Counterintuitive Communication

Everyone who’s taken a high school journalism class knows that you lead with the most important information first. (“If it bleeds, it leads” is a common mantra.) You just tell that facts. And if you were diligent in your English classes, you write in elegant, complete sentences. (For instance, you never start a sentence with “and.”) Well, forget what you learned.

JT sent me this ad for the Mini Cooper, which is called the Counter Counterfeit Commission. It uses counterintuitive communication to makes its point. That approach could be applied to a number of HR initiatives. Here are a few ideas:

• Teamwork Is So Last Millennium — Let’s All Be Individual Contributors
• Enough About the Company — It’s All About Me
• How to Be an Accomplished Suck Up — Make Pay-for-Performance Obsolete
• You Don’t Have to Be Engaged, You Just Have to Say You Are
• How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Coming in Late…or Not At All

It takes guts. It’s risky. But counterintuitive communication works. On second thought, just keep doing what you’re doing because that works so well. Q.E.D.

About the Author

Frank Roche

Frank started IFRACTAL over 7 years ago with Sarah Chambers. Together, they've created HR communications and HR software for some of the world's leading companies. Frank is also studying Flamenco guitar and origami.

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