Strategic Communications – Professional Blog Finale

Leadership and Media Strategies has been a great opportunity for me to not only learn the theory on the subject but also pushed me to start this blog. I have enjoyed sharing my past work and personal experiences while exploring new media and methods for communicating in today’s world of advertising and marketing.

In my first week of doing this blog, I felt as if it was an arduous process. How can I say what I want to say and have it make sense? In addition, what if I have said it all that I needed to say in 500 words and not meet the 1000 word requirement? In the end, this was not the issue. In fact, I had to pare it down a bit to make sure that I was not being too wordy. Also, I wanted to stay focused on the topic at hand and not get off track with ideas that came into my head.

I think week two was the most fun. I was able to equally include topical information that we were studying in class, namely social influencers while bringing some personal experience with my wife’s blogging favorites as examples. At that point, the words began to flow off of my fingers and blogging began to make sense to me. 

Another interesting point is when I began to read professional blogs written by business and media leaders. I learned that these people were writing about their experience and what worked best for them. They may not be “giants of the industry” but they have learned what works by doing the work. The most important thing is that I have experience and can share my thoughts by continuing this blog and talking about where strategic communications and new media, is going, and where I want to go with my career.

I hope to teach soon. This is my goal and I am working toward it. I won’t give up until I get there but will also continue to learn all I can to help others in this field.

Thanks for reading and look for more in the future

Measuring Tangible Elements of Marketing for Success

Finding research on how to measure strategic marketing success is easy. In fact, of all the subjects I have researched since writing my blog, this one contains the most google searchable information. One of the reasons for this is that it is quantifiable information and can be recorded in specific bullet-pointed detail. Another reason, and probably a more important one is that organizations have been looking for a black and white guide that will make them successful.

In his blog Marketing Effectiveness, How to Measure your Marketing Success, the founder of Intecnic Marketing Solutions, Andrew Kuckerievy lays out a specific plan that measures key performance indicators (KPI’s). Kuckerievy writes that it is important to measure aspects such as Return on Investment, Cost per Win, Cost per Lead, Conversion Rates, etc to get accurate measurements across the spectrum. 

One of the most interesting points that he makes is keeping an eye on the sales funnel. This is a bit unique because attention must not only be paid to the point of sale or bottom of the funnel but also the elements at the top of the funnel. In other words, marketing plans should include branding or non-call-to-action advertising and research that shows what moves consumers from the top to the bottom of the funnel. It is not the same. For example, Subaru positions itself as the car of choice for reliability. Their commercials focus on this aspect of the brand by showing a family growing up with the car as a dependable member of the family. I remember one wherein the opening scene a couple get married and drive their Outback to their honeymoon, by the end of the commercial their son is driving the same car to college. 

When I needed a car five years ago, I bought a Subaru. I first saw the commercials when I was at the top of the funnel, which means that I wasn’t in the market for a vehicle at the time but was influenced by the commercial. By the time I got to the bottom of the funnel, I already knew what I wanted because the groundwork had already been laid for me. The effectiveness of this type of advertising can be measured with surveys, testing, etc. However, it can only truly be tested once it gets down the bottom of the funnel and converts to sales.

Being in media sales for many years, I have seen many forms of testing that companies use to measure their marketing success. I’ve also witnessed varying thoughts on how to utilize the results. One auto dealer group is very good at utilizing Google Analytics to measure their conversion rates, website visits, lift in their visits when utilizing traditional media and return on investment. However, they are not good at taking their information and applying it to plans. The information is telling them what to do but their inability to put it into action moving forward keeps them from advancing in the market. This is common in local markets because a general manager, a CFO or someone else that is not a marketing specialist is making the decisions.

The most frustrating client I believe that I ever worked with would put a plan into place for three months and then look at the results. Invariably even when he saw strong positive results he would completely change his advertising direction just to see if he could get a very small bump in the positive results he was already getting. This would end up frustrating him when his sales dropped and he would simply stop advertising until he was ready to start the cycle again. The example I always think of is someone listening to a song that he loves on the radio, but he scans the dial anyway to see if a song he may love a little more is playing. By the time this person gets back to the original song, it has finished. Maddening.

