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Institutional Voice
Speaking for an organization rather than yourself: message consistency, the public statement, open records, and when to say nothing.
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01
When the Institution Should Say Nothing
There are four legitimate reasons for an organization to stay silent. There are considerably more common illegitimate ones, and they are easy to mistake for the real thing from the inside.
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02
Public Meetings and Open Records
Serving on a public body changes what communication is. Deliberation belongs in the room, the record is the institution's memory, and the traps catch conscientious people rather than careless ones.
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03
The Statement
A statement that closes a subject and one that extends it are built differently. The difference is whether it contains anything a reader can argue with, and most statements are written to be arguable.
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04
Message Consistency Across People and Time
An organization that contradicts itself is assumed to be concealing something, and the assumption is usually wrong. Most inconsistency is drift, and drift is a design problem rather than a discipline problem.
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05
Speaking for an Organization
The shift from your view to the institution's position is a real change in what you are permitted to say. Leaders who never make it stay personally authentic and quietly commit the organization to…