An unusually candid speech by former BBC HR director Lucy Adams graphically demonstrates that it’s not only what you say but the way that you say it. The notorious executive, who attracted a storm of criticism in her £320,000 a year role, claimed “talking like lawyers”, among other things, caused BBC bosses to lose the trust of their employees.
At one point an employee in the BBC’s news division told her that her group emails were “crap” and she should “get someone else to write them.” “I was slightly taken aback,” recalls Ms Adams, “as this was precisely what I had done. My emails were usually written with several other people – people in HR, people in legal, people in the press team and people in internal communications. As I re-read the most recent communications I realised with dismay that he was right. My emails were crap,” she says. “They seemed pompous and sterile, lacking any humanity or humility. I had adopted the royal executive ‘we’ and in an effort to be accurate I had ‘lawyered out’ any personality.” The result was that employees saw her communications as “being part of a more sinister hidden agenda.”
Further proof, if any were needed, that it’s not just the words you use but also your tone of voice that is so important in getting your message across.
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