Fortunately, in the corporate world, marketing plans put into place are usually researched, implemented, measured, tweaked, and updated as market forces and creative opportunities change.

As we move forward, social media is a huge part of these plans. Social media allows companies to get reactions from their customers in real-time while reinforcing brand elements that strengthen organizational goals. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat are not only utilized by Gen Zer’s, Millennials, Gen Xer’s, Boomers, and even Traditionals, engagement can be measured and used to affect marketing plans immediately and strategically. Large and even medium-sized companies have a team or teams of people that only perform social media tasks and measurements. Tasks include planning for social media posts that launch new products, promotions, updates, and other major news functions. Then engagement on the post is measured quantitatively. 

This has been a breakthrough because there is no more waiting to see if a campaign is successful. Marketing teams can also plan traditional media buys more effectively because they can be done to support social media marketing. I firmly believe that traditionally supports social media and not vice-versa. This is a cultural change and is easily evident. I cannot remember the last time I heard any buzz over a TV or radio commercial, or a magazine ad. However, I cannot go onto news, entertainment, or sports website or social media page without hearing about a Twitter or Instagram post daily.

If there is a lesson to be learned about utilizing measuring tools for marketing, it is to follow through completely and take advantage of the information. Too many times I have seen organizations put plans into place, measure and then not use they what they have learned when moving forward. This includes advertising placement, social media, events, and anything that has been used successfully and then ignored. Success is as much of a lesson as a failure and not using it to at least be a guide for plans is a failure. The tools are available. It would be a shame not to use them.

https://www.intechnic.com/blog/marketing-effectiveness-how-to-measure-your-marketing-success/

PR Crisis? Response is Everything

When it comes to historic public relations crises’ there are a few that come to mind. The Bhopal chemical explosion in December of 1984, where thousands died after a leak of deadly gas reached people living near a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. Another historical one was in 1982 when a killer was lacing Tylenol capsules with cyanide killing seven people. Finally, the Three Mile Island disaster in 1979 was a near-catastrophic event. The public relations crisis’ that came about because of these events were handled with varying success. How Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Tylenol handled the pill tampering tragedy is said to be one of the great public relations crisis success stories in history. It was all about transparency and the willingness to take a large short-term financial loss to have a long-term recovery and future success.

The one that was handled terribly was the Three Mile Island disaster. Nuclear meltdowns are the biggest fear of citizens that reside near these facilities and the public at large. The lesson of this was that no information is worse than unsettling information because people underreact and overreact. Each reaction creating a dangerous situation.

A recent one (or two) is the situation regarding two Boeing 737 Max air crashes this year. After the first crash, a Lion Air 737 Max, Boeing officials stated that the aircraft was safe and that the solution was more training for the pilots. Then a second crash occurred killing all on board and Boeing doubled down on the training explanation. According to Sandy Sucher of the Harvard Business Review, in her article, How Boeing Should Have Responded to the 737 Max Safety Crisis, Boeing should have said, “This is a technical problem that we do not fully understand. In light of that uncertainty, we recommend grounding the 737 Max 8s and 9s until we can be sure we know what is causing these crashes and can satisfy ourselves and all of the global regulators that the plane is safe to fly again.” Sucher contends that it is all in the framing of the message.

In these times, I am truly amazed more at the bad handling of organizational crisis than I am impressed with good handling of it. It seems that the examples we have had in our rearview mirrors have provided enough quality examples of how to handle these situations. Although more

elements are in play in our current media world.

One of the reasons that organizations continue to struggle with poor handling of Crisis PR is social media. When Johnson & Johnson was going through its Tylenol crisis companies had more control of information that relayed to the public. J & J officials were able to go on TV programs such as Ted Koppel’s Nightline where viewers were given daily updates on the progress of the ongoing criminal case and what they were doing to protect consumers. This was during a time of low media fragmentation so millions could be reached during one broadcast. Now with multiple TV channels and video outlets with varying agendas, it is difficult to get the same message out to many people.

