chuckstaben Uncategorized

Story telling

Though I love data, I’ve finally become convinced that most of us operate on a more emotional level, and the best communicators recognize this and they are great storytellers. I would encourage you to have specific stories at your fingertips, ready to trot out. These may change depending on the audience, the year, the challenges you face-I just encourage you to spend specific time and energy developing these stories.

What are some examples? Know the name of that great first generation student (and clear with her the use of it) the story of how she had not realized that college was within her reach, and that this young Hispanic woman from, say, Jerome Idaho is now becoming a doctor, and plans to serve her community. Sincere stories, moving stories. You will probably find yourself talking to boosters-be sure you know the name of a football player or a track athlete whose scholarship enabled them to come to school, to excel on the field and academically, and now those boosters have not changed just that student’s lives, but those the student will touch. A successful alumnus. A faculty member who changed the lives of a student or had an extraordinary research success. A startup industry from a university invention or entrepreneur.

You may have the advantages of being a natural storyteller, or having a great communications aide…but even if not, there is great advice about storytelling out there-from TED talks to YouTube videos. Some TED talk advice gems:

  1.       Immerse your audience in the story.
  2.       Tell a personal story.
  3.       Create suspense.
  4.       Bring characters to life.
  5.       Show. Don’t tell.
  6.       Build up to S.T.A.R. moment.
  7.       End with a positive takeaway.

Keep a lookout for great stories, keep a list, practice telling them. And, though you may get bored with the same story-it is surprising how much the same story can be used in different contexts.

chuckstaben Uncategorized

Dealing with email

Email has become a monster-in volume, in expectation of response, and in the potential for MIS-communication. I’ll present some facets of how I dealt with email, but I’d love to hear from others on this topic.

As a public university president, one must realize that ANY email may become public due to a public records request. So, if you don’t want to see it on the front page of the paper, don’t put it in email. Though state public record laws vary, I suggest that in most states, it is best practice to keep all incoming and outgoing email from the presidential accounts. And, I would avoid emails that indicate there is other, private information under discussion. While encouraging you to pick up the phone to call your Vice President…I discourage you from sending the VP an email saying “too sensitive for email, pick up the phone.” Two other points related to public records. In Idaho, and many other states, simply using a private email account, such as a gmail account, does not shelter relevant content from inquiry. In fact, this may open ALL your personal email to scrutiny. Second, some email is likely to be covered by attorney-client privilege. But, attorney-client privilege does not cover all correspondence with your attorney, and just cc’ing the attorney does not bring an email under privilege.

My staff suggested two email accounts-a personal one used for the bulk of my business as president and a president@university.edu address for web posting. My chief of staff monitored the president inbox. Especially when controversial decisions were made, this email inbox could contain some colorful inquiries. We responded to every inquiry…though some responses were “Thank you for your input”, which I admit was office code for “We hope never to hear from you again.”

I shared my personal email with my chief of staff, and those who worked closely with me knew this. I can imagine having three emails, one being completely private, but I preferred my CoS knew what I was doing and seeing. If another staff person had a concern about the CoS, they could always phone me. My CoS rarely replied directly to my email, though she would make requested appointments and monitor that I had responded. We found this system worked well, though I know it was a large burden for her.

One final hint…please don’t send emails at any hour of the day or night expecting immediate response. We all need our lives. If it is truly urgent, we would text, which was a much rarer form of communication.

chuckstaben On being a president, Uncategorized

Presidential Communication

Now that you have established your presidential priority, how do you communicate about it and about the myriad other issues that arise?  I think most freshman presidents will find that communication is a much bigger part of the job than they anticipated. Communication will have multiple objectives, and therefore be multimodal, but it must build your leadership persona and emphasize your priority.

This post will focus on getting one’s message out. The first thing to note about getting one’s message out as a President is that communication is a two-way street; understand the “listening” part of each mode, recognize the opportunity for conversation, and consider means of more specific listening.

As a new president, you may for the firts time be overseeing a Marketing and Communications group.  Ideally, this group works closely with you and your Cabinet to determine the key messages, constituencies, and communications.  I was particularly fortunate to also have a Director for Executive Communications who worked one-on-one with me; smaller universities may not present that opportunity. Time spent with such people to ensure they understand your message and your voice is a valuable investment. Unsurprisingly, the clarity of your goals and mission with your team impacts the efficacy of it’s delivery. If you’re not equipped with your own marketing and communications team, consider whether you should make this investment. In any event, take a very conscious approach to communication.

