It’s been strategy and evaluation week here at PR Knowledge Hub and during the daily sessions delegates have spoken at length about the challenges they face in their organisations. Very often, the same problem surfaces – practitioners pushed into the tactical, reacting or being ‘ordered’ to do something rather than guiding the organisational actions and working to a clear strategy.
This fundamental problem always sees me turn to a quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw – ‘the single biggest problem with communication is the illusion it has taken place’. Time and again, organisations (of all types) believe that by sending out stuff – be it media releases, social media updates, newsletters and all the other forms ‘stuff’ takes – they have effectively communicated with ‘the public’. They fail to realise that ‘the public’ as an individual entity doesn’t’ exist and that the ‘stuff’ they are sending won’t be seen, heard, read or reacted to. Why? Because it is a tactical response. Because the ‘stuff’ isn’t tied to outcomes. Because there is no strategy in place.
All public relations and communication programmes should be part of an overarching strategy that supports the business or organisational outcomes. Public relations strategies should be concerned with the relationships, the licence to operate, the ethical behaviours of the organisation – which is a long way away from simply actioning a list of stuff to send out. Practitioners must make the move from tacticians to strategists. In old-fashioned organisations with entrenched hierarchical leadership this can be a hard move to make – and if you are finding it tough, give me a call. I’ve a course that’s perfect for you.