When you or I learn new information and rethink our personal position it’s called changing our mind, but when an executive or politician does it, we call it flip flopping.
The truth is, we all change our minds.
If we didn’t we’d be accused of living in the past and not growing.
The secret to communication success is how you explain your new view to people.
Reporters are trained to trick naive executives and politicians into flip flopping on issues.
Sometimes though, a flip flop is what it is, intentionally done by a spokesperson in a purely manipulative way, i.e. when a politician takes a strong philosophical stand on an issue and then changes his message after he learns most people polled think differently.
If you’re going to change your mind you better know how to manage your message before a reporter puts words in your mouth and tags you as a flip flop artist.
Journalists are skilled at leading even innocent subjects into a flip flop ambush, and when the interviewee realizes too late that they inadvertently contradicted themselves, they panic and end up making it worse. A flip flop mistake made by an inexperienced spokesperson can turn into an outright lie, and when that happens careers go off the rails.
For example, a reporter might sneak in a question about your stance on raising taxes, and in an unguarded moment you answer based on what you think voters want to hear. The reporter then says, “but last year you voted the opposite way in Congress to have tax increases repealed. Now you’re saying a tax increase is OK? Do you mean it’s OK when you vote for a tax hike, but not when your opponent votes this way?”
An executive or politician with proper media training will see the trap a mile away and not get caught in it, or at the very least know how to smoothly get out of it.
When a politician flip flops to gain votes it’s quickly perceived as self-serving by voters. However, when a politician has a fundamental change in philosophy and he can clearly describe why the change of heart, there is a better chance of having it regarded by voters as legitimately changing your mind for the good of the public based on new information.
A few years ago Mike Huckabee changed his mind about using negative attack ads to bash Mitt Romney regarding of all things, Romney’s “flip flop” record. Huckabee at first agreed to run the negative ads, and then pulled them after already investing heavily to produce the spots. At the end of the day voters respected him for his change of heart and mind.
One of the most famous flip flops that also worked in favor of a politician was when George Wallace, who was at the time a hard-line segregationist, changed his mind in the late 70s and apologized to black voters. He was elected Governor in 1980.
Flip floppers often stubbornly stay on message. Why? Well for one reason it’s a good way to hide your personal beliefs. Spokespeople often mistakenly believe that staying on message is a safe zone, when in fact people really want to know you are engaged and not just a talking head.
Oscar Wilde wrote, “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”
Staying on message regardless of the question is usually a mistake. If you stay calm when talking with reporters (you learn to do this in part by understanding through media training how journalists do their jobs) you will be able to think on your feet and answer in a way that supports your agenda, not theirs.
Losing your cool when accused of flip flopping can be career suicide.
2012 Presidential hopeful Herman Cain yelled in frustration at a reporter regarding a question that tried to make it look like Cain was flip flopping.
Turns out there was no basis for the flip flop insinuation, but yelling is not the way to defend yourself when news media ask you a question that makes you feel uncomfortable. It’s often a tactic they use to bait you into making a communication mistake. When they see you are not a skilled communicator and that you easily react, they will repeatedly drop bait in front of you hoping you will snap at it. Cain spends an inordinate amount of time defending statements he never made, let alone flip flopped on.
As I wrote above, flip flopping is often simply the act of changing your mind. It’s all in the interpretation. The secret is how well you communicate, whether it involves purposefully flip flopping, or not having the skills to effectively convince people of your new perspective.
Politicians who fail to communicate clearly lose the respect of voters.
According to news reports, British Columbia politician Harry Bloy, Cabinet Minister of Social Development, was shuffled to the back of the herd not because he flip flopped, but because of what is described by media as poor communication skills. Many regard him as a good administrator, but whenever he was questioned by reporters, he failed to deliver.
Here’s an excerpt from an Op-Ed piece by Vaughn Palmer about Minister Bloy;
“Bloy had no appetite for talking to the media nor was he any good at it. The B.C. Liberals, after a considerable application of resources and staff time in media training, concluded he was a hopeless case. So they deliberately isolated him, recognizing that the only thing more embarrassing than not making him available to talk to reporters was to make him available and have his weaknesses paraded in print or over the airwaves. On those rare occasions when contact was unavoidable, the minister would usually be restricted to talking over a speaker phone, with ministry staff on hand to correct the record in the event he fumbled his pre-rehearsed lines.”
Flip Flop sound bites are often due to poor media communication skills.
