The line between internal and external communications has always been blurred. I believe today, in the world of unprecedented transparency, it’s now impossible to say one thing to one audience and another elsewhere. We need to expect that anything said either internally or externally will be shared quickly. This is because the outdated model of Public Relations as an information channel is no longer useful. In the information age we now know that more data doesn't necessarily lead to a change in behaviour.
If you expect PR and comms to be sued as a sales tool, you can only expect disappointment. Since the 1950's, cognitive dissonance theory has taught us that we can change the behaviour of people, but only in small incremental steps, and only in line with their current attitudes and opinions. We have to allow people time to reframe their opinions and have a change of heart before we can expect them to actually do something about it. The timeframes for this can be years.
This means that the best way to work in a world of completely transparent and instant communications is to tell a sustained and consistent story over a long period of time. And the best way of making this story engaging to an audience who, let’s face it, don’t want to listen to your messages is to make your origin story authentic, relevant and timely.
After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Sir Christopher Wren was tasked with the rebuilding of much London that was destroyed, and most notably St Paul’s Cathedral. No one told Londoners about a grand scheme to redesign and remould their city, (in the same way as Paris was redrawn or Manhattan built) so instead Londoners went about putting the city together in their own haphazard but beautiful way.
The story goes that one morning Sir Christopher saw three men all working on the same project. He asked them what they were doing. The first man said, “I’m cutting stone.”; the second man said, “I’m earning 3 shillings a day.”; and the third man said “I’m helping Sir Christopher Wren to rebuild this great cathedral!”.
The cathedral was built, but although mixed messages were passable 350 years ago, today they can be a serious hindrance to your business.