January 28, 2008
United Way's Transformation to Community Impact
Frances Lankin's speech at the CPRS CEO of the Year Award luncheon
Thank you, Gordon … And good afternoon everyone.
First of all, I want to extend my sincere thanks to Gordon McIvor, Lawrence Stevenson, Derrick Peters, and the Canadian Public Relations Society for this great honour and privilege.
It’s truly humbling to see my name included on a list of such illustrious and accomplished people from such diverse walks of life.
For someone who has spent a lifetime trying to convince others of the things I’m passionate about, an award of excellence from the Canadian Public Relations Society means the world to me.
Gordon’s work creating and promoting this unique award is extraordinary. A subtle and powerful reminder to all of us that leadership isn’t always about talking and doing…
… it’s also about listening…
… about knowing your audience, and understanding that how you deliver your message is just as important as the message itself.
Of course, I didn’t always understand that… I had to learn a few lessons at the school of hard knocks along the way!
Nothing sobers you so quickly in the morning as waking up to media reports of interviews you did the day before – and thinking, “That’s NOT what I said!”
… Or actually, you realize it’s EXACTLY what you said… just not what you MEANT to say!
Let me share one of those moments with you.
As a rookie Cabinet Minister in Health, I was taking a strategy to Cabinet aimed at reducing smoking.
Euphemistically, we called it the Tobacco Control Strategy.
The strategy had many approaches, some aimed to make it harder for kids to get cigarettes by banning cigarette machines and stopping the sale of tobacco products in drug stores.
We knew there’d be some controversy around this.
Somehow the media got wind of it and I was faced with a very motivated, energetic gaggle of reporters asking questions.
Now… the cardinal rule in government decision-making is Cabinet secrecy. Until Cabinet has taken a decision and the government has announced it – details can’t be disclosed.
Well the reporters in the scrum used a very old trick… I mean “technique”….one that this rookie fell for, hook, line, and sinker.
They asked over and over again whether I was recommending THIS option? THAT option? These options? Those options?
I thought I understood the game. I refused to comment, I refused to rule anything out – on the theory that to confirm anything “out” was to narrow the field of what was “in”.
One – completely preposterous – measure was proposed and I – steady as you go – refused to rule it, or anything else, out.
So imagine my horror the next morning when the Toronto Star featured a big story that the Government of Ontario was considering the creation of a Tobacco Control distribution system akin to the LCBO.
I was in the office by 7a.m.
The phone rang at 7:05.
It was the senior staffer in the Premier’s Office. (His job, more often than not, was to go and reign in the Ministers who had gone badly off message).
What he said went something like this ---“Minister – WHAT were you THINKING?”
Properly chagrined, I was told to go and “fix the problem.”
So, dutifully I re-entered the arena where, just the day before, I’d been badly beaten. I convened a scrum and methodically worked to set the record straight.
It wasn’t easy… They weren’t gentle on me. They were tough…but so was I.
I thought I did quite well.
NEXT MORNING……FRONT PAGE IF I REMEMBER….ABOVE THE FOLD….
”Minister Flip Flops on Tobacco Control Stores.”
Yikes.
Turned out to be a two-day wonder but, honestly, I thought my career in politics was over!
You know, I could’ve blamed the media. Instead, I decided to view the experience as an opportunity…
… A chance to learn something new.
And in much more pleasant circumstances today, you’ve given me an unexpected opportunity…
… To pause and reflect for a few moments on what we’ve managed to achieve at United Way in terms of how we engage with people in our community.
A chance to talk about our successes and, yes, about some of our challenges along the way.
As a still recovering politician … and as someone often called to the spotlight, I know too well the importance of “spinning a good yarn,” as they say.
As professional communicators, you know better than anyone that spinning a good yarn has nothing to do with “serving up spin.”
It has everything to do with how good and how real your story is, and how you tell it.
I’ve been very lucky. Over my career in public life, I’ve been able to participate in the public dialogue around issues I felt were really important.
And I got to do that work with people who are pretty amazing.
Of course, I’m blessed – some might say cursed – with some pretty stubborn beliefs…
… a strong desire to change things for the better…
… and the firm conviction that when you get right down to it, all of us share much more in common than we think…
…That what unites us is ultimately much more powerful than what divides us.
For the past six years, I’ve had the honour of leading what I consider to be one of the finest organizations serving the people of Toronto.
United Way is uniquely positioned at the heart of our community.
In many ways it is itself a reflection of the diverse civic, social, and economic fabric of our city.
United Way stands as a powerful reminder of what we achieve when we bring people together in common purpose…
… When we dream together…
… And when together we act on our shared hopes and aspirations…
… Not just for ourselves, but for each other.
I think you’ll agree that mine is a pretty good gig… and not a bad story to tell.
In Gordon’s very kind introduction, he noted the extraordinary year United Way had in 2007.
It was, indeed, extraordinary.
Our 51st year…
United Way’s strongest community allocations mandate in our history, thanks to the unprecedented generosity of the people of Toronto…
The year we deployed an integrated, citywide and neighbourhood-based approach to addressing some of our city’s great issues and challenges…
Through our partnerships, we helped launch innovative initiatives targeted to, and delivered by, youth in neighbourhoods across the city…
And near the close of the year, we delivered a report on our research that has profound implications for the future of our city. A report that will shape the public policy environment for some time to come.
