What's the Message?

So here we are at the USA’s midterm elections, those between the national elections of presidents. The fever gripping American citizens over these political elections is altogether fascinating and exhausting. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Partiers, Moderates, Activists…all are trying to capture the imagination of the electorate through popular issues. And due to the news cycles and marketing air time available, these messages are reduced to sound bites—reportedly just as we Americans like them. But what is the message?


I, for one, am having difficulty finding it, or recognizing it. Like others I can certainly see the various positions, e.g. government bigger or smaller, tax the rich or renew the tax breaks, universal health or not, pro-life/pro-choice, etc. But these are just issues and not a message that rings across the land or even overseas.

Who are we…what do we stand for?

I also hear and see a lot of the ‘what’ but not much of the ‘how.’ Assuming I represent the majority of Americans, e.g. not extreme in my views, I would love to hear how we are going to grow the economy, retire the debt and deficit, enable sustained job creation, and generally provide for the well being of our people. For sure we are witnessing and involved to some degree in the sausage making of democracy—we may not like watching it being made but we surely enjoy partaking in the product.

We the voters are being bombarded by a lot of stuff as incumbents and newcomers all vie to become everything to everyone. In NASCAR—“to finish first, first you have to finish.” In political parlance—you have to get elected before you can do any good. But what is missing from the discourse is the big message…what’s it all about?

Most in the political arena believe they are sworn to represent their constituents and do well by them. But I believe a bigger message is missed and the American people as a body are unsatisfied without it. Polls continue to measure our anger, frustrations, and anxieties about our elected officials are disconnected from us on the important things and that they are more responsive to party politics than to us. That is NOT a good message.

Regardless of the outcomes of our midterm Congressional and local elections, the one thing that is likely to be a given is we are not going to see that much change no matter who is elected. Some argue it’s likely because most Americans are centrists and, therefore, most politicians will govern generally towards that body whatever their party affiliation. Others argue our system of government itself is inherently designed to be obstructionist and extremes are checked in the process. Still others argue the seniority system within the halls of the Congress mandate only one way to get things done—“you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” Some even argue it’s not the system, it’s who is drawn to politics in the first place, e.g. moths drawn to the flame, and are predictable how they act once near the centers of power.

All of this is true to some degree. But the one thing missing is the strategic message that should be guiding us instead of the actors.

In this arena, I confess I do not have the answer but I do have a strategic communications perspective. My view of this is that there should be a strategic vision of what this country should look like from our politicians.

Then a series of planned steps to get from where we are today to that vision where actions and words are matched along the way. Then, metrics (measures of effectiveness and their subordinate measures of performance) should be developed and utilized to report on how it is going to the public.

Like in football, a player can’t make substantial gains on the field unless he knows where he is at relative to the goal line, has a strategy to get there, makes a series of plays to execute advancement of the ball, can adjust to stiff opposition, and never gives up. Oh yeah, and we usually like it when there’s not excessive endzone celebration after a touchdown (subliminal message to some politicians).

So, what’s the message? 
What do we want our country to be? 
How do we want to fit into the international community? 
What are the most important principles in taking care of our people—all the people? 
Where do we want this nation to be in years hence?

I believe Americans want to know what the message is. If we do not know what we want the future to be, how are we ever going to attain it? We want to have a vision for our kids and grandchildren, not to just make their lives better than ours but to deliver to them a world as an inheritance they can build on for future generations. Maybe the message should be given to politicians—and replayed back—something like this…

Desired End State

• What we want our nation to be—a country that is always improving and leading the world in providing for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. 
• A government that continuously provides security conditions to enable the people to attain these sovereign rights. 
• And a people dedicated to the rights of individuals while guarantying the benefits to all.

Strategic Vision

• How do we get there—that this state exists 10 years from now and forever more. 
• That those who govern are dedicated to the people over party loyalties and naturally want and work to accomplish through compromise. 
• That we become a nation that does what should be done instead of waiting until we are forced to do it.

A Plan

• Steps from today to the desired tomorrow—citizens must continue to build depth of knowledge and passion as we are beginning to see now and raise the level of feedback to our officials. 
• We need to get our neighbors involved through peer pressure in voting so the entirety of our citizenry votes. 
• We need to be heard instead of our politicians so they respond to our needs and wants instead of money and votes.

I don’t believe there should be bi-partisan agreement on major issues but struggle that always results in compromise—just as our founding fathers intended. I also don’t care about the nature of politics, I care that those who govern deliver accomplishments for the benefit of us. We also need to grow beyond appearing to be satisfied with casting our votes for the best of the worst available which, if modern history is indicative or predictive, is really the worst of the best.



Measurement

• How we learn where we are in the progress of attaining our future.
• We demand to be kept informed how the country is moving toward that goal through measurable effects with policies, laws, reports, and the press. 
• We need to know just as business leaders in minding their companies do, where the country is, is it on track in meeting goals, and what are the obstacles to be dealt with.

