Part 6 of 10 Areas For Your Serious Personal & Professional Consideration & Reflection

Start by changing your mindset and your entire philosophy of work.

• Be candid: Truth with an attitude, delivered right now. Stop withholding things. Candor is your most powerful trust builder.
• Help the boss with what to do next: Much of their work has yet to be developed. Help them figure it out; be ready with options.
• Provide advice on the spot: Biggest frustration for operators – when staffers need to leave, then come back later with advice, often way too late. Train yourself to give cogent information now.
• Provide options: This strategy and approach will change your life and the lives of those you advise, forever. They will notice you and you will become more influential and important.
• Say things that matter: Stop with speculating about what the media will do or any other player, for that matter. Always say things that are substantial. When the conversation goes off track you are the one who asks, “Does this really matter?” If it doesn’t matter, say so and move on.
• Say things that the boss doesn’t know: Communicators in many organizations are known as the “Chicken Little” in the outfit. Always trying to get attention by scaring people, warning about impending disaster, but then withholding or not really knowing key crucial information. Chicken Littles don’t get called very often.

Author’s Note: Read The Trusted Strategic Advisor’s Manifesto – Parts 1 and 2 HERE and Parts 3, 4, and 5 HERE

Parts 7-10 will appear in future blogs posts and newsletters. If you’d like to see the remainder of this document sooner, as well as the materials connected with its presentation at the 2017 PRSA Corporate Communications Section Conference: Strategic Collaboration, held in Chicago on November 9^th please click HERE.

By: James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, Fellow IABC, APR, Fellow PRSA, BEPS Emeritus, America’s Crisis Guru