The Seven Organizational Sins: Pride

The daily dealings of communications professionals

One of the biggest communications mistakes I see is pride. And not the good kind. Pride in your work is important.

 What I mean is the kind of pride that says: “We shouldn’t have to explain ourselves.”

I worked with an organization once that was facing a lot of community opposition. People were asking fair questions, but internally the reaction to the questions was that “people should trust us”, “we’re doing the right thing”, “why do we have to answer all of this?”

That’s the kind of pride I’m talking about.

So I asked them a simple question: “Do you have answers to those questions?”

“Yes.”

Great. Then we’re going to answer them.

All of them.

And if you don’t have the answers, then you don’t have a communications problem, you’ve got a business or policy problem.

Once we started answering the community's questions, things shifted. Quickly, actually, because trust started to build.

Unanswered questions leave people thinking the worst. 

It’s all anchored on trust. And pride can get in the way of trust because the minute you think you’re above explaining yourself, you’ve got a problem.

The fix for pride:

• Answer the questions (especially the uncomfortable ones)

• Don’t assume trust - earn it

• Keep pride in your work, not in your posture

---

What questions is your organization avoiding right now?

That's where the work starts. If you need help answering them, let's talk.