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Communicating
Effectively
By Michael Alan Hamlin
December 18, 2000
Companies, governments, and institutions
in Asia are learning that articulate executives and officials are
not just more effective leaders than the traditional, close-to-the
chest C-level types that dominated Asia’s miracle years. They
are generators of good will, sustainable competitive advantage,
and opportunity. Increasing press freedom, accessibility to information
as a result of the Internet and other technologies, and empowered
Asian citizens are making all leadership positions much more visible,
and tenuous.
Since so little attention was placed
on learning how to effectively and credibly communicate in the past,
there is a huge vacuum in Asia representing the supply of corporate
communication specialists. There are not many with the professional
credentials and expertise required to reasonably advise and assist
companies, governments, and institutions and their leaders in enhancing
the capacity to meaningfully and regularly communicate with key
constituencies.
While that may sound self serving
coming from someone who has spent most of his almost 30-year career
helping his employers and clients communicate — and indeed
it is self-serving — there’s just no denying the reality
that effective communicators enjoy substantial competitive advantage
over their competitors. Organizations that ignore that reality do
so at the risk of significant peril.
And so fewer and fewer are. In the
past quarter or so, our firm has spent an increasing portion of
its time not just helping organizations communicate, but helping
them improve their own internal capacities for communication and
actually reduce their reliance on outside consultants. Let’s
think a bit about some of the ways we’re doing that. But first,
consider where we are doing it.
First, we spend about the same amount
of time providing communication consulting services in Hong Kong
as we do in the Philippines, our two principal markets. The biggest
difference in these two markets, however, is that we spend a much
greater proportion of our time advising and training government
agencies in Hong Kong than we do in the Philippines. In fact, contrary
to recent public speculation, we do no consulting or training work
for government institutions in the Philippines.
This is an important distinguishing
characteristic between these markets, and it is one that we also
see in Singapore, where we also do some work. In both Hong Kong
and Singapore, there is a broad, aboveground awareness of the strategic
importance of continually strengthening government institutions
through regular, world-class training.
That’s not the case in the Philippines,
with its vastly bloated, underpaid, and hopelessly corrupt bureaucracy.
Despite all those negatives and all the complaints over the past
30 years about the bureaucracy, strengthening this public-sector
service in terms of channeling public resources toward strategic
areas of investment has been a low, low priority. Various multi-lateral
funding institutions have attempted to help the Philippines do something
about its bureaucracy, but until performance of the bureaucracy
becomes a real priority of government officials, all the multi-lateral
do-gooders in the world will have little impact on the quality of
public service.
Can a developing economy afford the
investment in strengthening bureaucracy? Probably a better question
is, can it afford not to? That’s because of the massive "leakage"
of public funds — estimates vary between 40 percent and 60
percent — that takes place every year. Bureaucrats insist that
the government can’t afford to professionalize itself, when
the reality is that Filipinos really can’t afford for it not
to.
Well, enough of that. The bottom
line is that in Asia’s fastest-growing economies governments
invest significant resources in building strong, effective bureaucracies.
And it pays off.
How about the private sector? In
the past, multinational corporations have been most aware of the
importance of credible, professional communications. But particularly
over the past year, we’re finding that mid-size and large domestic
corporations are increasingly acknowledging the value of effective
communication to develop broad, "leverage-able" brand
awareness. That’s true in both our principal markets. There
is a visible shift away from traditional "promotional gimmickry"
to professional communications.
So what of the "ways" organizations
and their leaders are learning to communicate? One of the most basic
ways is public speaking, for instance. To me, it seems a bit odd
that corporations would not understand that when their CEO gets
up to speak at an association meeting, a company gathering, or a
large conference and delivers a stiflingly boring, irrelevant, and
value-less speech that it portrays the company in a bad light. Well,
it does.
As the effects of globalization and
liberalization take increasing hold on the way business is done
throughout Asia, it’s important that executives understand
that world-class standards of efficiency and productivity are not
enough for a company to dominate its industry. Instead, dictating
the rules of competition within industries also means effectively
communicating them.
Very senior executives, although
many are embarrassed to admit it, now understand the value of learning
how to engage an audience. Indeed, effective public speaking is
as much a prerequisite to longevity of tenure as intelligence and
experience, and there are plenty of good examples. In the traditional
sector, for instance, there’s GE’s outgoing chairman Jack
Welch. In the non-traditional sector, Steve Jobs of Apple, Larry
Ellison of Oracle, and Steve McNealy of Sun Microsystems are all
great communicators.
Of course, they have to have something
to say, and the information has to be organized and prioritized.
That’s the next key area in which we spend a lot of time working
with clients. Sure, everyone has a lot to say, but what are the
most important things to say? What does the audience want to hear?
And what they want to hear is something that is relevant, impactful,
and concise from their own personal perspective.
Those are the first steps to one
aspect of corporate communications. Companies and organizations
that acknowledge them are industry leaders and best-of-class. That
means corporate communications is not just a means by which to achieve
a competitive advantage, but increasingly a basic component of being
in business.
(Mr. Hamlin is managing director
of the consultancy TeamAsia and the author of two books on Asian
economies and managing in Asia. His latest book is The New Asian
Corporation: Managing for the Future in Post-Crisis Asia. His e-mail
address is mahamlin@teamasia.com.ph.)
Copyright © 2000 The Events
& Awards Managers of Asia and
Hamlin-Iturralde Corporation. All rights reserved.
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