Page 24 - IB January 2023

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COMMUNICATION, CRAFTING AND

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

By Alfred Tora and Simione Sevudredre

Communication has always played a significant role in
relationship building and maintenance. Indigenous societies
understood the importance of crafting the right message for
the right audience. In a world where messages held the key
to unity and alliances or death and destruction, our ancestors
became master wordsmiths and crafters. The communication
processes and systems that they created can be uprooted
from their society and planted in a modern organisation, and
that company would be better for it.
Take, for example, the iTaukei (indigenous Fijians) com-
munication constructs of crafting messages for different
audiences. Traditional iTaukei societies had well established
lines of communication that ranged from internal heralds to
external envoys. The objective of these lines was to ar-
ticulate, in compelling and refined oratory, the metaphors,
expressions and poetry that invoke and appeal to the better
and higher person(s) they were addressing. They expound on
new relationships and strengthen old ones. This notion may
be alien to the western world, for they would refer to this as
being patronising or presumptuous.
In the business world these are all components that make
up something we now call ‘strategic business communication’
and they play a huge role in differentiating successful organi- Alfred Tora
zations from mediocre companies.
Much as how iTaukei societies maintained transmission lines
for internal and external communication, so must an organ- cannot survive without the family, and the family without the
isation nurture similar routes in order to remain successful village. In both examples of internal communication, commu-
and competitive. Imagine an organisation that is in the pro- nication within modern companies and indigenous communi-
cess of launching a new product or service - Apple with a new ties, the messages are the same: The whole is greater than
iPhone, Shangri-La opening a new hotel, or a national govern- the sum of its parts; and the part you play is integral in the
ment redefining its national policy. In order to successfully success of the whole.
launch and sustain the product, the organisation would have On the other hand, another message would be crafted for
to craft two very different messages - an internal message for the public. Although this message would also cover details of
employees, managers etc., and an external message for the the new product, the aim of this message is to encourage its
consumers. Though these messages may cover similar talking loyal customer base to purchase the product while also entic-
points, they would vary in the language used and the underly- ing members of its target demographic, who aren’t users, to
ing reason for such messages. make the switch. In an iTaukei setting, this could be likened
For example, as Apple launches a new product, its internal to messages that are communicated to external recipients
message would cover the launch, the details of the new prod- such as other communities or groups. Much like how organisa-
uct, and how the employees and managers fit into making this tions cultivate and maintain relationships with their target
launch a success. The message is one of motivation and goal- consumers, traditional communities also strive to nurture
setting, where the organisation tries to instill an “us’’ mindset alliances with other communities. In Simione Sevudredre’s
within its own team. These same concepts apply to an iTaukei wonderful article,’Verata Traditional Envoys and the Impor-
community as well! The village, as a self-sustaining entity, tance of Representation’, the role of the traditional envoy or
relies on the continued support from sub-units composed Mataki is highlighted. As with modern advertising and public
of the various families. The village leaders craft messages relations gurus, the envoys were masters in finding a way
to establish unity and balance within the community. The to relate to the audience. This came from genealogical and
messages communicate the roles that each sub-unit plays in political “closed” knowledge - closed knowledge meaning that
the village while conveying an untold truth - that the village this information was closely held by the mataki clan. By weav-

24 Islands Business, January 2023