We benefit from the goodwill of our friends and partners among the public, media, business and labour, organizations all over Toronto, and all levels of government.
And the work we do together is having a real impact on the lives of individuals, of families and whole communities in this city.
Now, the idea of United Way as a fundraising organization supporting neighbourhood charity at the local level is well understood.
Our logo, the compassionate, caring hand. At once protective and enabling, acting under a rainbow of hope.
I’m sure many of you can remember the workplace campaigns. The giant thermometers, the staff team challenges, the persistence of dedicated canvassers.
I know I do.
You all know that United Way.
But what you may not know is that we’ve been in the midst of an important transformation.
From trusted and well-respected fundraising institution meeting urgent needs, to an institution that bridges divides and builds community.
An innovative agent of lasting change.
There are many reasons we decided to make a profound shift to an organization focused on community impact.
When we cast ahead and look at where we need to go, it’s pretty clear that the old ways of finding solutions to our challenges just won’t do.
We can no longer afford temporary fixes.
We must push beyond the immediate horizon, and strive for lasting solutions.
It’s the more difficult path to be sure. It requires greater depth in understanding the challenges. It requires greater sophistication in applying our solutions.
Most of all, it means a new approach.
To be successful, to have community impact, we have to bring people along with us on the way.
We’re working very hard to articulate a broad vision for communities in Toronto.
It's not “OUR” vision, a United Way vision.
It's a vision shared by many people.
We just strive to articulate it the best way possible.
… And so United Way works by bringing people together from across the city, and from all walks of life…
… from Bay and Bloor to Jane and Finch…
Gathered around a common purpose:
To bring lasting, positive change to all parts of our city.
United Way is effective when we speak with the people of the city in a way that resonates for them.
To have community impact, we must first build consensus and understanding.
That means listening.
It means talking to people where they’re at, not where WE think they should be.
It's not about trying to convince, so much as helping others to understand our common, shared challenges.
It's not about sales and tactics, so much as a genuine and shared desire to help bring change to areas of the city that need help most.
It's not about pushing an agenda, so much a desire to see great ideas put into action and helping engage people in the process.
Our network of agencies helps meet some our city’s most urgent needs. Always has, and it always will. Helping people is at the very heart of what we do.
But centering our organizational identity around community impact means using a different lens through which we view not only ourselves, but also the community around us.
It means moving to fill longer-term needs, helping to lift whole communities, not just individuals from despair to hope.
To address the systemic rather than just the symptomatic.
Our research, reports like Losing Ground, is an effort to build consensus and spur government and others to action.
Our fall campaign doesn’t just raise funds to meet needs. It builds community and compassion in workplaces all over the city. It too is part of our community impact work.
And of course to accomplish this – good communication is at the core of what we do.
When I came to United Way, I recognized what a great opportunity we had.
We were a strong organization… but we had potential to do so much more.
Toronto is a great city… but not for everyone who lives here.
If we could mobilize the caring, the compassion, and the strategic capabilities of the entire community – imagine what we could accomplish together.
And so we began to work with others to build a vision and to communicate that vision to the broadest audience possible.
Like the best conversations, it started with listening.
Our report, Torontonians Speak Out, is the collected wisdom of over 800 individuals and organizations – and it’s a two-way conversation that is continuing.
We find people are much more ready and wiling to be a part of the solution, If we first ask them what they think the challenges are.
Then there’s the famous old detective show saying, ”Just the facts, Maam!” What we communicate is evidence based. Not rhetoric. Not spin.
When truth is at the core of what we say, it’s easier for people to see where they fit in to the solution.
We tell our story with conviction. And with passion.
People today have very busy lives. And they‘re bombarded daily with thousands of messages.
We have to break through the static… the noise that can so numb us all… in order to light a spark.
My former boss, Bob Rae, used to put it this way:
“We have to,” he’d say, “appeal to the higher angels in all of us.”
Fortunately, we believe profoundly in the work we do and what we can accomplish together – so speaking from the heart comes naturally.
Now, I want to stop for a moment and I want pay tribute to you here today … to you and to your colleagues in the Public Relations profession.
For those of us who work as the voices of our organizations, you bring clarity to what we have to say. You help make us understandable to people.
Without your creative talent, your dedication to innovation and the principles of effective communication, our important messages would go unheard.
Let me finish with a word or two about good communications:
For me, it boils down to respect.
For United Way that means working very hard to help others see themselves reflected in what we say. In many ways, for us that too is easy. I like to say that United Way isn’t an institution…
… it’s not a building at 26 Wellington Street East, or the staff that work there.
United Way is all of us.
It is the WAY we come together to make a difference – to build community – to build a great city where we share in the lives of our neighbours.
Today, inspired by Bob Marley’s great anthem, One Love, we’ve found a new way to describe ourselves, and the unifying work we do, with some new words.
One City. One Heart. One WAY
Thank you for being a part of our WAY…
Thank you so much for the honour of speaking to you today… and for the recognition of the work we do together.
