A Communicator’s Takeaway from Bihar Election Verdict

Source: The Indian Express

The defeat of the BJP in Bihar state elections has sent shock waves through the Indian political system, the reverberations of which are being felt in many boardrooms outside India. Never before has a state election been followed so keenly by media outside India. From New York Times to The Guardian, there have been editorials on the implications of the Bihar results.

While there are many conclusions being drawn, the high-stakes election provides a rich source of learning for communicators who often have to win over audiences in a fiercely competitive, regional market with well entrenched incumbents. 

Bihar, India’s third most populous state, is one of the country's most rural societies undergoing rapid economic growth. The really interesting piece is that close to 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion of youngsters of the population of any state in India and indeed anywhere in the world.

Prime Minister Modi is seen to connect well with the youth and in the 2014 national elections, the BJP swept Bihar. So what led to the party's dramatic defeat in 2015? There are multiple factors including a united and superbly coordinated opposition which played the arithmetic game all too well. However, there were some inherent shortcomings in BJP's communications campaign which are now clearly visible in hindsight.

Templatized and undifferentiated messaging: BJP’s messages seemed a copy paste of what would have been said in most other states, as though set into a template. PM Modi talked about the need for change without outlining a clear agenda. He promised electricity access in rural areas which incidentally was the opposition Chief Ministerial candidate, Nitish Kumar’s biggest achievement in the last few years of his reign. This is a clear case when Modi’s research team let him down. The promise of a huge economic package was an in-your-face bait. None of BJP’s messages were cutting ice and the party realized this half way through the five-phase election.

Source: The Financial Express

Lack of local insights and social context: No matter how strong a national brand may be, without insights of local issues and context it will find it tough to influence and ultimately win over a highly segmented audience. Brand Modi continues to be the single strongest political brand across the country, particularly with the youth. So, people did turn up to attend his rallies but those did not convert to votes. For conversion, the strategy needs to be based on local insights which can only come from foot soldiers.  

Source: Business Standard

For instance, BJP leaders kept talking about the return of anarchy (Jungle Raj) to the state if the opposition regained power whereas for most of the electorate the incumbent Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar was the symbol of law and order, thanks to his track record of the last ten years.

Empowering local leadership, who are the source of insights, is paramount. Every region has its well-entrenched influencers. One has to engage with these and turn them into advocates. Since the fight was between locally appealing brand/ personalities (Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad) and an outside one (Narendra Modi and Amit Shah), the outsiders had to put in far more effort to connect with the audience. Without local advocates, even the strongest national brands will find themselves on a very weak footing, as was the case in the BJP campaign.

       

A negative narrative: When one’s narrative is primarily targeted at maligning the opponent, the chances of it backfiring are very high. The local leaders (Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad) are seen as sons of the soil who have been working for their state for decades. Modi and Amit Shah have precious little to show for their contribution to the state. Attacking locally entrenched leaders without having one’s own track record in place is fraught with risks. The opposition returned fire with fire in a well-coordinated battle which played out in every district of the state. Also, the opposition matched BJP's advertising blitzkrieg with its own, well planned campaign which actually saw the outdoor advertising campaigns going head to head.

Modi's silence on divisive issues: What baffled many of Narendra Modi’s supporters, including myself, was his silence on divisive issues being debated in the country. Even if law and order is a state subject, we expected the Prime Minister to come down hard on hate-mongering. The youth are particularly sensitive to such issues. The opposition played the PM’s silence to its advantage.

While recent national opinion polls have held that Modi continues to be the most preferred choice for PM, it is clear that there is a lot more that people expect from him. Can Bihar outcome be generalized to the whole country? There is no data to suggest that and those making such suggestions are pushing generalizations too far. Moreover, a strong and ‘responsible’ (the word to note) opposition is much desired in any thriving democracy as is the need for strong competition in any ideal market scenario.

This election will prove a milestone for political communications in India. As communicators we are all richer from the experience of one of India's most followed state elections in recent times. 

Yes, you are a Leader !

Modern thinkers believe that every human being has leadership qualities. It is about nurturing them and working on one’s weaknesses so that they don’t derail those qualities.

In the words of John Donahoe, CEO & President of eBay, “Leadership is a journey, not a destination. It is a marathon, not a sprint. It is a process, not an outcome.”

So, while embarking on this journey, it would be good for aspiring leaders, like us, to keep measuring ourselves against key tenets of leadership.

Here are some questions worth asking oneself.

