Communication Can Calm Chaos: World Conference 2022 Preview

Join Jenni Field of Redefining Communications on 27 June at 10:45 a.m. EDT for her session, “Communication Can Calm Chaos,” at the IABC World Conference 2022 in New York City. Together, attendees will discuss what chaos looks like inside organizations and learn about Field’s model to combat chaos and confusion.

It can calm chaos because it is the golden thread that runs through organizations.

It can calm chaos because information and conversations are the antidote to ambiguity and organizational change.

It can calm chaos because it is the foundation of any successful relationship.

In other words, organizations are people. Without people, organizations simply wouldn’t exist. And for people to work well together, they need to be in thriving relationships. Relationships work best when the communication is open and honest.

We don’t talk about relationships at work that often, but that is what we are in. So, if communication is the answer, what is the chaos?

Chaos is a total state of confusion with no order. It’s not necessarily what you might think when you hear the word chaos — with people running around in state of panic. It’s often the case when organizations are going through change and they have some toxic behaviors or ineffective leaders. When we explore chaos theory, we know that the apparent randomness of chaos is false. There are underlying patterns that show connections, patterns and loops. This means that when there is chaos in organizations, we can delve into the processes and behaviors and bring things under control.

In the organizations we work with, we do this by following three phases of The Field Model ^TM: understand, diagnose and fix.

This is all about communication in the broadest sense inside organizations. It is the way leaders communicate; the behaviors that are accepted; the values, culture and channels used; the content shared; and employee alignment to purpose and objectives.

As I said at the start, communication is the fundamental component — the golden thread — that runs through everything. It is representative of culture. It is the articulation of the strategy, and it’s what we need to function as a group or community. If your organization is in chaos, communication can cover it all to bring calm.

In my workshop at the IABC World Conference 2022, I’m going to share the details of these three phases in a whistle-stop 10 minutes and, in the remaining 20 minutes, we are going to discuss how to understand, diagnose and fix chaos inside your organization. I want to use live examples in the room and work with you to help you start the process of moving from chaos to calm. It might not be a quick fix, but it's an effective way of making changes for the long term.