PM must improve his ‘soft skills’
Over the past several years, Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has given thousands of interviews and press conferences, both impromptu and scheduled. By following and reviewing some of his encounters with the public on important occasions, especially in front of the media, a few salient points have emerged about his communication abilities.
First of all, in his media conference after the Korat shooting incident ended, he failed to stay on message and portray the kind of compassion needed during a time of tragedy. It started out well in the first few minutes, beginning with his rough report of the unpredictable nightmare. However, less than 10 minutes into the press briefing, it quickly descended into a personal grumble.
The problem he has is simple enough — he loves to preach, regarding himself as the righteous leader, the saviour of everything under the sun in Thailand. He cannot stay on the message he wants to deliver. In almost all encounters, he rambles on and on, especially in front of the familiar hordes of media, treating them as if they are illiterate.
He does well though when he reads from prepared texts or speeches or without any impromptu interactions with the media. In a prepared media interview in a studio, he sounds more confident and stays on message. Unfortunately, the perception of his leadership and communicative skills has come from his encounters with the media. He has repeatedly failed to deliver short and powerful messages to Thais.
Secondly, Gen Prayut does not have any “soft skills” in public speaking — in other words in communicating with the masses. He is therefore unable to transform his words into the kind of influential parlance needed to support his leadership and accomplishments. Indeed, his journey through a military career has been all about giving orders — top-down style. In all his public encounters, he just gives out orders and instructions. Every day, he talks as if he is a messiah who can solve all problems. Nobody is listening. Thirdly, in almost all his press conferences, he has a Jekyll and Hyde personality.
Sometimes, he treats the media as if they were members of his family, greeting them nicely. And sometimes, he turns green and treats the media as
‘‘ He loves to preach, regarding himself as the righteous leader, the saviour of everything under the sun in Thailand.
despicable human beings. The prime minister has repeatedly failed to behave professionally when he is holding a press conference. Due to his preponderance for preaching, he tends to turn press conferences into conversational sessions. What is worse, in order to preempt reporters asking him questions, he often raises speculative questions or the questions he wants to hear and immediately answers them himself. He urgently needs some basic skills in handling the media.
Finally, there is no common communication strategy for the prime minister and his current spokesperson team. Except for basic briefings and talking points on issues of the day, he is on his own, saying anything he wants to say without any real objective or strategy. That helps explain why after a few minutes he tends to return to his old habit of preaching and then picking a fight with the media.
Gen Prayut should learn from his predecessors’ ways and means of engaging with the media. The three prime ministers who have successfully mastered interviews and media relations were Anand Panyarachun, Chuan Leekpai and Abhisit Vejjajiva.
They spoke with strong messages, never strayed from the subject or engaged in loose talk. Any foolish reporters asking speculative questions often received polite yet strong rebuttals from these three. Mr Anand used to say that reporters can ask any questions but it is his right whether or not to answer them.
Both Mr Chuan and Mr Abhisit were very professional in their media interviews. They knew when to engage and when to distance the press corps. Both have the unique quality of what the reporters described as “steel faces” when they answered a barrage of questions. They have never lost their temper even once. Indeed, they were not the favourite news makers among local journalists as they would not make any sensational or ridiculous remarks for the media to splash as headline news.
Worse still in the case of Gen Prayut, his facial expressions, which could enhance his non-verbal communication, work against him even before he utters a word. He needs a professional trainer to manage his yaksa (ogre-like) face. His political opponents all have friendly faces.
Private discussions with close aides over the past several months have revealed that there is no coaching for the prime minister at Government House. In fact, nobody dares to tell the prime minister, after all these years, about his performance in front of the hungry media.
Prof David Gerken of Harvard University, an adviser to five US presidents, from Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton said during a lecture that US presidents have to watch their words and observe themselves speaking on video every day to enable them to correct their intonations and gestures. Choices of words are equally important. In the US, slips of the tongue or embarrassing remarks are few. Of course, President Donald Trump is an exception to the rule.
It is unfortunate that Gen Prayut’s leadership has been marred by his inability to convey what he has accomplished to the broader public. His trusted media aides, comprising his lieutenants and subordinates, have been somewhat mediocre in using social media and other “emoji” to convey his messages and pleasantries, which most of the time look cheap and unprofessional.