The biggest reason, however, for the lack of control of information is social media. Never in time has there been so many outlets that information can be spread with no filters to separate accurate from inaccurate.

One that has definitely changed in recent years is that the PR crisis is created because of the “hot button” political or social issues combined with social media. In the case of Gillette and their move from “The Best a Man Can Be” traditional tagline to their 2018 campaign tagline, “The Best Men Can Be,” the company that has been known for years to brand their products for men decided without warning to take on men’s past behavior and how to be a man in current times. While well-meaning, the campaign came off as preachy and was a shock to traditional male Gillette product consumers. Also, with the division that some have interpreted as identity politics, and the fact that these ads that were typically aired during Sunday afternoon NFL games, many were not happy with Gillette intrusion on their routine by making men examine their place in society. 

https://hbr.org/2019/03/how-boeing-should-have-responded-to-the-737-max-safety-crisis

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1982/10/11/tylenols-maker-shows-how-to-respond-to-crisis/bc8df898-3fcf-443f-bc2f-e6fbd639a5a3/

Linking Traditional and New Media for Advertisers

Having worked in media sales for more than 24 years, I have seen how advertising tools and methods have changed. Some of the change has come quickly. However, it has been a slow process in some business categories. At the beginning of my career, newspapers were the main source of selling cars. Auto dealers loved watching potential customers bring in the newspaper ad when they would come to test-drive a car. It would tell them immediately if they were there to buy and it told them that their advertising was working. This changed around the year 2000 when the World Wide Web was taking hold.

Forward-thinking auto groups wanted all in on the internet, even forgoing traditional forms of advertising such as billboards, TV, Radio, and of course newspapers. A few of them moved too quickly on this not understanding that they had to continue branding their products and advertising their web address. Many of them went back to some forms of traditional media although newspapers never recovered. Looking back it was interesting to witness the beginning of this new way of advertising. Many knew it would change everything but few knew how it would work.

Today, I see businesses continue to use traditional media and forms of “new media” or “advanced platforms.” In fact, utilizing metrics, it can be proven that media such as TV with online provides lift in website visits, conversions, along with time spent viewing online content. In his article in Business Magazine, Andreas Rivera states that “Video is also a growing medium for advertising that's catching people's attention. According to a Kissmetrics blog post, video on social media gets much more engagement than non-video ads.” This engagement includes sharing online videos. Rivera goes on to write that video on phones is 1.4 times more likely shared than static forms of media such as online display ads.   

There are, in fact, guidelines to follow that can ensure the best chance for success with all marketing and advertising campaigns:

1) Use multiple forms of contact with consumers as methods to stay connected to them. For example, “Like us on Facebook or retweet this message on Twitter” for a special offer or an invitation to a special event. In other words, reward them for a follow on Instragram, Facebook and other social media platforms. Find ways to get them to stay connected. 

2) Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing is not an end-all for your advertising dollars. It is a great way to get people to find a business when they are searching for a product. However, SEO and SEM only work when people are interested in your type of product. If a consumer wants to buy a mid-sized vehicle but do not know if they want to buy a Toyota or Nissan, what will get them to do a search for a specific car or dealership? TV advertising is an example of a traditional media format that will marry well with online search efforts. TV will not only get consumers to Google search the dealership; they will do organic searches, which means that they will be entering the direct web address to the dealership.

3) Social media works. It may seem obvious but utilizing social media is the newest, best way to market a company message and extend a brand. In addition, in most instances, social media reaches a younger market that trusts advertising more than boomers and traditionals. There are pharmaceutical ads on Facebook and ads for traditional products and services such as UPS and airlines that reach the boomer and traditional crowd. However, if a company wants to reach millennials and gen Xers, they must use social media platforms. In addition, if they want to advertise shared on social media sites it must be video and must be compelling.

