Recognition of PR professionals' strategic ability is a subject perhaps most candidly described by PR and business students, many of whom point to a lack of mutual understanding about strategy
between business and communications executives.
This should act as a wake-up call for PR leaders, because it suggests that management's lack of confidence in the strategic value of PR is being perpetuated with the next generation of executives.
Management perceptions are already felt by PR associates getting started in the business, providing an unhealthy dose of skepticism to newcomers in the field. It's time to stop the merry-go-round and
find ways to help executives discover and tap into the strategic and creative talent of their public relations people, while enhancing the strategic value of your PR staff.
It is important for communicators to understand that MBAs and many managers simply perceive strategy in different ways. Trends in strategy have focused on "competitive advantage" analysis (i.e.,
how to win at business) and defining the entrepreneurship/business model - not on PR and communications. It is an example of perceiving the world differently and not seeing communication as part of
the strategic process.
Many business groups refer to tactical functions, including media relations, message development and special event logistics, to describe what management values most about PR. Surprisingly, PR
managers, staff and now students cite similar tactical functions to describe what they think are the profession's principal roles and benefits to the organization - and how they see themselves.
Unwittingly, PR professionals are reinforcing the perceptions of management by defining themselves in terms of everything but strategic thinking and planning. Therefore, it's no surprise when PR
pros are not called on for strategic advice if they do little to help others understand their capabilities, inherent differences between business and communications strategy notwithstanding.
Building Your Strategic Identity
It is valuable to use both subtle and significant cues to build and communicate your strategic prowess. Here are four ways to establish or reinforce your strategic abilities:
1. Conduct a strategic public relations assessment. Public relations professionals are masters at assessing a current situation and identifying problems and opportunities. Do this for
yourself and your department, and do it publicly. Involve and seek the input of your staff, senior corporate executives, "clients" of your department within business units and other peer managers in
advertising, legal or other allied staff functions.
2. Understand business strategy. The opportunities for communicators to participate in strategic discussions improve significantly when they better understand the strategic business plan
and the current issues around the plan. Only a small percentage of strategic plans have a communications component, and the principal reason that strategies fail lies in execution, which is driven by
communications. Ask what communications can do to make the strategy more effective?
How is the plan communicated from senior management? How well is it understood throughout the organization? Take a business strategic planning course. Read what the senior strategic managers may
be reading, including Michael Porter's Harvard Business Review articles and Strategy Safari by Henry Mintzburg.
3. Engage leadership with insight and counsel. Identify and report the key findings of your strategic assessment to internal groups, and continue to engage your senior leaders in
discussions about the strategic communications needs of the organization. Articulate your point-of-view about the strategic issues that are emerging, and provide insight, support and counsel for
executive leadership. In what ways can you help the CEO or other executives better present their strategic vision? How can you help business leaders better understand communications strategy and
what "winning" means in PR?
4. Name it, and call it by its name. PR leaders, managers and staff need to define themselves as strategists. PR departments or consulting firms should adopt a consistent vocabulary that
communicates their strategic role for an organization. This should begin by creating and promoting strategic communications plans that are integrated with corporate and business unit strategic plans.
Back To School
Despite the cautionary comments from both business and PR grad students, universities offer some promise for helping to shrink the perception gap about the value of PR strategists. A number of
leading graduate business schools have strategic communications course requirements, including Notre Dame, Dartmouth, UVA, and the USC. Communications schools are changing, too, with
VCU's new Executive Masters in PR Fast Track program and Boston University's College of Communications graduate school, among others, taking a practical, strategic business orientation to give
students valuable skills early in their careers.
Lessons need to be learned quickly by both executives and PR managers: executives need to better understand and tap into the intellectual and strategic resources of communications professionals,
who will help them meet the increasingly complex communications responsibilities of leaders. Plus, communicators must find ways to better identify with the strategic needs of the people running the
business.
CONTACT:
This article was written by J.R. Hipple, CEO of Hipple&Co. Reputation Management. He can be reached at 404.745.9909.
Table One:
A sample of PR graduate school student opinions about PR
PR graduate perceptions of own skills & value
Primary responses:
- Message development
- Pitching the media
- Media relations
- Press release writers
- Writing press releases
- Publicity
- Event planners
Additional responses:
- Advisor (strategist)
- Strategic scanning
- Researchers
- Planners
- Environmental scanning
- Creative
- Keeping management responsible
- Fixers
- Public perception
- Corporate conscience
How PR graduate students think they are perceived by Managers
Primary responses:
- On-call to the media
- Communication writers
- Administrative duties
- Face of the company
- Liaison
- Crisis management
- Defend against bad attention
Additional responses:
- Relationship building
- Networking
- Manager's don't understand PR's importance
- Don't mess up!
- Expendable
- We're replaceable
- A perk-not mandatory
Table Two:
A sample of business school graduate student opinions about PR
What MBA students understand that PR Practitioners perceive or want their roles to be
Primary responses:
- Voice of the company
- Manage perceptions
- Smooth, polished
- Save management from themselves
- Should be more involved in mgt, strategy
- Cheaper than mainstream advertising
- Logistics experts
- Not technical
- Not many smart strategists in PR
Additional responses:
- Vital
- You need me!
- Emergencies
- Growth driver
- Drivers
What MBA students perceive or expect the roles to be of PR Practitioners
Primary responses:
- Life saver in crisis
- Back up forces in times of crisis
- Safety net
- Only valuable in crisis
- Political
- Package messages, image
- Manipulate the audience
- Good talkers
- Spin doctors
- Just provide the polish
Additional responses:
- Critical to firm's reputation
- Check off the box
- Ancillary function
- Not useful in "good" times
- Try to tie the hands of managers
- Cost center
- Waste of money
- Fluff, no added value