Is it just me, or has the time sped up to about 30% faster than “normal?”
I noted that I started teaching a summer course on July 6, wrote a post the next week, and now it’s Sept. 1! What happened to August?
We need new metaphors for time moving quickly. Get on that, will ya?
I’m teaching Media and Communication 6550 this summer, Organizational Communication. Having spent nearly my whole career in that field, I anticipated that it would be a walk in the park.
This is the third time I’ve taught the course; the first two were last fall, one online and one conventionally. The 15-week semester of then, however, is NOT the six-week sprint we are in now!
In a whole regular semester, we use a textbook. For summer, it’s a selection of journal articles. There’s a team project for the former and a final paper for the latter. There are DEEP details we can get into and discuss in the longer version. For summer, we leave aside a fair amount of theory beyond a few critical items, and try to get to applying those key theories as quickly as possible.
I’m a pretty good online lecturer; I break longish stuff into many parts, am an “animated” speaker who’s very well aware of the need to perform online, and try always to impart a passion and excitement for the material.
Whew.
This one is tough!
So far, the students are hanging in there. The reading is demanding, the online discussion assignments are challenging, and the lack of synchronous communication means you have to save up your questions and formally ask me via email. Can’t be easy! We have nearly 30 in class, and it’s a mad dash.
Short version: We contrast classical management theories from Fayol, Weber and Taylor with more modern paradigms, focusing on the communication impacts and issues of those managerial ideas. And this week, we look at a few important 21st century developments (like the communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) theory).
I wish I had known this material at Goodyear and KeyCorp!
A quick overview of the graphic above… One of the central concepts of OrgComm is the idea that an organization isn’t a “container” full of communication activity. The communication is actually helping to structure, support and change the organization itself. Anne Nicotera wrote that it was an O1, O2, O3 arrangement – organizING, OrganiZED and OrganiZATION. That is, the communication actions are creating the needed structures for the firm in real time, leading to a state of being organized and thus supporting the entity of an organization.
That self-structuring activity is how teams and sub-teams get built and discarded, how the rules for discourse get made and abandoned. Institutional positioning among various stakeholders is also a reflection of that structuring, as are the processes by which people join, stay and leave the firm. Without the communication activity, these processes don’t happen, or don’t happen as well.
Stay tuned. I’ll share some more on this class as we go along.
Sean is also marketing the BGSU Online Master’s in Strategic Communication program for the balance of summer semester. Find the details here. Want to do some visual learning? Here’s a webinar that outlines the program in more detail.
I’m not naming names, but certain politicians rely on hyperbole, exaggeration and drama that frequently seems to have little relationship to facts. That’s not a political statement, it’s an observation. So is that merely a rhetorical distinction, or is it important.
I once wrote in response to Bob Batchelor that public relations/communication isn’t evil, but that political PR probably is. Lee Atwater, James Carville, Karl Rove, George Stephanopoulos, and now Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, Sarah Sanders… Technically NONE of these people are public relations. They are creatures of the political, not dedicated representatives of principled, ethical advocacy.
It’s really unfortunate, because those of us who do see ourselves as the latter are often observed to be the former. Certainly the strategic thrust of our job is to represent our client/boss and the interest of our organization in finding and supporting competitive advantage.
The question is, how far should we go?
In advertising law there’s a phrase that applies: Puffery. When a potato chip says, “no one can eat just one,” the reasonable person doesn’t think that is a literal claim. When a roofing company says in an ad that it’s a “world champion,” we know that there’s no objective competition under way that might support that contention. It’s puffery – it’s rhetorical and used to raise awareness and prompt interest, and the law says that’s ok.
In politics, however, there’s a whole industry dedicated to convince you that you didn’t hear what you just heard, that “she meant” something different. That we should “take him seriously but not literally.”
Danger, Will Robinson.
As a near 30-year pro in professional communication of varying stripes, I believe words and images matter. To quote the Christian bible, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” (Luke, 16:10, KJV) If we can’t trust you with the small stuff, how can we do so for the big stuff?
The political realm is one of the only places where the “official” text of a speech is different than what the speaker actually said. Congress allows Members to “revise and extend” their remarks. So you cannot believe what you hear, right?
The rules on puffery shouldn’t apply in politics. We should expect our representatives in both the legislative and executive branches to speak the truth. Not a partisan version of it, but the actual truth. If they are engaging in speculation, or interpreting something, they should say so and NOT claim they are telling the truth or exposing lies when they are doing nothing of the sort.
