Six (Not So) New Rules of Communicating

Timeless strategies for building trust, connection in politics and governance

Programming Note: A reminder that Good Government Files will be taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday. Enjoy your time with loved ones, and safe travels for those who will be on the road. We’ll see you again on Dec. 4.

---

Have the rules changed when it comes effective communication in politics and governance? One of my favorite writers on Substack, Ted Gioia, believes they have.

Looking at the results of the recent election, he writes it’s clear modern audiences value unscripted, personal, and authentic communication over polished speeches. Trust is built through dialogue rather than monologues.

He’s gone so far as to proclaim there are Six New Rules of Communicating. They are:

1. Sitting conveys trust better than standing.

2. Speak with people, not at them.

3. Use an informal, relatable tone.

4. Conversations carry more influence than formal speeches.

5. Spontaneous, personal communication feels more authentic than scripted remarks.

6. Storytelling and off-the-cuff remarks are more impactful than soundbites.

He put together a helpful chart to show the evolution between then and now.

Here at Good Government Files, we consider this a Back to the Future analysis. Listening, keeping it informal and conversational when possible, and great storytelling have long been best communication practices for effective governance.

To be fair to Gioia, he does, too. He notes the most notable practitioner of this “new” approach was Socrates, the Greek philosopher born circa 470 B.C. whose Socratic method laid the groundwork for Western systems of logic and philosophy.¹

Gioia recounts Socrates arguing for his life in ancient Athens, having been charged with impiety and corrupting youth. Admittedly no great orator, Socrates had something much more important in his defense.

“I show myself to be not in the least a clever speaker,” Socrates told the jurors, “unless indeed they call him a clever speaker who speaks the truth.”

Ah yes. The truth. That should be at the top of the list of anyone’s Rules for Communicating. You’ll never go wrong telling the truth, painful though it may be at times.

Why Truth Matters More Than Rhetoric in Governance

I think most citizens have a pretty good 🐂 💩 detector when it comes to political speech and government communications. While some hyperbole is expected from politicians in the heat of a campaign, it should never be utilized in comms coming from a government agency. Why? Because people need to trust what comes from official government sources.

There’s no need to “sell” a program or policy proposal. What I mean by that is, you should never be talking solely about the positive aspects of whatever is being proposed. To build credibility, effective communicators will include the negative aspects, or pain points, of the proposal. To do otherwise insults the intelligence of the public. Treat people like adults, not children who can’t be expected to understand nuance and trade-offs.

The Socratic method — a question-and-answer approach which compels an audience to think through a problem to a logical conclusion — does wonders as a model for dialogue-based truth-seeking. For government agencies, we think an effective model is the Bleiker Life Preserver©, which I wrote about here.

The Life Preserver, created by my good friends at Bleiker Training, explains the why behind decisions and acknowledges the complexities inherent in any controversial proposal. It’s an approach designed to gain credibility for your agency, which is fundamental to getting necessary but difficult projects approved and implemented.

Communication Truisms for Effective Governance

Let’s return to a few of the items on Gioia’s list which align with GGF’s core tenets for communicating the right way.

1. Speak With, Not At: People value conversational and inclusive communication. The last point in the Life Preserver includes the statement “we are listening, we do care” even though our proposal is causing some stakeholders some pain. You must be speaking with people, not at them, to honestly say you are listening to them.

2. Use an Informal Tone When Possible: It makes agencies more relatable. It’s a reminder the people running the agency aren’t automatons but flesh-and-blood human beings just like the citizens they are serving. One of my core principles when I was running the communcations office for the City of Round Rock, Texas, was that our work shouldn’t look like or read like it came from the government. I’d say we mostly succeeded. Exhibit A is this budget video.

3. Prioritize Storytelling Over Soundbites: Stories resonate more than jargon or polished statements. Human beings evolved to assimilate information through stories, not PowerPoint slides with a header and bullet points. I’ll share links to my storytelling series at the bottom of this newsletter.

The Current Political Moment Demands a Communication Reset

Polarization and performative rhetoric in our state and national politics have alienated the public. We’ve got election deniers on the right, who insisted the 2016 vote was rigged despite the failure of 61 lawsuits that argued otherwise. Not to be outdone, we had those on the left (and in the mainstream news media) who insisted the current president was sharp as a tack right up to the moment he uttered “We finally beat Medicare” in an answer on abortion rights during a debate.

I think the public is starved for leaders who are committed to transparency, humility and dialogue. I profiled one such leader, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, in a recent newsletter.

Practical Takeaways for Communicators