“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”

This summer’s surprise presidential campaign for Kamala Harris set the internet on fire with a cascade of viral memes. One that caught my attention was when Harris quoted her grandmother’s cheeky expression:?

“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”

Harris explained that the saying was a reminder to young people that they exist in a context, shaped by all those that came before.

This bit of wisdom strikes me as being particularly relevant to people working in communications teams. I observe that virtually every communications team I’ve worked with over the last two decades (of every size, in every sector and in over a dozen countries) shares remarkably common characteristics and challenges:

• They are frustrated that everyone thinks they’re a communicator, and it can’t be that hard
• They chronically deal with delusional expectations
• They face crushing approval processes that often make products worse, not better
• They are habitually criticized for not being strategic or proactive enough

I’m willing to bet that if you’re a communications practitioner, this set of frustrations is very familiar to you. Guess what? The answer to these ubiquitous challenges lies in…a coconut tree.

Let me explain.

These discernable patterns and frustrations visible in virtually every communications team are the result of culture. They are not about the chief communications officer. They? are not about the team. They are not even about process or resources. In fact, these traits are the entirely predictable result of consistent, self-reinforcing cultural norms and assumptions.?

Every profession lives in a cultural context and a set of calcified (often outdated) perceptions. For example, if you think of a “police officer” or “surgeon” or “lawyer”, immediately a picture in your mind emerges about the archetype of that professional. Critically, this deeply entrenched mental model is not only vivid in the eyes of people around them, but more importantly it shapes the professionals themselves. We are normative, social beings after all – our behaviours and mindsets are the product of? our understanding of “how things are done around here”.

I observe that professional communicators tend to underestimate the impact of cultural perceptions of their function. More importantly, they tend to be blind to how cultural norms and assumptions are shaping their own perception of themselves and how they show up.

One of the biggest unlocks of performance for communications leaders is deliberate unlearning - to consider what patterns, beliefs and assumptions may be holding them back. If we want to draw a bigger box for communications and bust out of self-defeating norms, we have to first have the guts to get out of our own way.

That’s the opening invitation in the Leadership Development Program for Communicators I lead at uOttawa’s Professional Development Institute. Check it out to see if it’s right for you - or sign up to a free webinar hosted by uOttawa on Communicators as Change Makers.