Photo by Kevin Grieve on Unsplash
If we’re serious about Diversity and Inclusion,
we need to enable other voices
I was once talking with a woman who grew up in Romania, and she was telling me about how people there used to regard the news. She told me that before 1989, hardly anyone believed state propaganda. People would laugh at official news – in private and among friends.
Today she works for a global pharmaceutical company, and when it comes to corporate communications, she said that content has a similarly gushy, happy-clappy propagandistic feel. Now however, no one laughs. Not even in private.
She’s not the first Central or Eastern European to describe this spooky similarity, and it’s alarming. How did we get to a place where people are not only skeptical about official corporate messaging, they don’t even feel free to speak up about it?
All the news that (we see) fit to print
I used to be a journalist, and I loved my time in the newsroom. It was filled with funny, experienced reporters. Even though they were justifiably jaded, they wouldn’t just run with claims from official sources. The news was a calling, and even though no one had the whole truth, we wanted to get as close to it as we could.
Now I’m in corporate communications, and when I’m working on internal content, I still apply journalistic standards. I consider our content truthful and newsworthy, and the corporate newsroom is also filled with insightful, experienced communicators. They know the company mission and how it stands up to the competition. Nearby are the top leaders who make decisions about long-term strategy and messaging.
With that big-picture view, It made sense for corporate newsrooms to strive to be the single source for truth. Content that’s accurate and in line with company strategy helps build unity. Nevertheless, I’ve come to question the ‘one-company, one-voice’ mantra.
Content has cultural bias
I’m convinced that the newsroom’s usefulness may have passed. By now I’ve spent several years working remotely, outside the corporate headquarters and its newsroom. From out here, especially outside the home country, I’ve never seen widespread interest in the newsroom or much trust in its content.
Content is cultural. Its images, language, and voice – all of them have different effects in different parts of the world – and different parts of your organization.
At the same time, most employees grew up in the digital age, and they expect content they can interact with honestly. We even ask for user-generated content.
We say we value diversity and inclusion.
We say we are global organizations,
with a global mindset.
But that news feels a little fake.
It’s as though we are producing old-timey TV news, stuck in the idea that the entire country is tuning in. We obsess about our lead story, how it will play, and what human-interest story we should run after the weather. We run earnest stories about how important diversity is, but we’re not listening.
In an era of hyper-globalization and online communities, any claim to be the single source for truth comes off as bombastic and culturally biased. When we’re broadcasting from our newsroom, regardless of what’s being said, we’re the only ones talking.
As we in Communications learn to quiet down, what can we do to foster more user-generated content, to encourage more diverse participation?
I have some thoughts. What are yours? Please leave your comments on this LinkedIn post.
Photo by Miikka Luotio on Unsplash
