by Jacqui | Oct 19, 2020 | Issues / Crisis Management, Leadership
Especially in times of crisis when speed and accuracy are of paramount important, it is critical that your message can be delivered through layers of the organization without misinterpretation. In other words make your message ‘media proof”. Inside the...
by Jacqui | Oct 9, 2020 | Ideas and Musings
It’s been a crazy few months. Our world has changed dramatically. As we close out the year, we are watching; our neighbours to the south heading into a critical election, the rise of anxiety and concern over our economy, the chase for a vaccine that might give us...
by Jacqui | Oct 5, 2020 | Issues / Crisis Management, Uncategorized
In my book, Stuff Happens, I use the resilience cycle to demonstrate that organizations need to be in a continuous cycle of preparation, management and recovery to become resilient. Crises have lifecycles. Being able to communicate effectively with stakeholders...
by Jacqui | Mar 31, 2020 | Ideas and Musings, Issues / Crisis Management
Often those who live outside North America think that Canadians and Americans are the same. The COVID19 pandemic is a stark example of how different we really are. My friend, Pierre Pettigrew summed it up for me one day like this: Canada = Peace, order, and good...
by Jacqui | Feb 27, 2018 | Leadership
I own an alphabet soup’s worth of designations (not counting my degrees and a couple of designations I dropped): P. Eng.: Registered Professional Engineer ABC: Accredited Business Communicator MC: Master Communicator (an honour bestowed on me by IABC) As my career has...
by Jacqui | Feb 21, 2018 | Leadership
Throughout my life I have been interested in sports so watching the Olympics holds certain appeal for me. Higher. Faster. Stronger. The media loves to find the human-interest stories behind the athletes and show how each overcame adversity to be among the best in the...
by Jacqui | Nov 7, 2017 | Communication Skills
Recently, I was introduced to a new type of presentation format by my friend and fellow professional communicator Martha Muzychka. She calls it ‘Rapido’. I call it a power tool for communication. Rapido works because it is very strictly timed. Each presenter gets...
by Jacqui | Oct 31, 2017 | Communication Tactics, Leadership
Most executives are busy people. They are often seen running (literally) from meeting to meeting. Those meetings are typically scheduled by an equally busy and often super savvy assistant who knows who to make time for and how urgent the meeting is. One of my former...
by Jacqui | Oct 24, 2017 | Communication Skills, Leadership
I am obsessed with my calendar because I have an extreme case of FOMO. When a notice arrives or a request comes in for me to attend something. My immediate reaction is to go to my calendar – I check whether I am available, put the date on the calendar and file the...
by Jacqui | Oct 17, 2017 | Leadership
I work at home and live alone. I have a lot of flexibility with my schedule. It would be easy for me to stay up all night to get work done and play all day or to take an extended break to watch the afternoon soaps. I don’t. Why? Because when I lay my head on my...
by Jacqui | Oct 10, 2017 | Communication Tactics, Leadership
I freely admit to being an email and social media junkie. One of my obsessions is clearing my inbox daily and posting multiple times on social media daily. But that isn’t necessarily work I get paid to do so I can’t and don’t spend my day at it. The best advice I...
by Jacqui | Oct 3, 2017 | Communication Skills
Some people spend their entire workday in meetings. These people barely have the time for a bathroom break and eat their lunches while attending. At the end of the day, they are tired and often still face a pile of “work” that needs doing. If this describes you or if...
by Jacqui | Sep 26, 2017 | Issues / Crisis Management
Most of us who deal with crisis management are adrenalin junkies. Nothing gets us more energized than pitching in to deal with the immediacy of the crisis. Team cohesiveness and management is critically important in a crisis. The team will develop a bunker mentality...
by Jacqui | Sep 19, 2017 | Issues / Crisis Management
Preparing for a crisis can feel like a daunting task. But, what if I were to tell you that you can get a good head start in the time it takes to have a coffee break? Would you give it a try? Since you decided to read more, I will take your answer as a “yes”. Grab...
by Jacqui | Sep 12, 2017 | Issues / Crisis Management
It should not surprise anyone that hurricane season is upon us – it happens every year. What is surprising is that it takes the devastation of a hurricane to make the people who live in those regions take preventive measures seriously. Businesses and organizations...
by Jacqui | Sep 5, 2017 | Issues / Crisis Management
When a crisis strikes, there isn’t much time to formulate a response. That’s why I advocate a pro-active preparation strategy to help you absorb the shock faster and take action. Like most communications strategies, responding to a crisis involves reaching and...
by Jacqui | Aug 29, 2017 | Communication Skills
It is an honour for me to have been given the designation Master Communicator (MC) by my Canadian peers in the International Association of Business Communicators. Last year, I served as the chair of the selection committee and this year – my last for a bit – I have...
by Jacqui | Aug 15, 2017 | Issues / Crisis Management
The number of reporters has dwindled. The number of negative Tweets has decreased dramatically. You have returned from the war room to your regular desk. So, is the crisis over? No! The underlying issues are far from gone. Now you face the legal battles and the...
by Jacqui | Aug 8, 2017 | Leadership
Over my career, I have worked for many CEOs directly. Each had his own style and agenda and each transition required a significant adjustment for the organization – some even created havoc. Which makes me wonder whether Trump’s presidency is in a crisis or simply...
by Jacqui | Aug 1, 2017 | Communication Tactics, Issues / Crisis Management
When an organization is facing an issue or a crisis, emotions are running high. I’ve been there when the proverbial sh***t hits the fan. Trust me there’s lots of emotion involved. The leaders I have worked with generally turn their initial emotion into...
by Jacqui | Jul 25, 2017 | Communication Skills
My favourite subjects are communications, science and math so when I heard about a new book from Alan Alda, I had to check it out. Alan Alda knows about those subjects? He certainly does and the book, “If I understood you, would I have this look on my face?” is a...
by Jacqui | Jul 18, 2017 | Communication Skills, Issues / Crisis Management
I don’t subscribe to National Geographic although after reading a friend’s copy of the June 2017 issue, I may. The feature article is an in-depth treatise about lying and why we do it. So, what were my key takeaways as a communicator? Lying is a very human thing to...
by Jacqui | Jul 11, 2017 | Communication Skills
One of the skills I seem to have developed is writing “velvet hammer” prose. By that I mean writing letters, announcements, greetings, directions, etc. that are simultaneously kind (the velvet) and direct (the hammer). Lawyers love to use hammers. In my experience,...
by Jacqui | Jun 27, 2017 | Leadership
It may not be new to others but it was new to me today when I heard it. FAIL. It stands for the future always involves learning. Since the school year is drawing to a close for many this month, I thought I would share some valuable life lessons from my school days. I...
by Jacqui | Jun 20, 2017 | Communication Skills
Last month Ellen Degeneres celebrated the 20th anniversary of her coming out on national TV. It was a big deal then and deserves being marked as an important milestone. On her anniversary show, she talked about the importance of being able to be her authentic self...
