JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – What Ridwan Kamil mean was that the messages and leadership style of every leader must really adjust to the public they lead. In concrete, if the people lead today use a lot of gadgets to communicate, then the leader must also use the same thing so that the messages they communicate are right on target.

Although simple, but in practice, it is not easy to communicate in order to stay relevant. There are many factors that influence it. For example, the leadership ego. There are many leaders who are over-confidence if their leadership style is correct. The proof, they were re-elected as a leader through direct election democratic mechanism. So, what else needs to be changed so that it is relevant?

The leadership ego also makes it difficult to adjust to the changes in the communication program being carried out. “If the program has been successful so far, why should it change again?” More or less that’s the answer that often came out when discussing program updates.

Of course, programs that change every time are also not good. Continuity of work and communication programs is needed as long as they are still relevant to the targeted audience. If so, how to encourage “relevant” issues to become the “key” to any communication efforts?

One of the best ways is to test the product/communication that is run through a competition. Another way that can be used is by using the audit approach. Ask the public, are the messages being communicated so far still relevant to the needs that the public wants to hear and know? If not, it is appropriate to make changes as soon as possible.

Act Strategically

Relevant in every situation becomes very urgent to always be confirmed, guarded, and reminded. Irrelevant communication messages, especially which are delivered by the wrong person and the wrong situation, will only worsen the situation. It can even lead to a correction of their reputation.

The good news, if every communication message is able to be created and manage relevantly, it will further strengthen credit for the institution, leader, and whoever delivers it. The benefit, the reputation will rise high to become a positive balance to guard against a crisis situation.

Building relevant messages also don’t need a lot of costs. It is enough to act strategically in understanding a situation, map clearly, design a good strategy and message, surely the communication will obtain a good result. And, of course relevant!

Have your messages and communication style relevant? If it hasn’t, it’s worth to introspect, relearn, and test all the time without stopping until finding the relevant point to be communicated to the public. (Asmono Wikan)