was the only person prepared to tell them that. Getting fired looked pretty certain. Sigh.

Walking the line

The line between transparency and diplomacy is often fine, but truth-telling is essential. How do we walk that line without compromising the trust you, our clients, place in us??

PR consultants are often tempted to shield our clients from the truth about what journalists and the public think about them.

There are two reasons for this:

Empathy: We care about your feelings and our relationship with you. After all, you trust us with your reputation. Sometimes, you give us (the corporate affairs adviser) the great honour of travelling alongside you during difficult times. We take that responsibility very seriously. Also, we want you to feel valued and understood. Giving truthful feedback can be emotionally uncomfortable, so we’re tempted to avoid it.

Self-interest and ego: If you're paying us to help you, there's a temptation to prioritise our relationship, and revenue or our income, over the outcome.

Sometimes we're also a bit too invested in you or the quality of our advice. We might have overidentified with you - be too loyal - and lose our objectivity. Or we might have developed a blindspot that means we think we're right and we "dig in" about our own advice. Whether it's because you're paying for our advice, or we don't seek other views, we can lose our own objectivity.

Why confront the brutal truth?

Avoiding the brutal truth doesn't help you, or me, in the long run. It shields both you, our clients, and myself and my colleagues, from reality. As a client or spokesperson, you don’t get valuable information about your reputation or brand, and we, your advisers, miss the opportunity to remain objective or get valuable feedback on our strategies and approaches.

Truthful feedback is critical for growth, improvement, and trust-building.

This brings us to a pivot point in our advisory and client relationships.

Do we want to be the "kind truth" advisor or shuffle around the awkward stuff?

If the former it means finding a way to give you difficult feedback to help you. It means offering our insight so you can succeed.

?As a dear friend says "Give me the grace to get it wrong". We care deeply about your success. Sometimes we might have to risk hurting your feelings to help you achieve your own goals.

If we're not walking that line, it's worth asking if you're really getting the best advice.