Hospital CEOs today have a diverse mix of media through which to communicate their message, including traditional print newspapers and magazines, social media, broadcast news interviews and blogs. Serving as an organization's spokesperson is a delicate job. It requires just the right tone, word choice and story, along with proper preparation even when time is scarce. A media-savvy executive must bridge the old and the new by mastering certain skills that will apply in any interview, at any time, for any purpose.
Brad Phillips is the author of "The Media Training Bible: 101 Things You Absolutely, Positively Need to Know Before Your Next Interview." Mr. Phillips spoke about four traits he's observed among excellent spokespeople for hospitals and health systems, and certain tips for executives to strengthen their interactions with the media.
1. They envision their audience with impeccable detail. Before an interview, Mr. Phillips tells spokespeople to imagine their target person in vivid detail. "Be specific. I want to know that person's age, gender, where they live, their marital status, whether they have children, where they are listening to or reading your interview, whether they are wearing glasses, and so on," says Mr. Phillips. "If you're focused on exactly the representation of the person you want to reach in that interview, you'll reach everyone else who matters."
CEOs can make two noteworthy mistakes when establishing their target audience: They make it too broad or they miss it completely. For example, Mr. Phillips says CEOs can't plan to speak to a "35-60-year old adult who might be a man or women." A vague target will result in a vague message. Mr. Phillips also points out the difference between tentative and strong language, such as "we may" versus "here's what we're committed to," or "we're trying" compared to "we are doing." Along with crafting their message for a target audience, CEOs should focus their stories on parts that are 100 percent true and absolute to avoid a diluted message.
CEOs can also miss their target audience completely by speaking exclusively to the reporter. "The reporter is the liaison between you and the audience," says Mr. Phillips. For example, say a CEO is speaking with a health reporter from a major, consumer-oriented national magazine. The CEO uses elevated language, jargon and references specific provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act without proper explanations. The reporter may very well understand, but the interview may not translate to a broader audience. "That's a problem. That reporter is not the end user of the information," says Mr. Phillips.
2. They keep their language and perspective focused on the patient. Mr. Phillips says the "distancing" mechanism is common among physicians and healthcare professionals, but it becomes problematic when it spills over into their interviews. This distancing is most evident when professionals speak about matters in a highly objective tone with little to no emotion. "To some degree, talking about issues in a cold way is almost a personal defense. It's a way of them not having to wallow personally in the misery they can be around every day," he says.
Cold language might also come up when an executive speaks about the hospital as a business, neglecting patient or family interests that may be more sensitive. Even if this is a mechanism to cope with the demands of the job, Mr. Phillips said this is not a proper approach to take in communication. Patients and victims should be kept in the forefront of the message.
"The Media Training Bible" includes an example of a hospital representative failing to maintain focus on patients and victims. A newspaper reporter interviewed a hospital's chairman of neurological surgery about sterilization methods after 12 patients were exposed to an infectious neurological disorder. When asked why his hospital didn't use new forceps for each procedure instead of sterilizing those that had already been used, the physician pointed to the equipment's $800-per-piece price-tag, saying, "That's a lot of money. There's a cost-benefit ratio." In this context, the phrase "cost-benefit ratio" didn't sit well when the conversation was about patients' safety.
Mr. Phillips says this response was provided after the hospital had already agreed to use forceps once. "The real shame of that example is that the hospital had already changed its policy. There was no reason to say that," says Mr. Phillips. "[He] forgot to think about how it'd come across to people outside of the hospital."
3. They don't treat HIPAA as a barrier to storytelling. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act limits the kind of information hospitals can disclose to the media regarding patients, but Mr. Phillips recommends hospital communication teams work with this regulation on their side. "Even though we think of HIPAA as a barrier, you can still honor the law and get the message out," he says.
For instance, in one example Mr. Phillips discussed, a gun shot victim knew there was a significant amount of public interest in his health and recovery. He consented for the hospital team to express his thanks to people who wished him well, and hospital employees communicated that on his behalf. "A lot of times, it's almost a relief when hospital staff are willing to be the people at the front of the story, so the patient doesn't have to be," said Mr. Phillips.
It's also important that executives remember the importance of storytelling, not only for patient events, but for all types of interviews. Memory studies have shown that people remember specifics more than abstractions, and specifics also help people understand broad concepts. This does not work the other way around.
"You don't have to tell a big story," says Mr. Phillips. It can be a single moment about a patient or a time when the CEO experienced an "ah ha!" moment, he says. Either way, these specific stories act as "Velcro for the mind" and make general ideas more understandable.
4. They're relaxed about word choice. Precise language is nothing to neglect, but hospital executives must avoid hyper-focusing on word choice and ignoring other aspects of communication, such as body language or emotional connections. Even the most amicable CEO can seem like a robot, and this is biggest mistake Mr. Phillips sees when working with executives: When they put such a premium on their words they forget to connect with the audience.
