Listen to Your Elders…They May Know a Thing or Two
April 7th, 2012
When I was in 5th grade, I was in the school chorus (I know that comes as a shock to those of you who have ever heard me sing!) I was part of a number called, “Listen to Your Elders,” where we dressed up in dowdy old clothes and we each danced around with a cane. Of course I was fabulous in it…if you don’t believe me just ask my mom. She’ll tell you! The point of the song (and this story) was that we should listen to those people that are older than we are because most of the time, they know way more about life than we do, simply because they have way more life experiences than we do.
The same principle applies in the professional world. There are some amazing professionals out there with 10, 20, and 30 years of experience under their belt. In my profession of Public Relations, these people are running agencies, heading up major PR departments and teaching at universities. They would not be where they are today if they didn’t know a thing or two. Which is why it amazes me when a young person, fresh out of college (or some even still in college), shows disrespect and gives attitude to one of these “seasoned” professionals. Especially when that person is their boss or their professor.
Even someone like me with many years of experience under my belt can fall prey to the “I know more than the boss” mentality. Here’s an example. Nearly five years ago, I worked for a short time at a PR agency owned and managed by someone I had been friends with for many years prior to my employment. I won’t disclose who the person is, but I will say she has a very “sweet” name! Even though I had worked in PR for nearly 12 years, this was my first experience in an agency setting. Because of that, I should have been a sponge for everything my friend and new boss was telling me about the business. Unfortunately, I let my ego get in the way from time to time and my “I already know how to do this job” mentality kept me from really succeeding in this new environment.
Fortunately, even though my employment with that agency didn’t last, my friendship with the owner remained intact. Today, five years later, as the owner of my own PR firm, I find myself implementing some of the same practices that I fought against back when I worked for her because – surprise, surprise – she knew what she was talking about! She had experience owning and operating a PR agency, so she knew what it took to be successful in that type of environment. Having never worked in an agency before, I didn’t. Unfortunately, it took me several years to figure that out.
Today, I find myself in the role of “elder” in several situations, which is quite a shock to me. Each week, I stand in front of a classroom of college students, hoping to share a bit of wisdom that they can take with them as they begin their own PR careers. I also find myself working on a statewide PRSA conference with a group of amazing young women, and me being the oldest and most “seasoned” of the group. It’s a strange feeling for me. But I think I am up for the challenge.
So listen to your elders…we’ve got a few good ideas still left in us!
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The Definition of Public Relations…Hmmm, Looks Familiar
March 4th, 2012
On March 1st, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) announced a new, modern definition of public relations. This definition came after nearly a year of research, hundreds of submissions, public commentary, and a formal vote. Below is the result:
“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”
At this point, a feeling of déjà vu may be coming over some of you who are in the field of public relations. Don’t you feel like you’ve seen this before? I know I did. In fact, I believe I saw something like this in a textbook I am using for my PR Research course I’m teaching this year. So, I did a little bit of my own research.
Turns out, I have seen something like this before. It came from a bunch of guys named Cutlip, Center and Broom and their definition of public relations. Their definition goes:
Public relations is the management function that identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the various publics on whom its success or failure depends.
Some other guys (Grunig and Hunt) used an even simpler definition back in the day. It went something like this:
Public Relations is the management of communication between and organization and its publics.”
Call me crazy, but those last two definitions sound strikingly similar to the new, modern definition that PRSA just released. What is amazing to me is that these last two definitions have been around for quite a long time. I don’t know exactly how long, but I do know that I memorized them back when I was in college…and that was quite a while ago!
What does this mean? It means that the actual definition of public relations hasn’t really changed much over the years. However, what has changed – and has changed dramatically – is how we do public relations.
As public relations professionals, we still build relationships between our client/company/organization and its publics. How we do this is through a strategic communication process. That’s where things are now different.
In years past, the communication process related to things like mailing out news releases, doing newsletters, special events, one-on-one interactions, and a couple other tools we had in our tool boxes that allowed us to communicate with our publics. Today, that toolbox is overflowing! We’ve added social media tools, digital communications, and dozens of other new communication devices that allow us to talk with our publics. However, through it all, one thing has remained the same – the personal connection.
With the thousands of messages we are bombarded with every day, sometimes it is the simplest connection that makes the biggest impact. Receiving a handwritten thank you note from a business you used for the first time. A sales person remembering your name. Even a quick Facebook note on your birthday. These are the contacts that we remember, and the businesses that understand that are seeing success.
So while the definition of public relations hasn’t changed much over the years, I think it was a good idea that PRSA reminded us of what it is we are supposed to be doing. We use strategy to determine the best way to communicate with those publics that directly affect us – both positively and negatively. How we do that though has changed dramatically since the first definition of public relations was written.
Another thing that hasn’t changed though is the importance of providing excellent customer service. But I already covered that in another blog post!
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