4)  Blend traditional and social media efforts together for the best outcome. The most efficient way to utilize advertising dollars is to make it work for all platforms. When video content is produced for a TV commercial, use that same spot in for social media advertising. Link your Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms to your banner ads click-through instead of your website when an event or special offer is coming. This will allow updates of information anytime it is warranted. Be creative when thinking of the most efficient ways to use advertising content.

5)  Do plenty of homework when selecting new and traditional media opportunities. Company owners and those buying media are inundated with media sellers. Find what works from others in the business. In addition, get research specific to this type of business. Do not depend on outdated research such as Nielsen and Arbitron ratings when placing TV buys. The best question to ask internally is what does my customer look like, and externally, how do I find my customer. Then find the media format that works best for targeting these consumers. Also, utilize media sellers that can be trusted to be long-term partners and not after the quick sale.

Finding that “special sauce” that will get customers to engage with a company is a huge challenge. This is not just because finding the right message is difficult but finding the correct platforms with all of the options is daunting. Information is the key to making an effective transition to the best outcome.

Media is changing so quickly there is no room to set strategic marketing plans more than one year out without room for adjustments. In the past, many companies that I would work with would make their plans for the next year by October of the current one. After that, nothing would change until the next October. There was no reason to pivot on these plans unless business conditions drastically changed.

Today, media departments and business owners much be ready to change along with technology and new opportunities. They must have a plan in place but always assume that something that can help them will becoming along that can give them that competitive advantage in the marketplace.

https://www.business.com/articles/how-technology-is-changing-online-advertising/

Professional Blog #5

Leadership for All

I remember in the movie Jerry McGuire where Tom Cruise’s character asks his co-workers repeatedly “who’s coming with me?” In the scene, he is in a desperate situation and quickly attempts to come up with reasons why people (and a goldfish) should leave their secure job and “take a leap of faith” with him. He is in a no-win situation because he is fired but instead of just walking out, he has his mission statement and he has no choice but to run with it and take believers with him.

Being a leader is not always this dramatic and certainly doesn’t always mean you must write a late-night treatise on your beliefs and the direction of your personal and professional life.

True leaders, however, can change the course of people’s lives. In the Psychology Today article Leadership Management, Ravi Chandra says that Great leaders are often credited with possessing high social intelligence, a zest for change, and above all, the ability to set their sights on the things that truly merit attention.  

Good leaders set the tone for what is possible. They have a vision and a strong belief in the direction they are taking us. Moreover, they make decisions that may not always be popular but do it for the greater good and want you to believe so you will come along for the ride. There are a number of aspects of being a leader. 

Here are some that we may or may not think of when we consider leadership:

1)     Leaders are not always born, sometimes they find themselves in a leadership position. Although it’s true that most leaders are socially active and take on the vocal role of a team, sometimes a leader doesn’t speak until he or she sees that it is needed. It reminds me of the strong leader on a sports team that works hard and displays belief in a system but only steps up to be vocal when it’s needed and no one else will do it. Team members don’t want to be led by the loudest, they want to be led by the one they respect the most.

2)     Leaders have a vision. I have heard many times since I was a child whether it be at church, school or business that in order to grow there must be a vision. Leaders not only create the vision but also show others a road map to getting there. In his Observer magazine article, Jon Gordon writes that “some scoff when leaders share bold ideas, imaginative goals, and seemingly impossible dreams, but ideas, imagination, and dreams are the fabric positive leaders weave together to create the future and change the world (2017).” Therefore, sharing the vision is not good enough. True leaders find ways to make their vision real to others.

3)     True leaders are humble and want to learn everything they can about how to lead. These people learn by listening, reading, and taking in any information they can apply to their vision. It seems a cliché but many coaches read books about past generals, world and business leaders. They want ideas of how to lead a group of men and women from those who have done it and left a road map behind. There has been much written about the roadmap to leadership and many so-called leadership gurus that have made a lot of money on weekend leadership seminars. In reality, it all comes down to this, it is hard work to fulfill one’s duties as a leader. It is a humble task of learning what it takes and getting others to put in the work to make it happen.