What is my leadership impact?

My impact has to go beyond domain knowledge, accomplished goals and merit. No doubt that these are important but they will merely take a person to the threshold of leadership (at best be seen as an average leader). To cross the threshold of true leadership, one needs self-regulation. To what extent am I able to regulate my words, my actions and importantly, my emotions? Ultimately, it is these factors that would determine the rapport, trustworthiness and high morale that I am able to generate within the team.  

Always bear in mind – Leaders don’t react, they respond.

Do I command the complete trust of my team?

You bet, trust won’t come easily. It means team members admitting to mistakes, receiving/ providing feedback, asking for help, challenging the leader’s and each other’s ideas and, importantly, be willing to engage in difficult conversations. The leader has to lead by example on each of these. 

Another significant role that the leader would have to play is to limit background conversations by bringing them to the foreground. Background conversations can wreak havoc on a team’s morale.  Building such a culture needs clear ground rules to be set in advance.   

An article in Inc magazine titled 9 Ways to Win Employee Trust throws more light on the subject. To demonstrate the style of moving from commanding to coaching, Forbes magazine carried an interesting article titled The 13 Questions Great Leaders Ask Their Teams

How well am I able to manage conflicts?

Firstly, not all conflict is unproductive. Some conflict is inevitable and even desirable but the aspect to keep in mind is ‘constructive conflict’. The moment conflict begins to get personal or leads to non-cooperative behaviour, the leader has to step in and quickly. The five modes of handling conflict as articulated by Thomas Kilman are worth considering -

·         Competing: “My way or the highway” – Least desirable; only to be used in situations that need quick action and involve vital issues

·         Collaborating: “Win-Win” – Most preferred but involves time commitment from both sides

·         Compromising: “You lose some, I lose some. Let’s make a deal” – usually for temporary solutions

·         Avoiding: “Can we talk tomorrow”- basically meant to buy time, but the issue will have to be addressed eventually

·         Accommodating: “Giving in” – for low importance decisions till it does not start getting perceived as a person’s weakness

A leader needs to understand which mode to use at what time. In most cases, that is the leader’s toughest test. Some useful techniques to consider here are

• Bringing emotional levels down first
• Refocusing the group on the goal of the conversation
• Generating options
• Attacking issues, not personalities
• Paraphrasing agreed upon actions  

Have I helped create more leaders?

A barometer that I’ve often held for leadership is “True leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders”. The surest way to do that is through motivation and empowerment. Motivation is closely related to the three innate psychological needs – Autonomy, Relatedness, Competence - as defined in the self-determination theory.

• Autonomy: Is the universal urge to be causal agents of one's own life and act in harmony with one's integrated self; however, this does not mean to be independent of others
• Competence: Seek to control the outcome and experience mastery
• Relatedness: Is the universal want to interact, be connected to, and experience caring for others

True leaders understand how to meet these motivational needs of their followers and gradually move them to becoming leaders.

The journey of leadership essentially involves behavioural change.  Any behavioural change has to begin with self-awareness, move to self-evaluation and end in self-improvement. Self-evaluation drives the process of self-regulation, which determines how people control and direct their own actions.

My personal experience has been to learn leadership lessons by studying and analyzing the lives of great leaders - Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, among others. These are perhaps some of the best examples of leadership in action. A common thread that I notice among all great leaders is that they have had their weaknesses but they learnt to deal with them in a way that those don’t become roadblocks. Their focus has been on nurturing and making optimal use of their strengths.

Also, I’ve noticed that most successful leaders developed their leadership abilities much before they took any leadership positions. In fact, many leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa, never held any formal leadership designations in their lives.

I believe that’s another important lesson for aspiring leaders. Move out of the trap of looking at leadership from the lens of a formal position. Leadership is using the power of one’s influence.  

An instance that I hold quite apt for leadership by influence is when Mahatma Gandhi was asked by a reporter to give his message to the people of India. His response was in five words – “My life is my message”. For me, that’s the most powerful message a leader can give.

Becoming a fully effective leader, by learning to exercise influence, is difficult and requires years of personal development. So the sooner one embarks on the journey, the better.

I've started. Have you?

As I publish my post, I'm saddened to hear about the passing away of one of India's most inspirational leaders, former President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He embodied many of these leadership traits especially the last one of creating leaders through his tireless work with students. He breathed his last while addressing students at one of India's top B-schools. I dedicate this piece to him. RIP - Dr. Kalam, 'The People's President'.

