Extracts below from In.Comms 'a new editorial title and professional hub for comms professionals in the UK and EMEA regions who work in-house for organisations, including those responsible for external comms, corporate affairs and internal comms'.
https://www.incomms.com/article/comms-should-come-from-the-brain-not-the...
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Too much of current communications practice is based on an “emotional response” and the profession needs to “take a more rational approach”, according to Gabriella Stern, ex-director of comms at the World Health Organization (WHO).
“A lot of what we’re doing in communications is coming from the gut and from the heart, and it needs to actually come from the data and evidence,” she said...
Stern resigned from WHO last year and is now a senior comms adviser and journalist in residence at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Health Communication...
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COMMENT (NPW): This is an interesting proposition but I feel the article doesn't do the topic justice. We don't have examples of how communication failed due to 'coming from the heart', and it's not clear to whom this advice is directed. A more nuanced approach would be to acknowledge that both brain and heart need to be considered, and it is highly dependent on the exact nature of the communication. Clearly, it is appropriate that most research papers and evidence syntheses need objectivity and come 'from the brain'. On the other hand it is also clear that personal experience 'from the heart' can be highly effective in the context of a presentation. It also has a lot to do with the purpose of the communication: is it primarily to inform or to persuade?
I look forward to your views: hifa@hifaforums.org
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org