4)     Leaders are always willing to learn how things work in order to be a proper leader. In fact, many future leaders take “grunt” work while they are progressing with their education or just starting out with a company. Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon began his stint by loading trucks at the distribution center. Former Goldman-Sachs CEO, Sidney Weinberg began as a janitor’s helper that worked hard and made an impression on those that saw him doing his job and Margaret Keane, CEO of Synchrony Financial started as a debt collector. Many times leaders are brought in to change a poor culture to a successful one. One of the main ways for this to happen for them to learn how others do their jobs. 

5)     Finally, leaders must always stick with the plan and restate it constantly. In addition, every innovation diffused to other employees must be done with the vision in mind. Doing this is the only way that it is not forgotten and those late to come on board realize that it’s not going to change. According to David Shedd in Business Insider, leaders must be consistent in mood, behavior, and decision-making (2011).

As one that has worked for various large corporations that have been swallowed up by larger corporations, I have seen many focused directives and whole-sell changes come and go. Many of directives that were going “change the way we do business,” went by the wayside without much thought. They just disappeared. Some of this occurred because large companies move so slowly that by the time procedures and long-term goals were changed it was time for a new one. I do believe though that many times long term goals and visions were not brought to fruition because there were many managers and few leaders.

The visions turned into, make your budget, don’t lose a dime this quarter and oh yeah, make these wholesale changes while doing it, and don’t tell anyone why we are doing it.

I have to say the most impressive leader I have ever met was an instructor for a night class in management that I took at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida. I saw this man walk into my classroom for the first time wearing a flight suit and carrying a briefcase. He turned out to be a squadron leader at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and started teaching management courses. I saw him and immediately thought the worst because I didn’t want a military experience preached to me. I wanted to learn the course, graduate then move on in my career.

What I soon learned was that I couldn’t wait to get to class and learn from this man that made life and death decisions in the air every day and then came to my campus to teach me what he knew about leading people. Not only did I learn much from him, but he also taught in a manner that made learning easy. He taught us how to take a leader's vision and then take the day to day tasks to make the vision come true. He never talked about following a leader blindly but only about following those that could change your life and make a difference. Aspiring leaders should be so lucky to learn from someone like this.

      

  

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/leadership

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-ceos-expertly-worked-way-201138013.html

https://realbusiness.co.uk/5-business-leaders-who-worked-their-way-from-bottom-to-top/

https://www.businessinsider.com/3-areas-where-consistency-from-a-leader-is-critical-2011-4

Just Tell Us

When I was a child and got to a “certain” age, my parents would give me a new rule or remind me of an old one. If it did not make sense or if it was something I didn’t like I would invariably ask why? Asking why is sort of a rite of passage for children to the point where it’s a cliché. There were six children in my family so I am sure my parents didn’t want to give us to in-depth of a reason or that is how they would occupy their time exclusively.  I don’t remember being a problem child but remember sometimes reaching a point where if things didn’t make sense I would get frustrated. That is when I would ask why.

I remember my father replying to my request for a reason by stating, “Because I said so.” I can remember the compounding frustration I felt when I wasn’t receiving a satisfactory answer. These days, I am not sure how parents answer this question from their children. I have never done this to mine because I remember how angry it would make me.

Midway through my career, I was having a discussion with direct manager, with whom I had a good relationship, about an account and I ask him why we were handling a situation in the manner that we were. I asked him in a respectful manner. I didn’t want him to think I was questioning his judgment or authority. I was very surprised when he jumped out of his chair, red-faced, and yelled, “Because I said so!” I didn’t know who to be embarrassed for more him or me.

In the corporate world, “because I said so,” is a phrase one will rarely hear. However, in the realm of internal communications, companies many times expect new innovations, policy changes, and rules, in general, to be accepted without explanation of the purpose. In the Harvard Business Review article, “Don’t Just Tell Employees Organizational Changes are Coming, Explain Why,” Morgan Galbraith states, “Executives and those responsible for leading change cannot assume that employees understand the reasoning behind them. You must spend time explaining the changes and why they are important (HBR 2018).” Many times the answer may be about saving revenue, it could be about staying ahead of technology changes and potential issues “down the line,” if we don’t take care of this innovation now. It’s ok, just tell us.

