Gotta go through it

The other night the whole family was out to Ted’s Montana Grill for dinner. We were talking about one of my daughter’s favorite books, Going on a Bear Hunt. I realized that the theme in the book has great application to business: Can’t go over it, can’t go under, we’ve got to go through it.

I tore off a piece of the brown paper they cover the tables with at Ted’s and wrote a note. My daughter asked last night if I’d written about Going on a Bear Hunt yet. 

The book’s theme is a quintessential observation on the current economic situation. We’ve got to just slog through it. It means making tough decisions, right down to the individual. It also means tackling things head-on, rather than avoidance tactics. 

This theme also has great application in communication practice:

• We can’t ignore the interest in new technologies such as social media (can’t go over or under); we’ve got to move through them in ways that make sense for our business and our people
• We can’t not make hard decisions about eliminating old communication channels that no longer meet needs; we’ve got to move through those decisions to discover new ways to disseminate information and more importantly, create dialog
• We can’t go over or under the need for better measurement practices; we’ve got to trudge right through measurement, capturing the important stuff and constantly proving value
• We can’t avoid the need to be process thinkers; we’ve got to move into and become part of the process to truly understand how to improve communication

Ultimately, it speaks to the opportunity that communicators have now as much as any other time, to lead. Lead others through it – whatever “it” is – to the valuable outcomes.