The Dirty Dance

The opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and not the ROHCG.

Sitting on the inside of the Communications Department for the past six months has confirmed my worst fear about the dirty dance between Corporate Communications and the Media. It’s a very costly exercise that doesn’t contribute much value to the organization. In fact it drains resources and energy from the core mission of the ROHCG.

My example is a recent rash of stories and phone calls around the controversial P3 model of the ROHCG. We all know how divisive this issue has become. It has put our Communications Department in a continuous position of defense for months.

When asked to assist in Communications I did what I always do when embarking into the unknown; I consulted the works of Peter Drucker. It took just minutes before I agreed that the primary objective of a Communications Department is to serve the staff – to address all communication needs required to enable our employees to be their best. The trap many Communications departments fall into is when they serve the corporate image above and beyond the internal needs of the organization.

It’s not an oversight on our part. Our skeleton team has unfortunately had to relegate our services to our colleagues in IMHR and Foundation out of necessity until it can return to capacity. Instead we are forced into “image protection” by an external media campaign that is relentless in its mission to tattoo P3 hospitals (and we are one big target) as enemies of public healthcare.
Guess who pays – you and me. Here’s an example:
· The communications team is forced to spend more time gathering information and taking counter-positions in dealing with the media each time a reporter calls
· It almost always requires a Leadership Team member to drop their work to be the official spokesperson for the counter-message
· To counteract the negative news, the department is led to believe it needs to amplify other media campaigns to place positive messaging into the community to raise its image profile

These are important actions, no doubt. But our social responsibility to this community, to this region, is to help the people who enter our building with a mental illness leave the building a healthier person, and to support the people who will continue to support the client when they return to the community. In today’s health care system we need every dollar, every person who can help us do that.

When an external group chooses to use the media to point out our shortcomings, or to debate issues like P3 in the media it’s like opening the door in January. Dollars, energy and effort get sucked out the door to deal with the media problem – and the cost to services and programs is significant.

I’ve been a reporter. I can now see this dance from both sides. I hope that someday, someone has the courage to change the rules of engagement with the media to put an end to this nonsense.