Additionally, realize that many others speak on your behalf – from your Vice Presidents through department chairs or directors.  Ensure that they have the messages and voice that guarantees effective communication at all levels. In this post, however, we will be focusing specifically on presidential communication and the opportunities most likely to arise.

Public Speaking

  • Programmed Occasions:  Whatever the occasion, identify 1 to at most 3 objectives you wish to communicate and how best to send that message.  Though I am a data guy, I recognize that the most impactful message often involves a more personal narrative.  Is there an example of a student whose life was transformed, or a faculty member who modeled the behavior you wish to motivate that can demonstrate the point you wish to make?
    • Faculty meetings, Senate meetings, Staff Meetings: Craft specific, but consistent messages for each audience.  If you are comfortable with question-answer, these can also provide an element of listening and approachability. As you think about question and answer, be sure you are armed with a few stats and stories that make your main point. If your priority is student success, be sure you know your graduation and retention rates and perhaps those typical of peer universities.
    • State of the University Address:  If you don’t have one, start it and make it an all-inclusive, open event.  Understand that this is a general audience, and the message must be specific and impactful as well as informative.
    • Guest speaking:  Those Chamber of Commerce luncheons can be a bully pulpit for your message.  Think about how the community can engage with the university and help you achieve your goals.
  • Specific events (donor recognition, award ceremonies, welcomes, guest appearances):  You will be at the podium for many occasions. I always found it useful to have the program schedule and prepared remarks so that I did not forget donor names, achievements, etc.  Again, a narrative-perhaps about how the donor embodies something important like student success or community involvement can be a powerful way of illustrating your priority to an important audience.  The risk of prepared remarks is that they can be stiff and unproductive, so do be prepared to go off script if you are comfortable.  

Media Relations

  • Editorial Boards:  schedule at least a yearly meeting with each local editor and/or editorial board.
  • Interviews:  Prepare ahead of time, with talking points and probable questions, especially problematic ones. With this last note in mind, have pivots to use for difficult or unanticipated moments -remember that you don’t have to answer the reporter’s question directly, you can pivot to something else, like…”I think our focus should be on student success, and I’d like to note the 5% improvement in our retention rate…but more importantly the impact that the University’s education had on Ms. Smith, who is now a leader in our community due to her experience.
  • OpEds:  I only wrote about 10 OpEds during my 5 year presidency, and I think that I should have tried to do them quarterly;  start of the semester, before and after legislative sessions, to keep the University positively in the news at local and, ideally, national levels.

Direct Written Communications

  • University email, website:  Don’t expect that everyone reads emails from the President, but reserve this channel for critical commentary, policy announcements, etc.  Make official emails short, informative and, if necessary, refer to more extensive material on the website. You may find yourself commenting on the university’s budget situation or expressing your thoughts on freedom of speech.  Craft these messages carefully, recognizing that they will also go beyond the university community. For example, an email that I sent about freedom of speech and responsible communication was widely quoted on 4chan, a rather reactionary blog site. Moral of the story: when writing or speaking on behalf of the university, expect yourself to be taken out of context to best avoid miscommunication. As President of a university, use your title as a gentle reminder to communicate like a politician!
  • Blogging:  I wrote (with help from my Communications Director) a topical letter published every Friday (Friday Letter) to 60,000 members of the university community-primarily alumni.  This is an excellent opportunity to communicate your priorities because it is a more personal, less official update from the president. The frequency of the letter as well as the format of the correspondence allows one to use the power of narrative and example and to show your engagement on campus and awareness of events on campus from football to academic excellence.  A weekly post is a lot of work, but well worth the opportunity. Consider inviting guest authors from time to time to lessen the burden. We collected comments on these posts; several of the more informative and controversial posts received up to about 50 responses, that gave a sense of alumni concerns and allowed us to more effectively engage with our audience.

Social media

  • Facebook:  Lock down your personal Facebook page and share it only with friends and relatives.  The University almost certainly has a facebook presence; contributing to that may be easiest and wisest course of action.  Your own presidential page will be a good deal of work, and I am not sure it is worth it. I had about 1700 followers on a specific President Chuck Staben page by the end of my presidency.  I approved the postings from my media director, but I think they did not have the substance or information of a blog post nor the immediacy of Twitter. Facebook is passe among students, and probably does not build an audience quickly for most presidents.
  • Twitter:  Increasingly popular-even with the President of the United States!  I have always felt that Twitter trivialized policy discussion, but if used primarily to enhance approachability and engagement, I think this may be a good tool.  Again, only useful if you commit to it and post several times daily. President Santa Ono at the University of British Columbia is often held up as the best example of a Twitter user as president.