Archive for April, 2004
In 1999, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A&M University asked 137 leading scholars of American public address to recommend American political speeches on the basis of social and political impact, and rhetorical artistry. From the responses, they compiled a list of the “top 100 American speeches of the 20th century.” It’s a fascinating compilation, and I’ll be highlighting speeches from the list from time to time on this page.
Today I’ve selected FDR’s “First Fireside Chat” speech, which you may read here at American Rhetoric’s Online Speech Bank. FDR delivered this speech on 12 March 1933, on the heels of the “banking holiday” he instituted to temper a depression-induced run on U. S. banks. It’s an excellent example of a leader explaining a complex policy decision, its context, and its consequences, in simple terms via a clear and reasonable argument (an example from which every ERP project lead in the world should learn). His introductory paragraphs:
I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking — to talk with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks.
I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, and why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be. I recognize that the many proclamations from State capitols and from Washington, the legislation, the Treasury regulations, and so forth, couched for the most part in banking and legal terms, ought to be explained for the benefit of the average citizen. I owe this, in particular, because of the fortitude and the good temper with which everybody has accepted the inconvenience and hardships of the banking holiday. And I know that when you understand what we in Washington have been about, I shall continue to have your cooperation as fully as I have had your sympathy and your help during the past week.
After you’ve read the speech, listen to it in its entirety here. Not many people have heard FDR deliver his own rhetoric at length. I found hearing his first Fireside Chat in his own voice a remarkable … and somewhat haunting … experience.
Around our office, we’ve been “enjoying” — if that’s the right word — The Office, the BBC’s darkly comical take on life in a typical business setting.
It’s full of uncomfortable moments, like this communications “gem” from David Brent, branch manager, discussing impending layoffs:
There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is Neil will be taking over both branches, and some of you will lose your jobs…
On a more positive note, the good news is I’ve been promoted — so every cloud…
You’re still thinking about the bad news aren’t you?
From the Billings Gazette:
In her 13 years as a human-resources executive and consultant in San Francisco and Seattle, Cynthia Shapiro has pushed out unwanted employees using a string of methods: setting impossible goals, giving problem workers the clients no one else wants, taking them off a project they love, or surprising them with a bad performance review.
Most of the time they quit, never knowing that their exit was orchestrated.
“It’s an art form, really,” Shapiro said matter-of-factly.
What motivates this duplicity? In reality, says the Gazette, fear of lawsuits has relegated the phrase “you’re fired” to so-called reality television.
Instead, many companies have adopted more surreptitious ways to get rid of unwanted employees. Human-resources experts call it “managing out,” a way to nudge an employee out the door while also minimizing legal exposure.
Read the rest.
For our readers who work in HR functions:
UK companies are becoming more employee-focused, according to research released today by Northgate Information Solutions. In a survey of 50 UK CEOs, 90% said a proportion of their key performance indicators (KPIs) are HR-related, compared with only 37.75% two years ago, in a survey of 200 UK companies carried out by the group in 2002.
There’s also this:
“As time passes, more and more companies are realising the strategic importance of human resources as a business function central to the successful running of the company, rather than seeing personnel departments as administrative centres.”
Read more at Online Recruitment.
One of the sites linking to CommLog is The Nub out of the UK, which recently posted a brief email management strategy that I found useful. In reading it I recalled our own advice to clients regarding email, which is best summed up in 16 words:
“If an email takes more than two minutes to write, it’s an email you shouldn’t write.”
The fact is, an email that takes more than just a few minutes to write probably involves content better expressed through different media (read: media richness), and as such, you’ll likely be better served making a call, or even better, walking down the hall for a 30 second conversation with the intended recipient. (Exception: emails you must write to document an agreement or conversation; in these cases still have the conversation via phone or face-to-face, but write the email as a confirmation after the fact.)
There’s more guidance for email management that this, of course—and here are three items worth reading:
* Staples has an article titled Managing Email here, and the author, Jan Jasper, has additional tips here at Business Know-How.
* Asset Now has a straight-forward list of email dos and don’ts here.
* Online user experience guru Mark Hurst has a free whitepaper titled Managing Incoming Email: What Every User Needs to Know here.
For our clients in leadership positions, those aspiring to those positions, or those looking to reinvigorate their leaders…a refreshing (and short) column from CIO on The Joy Of Leadership. One snippet…
bq. Understanding the company objectives and how your actions affect the results is key to making a strong contribution…How you manage your budget, achieve diversity goals, add to the bench strength of the company through recruitment and development of employees, set and meet productivity goals, and act as a visible, professional representative of the company in external activities—these are all ways to positively impact the company.
The League of American Communication Professionals has issued their list of winners for their annual Inspire Awards Employee Communications Competition. See them here. Note that there are winners from four business-size classifications, and across a range of categories, including “Most Creative,” “Best Design,” and “Most Engaging.”
The conversation around our water cooler conveys dismay that our field still does so much to recognize tactical ability and so little to recognize strategic value. We still offer no awards for categories such as “most valuable to leadership,” “most effective reduction of employee uncertainty,” or “most likely to improve business results.” Until we do, we expect many companies to continue marginalizing (or outsourcing) internal communication professionals during difficult economic times.
Attention email distribution list users: The more people to whom you send email requests for help or information, the longer it will take to get an adequate response. Why? The “diffusion of responsibility effect”:
the belief, conveyed by verbal or nonverbal communication, that others are capable of helping. Accordingly, if an e-mail sent through a discussion group is evaluated by its recipient as being sent to many individuals that are capable of responding, the diffusion of responsibility effect would imply a decreased tendency to respond.
Read more at Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, who advise managers to “keep their e-mails personalized whenever possible. It’s that simple.”