Narendra Modi and the Art of Decisive Messaging

If there is one aspect that has stood out in Narendra Modi’s election campaign as well as his one year of governance, it’s been the decisiveness of his messaging. His detractors have termed it as a reflection of his arrogance but it seems to have worked in his favour, time and again. And the reason isn’t too difficult to find. Indian voters gave a decisive verdict in the 2014 general elections and so they expect the same decisiveness from their leader. Indian voters are fed up of ambiguity and uncertainty. Prime Minister Modi caught the pulse of the people. His direct and, in some cases, iron hand messaging is a key component of his leadership style.

After a year in office, Modi’s approval ratings have remained fairly high, ranging from 66 per cent to 82 per cent according to various surveys.

Messaging can surely take some credit for such high rating. Prior to Modi’s victory, the atmosphere of uncertainty created by multiple voices and veto powers within every strata of government had brought governance to a grinding halt. Indians, particularly the youth, cannot accept it any more.

During the election campaign, Modi himself was the message because he seemed to personify the change that many Indians wanted. After his victory, his messaging began to evolve on various fronts - political and economic; domestic and international. 

Message to the political satraps

For most political satraps, Modi’s style has been a culture shock since they were used to dealing with a rather timid PM at least for the last decade.

As expected, Modi’s political detractors termed many of his actions such as the Land Ordinance as unconstitutional.  Some chief ministers termed his actions as harming the federal structure. But they forget or rather chose to forget that while laying out India’s federalism, the Constitution of India gives the federal structure a strong bias towards the union government. India’s founding fathers foresaw that a weak Central government would have dire consequences for the country, examples of which were visible in the UPA II regime where Chief Ministers began to behave like Prime Ministers of their states. They went to the extent of trying to dictate India’s foreign policy towards neighbouring countries. Modi is spot-on in his messaging to the states – Ready to forge a stronger partnership but remember your boundaries.

It has taken a year for most non-BJP chief ministers to recalibrate their relationship with the Centre. Those who are yet to come to terms with this can already see the writing on the wall.

For his internal audiences comprising bureaucrats and government officers, Modi’s messaging has perhaps been the most authoritarian - Show results or be shipped out, period.

Many bureaucrats and ministers have tacitly acknowledged the sword hanging on their heads at any given point of time. In fact, a chief minister who was handpicked by Modi to lead a key union ministry was seen asking some of his friends in the media to pray for him as he stepped into his new role reporting to the PM. Modi’s message of being a hard taskmaster has certainly been welcomed by India’s impatient voters.  

Economic message – the key

This has been the area of focus and the one that has delivered the most success.  The ‘ease of doing business’ message was perhaps the most eagerly awaited and widely accepted. For businesses, uncertainty is death. Modi’s firmness in resolve and action has helped rebuild confidence. This also formed the core of his messaging to international audiences - A Resurgent India that is keen to do business with the world.

The results have begun to show with the economy having turned around. While it may have given his detractors a reason to equate his pro-big business stance with being anti-poor, the people aren’t buying the opposition’s argument.

According to Mint InstaVaani poll, over 80% of people in the metros and 74% people in non-metros approved of Modi’s handling of economic development. Some economists dispute the latest GDP numbers as inflated but for the people on the streets, jobs are all that matter.  As jobs increase, that’s what 90% of the Indian voters care about and Modi understands that very well. His ‘Make in India’ message connects perfectly with the working class.  

Clearly, economic messaging has been Modi’s biggest success so far.

When the medium becomes the message

Modi’s choice of Hindi as the defacto language for governance is aimed at reinforcing his message of being closer to the common man. The Nehruvian legacy of using English as the language of governance is being questioned. During Nehru’s tenure (1947-62) Hindi was far less prevalent in India than it is today. Even the Eastern and Southern states of India which were traditionally been reluctant in accepting Hindi, have witnessed growing acceptance of the language. So, perhaps India is far better placed today to have Hindi as the language of governance than it ever was. Not surprisingly, Modi’s approval ratings seemed to be fairly high in the cities of Southern India. Bangalore and Hyderabad have shown higher approval ratings than Delhi and Mumbai.

Modi has also tried novel ways to engage with the people be it through social media (targeted at youth) or radio (aimed at rural poor).