Many times the diffusion of innovation and the reasons for the change seem to come down from the top to mid-management then stops. The change is directed to staff members but the reasoning why is never mentioned. I’ve brought this up to mid-level and upper management when surveys prompted a response on job satisfaction. I have also talked to human resource professionals about this and received a tepid response. It was as if they had never heard this question before. As Galbraith says if executives and I will add front-line management don’t disseminate the information employees won’t understand the reasons and most likely won’t be on board with it.  Information on the innovation is as important as the change itself.

Supervisors and managers are responsible for this. Phil Robinowitz states, “If supervision is seen -- and practiced -- as supportive and helpful, a way to continually enhance the quality of one's work, then internal communication is more likely to flourish. Another role that supervision plays here is that it can help staff and volunteers to examine and improve their own communication, and thus improve communication within the organization.” (Community Toolbox Blog  2010).” In other words, it is the management’s responsibility to set the tone for the flow of communications. Staff members learn to be good communicators by the example that is set for them by management.

Even if changes will be painful for a while, it is important, to be honest about this and again, why these changes are being made must be part of the discussion.

Something I would add is don’t assume you know how the change will affect your team unless you understand the processes of how things are actually done. This reminds me of a recent meeting where a leadership group was explaining a major change in the way we would affect the sales process to our system. Upper management thought that one of the supposed benefits of the change was going to be that we would save time processing sales orders. They believed that there would be one less process when in fact it added a redundancy they never knew would be the case.  This occurred because those that were involved with the task of order entry were never asked how they would be affected by the change. In addition, they were never told why the change was being made.

In other words, don’t sugar-coat and make up reasons why we will love these changes, we won’t. Just tell us what it is and tell us why and we will accept it. Maybe grudgingly but we will keep moving forward with respect for those giving us the information.

In his Forbes article, “Eight Steps for Helping Your Employees Accept Change,” Brent Gleeson writes about the importance of transparency when change is coming. “Everyone wants to know the purpose behind the organizational change. In my last company, we decided that we needed a better project management solution and better data as to where people were spending their time. This would lead to improved financial decisions and efficiencies. So we rolled out new software and a time-tracking tool. Holy hell! Let’s just say that this threw everyone for a loop. It became very apparent that we needed to be doing a better job explaining the “why.” Once the team understood the reasoning behind this change and that the goal was to improve their work balance, the revolt slowly subsided (Forbes 2016).”

I wish readers of this blog could watch me dropping the microphone for Mr. Gleeson.

https://hbr.org/2018/10/dont-just-tell-employees-organizational-changes-are-coming-explain-why

https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/effective-manager/internal-communication/main

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2016/10/17/8-steps-for-helping-your-employees-accept-change/#2f6fe69229f2

I Need This Job

During the years of a typical career, the true self comes out. Strengths and weaknesses are on display for everyone nearby to witness. At times, we are hailed as heroes when we make that extra sale, solve that annoying IT issue, or have the correct answer when a question is asked in a large meeting of colleagues. However, many times, it can be quite ugly and for those who cannot handle the stress of everyday work situations, it makes for a really bad day.

I have been working full time since the early ’80s. I even finished my undergraduate degree while working nights. It was a lot of work and not much sleep but definitely worth it. I remember learning a lot during those days and had great respect for my professors and instructors. Listening to what they could teach me about their careers in the field of Public Relations and Journalism was very interesting and I wanted to learn all I could.

When I started my “after college” career, I was doing marketing and technical writing for a manufacturing company that builds textile machinery. The listening took on a new meaning because I was suddenly working with engineers and technicians and I knew nothing about this world. My position in marketing was to produce collateral material for trade shows and for sales personnel to leave with their customers during sales calls. In my technical writing role, I was involved with writing technical manuals for the machines that my company built and sold.

