In his Crisis Guru Commentaries, Jim Lukaszewski provides real answers to real questions about your most critical communications problems and issues.

This issue was triggered by the question below.

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Question:
 
Dear Crisis Guru:

What do you do when the boss says “no” and when, despite your best efforts, it’s clear that the boss does not want to go along with what you are proposing, but in your own heart you know what to do?

Technical Communications Manager
One of America’s largest retailers

Answer:

Dear Manager:

Let me make several suggestions because the question you asked is one I hear with some frequency.

But before I make these suggestions, let me make some general observations about the staff function of communications.  Much of the time communicators are dealing with issues of communication.  While this is as it should be, when giving communications advice to operating personnel, one of the most important aspects of the communicator’s job is to understand the world of the operating executive or manager and use that as a powerful guide to limit the kinds of advice provided.

The reality is that communications is, from the operating executive’s perspective, an important but fairly small segment of daily responsibility, and, frankly, this executive feels it is pretty easy work and not much of a mental stretch.  These senior people are looking for trusted advisors who can go beyond their particular staff area of expertise and both apply it to operational decision making and look beyond the communications area for other issues and questions this executive is going to face.

Becoming a trusted advisor has to be your first and most important intent in giving advice to management.  Once we start thinking from management’s perspective, some amazing things happen.  First, you will tend to recognize that communication is an important but often minor part of the decision making going on.  Second, almost everything operating executives do has a communications context.  There may be more substantive issues that require answers than any internal or external issues or questions.  Third, and most important of all, managers are compensated, promoted, and retained on what they actually get done or what they were hired to do.  Quite often, communicators feel their greatest value comes in their ability to constantly come up with new ideas and different approaches to communications issues or tasks.  Remember, most managers lose their jobs or fail to progress because of their failure to achieve what they promised when they were hired or promoted.

When I’m around, most managers talk to me about you.  They respect what communications offers, but constantly ask why this communications person is in their office laying idea after idea after idea on a desk already filled with concepts, problems, and situations from last week, the week before, and the last month, all of which have yet to be dealt with.  What they would prefer is someone who comes into their office, looks at the pile on the desk (this means you need to know what’s on that desk), and makes a couple constructive suggestions about how to take the next steps in resolving one or two of the most important items there ― and to do this whether or not communications is a component.

That’s putting yourself in management’s shoes.  Until you do, managers will make most of their decisions without you and call you at the last minute to tell you what to say and do.  And you will have an enormous sense of dissatisfaction that what you know how to do remains unused and unappreciated.

Here are four suggestions to think about when the boss says no.
This is often a very powerful analytic approach.  By contrasting these two circumstances, what we want versus what those affected need, it’s likely that you will have a far more substantive conversation with the boss.  It’s also likely that you will get less than you asked for but more than need to accomplish your goals.

Cordially,

Jim Lukaszewski