"This is particularly true in broadcast, but even true in print," says Mr. Phillips. "To the degree people like you, the more likely they'll be receptive to your message. The spokespeople who are great already know that." He says remarkable spokespeople are those who are perceived as the same person on camera as off, who bring the same passion to public discussions as private conversations.
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Brad Phillips is the author of "The Media Training Bible: 101 Things You Absolutely, Positively Need to Know Before Your Next Interview." Mr. Phillips spoke about four traits he's observed among excellent spokespeople for hospitals and health systems, and certain tips for executives to strengthen their interactions with the media.
1. They envision their audience with impeccable detail. Before an interview, Mr. Phillips tells spokespeople to imagine their target person in vivid detail. "Be specific. I want to know that person's age, gender, where they live, their marital status, whether they have children, where they are listening to or reading your interview, whether they are wearing glasses, and so on," says Mr. Phillips. "If you're focused on exactly the representation of the person you want to reach in that interview, you'll reach everyone else who matters."
CEOs can make two noteworthy mistakes when establishing their target audience: They make it too broad or they miss it completely. For example, Mr. Phillips says CEOs can't plan to speak to a "35-60-year old adult who might be a man or women." A vague target will result in a vague message. Mr. Phillips also points out the difference between tentative and strong language, such as "we may" versus "here's what we're committed to," or "we're trying" compared to "we are doing." Along with crafting their message for a target audience, CEOs should focus their stories on parts that are 100 percent true and absolute to avoid a diluted message.
CEOs can also miss their target audience completely by speaking exclusively to the reporter. "The reporter is the liaison between you and the audience," says Mr. Phillips. For example, say a CEO is speaking with a health reporter from a major, consumer-oriented national magazine. The CEO uses elevated language, jargon and references specific provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act without proper explanations. The reporter may very well understand, but the interview may not translate to a broader audience. "That's a problem. That reporter is not the end user of the information," says Mr. Phillips.
2. They keep their language and perspective focused on the patient. Mr. Phillips says the "distancing" mechanism is common among physicians and healthcare professionals, but it becomes problematic when it spills over into their interviews. This distancing is most evident when professionals speak about matters in a highly objective tone with little to no emotion. "To some degree, talking about issues in a cold way is almost a personal defense. It's a way of them not having to wallow personally in the misery they can be around every day," he says.
Cold language might also come up when an executive speaks about the hospital as a business, neglecting patient or family interests that may be more sensitive. Even if this is a mechanism to cope with the demands of the job, Mr. Phillips said this is not a proper approach to take in communication. Patients and victims should be kept in the forefront of the message.
"The Media Training Bible" includes an example of a hospital representative failing to maintain focus on patients and victims. A newspaper reporter interviewed a hospital's chairman of neurological surgery about sterilization methods after 12 patients were exposed to an infectious neurological disorder. When asked why his hospital didn't use new forceps for each procedure instead of sterilizing those that had already been used, the physician pointed to the equipment's $800-per-piece price-tag, saying, "That's a lot of money. There's a cost-benefit ratio." In this context, the phrase "cost-benefit ratio" didn't sit well when the conversation was about patients' safety.
Mr. Phillips says this response was provided after the hospital had already agreed to use forceps once. "The real shame of that example is that the hospital had already changed its policy. There was no reason to say that," says Mr. Phillips. "[He] forgot to think about how it'd come across to people outside of the hospital."
3. They don't treat HIPAA as a barrier to storytelling. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act limits the kind of information hospitals can disclose to the media regarding patients, but Mr. Phillips recommends hospital communication teams work with this regulation on their side. "Even though we think of HIPAA as a barrier, you can still honor the law and get the message out," he says.
For instance, in one example Mr. Phillips discussed, a gun shot victim knew there was a significant amount of public interest in his health and recovery. He consented for the hospital team to express his thanks to people who wished him well, and hospital employees communicated that on his behalf. "A lot of times, it's almost a relief when hospital staff are willing to be the people at the front of the story, so the patient doesn't have to be," said Mr. Phillips.
It's also important that executives remember the importance of storytelling, not only for patient events, but for all types of interviews. Memory studies have shown that people remember specifics more than abstractions, and specifics also help people understand broad concepts. This does not work the other way around.
"You don't have to tell a big story," says Mr. Phillips. It can be a single moment about a patient or a time when the CEO experienced an "ah ha!" moment, he says. Either way, these specific stories act as "Velcro for the mind" and make general ideas more understandable.
4. They're relaxed about word choice. Precise language is nothing to neglect, but hospital executives must avoid hyper-focusing on word choice and ignoring other aspects of communication, such as body language or emotional connections. Even the most amicable CEO can seem like a robot, and this is biggest mistake Mr. Phillips sees when working with executives: When they put such a premium on their words they forget to connect with the audience.
"This is particularly true in broadcast, but even true in print," says Mr. Phillips. "To the degree people like you, the more likely they'll be receptive to your message. The spokespeople who are great already know that." He says remarkable spokespeople are those who are perceived as the same person on camera as off, who bring the same passion to public discussions as private conversations.
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