By Jason Anthoine
Throughout my nearly 20 years in the communications business, I've heard this phrase more than any other: We need a seat at the table. Practitioners lament, and rightfully so,
that if only they were involved in business decisions, corporate issues could be better planned for and managed.
Sound familiar? Probably so. But the "we" in this phrase applies to HR as well as PR professionals.
Human resources professionals, who play vital roles in any organization, feel just as left out of the strategic decision-making process as we in public relations have felt.
Just like us, their sense is that they could add much more value to the organization if only they were asked for their counsel. They are tired of being treated as the personnel
department, in much the same way we get tired of being treated like the arts and crafts department. We both feel underappreciated.
So if HR and PR share many of the same issues, why don't the two get along any better than they do in most organizations? Can the relationship be strengthened?
How Did We Get Here?
Because my career has been spent entirely in internal communications, I learned early on about the uneasy peace between HR and PR, though I didn't have much of a sense about
why things seemed to be tenuous, at least at first. Now, I continually discover that the reasons for this tension fall into three broad categories:
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Reporting Structure. When PR and HR reported through completely separate channels, there was little, if any, incentive to play nice. There were fewer attempts to try to
work together and less interest in finding the common ground upon which you could build a relationship.
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Personalities. In several instances, the rift was caused by personality differences between both the senior leaders of the departments and their teams. PR, marketing and
other creative departments tend to have a totally different personality than accounting, finance and other buttoned-down departments. Because of their roles, PR and HR both
straddle the line between creative and buttoned-down, and so they have dual personalities. This is a hindrance to a better relationship because the primary personality for PR
(creative) isn't naturally compatible with the primary personality for HR (buttoned-down).
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Competing for attention. In a couple of instances, the dust-up was caused by jealousy brought on by the two functions competing for attention. Either the HR department or
the PR department had the ear of the CEO and the senior leadership team. Sometimes HR was on the senior leadership team and PR wasn't. And even on the rare occasion when both had
seats at the table and equal access, the perception was that one function was getting the short end of the deal when it came to providing strategic counseling and being heard.
How Can We Make Things Better?
Now that we have some ideas about why things might be strained, what can we do to change things for the better? Here are five things you can start today that will help build
and strengthen a rewarding relationship with HR.
1. Assign an account executive to HR. Name one person, preferably the internal communications person, to be the liaison between HR and PR. This person is now the point person
for all that goes on in HR and can represent both functions to each department. It's advisable that this person attend HR team meetings on a regular basis.
2. Join SHRM, the Society for Human Resources Management. Think how impressed you'd be if the senior leader of HR was also a PRSA or IABC member. That would signal to you how
serious that person was in finding out more about your industry, the issues, the challenges and the excitement. Once you start reading their publications and notices, you'll have
a new understanding of HR and how the function works. You'll also begin to see that their plight and yours are similar, giving you plenty of incentive to bond with someone so you
both can help solve common challenges.
3. Pitch collaborative projects between PR and HR. Once you have your liaison in place and a better understanding about the issues facing HR, develop a handful of ideas for
projects your two departments can work on together. Good examples include relaunching the 401(k) program with a companywide campaign or introducing a new kind of employee
recognition program. HR plays a crucial role in both of these areas and would appreciate a collaborative effort to make them successful.
4. Identify opportunities to work on and support HR's initiatives. A great example is benefits communication. How many times has HR sent out a giant book that is obviously
provided by the insurance underwriter and written by lawyers for lawyers. Your employees can't understand language like that. Helping to write or edit that information, along with
helping to provide an overall campaign for launching the annual benefits enrollment, will go a long way toward showing HR that you want their initiatives to succeed while ensuring
they follow the same communication standards you've set for your own materials.
5. Mingle the two departments. Familiarity breeds trust. The more you're around someone, the more you know them and understand them. Better understanding leads to trust. And
trust leads to stronger relationships.
Despite the core differences that will always remain between the two functions, HR and PR are ultimately responsible for helping to manage an organization's two most valuable
resources: its brand and its employees. Through these five simple steps, you can help move these two departments closer together and find ways to strengthen both in the process.
PRN
CONTACT:
Jason Anthoine is president of The Cohesion Group and a member of the PRSA/Counselors Academy. He can be reached at [email protected].