When You Say It

We’ve often been told that many communication failures come from “how” things are said rather than “what” things are said. There is another aspect of communications that is often neglected and that is the “when” of saying something. Timing, as they say, is often everything.

Leadership or the appearance of leadership is about understanding the what, how and when of basic communication. Nobody expects the leader of a large organization, let alone a country to singlehandedly be able to do everything but we do expect them to “be there” whenever we need them to be there. In many ways, the people, are like teenagers and their parents. We don’t want political leaders to tell us how to live our lives but when the shit hits the fan, we expect them to be around. Hence, if you look at the political leaders in the mature democracies in the last decade or so, you’ll notice that their key moments tend to be during disasters.

Take the current situation with the Australian bush fires, which have devastated much of the country. One of the things being burnt in the fires is the reputation of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who refused to commit extra funding towards fighting the disaster and proceeded to go on holiday. Mr. Morrison who is only just admitting to have handled things better, has not been able to get things right as he has appeared both incompetent and uncaring (the traits most of us don’t want in leaders).

To make matters worse, Mr. Morrison had actually taken a swipe at Gretta Thuburg, the 16-year old Swedish climate change activist for being “alarmist,” over climate change. Now, Mr. Morrison finds himself in a position of having to do something advocated by a 16-year-old girl he once dismissed as being an “alarmist.” The full report can be read below:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/scott-morrison-signals-climate-shift-deeper-cuts/news-story/64cbbeed635faac64ae1d32d8f00f085

Another example of a “leader” who didn’t get the what, how and why of basic communications, is the former Prime Minister, Ms. Theresa May. While one may sympathise with her inability to get Brexit though an uncooperative parliament, one cannot sympathise with her inability to visit those who had suffered from the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. What was particularly noticeable was that while the Prime Minister (who is paid to do things) was noticeably absent, the Queen (who is paid to be a decoration) was quick to get down to the site of the disaster and offered comfort to the people.

By contrast, the one leader who managed to get things right is to be found across the Tasman Sea. New Zealand’s Jacinda Arden’s response to the Christchurch mosque shooting was a masterclass in crisis management. She was quick to react, offered a practical solution (banning of assault riffles), showed the right balance between compassion for the victims and toughness on the criminal. Ms. Arden also did not go down the path of taking cheap, populist measures.

Disasters can make or break a politician. Bill Clinton gained popularity because he knew how to show sympathy to those who had suffered from the Oklahoma Bombing. By contrast Bush II was spectacularly tone-deaf during Hurricane Katrina – think of his “Brownie, you’re doing hell of a job.” This was a classic case of saying the wrong thing in the wrong way at the wrong time. Translation, he only cared about his buddies rather than the victims.

I remember my Dad telling me – “everyone is your best friend when you’re buying.” The same is true about leadership. Anyone can lead when the times are good. However, its different story when things go wrong and a leader who knows how to utilize a good crisis is one that we, the ordinary saps, tend to remember fondly.