Adapt and Overcome

• We take responsibility for our happiness and not allow ourselves to be beholden to others for it.
• As I head to the poll to pull the lever underwhelmed as to what I see, I am hearing a lot of stuff from politicians. 
• But I am not hearing the message and I want to hear it from them. 

This is what I will be calling for as we head from this exercise in democracy into 2012...

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.
There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

                                                             — John Adams

John Stufflebeem on How Adversity = Opportunity

Adversity = opportunity.  I know this firsthand as fact.

There are many techniques taught in a variety of media to deal with crises whether they are through leadership training, public relations, or self improvement seminars, books, what have you.  But I learned simple techniques that worked even when I was in the most inhospitable reaches of the world with no apparent ways out.

In my experience, the most effective technique to deal with a significant challenge is an effects-based methodology known as Effects-Based Thinking.  To help you attain an outcome vision (team build), create a series of steps including the matching messages that go with them to get you from where you are to where you want to be (plan), and then measure the progress of yourself and your team with as many metrics as you can validate obtaining quick wins along the way to build momentum (execute)...YOU WILL SUCCEED.  The process actually repeats itself constantly even if only in review to develop resilience—a required skill of successful managers.


Effects-Based Thinking can be summarized in the following three steps:

1) OBJECTIVES


2) EFFECTS


3) ACTIONS

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."  - Albert Einstein

These 3 steps are set into motion through a series of questions and responses.  Even in a brief amount of time, one can understand and build a plan to turn challenges into opportunities by examining a set of issues—the ‘whats’ and ‘hows’—that help lead to the right solutions and success.



1)  OBJECTIVES 

Important questions to consider in this first step...

- What is/are the potential opportunities I want from this crisis* ? 


- What do I want the outcome to be or look like and how long do I think it will take to make it happen? 


- What can I do in the next few minutes or hours to make a start towards that outcome? 


- What are the steps we should build and what process or processes should we use or adopt to create a plan of action to guide us through to the desired outcome? 


- What are the assumptions that must be examined now and re-examined later?

* Opportunities are what you make of them and can include: a better position in the marketplace, a better advantage for your customer, correctly dealing with a product recall, avoiding impending financial disaster, a stronger company or division from adversity, and more. The point is to look for what doors are opened from a challenge—they are always there but how do you or your team members see them?



2)  EFFECTS 

Noteworthy questions for this second step...

- What steps or actions can I take to create a positive effect? 


- How can I position myself to be more effective in generating positive effects? 


- What positive effects can I create for those around me? 


- How can I mobilize those on my team to get them into action? 


- What is the plan of action that will create the effects I need? 


- How should I communicate my plan and who should receive it?



3)  ACTIONS

Key questions for our third and final step...

- What are the factors that I can control and what are those that I cannot? 


- What aspects of this situation can I directly influence to change the course of events? 


- What would a manager or leader I admire do in this situation? 


- Who on my team can help and what is the best way to get that person (or persons) on my team? 


- How do I figure out or assume the specific causes of the situation and contain them? 


- What do I do to reduce the downside of the situation, even by a few percent, and what do I do to maximize the upside, even by a few percent? 


- How can I get quick wins to build confidence and foster more to the tip-over point? 


- What are the resources and strengths I – and my team – need to have or develop to address this situation? 


- What are the things I can do – and my team collectively – to minimize the damage and turn this challenge into opportunity?



SOME ALONE TIME IS GOOD

In the initial stage of your challenge take a finite amount of time—between 15-60 minutes, but limit it in any event—to go over these questions and write down answers. Do it in solitude and have your team members do the same; the best creative thoughts come from individuals, not from groups.

Ever notice that you normally come up with your best ideas in the shower, or driving to/from work, before tweeting or spending time on Facebook or during a workout?  Later, get the team together and share answers to build the outline of a plan of actions. In my experience, you save vastly more time doing it this way than trying to build a plan from group-think.

While advocates for strategic communications and crisis management argue for pre-planned responses and checklists [some will even sell you theirs] my experience from the world over is that human nature will cause managers to hope for the best in advance and deal with the worst when it happens. Some have never dealt with real challenge in their meteoric rise to their elevated positions and others have been bailed out by supervisors who took ownership of the problems.

But the best I have seen, those who are truly extraordinary take on challenges as opportunities and revel in it. They grow faster and in ways they have not imagined and they have trained themselves or build a resilience to be better prepared for the next one. From my experiences and by the example of others, I have come to look forward to adversity for just those reasons...I get smarter, more confident, and actually find exhilaration in turning tough challenges into success.

For me, there is tremendous personal and professional satisfaction and reward in crisis management and strategic communications. It can be this way for you too but until you achieve that level of confidence, this is a simple, logical way to focus your energies and turn challenges into opportunities.