One of my favorite songs by the late and lamented Tom Petty is, “The Waiting.”
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
He’s talking about love, and the first verse begins:
Oh baby, don't it feel like heaven right now?
Don't it feel like something from a dream?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but this isn’t an inaccurate description of my first year with BGSU. As you may have heard, the Covid-19 impact led to a budget cut, so after this summer’s course next month, I’m a free agent again. I may be adjuncting in the fall, but haven’t heard yet. I also applied for a 100% online position last month, and I’m into the 5th week of waiting on that. I also threw a hat in the ring for an adjunct post at yet another university…yep, waiting to hear on that too.
It’s hard (Oops, that’s a song by The Who) to be essentially at sixes and sevens wondering what’s to come next.
So I listen to ‘ol Tom, and then REO Speedwagon’s Roll With the Changes, and Chumbawumba’s Tubthumping…and Chicago’s Feeling Stronger Every Day.
And I wait.
Part of my job is coordinating BGSU’s online master’s in strategic communication, and as a result, I get to teach grad students in that program. Likely in the future, I’ll teach some in person as well, as I did at Kent State.
Amid my peregrinations among these students I’ve picked up some interesting tidbits of information, and I thought I would share them with you.
There’s more, but this post already has a tl;dr pall gradually creeping over it.
Suffice to say, I get SO much from the time I spend reading and listening to students! Love this job.
I’ve taught more online than off. From the start of the portion of my career in “academic” pursuits at Kent State University, it was mainly online with some sprinkling of in-person maybe one semester every couple of years.
Being a reasonably hammy individual, I am told I’m an amusing and effective teacher. I’ve done more video lecturing this past few months, though, than ever before. The response from students has been great – the missing link in most online coursework is the sense of relationship.
For example, at Kent, we had a system to record voiceover for slide decks. Not PPT, and not separate, it basically displayed the slide and you talked over each one. pauses, re-dos, no problemo. We don’t have that here at BGSU, so we have other apps that make that stuff happen — Camtasia the most notable.
While I was waiting for my software approval for Camtasia, I bought an inexpensive substitute with the hilarious brand name of Screencast-o-matic. Veg-a-matic I’ve heard of, but Screencast-o-matic? The thing is, it’s great. You have the option of slide only, slide and thumbnail of speaker, or just speaker. Not bad!
The only issue is there’s no virtual background, so everyone is seeing my dining room furniture (and probably getting all judgy…)
Anyway, the worst thing is that one feels like one is talking…into the void. There are no smiling (or bored, distracted, uninterested…no, none of those…) faces. No reactions, or questions, or comments, or cross-discussions. It’s pretty isolating, especially after a half-semester where we HAD all that visual feedback.
Nonetheless, I feel like I’m still giving of myself, still telling anecdotes, still making points from the readings, illustrating theories, putting things together. I assigned reflection posts each week in one class, to drive home the need to start assembling in our students’ minds a general point and purpose to what we have been studying.
And, yet, I really miss class. I miss the students. Even the ones opting to remain silent. Here’s hoping that life comes back, and soon!
Note: Do you miss college? Come back for graduate school. BGSU is waiving the GRE and application fees, and you could start this summer or fall! Check out the online Masters in Media and Communication with specialization in Strategic Communication and Social Media.
Sure you do.
At PRSA’s webinar, Internal Communication during COVID-19, my colleagues and friends Becky Graebe from Dynamic Signal, and Ally Bunin from Reynolds Russell Associates and I talked about a heap of ways to do a good job communicating during these exceptionally interesting times.
During that conversation, I shared the AMMO planning model that I’ve been touting for literally YEARS. I gave a quick “back-of-the-envelope” explanation, and shared my article from a few years ago in PRSA’s The Strategist publication. I wanted to add the slide deck I used in Fall 2019 at PRSA International Conference in San Diego, along with a little more color in putting it to use.
The AMMO — Audience, Message, Method, Objective — is designed as a fast, memorable means of planning comms. You can use it for broad strategy, or for situational communication. You can think through it fast, though, and that’s why I brought it to the webinar.
The details are in the Deck, but briefly, this is how it works.
