The Untold Truths in Strategic Communications & Business Transformation with Gary Grates
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What comes to mind when you hear the word communications? When people hear “communications”, they might think PR or they might think of it as a non-critical function. But they could not be more wrong…
In this interview with Gary Grates, a globally renown strategic communications expert and C-suite whisperer who has worked with the world’s biggest brands from Pfizer to United Airlines, we uncover the hidden truths in the world of comms and business transformation. This episode will change the way you build company brands forever.
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In this episode, we cover off on a variety of topics:
Communications is not just about communications, it’s everything
Business transformation often fails, start with the brand in mind, not the business
Forget your title to determine what is the real problem to solve
Never let your job description stop you from doing what the business needs
When working with the c-suite, stop selling and start listening
Careers are not a vertical progression, careers are for learning
Develop a point of view or be replaceable
KEY LESSONS
Communications will fail if it’s just about communications
Everything communicates. This is something that stuck in my head after talking with Gary. If you want something to be successful, you need to communicate well.
“Communications touches everything. You could have the cure for cancer. You could be the smartest dude on the planet. If you can't connect and communicate and convey and listen and interact and collaborate. It doesn't matter. All that stuff doesn't matter. We (communicators) are the oxygen that keeps life moving.”
Gary tells a story in the podcast episode about his first job as a communicator, in charge of an internal newsletter. Instead of just being a newsletter editor, he used that as a vehicle to bring manufacturing and management together, changing the way business was conducted and the atmosphere of the company. Think about that for a second – from owning a newsletter, to changing the entire culture of the company. That’s communications.
To perform this type of miracle, Gary was adamant that you can’t stay in the lane of communications, you need to understand the entire company.
“A lot of communications people feel, oh I don't belong there. I was in manufacturing meetings, design meetings, brand meetings… I wanted to be in every freaking meeting. You’ve got to finagle your way into the conversation. That’s the only way you’re gonna make a difference.”
He also talks about how if communication is left to just communicators, it will all fall apart. It should really be the core of any leadership team.
“Purpose can get lost quickly when you leave it to just the communications people. We're not here to communicate for the company. We're here to help the company communicate.”
Start business transformation with the brand in mind, not the business
Gary has helped many businesses transform and his advice? Start with the brand. How is the transformation going to impact the purpose, identity, and the people? Then align the business against that.
“We have always looked at business transformation, again, through the lens of the business side, the financial side, the operational side, the structural side. And 70% of business transformations fail. And they fail because we start there. But if you start with the brand identity, which nobody does in business transformation. Here's who we and what we are. Here's our relevance, here's our reputation, here's our promise, here's our identity. Here are the things that we've done with all our key stakeholders over the years to establish our personality. Now let's talk about what do we have to do as a business to ensure that that's still gonna happen, that's still relevant. Then the transformation becomes much clearer.”
It's counter-intuitive because most of the executives in charge of transforming the business aren’t trained in communications or brand. This is the exact conversation I had with David Aaker in Episode 8 where branding is usually never mentioned in disruptive innovation or social program discussions, because executives aren’t trained in these disciplines. They are usually operations or finance trained. Gary laments:
“I think it comes down to sheer ignorance. And I don't mean that people aren't smart. That's not what I mean. These people are very smart. I'm talking about ignorance about communication. I sent an email, I communicated. I put a poster up, I communicated, I created a logo, I branded my company. I created a theme, I gave my company some type of personality”
And so our job is to insert ourselves into transformation meetings to positively alter the trajectory.
Forget your job description to figure out the problem to solve
If you approach your work as a communicator, as a branding person, you’re going to miss the boat. Because if all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail. You might be focusing on something that is not helpful to the business. Gary shares his experience in his first company:
“We were focusing on the numbers, and we weren't focusing on how to get the numbers. How to get the numbers was the people, how to get the numbers was the process, how to get the numbers was the priority. That's how you got the numbers. But we focused on the numbers. We were up, we were down, we were sideways.”
Often, when communicators are brought to the table, leaders may think it’s a communications problem, but if we approach it as a neutral participant, we might start to realize it’s anything but.
“Start with what are you trying to solve? That's number one. Cause that's basically altruistic, that doesn't take sides. That doesn't go after it as a brand issue or communications issue. Is it a communications problem? If everything's a communications problem, you're chasing symptoms. I see this in politics. It's a communications problem, no, no, no, the policy sucks. The communications people should be working with leadership to figure out how they need to reconstruct the policy or the decision”
His personal experience is a very powerful reminder that if you’re looking out for your company, you can be sure your job will never be limited and you will be valued.
“I never looked at a job description in my life. Never did. Even at GM. My goal was to figure out what we were, what the company needed and any company that I worked with, it was never about - you're only supposed to do these things, you report to that person. I never let that get in the way.”
When working with the C-suite, stop selling and start listening
As a C-suite whisperer, I couldn’t forego the opportunity to ask Gary how he approached the highest levels in an organization. He has two specific pieces of advice for folks like me:
Number One: Listen intently
“One is - always listen intently. Cause you're trying to figure out what they're saying, but also what they're not saying. You're trying to look for the shadow behind the person.”
Number Two: Never go in with an answer
“Never go in with an answer. Always go in with a set of questions. Everybody wants to be a hero with the CEO. Everybody wants to go in and say - I think we should do this. I've never done that. I've always gone in, as I said before ask, how smart and engaged do you want your people to be? Where do you see the organization? You guys have been changing so much over the last five years. Can you tell me what business you're in? I mean, having provocative questions that stop the CEO in a way that says, Hey, this, this person's paying attention.”
And never sell them, instead have a conversation and see where it goes.
“CEOs hate salesmen. And yet so many people go in with a PowerPoint. I've yet to see a CEO react to a PowerPoint. It's always the discussion. You want to have a conversation and walk away where you can say, hey, there's a mind meld here, let's see what we can do.”
There is so much more to our conversation, and this is one of those episodes where there will be something new every time you listen to it. It’s jam packed with learnings from decades of experience in the field of strategic corporate communications. I really do hope you enjoy it and it changes the way you build your company brands, making them the healthiest brands on the planet.
Learn more about Gary:
- Website
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