According to a mood-of-the-nation survey by Axis-My India for IBN News, mass media (primarily newspapers) is viewed as the key platform for Modi’s communication. Despite all the hype around his social media push, just 20% say social media has been an effective platform for Modi to communicate. 30% and 23% feel Modi communicates effectively through radio (Mann Ki Baat) and TV respectively. Only 17% feel Modi reaches out best through public rallies while 4% say he reaches out effectively through interventions in Parliament.

Modi has converted almost every public platform into a mass media one – be it in India or abroad. So inspite of having given very few direct interviews to media, he has used them to deliver his message. However, there are strong voices within the mass media stating the Modi needs to be more open in his engagement with them. His one-way communication style may not yield results for too long.

  

The opposition continues to claim that Modi’s support base is fast eroding. The truth of these claims will soon be visible in the state elections. But it’s interesting to see how the electorate continues to react to Modi’s messages and to his style of message delivery.

So, are the so-called argumentative Indians being replaced by the impatient Indians? For now, that does seem to be the case which in turn means that decisive messaging is here to stay in Indian politics.

Five questions to ask yourself if you aim to be a good writer

As communications and public relations professionals, a question that we must constantly ask ourselves is that if there is one thing that our stakeholders/ clients respect us for what would it be? 

   

With the growing significance of owned media and social media, a sustained career in communications will increasingly depend on content writing skills – be it on the agency side or on the corporate side. I agree that content is not limited to words, but in this article I’m primarily looking at the use of words.   

So if anyone wants to inculcate good writing skills, particularly business or technology writing, here are some questions to ask yourself everyday:

1. Am I reading the right content? I know of people who skim through newspapers, multiple sites including Twitter and FB looking only for their company or sector information. This knowledge may get them news/ information but does not usually improve writing skills. One has to set dedicated time aside for in-depth reading such as Op-Eds, business analysis/ technology trends (in print or online) that provide the larger perspective and use the appropriate terms. And despite the work pressure, stick to the reading habits. It’s this knowledge that would help bring depth into writing. Communicators often have to work directly with CEOs/ senior management. CEOs only value a perspective if it’s backed by facts and data. No matter what the form of writing, it’s super important that we are thorough with the facts and can prove our point, else we could gradually lose credibility, not just as an individual but also as a function.                                                                                                                                            
2. Is this the right word in the given context? As a communications professional, one is expected to understand how every word fits into a context and makes a difference to the sentence and the overall piece. In the Roman Jakobson model of communication, context is one of the core functions of communication. Keep questioning- Is this the right word for the thought that is being expressed? Of course it comes with experience, but don’t let that be an excuse for not trying hard enough.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
3. Are my thoughts flowing from the core message/s?  A good writer has to be a good storyteller. A mistake that we tend to make is to stuff too many thoughts into one paragraph thereby losing the reader’s interest. A rule of thumb is not more than three key messages in any article/ story else we’re wasting our time and the reader’s. Frontload the message and use the rest of the article to give supporting arguments. But again, a bunch of statements/ arguments in any random order don’t make the content convincing. The arguments have to flow, one leading into another. Many a times, getting the flow in place takes longer than getting the right words.                                                                                                                                                           
4. How many words can I cut out keeping the message intact? Today, it’s about saying more with less. The best way is to notice how one speaks. If one is able to convey the thought in the first 30 seconds in as few words as possible, the person is usually close to being a good writer, if he/ she isn’t already. Tear down the mansion of words (and jargons in technology writing). Sometimes, one needs to be cruel with one’s own writing because in the end, the content is not for me, it’s for my reader and at no point can I afford to forget that.

When I first read Mark Twains’ letter to one of his students dated 1880, the following quote stuck to my mind.

“I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English—it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.”

Mark Twain, Letter dated 20 March 1880

His words couldn’t be more true in today’s shrinking attention spans and information overload.                                                                                                                                                

5. Lastly, is my content shareable? The platform and the tool used to deliver the content goes a long way in determining whether it is engaging, easy to share and to search. Use of visuals, videos, anecdotes, cross referencing and linking to other websites as well as allowing reader comments are all useful in making it worth reading. Sometimes, an infographic can explain what 1000 words cannot. Good writing is about making good choices with respect to the tools that you want to play with.

I’m sure there are some more tips and perspectives that readers can add here and I would love to hear them.

In the words of Stephen King, “At its most basic we are only discussing a learned skill, but do we not agree that sometimes the most basic skills can create things far beyond our expectations? We are talking about tools and carpentry, about words and style . . . but as we move along, you’d do well to remember that we are also talking about magic.”

So are you ready to create magic with your writing?