Audiences: Who will we be communicating with. I know that our constituencies, stakeholders or publics aren’t passive receivers of whatever we share with them, but audiences has a simplicity to it that works well. Initially, be exhaustive. Capture as many as possible. And then…
Objectives: What do we want those people to think, feel and/or do? When we start with who and what, we set up the messaging better and ensure we’re using the methods we need to realize our objectives.
Messages: What do we need to communicate to make the objectives happen? What do we need to tell and hear? Messaging is the idea that underpins copy and imagery. It’s not a tag line, a slogan or a mission statement. Those things INSPIRE messaging, and messaging serves to set guidelines around our creativity.
Methods: Too often we start here! “We need a video.” “We need an email from the CEO.” No, thanks. Start with A/O/M – get those right and the methods will reveal themselves!
That’s the thumbnail – Check out the deck, and feel free to reach out to me if you want to talk about this stuff. I’m a highly compensated academic now, not a filthy capitalist business guy, so no pressure! (You can hear my esteemed wife roaring with laughter now…)
Note: When I was at True Digital Communications I did a webinar about the AMMO method. It’s still available if you want to give a listen.
Yep.
We are all online all the time for the rest of this semester. I understand and support the change, and yet, I’m a little sad that it’s come to this. I REALLY like teaching. I REALLY like the students I’ve been entrusted with, and I’m more than a bit put out that I’ll be interacting with them through the filter of the Interwebz.
Natch, I’ve taught more online than in person, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling down about the switcharoo. So, I will redouble my efforts to make this next few weeks as Freaking Great online as I can. No, I won’t sing, dance or otherwise compromise my professional demeanor (though there’s nothing WRONG with that…), but I will do more online ‘lectures’ than the usual.
A word or two about our university’s response.
It’s a clinic.
The communication from administration has been next to perfect. A balance of operational (we still have to fulfill our mission to educate and perform crucial research) and empathetic (let’s remember that not everyone has high speed internet, and that everyone is a bit emotionally compromised by a 100 year crisis in health.)
I’ll have the chance to talk about this more at 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, March 26, when PRSA hosts a webinar on internal communication in the age of Covid-19. My dear colleague Becky Graebe from Dynamic Signal and and I will talk about best advice and practices, and another dear colleague Ally Bunin from Russell Reynolds Associates (and earlier of Northwell Health) will provide a case study in the informal but informative session.
The Big Idea though is to remember that this hasn’t happened on this scale since 1918. Yes, we’re a different world, certainly, but we are still talking about the potential for LOTS of death, illness and dislocation. We need to take this seriously for sure, and we need to support each other as best we can.
In the meantime, students, wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and keep an eye on Canvas.
So here at BGSU we’ve acted proactively and announced we’re going to be online-only after our spring break next week, for two weeks.
For me, it’s not a big deal. We can do quite a lot of our stuff online, and I’ve been teaching in that space for awhile, most recently last Fall.
But for some of my colleagues who NEVER teach online, or whose subject matter is dependent on tools and equipment that’s real world, not virtual, it’s going to be a Big Hairy Deal.
All of that pales in comparison to people’s health, and ideally, we’ll be so far out in front of this that it will prove to be a non event here on campus.
That’s why I am not at all upset about the switch a roo, even though the Coronavirus so far isn’t here in NW Ohio. Better to put the CDC recommendations in practice now than wish we had.
In the meantime, WASH YOUR HANDS. Stop touching your face. Practice the Demolition Man handshake protocol.
If someone would have told me my freshman year of college I would be completing a master’s degree in one year right after graduating with my bachelor’s degree, I wouldn’t have believed them.
The thought of going to graduate school would have terrified me five years ago. Now, I’m grateful that my hard work and the opportunities my university offers to students paved the way for me to be successful in my program.
During the fall semester of my senior year of college, one of my professors told me about a program the university offers for undergraduates wanting to get a head start on completing their master’s degree. I was toying around with the idea of getting my master’s, thanks to becoming passionate about the direction my professional career was taking. I also wanted to expand more on my academic career, especially in the realms of advertising and communications.
I didn’t want to stop learning just yet.
Here at Bowling Green State University, the BA to MA Accelerated Program for juniors and seniors allows us to jump start graduate school while completing the Bachelor’s degree. When I met with the coordinator director to talk about my interests and career path, he said that I would be a great candidate. I left his office and started the application process. Within a month, I received my acceptance letter and enrolled in my first graduate course. The following April, I accepted an assistantship offer to become a graduate assistant in the School of Media and Communication.
