The Long Road Communicating Into Trouble

‘Teaching Gestapo’ is probably the least flattering New Year message I’ve received.

With hindsight, my tin hat should have been at the ready. My employer at the time, the regulatory body for teachers, had issued a January message of its own, announcing a fifteen pounds increase in its registration fee.

It seemed an obvious annual bureaucracy. Fees go up, right? Whether it’s the gym; train ticket; or golf club. We sent a letter to all teachers from the Convener of the Finance Committee explaining the ￡1.25 a month rise was the first in five years and what they could expect to receive in return for their money.

Phones rang off the hook, the email inbox was rammed, and such was the outrage, some even resorted to dusting off a pencil and writing a letter of complaint. I reflect regularly on that chastening experience, literally weeks manning the communications pump. What should we have done differently? How do you anticipate crisis?

There was a perfect storm in the teaching profession at the time (I suspect another is brewing). Teachers were under considerable workload pressure, by any fair estimation they were underpaid for helping shape Scotland’s future society, and the government was proposing a root and branch review of how education was delivered. In that context a fifteen pounds uplift went down like a rat sandwich.

It’s easy to communicate into trouble. Governments have been doing it with some regularity of late. No-one I spoke to at a physical distance during December thought the Christmas present of a number of days partying with family made sense. It jarred with Covid-19 cases and hospitalisation numbers like an out of tune banjo.

No-one I spoke to at a physical distance was surprised that Santa’s sleigh was diverted from delivering this particular gift. And yet, they were to a person angry and frustrated at the U-turn. The governments of the UK had communicated into trouble.

I spent some of the Christmas break sans family watching a documentary about football referees. Yes, another motley crew that can’t do right for doing wrong (I have permission to say this, my father-in-law is a former Premier League referee).

This was a research-based investigation into how referees make decisions. Part of the programme considered whether the absence of fans from matches during the Covid-19 pandemic had influenced decision-making. The research found that it had.

Whistle blowing with fans present tended towards 55/45 in favour of the home team whereas it was closer to 50/50 without. Why? Because as human beings we want to be liked. It’s a simple as that. The UEFA official interviewed was clear that research showed referees who are being hounded by the home support err on the side of appeasing them however hard they try not to.

This is one of the reasons why it becomes so easy to communicate into trouble, our natural dispensation to be liked and to assume that people will understand we have best intentions at heart. Of course, the General Teaching Council needs to increase its registration fee from time to time. Of course, the UK governments wanted citizens to enjoy Christmas after a morale-sapping year and of course it then had no option to accept it had made a mistake in the face of worrying case numbers. Of course, referees are human. But like it or not, it’s an unforgiving world out there whether on the football pitch, in government, or in the world of education. How do we avoid communicating into trouble and damaging organisational reputation?

There are tried and tested methods of communicating out of trouble. A solid understanding and ability to execute crisis communications is a must in the arsenal of any professional communicator. Avoiding communicating into trouble is harder. It involves planning well in advance for the unforeseeable. It requires an organisational vision that is clearly communicated and can be flexed at short notice. Crucially, it relies upon appropriate and authentic organisational values that are understood and lived by all employees. Taken together, this recipe supports improved collective decision making. It also promotes listening to what is going on in the wider world that might impact plans down the line. Sadly, listening is turning into a dying art rather than a fundamental organisational value.

In the example of the General Teaching Council a policy of increasing the registration fee by small increments annually would have removed the need for what was perceived by some as an arbitrary decision at that point in time.

In the example of referees, being prevented by footballing authorities across Europe from openly discussing decisions after a game only contributes to the myth and assumptions made. Perhaps allowing referees to be human beings rather than demonised in absentia would result in improved understanding of their decision making.

In the example of the UK governments, sticking to a plan of action and avoiding the temptation to flex to appear less directive when no-one can accurately predict the passage of this pandemic would support clearer communication of objectives to the public.

I suspect as we edge towards a world recovering from Covid-19 many organisations will communicate into trouble as they encourage unwilling employees to return to the office or accept different terms and conditions that fail to support the flexibility and health and wellbeing considerations we have all reflected upon in the past year.

Avoiding making these mistakes over and over requires fundamental shifts in leadership behaviours and organisational decision-making. Avoiding communicating into trouble requires sowing the seeds of innovative vision, meaningful values, and courageous and ethical leadership well in advance.

No organisation is immune to crisis. However, if we work towards embedding meaningful vision and values and communicating them clearly, we can navigate a smoother path to shared happiness and success. Now, that would be a more palatable new year message.