I had no experience writing manuals nor did I possess the skills to do so. I could write a script for a radio or TV spot, a press release, even a newspaper article but if you are talking about a weakness, mine was writing material that people had to read in order to learn how to operate or repair a multi-million dollar machine.

In addition, it did cross my mind that these same machine operators could potentially stick a finger somewhere they shouldn’t and have it cut off. Moreover, it would probably be my fault. I needed the job but found myself wondering how I got to that point in my career. I was very nervous. Of course, I had a department head that was in charge of the finished product but I was one of the writers that had to produce.

My task for contributing to the manual writing process was to interview the engineers that developed and built these machines and learn as much as possible so I could write an operator's manual. I assumed and was right that these people knew everything about electrical and mechanical engineering. I certainly did not. I was a liberal art major in college and could barely operate a word processor (that’s what we used back in the day).

This is when I knew that I had to use all of the techniques available to survive and keep my job. I quickly learned that practicing active listening was my key to success. According to the grammarly.com blog, How to Talk to Engineers, Kimberly Joki writes that one must build sincere trust and get to know engineers and how they talk. Engineers use a lot of jargon. In addition, it was important to respect their time. In my position, I wanted to be around these people as little as possible because they were intimidating. However, I knew that I had to do my due diligence if I was going to get the information that I needed.

After a while, I was able to listen actively and understand enough to ask good questions. I would request to sit in on engineering meetings so I could further understand the process of manufacturing, costs, and customer deadlines they were dealing with. I never asked questions in these meetings but listened intently. It was like learning a foreign language but soon I could write in a manner that made some technical sense. At that point, I knew that when I would ask a question it would be considered a somewhat intelligent one and I wouldn’t get an impatient look and a quick answer. 

I had learned to think like an engineer and this was going to get me where I needed to be. In his article in Engineering Management Institute, Anthony Fasano writes about the importance of listening to communications for an engineer. He states that “a key to verbal communication is listening.” He writes that one method for this is, when listening, make mental notes of the key points that the speaker is stating, and then when you speak you can discuss the key points and confirm their importance.

This was all part of the process of what Dr. John Kline calls Informative Listening. This is when you are listening to learn a procedure or process. Kline wrote a book called Listening Effectively while serving as provost for the U.S. Air Force Air University. In many parts of the book, Kline writes about how listening and communications were vital to keeping aircraft airborne. My situation as a technical writer could only cost a finger while Kline’s readers could cost a life if precise communication was not practiced.  Kline is in agreement with Fasano when he writes the importance of focus and understanding the key points of the speaker.

I must say as a technical writer during those years I learned a lot about listening and it was not easy. It was hard work. I had to be focused, and in a frame of mind, that would allow active listening without distractions and purpose in mind of what I was to accomplish.

On a lighter note. I always thought that the humorous part of the process was when I was taking manual drafts to the engineers to have them proof them for accuracy. They would agree to this, then after a few days, I would go back to them to collect the proofed draft. Invariably they would hand it to me and state that it was approved. I would then hand them a form for them to sign stating that the proof they read was correct. They would then take the proof back from me and state that they wanted to read it “one more time.”

I would always have a good laugh over this later when I was out of view.

Now that I have been in media sales for so many years I remember some of those lessons of listening with a purpose. Now it is with my customers, internal colleagues, and management. Listening is always a part of life, whether it be in our personal or professional lives. It is hard work but makes us better communicators and people.

Lighter note part two:

Last June I took my daughter and her boyfriend to see Blink182 in Jacksonville, FL. The "warm-up" band was rap artist, Lil Wayne. I have been to many types of concerts but this was a first for me. This picture shows my "dad perspective" of the performance.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-talk-to-engineers/

https://engineeringmanagementinstitute.org/communication-engineers-important/

https://media.defense.gov/2017/Jun/12/2001761382/-1/-1/0/AU-4.PDF