Fast forward more than a year later…my program has given me the experience and opportunities that will help in the long-term with my career path.
The connections I have made through my assistantship and classes allowed me to land an internship that made me realize that marketing is another area I would enjoy. For the internship, I’m redesigning an intranet, and building a website from scratch that launches at the end of this month. My master’s project has helped me grow in my research and writing skills in ways I didn’t know I was capable of, and now I’m on track to get published before the semester ends.
Putting the work towards a second degree has opened more doors for me and built on my prior years of college. Don’t let the thought of graduate school scare you. Do your research, embrace your passions and take that leap of faith.
Graduate school is a good idea.
Laney Borchers is a master’s student graduating in May 2020, and a graduate assistant in the School of Media and Communication.
One of the things about being on faculty is that you aren’t done with TAKING classes.
My development plan calls for no small amount of sharpening my saw regarding all kinds of topics. Last semester I took on-and-offline courses in Canvas (our learning management system) on the “Active Learning Classroom” (very cool) and on both inclusive teaching and LGBTQ+ Safe Zone. More on the latter in a future post.
Some of this content was what one might term “technical.” How to use the collaboration tools in Canvas, how to build courses, how to make use of online tools and flexible classroom arrangements to improve student experience and learning, and the like. The latest of these was a course in Effective and Dynamic Lecture Slides, taught by the head of BGSU’s Design Program, Dr. Jenn Stucker.
Dr. Stucker made the lessons pretty easy to grasp; no complicated design terms, no need to use Adobe Illustrator (though she did aver that she uses that for graphics.) Instead, she focused on key concepts that we ALL should know — particularly we word nerds.
Some of the advice is well-known – One main point per slides, no more than six bullet points of six words each, no more than four colors, and a bias for contrast (no yellow on white, please!) But the main thrust of the lesson was about these things:
There’s more, and I’m probably omitting something important, but hey, it IS my blog, and that’s what stands out for me!
It’s beyond cool to have access to such great professional development. Our Center for Faculty Excellence distinguishes itself even here at the start of my full time academic career. #Grateful!
This Atlantic essay has me thinking. The net-net is that too many people talk about politics, watch, listen and read about stuff that’s far away, and not enough actually get involved to make a difference.
I stand a bit convicted.
My Bachelor’s is in Political Science (American Politics and Political Economy), and I count myself interested, well-read, even opinionated. But I have not been involved in anything political at any level for a really long time.
The last time it was a gubernatorial race, and it wound up costing me a friendship. I’d distributed some literature and even helped with copy-writing, but it still was an arms-length effort and the candidate was flawed and lost.
I guess nothing has got my dander up enough to want to do anything. I also wondered what difference I possibly could make, and came up with ample reasons NOT to do anything.
That’s not good.
Oh, I talk to people and occasionally write something, but this Atlantic piece talks about someone who formed a group to lobby her city leadership on several important topics. This person was trying to make a difference, and put up time and effort. And had some success.
Maybe the excuses will be fewer now that I’m no longer afraid of alienating possible clients. Or afraid of spending too much precious time away from the things I like to do.
It occurs to me that fear was a big part of why I stayed out of it – I don’t think I realized that. There’s a crisis in the US these days in a lack of civics education, and a poor understanding of history, economics…I could try to help in that respect.
How many of you are thinking the same? Read the essay.
Political hobbyism is to public affairs what watching SportsCenter is to playing football.
I was never shy about being a bit grandiose. I was shy about a lot of other stuff, but soon I realized it wasn’t shyness — it was fear. After that realization, the shyness was doomed.
No one would ever say I was shy anyway. I was too busy as a kid recreating Bill Cosby monologues, or reading Bob and Ray scripts with my friends, or impersonating Maxwell Smart. Binding anxiety by being someone else. Guess I’m not unique.
So now I have an ideal job for such a legendary shrinking violet.
I’m a college professor. I get to be the sage on the sage, the grey-bearded wise old hound, the experienced pro laying learning on the young’uns.
Right.
The reality is that it’s more co-creation of meaning than transmission of it. (Thank you, Carl Botan.) I learned a heck of a lot from my students (ever-patient and understanding, seriously) and I think last semester — my first at this excellent institution — went really well.
So I’m jazzed about the semester to come, which starts at the end of the month. Plenty of time to refresh my Bob and Ray routines.
