Avoiding filter failure

Would you generally describe society today as patient or impatient?  Relaxed or fast-paced?  Having plenty of quality time or never having enough time?  Seeking truth and valid knowledge or simply looking to be entertained?  I think most of us would agree that the second answer to each question is the one we would give and that is very unfortunate in many ways.  Dan Gilbert in his TED talk "Why We Make Bad Decisions" says "our brains were evolved for a world in which people lived in very small groups and rarely met anyone who was terribly different from themselves, had rather short lives in which there were few choices and the highest priority was to eat and mate.  THIS IS NOT the world we live in today".  We have evolved in many wonderful ways; however, our ability to effectively make sound and responsible decisions/choices has basically been left behind by the pace of technology, lack of time, and pure laziness.  The amount of information we have available to us today is staggering.  JP Rangaswami says "there is no such thing as information overload.  There is only filter failure.  We have to start thinking about how we create diets and exercise within ourselves to have the faculties to deal with information and to have the labeling to do it responsibly."  He asks a very important question:  What would happen differently in your life if you saw information the same way you see food?  Would you be healthy, content, and energetic or would you be obese, disease stricken and lethargic?
In my previous blog I discussed decisions we make with our children and making time for what matters.  This goes for anything of importance in our lives, including our business practices and how we implement and measure them.

One of the main things a strategic communication leader can do to help clients understand an evaluation that includes both tangible and intangible aspects of a program is that while communicating the business numbers (tangibles) such as referrals, sales, ROI, and analyzing web numbers the intangibles have the opportunity to play out naturally in the way we share, listen, react, and talk with our clients.  Understanding and experiencing intangibles is completely different than having hard copy measurements.  I have no doubt we will progress in the area of measuring emotional reactions when our brand is presented through social media, clients feeling respected as a person and not just a number on our bottom line, transparency (we have covered the importance of this well but not necessarily how and if we can measure it), the effectiveness of two-way communication between a brand and its clients, and a person's influence among their different networks and how it affects our company and brand.  The intangibles are what drive a consumer to our brand over our competitors.  We all have the ability to be more educated now than ever before with all of the information available to us.  Being able to appropriately filter the information and make well-rounded decisions is where many intangibles come in including how we handle crises.
The intangibles range from our employees to our stakeholders to our potential clients.  We can take a resume and actually call referrals to measure a potential employee's actual experience.  A background check can let us know to a certain extent a person's citizenry and moral code.  The intangibles are measured with how that employee attaches him/herself to the company's vision and how they perform according to that vision.  Then, from within the company how are we communicating effectively with our employees as well as with our publics?  We can indirectly measure these intangibles based on the success of our tangibles such as consistency in the value of our products and systems.  How do we measure our "why", the transparency of a company and its leaders, the effectiveness of our vision, and what sets our leadership apart? We might not be able to completely measure intangibles.  However, we have a responsibility to connect with people from a human perspective and not just an institutional perspective, be a positive influence, recognize those who contribute to the value of our brand, be trustworthy and transparent, acknowledge the value of our employees and leaders as well as our publics, and be proactive in creating a healthy two-way communication environment.  The tangibles will look much brighter! 

How do we measure intangibles and how well our filter is working on a personal level?  We are overloaded with information that simply is not true and by motives that are selfish and dishonest.  How do we know we are using discernment and making knowledgeable decisions?  Two cases that are headlining the news right now are Paula Deen and the Trayvon Martin case.  Let me ask some questions.  Do you personally know Paula and/or Trayvon and/or George Zimmerman?  Have you watched the entire Martin/Zimmerman trial yourself?  Have you read the actual depositions with Paula Deen versus her accusers?  Have you been getting your information about these people from the National Enquirer and fascinating stories on Facebook and talk shows or from verifying the sources and facts yourself?  Are the conclusions you have deduced racially driven? We should strive for truth and knowledge and appreciate the plethora of information we have available to us while keeping our filter clean and at maximum performance level.  When we do this we are able to walk through this fast-paced, technology driven life consistently making decent choices. This is not always the case,of course.  We are also able to spread truth and growth through word of mouth, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.  This is especially true among professional communicators.  Here is an example from one of our leading professional communicators that, I believe, could have been improved upon by just as effectively providing the same historical approach for all aspects of racial degradation (since the majority of his speech was regarding emotions/reactions based on racial history and experiences) and challenging everyone to take the time to make educated evaluations and handle the situation with actions that would edify each race instead of validate the concerns he proposed.  I reiterate everyone.  What happens when pool water goes through the filter?  The filter catches all the crap, including the hidden particles, and flushes clean water out at an accelerated rate through the jets.  Wouldn't it be marvelous if the majority of social media and communication professionals effected this kind of outcome!  Tangible results would be astronomical because the intangible elements would cause them to soar.  Rangaswami also told us to "balance our diet to make an effort to prevent diseases and toxins."  Our personal relationships, social media relationships, business and professional relationships, as well as the relationship between an organization and its key publics should positively impact the well-being of each other.  For the public relations relationship this involves impacting the economic, social, political, and/or cultural well-being of the other entity.  Let's strive to be the pool water coming full force out of the jet!
 
Joy:  An abiding (resting, dwelling, remaining in) sense of happiness.