Maybe you’ve been thinking about it for a while. Going back to school. You’re in your third job after college, and wondering how to differentiate yourself for promotion, or your next job. Perhaps you’ve been working with people with advanced degrees, and you’re feeling a little less brilliant. Or maybe it’s wanting to better understand the ‘why?’ that comes with the work.
In any case, you’ve got hundreds of MBA programs out there, and almost as many Master’s degrees in communication available as well. So, how do you choose? Here are five tips that I’ve found helpful over the years in my work first with Kent State, and now at Bowling Green State University.
1. Choose based on your purpose. Simon Sinek says “Start with Why?” — are you looking to beef up your business savvy, your financial knowledge? Looking to better understand why and how different communication tactics work? Polish your executive presence? Break into teaching? Find a program that fits most of your wants, but keep in mind that the “best” program is the one that fits for you and your aspirations.
2. The path of least resistance isn’t necessarily the best path. Higher education is changing, and the ongoing and accelerating decline in the pool of high school students in many areas of the U.S. is making more institutions turn to graduate education as a means of filling the gap. There are institutions spending a lot of ad dollars. So hunt around and check the faculty carefully.
3. Look for a balance of practice and academics in the curriculum, particularly in online programs. You’re doing the work now, right? You want a program that pushes you to better understand what lies beneath, and what feeds your strategic knowledge. That’s going to mean a theoretical base coupled with strong applied thinking. Keep in mind that nearly every department and function in an organization has a foundation of theory that grounds it and explains its actions. Communication is the same, and embracing that foundation makes you a stronger pro. That’s the case for public relations, advertising, marketing and employee communication. It’s not limited, it’s comprehensive.
4. Online or in-person? That’s a salient question – objectively, most people will say that in-person is better: better for building relationships among students and teachers, better for peer learning, better for mutual support. But the online universe can be every bit as rich and fascinating, as long as the faculty has the online chops, and the university systems are up to the task. In-person can be tough for working pros, whereas online, being an asynchronous environment that lets you work at your own pace, can be much more convenient. (My own program at Kent State was both in-person and online.)
5. Realize that time will pass whether you’re in grad school or not. The demands of work and family can be significant, and you should realize that grad school is a fair amount of work. Realize, however, that the days and months will tick by regardless. A good online program can have you out in 2 years, same as full-time in person — think about whether waiting really will make a difference. We make time for the things we believe are important, and increasingly, having the Master’s credential is a necessity to differentiating yourself in the marketplace.
That’s it – feel free to reach out to me if you’d like to talk about my experiences in grad school. I taught in the Kent State Master’s programs, and now teach at BGSU and coordinate the online Master’s in Strategic Communication. Check it out.
A previous version of this article appeared on PRSA’s Communities web site.
That was kind of a long time ago.
Many moons ago, a middle-aged PR guy got laid off from a job.
It was 2008, and the market was a little soft for that dude — after all, the financial crisis was wailing along, and the best two options were to crawl under a table and cry, or start a business. Guess which one I did?
Yes, Communication AMMO was born in April of 2008, and one Sean D. Williams launched into the world of small business. Nine years later, I joined True Digital Communications, and this past summer, realized a life ambition and became a full-time professor here at Bowling Green State University’s School of Media and Communication.
One of the things that has been percolating around again is the “what should we call ourselves” question. I tackled that some years ago in a past (now lost) blog, but I still remember the basic outline.
Something like that.
I still don’t know, but as I’ve worked with the Institute for Public Relations Measurement Commission for a really long time now, I’m still partial to PR as the umbrella term. I know the marketing folks want to subordinate us under their realm; I’m a little bit internet famous for the phrase, “All marketing is communication, but not all communication is marketing.” I like Integrated Communication, but only without “marketing” in the middle of it.
So what?
It’s just a long preamble to explaining why my blog is coming back. I’m not only a prof, I’m also the coordinator for BGSU’s online MA in Media and Communication with an emphasis in Strategic Communication. So there’s still a marketing impulse behind my taking up the electronic pen/sword.
In the main though, I’ve just missed writing stuff for myself and sharing it around. So in 2020, expect to hear more from me. And if you have some thoughts about what you’d like me to cover, drop them in the comments and let me know.
Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom. As you can see, I still flirt with TLDR, and somewhat NOT apologetically!
Twitter: @commammo
Forgive me for being content poor. But there’s actually something posting, like, really soon. Hang in there. Read a dang book. Watch a documentary or listen to some really good jazz. I’ll be here later.
