Public Relations? What Public Relations?

If I can confidently say that every business transaction begin with public relations, then I should be comfortable to mention that every business profit is a result of good public relations - the statement also holds true when it comes to an organisation establishing and maintaining those business connections for organisation's success and continuity.

Over the years, Public Relations has been buoyed by growing necessity for governments and organisations to improve relationships with stakeholder publics. Organisations are making every effort to establish and maintain strong relationships with those publics identified as important to organisational survival and growth. Governments and corporations invest in great public relations campaigns to create buy-ins; be it selling a not-so-popular war that attract public outrage, or building strong brand relations with the customer base to retain market leadership (respectively).

It is clear that public relations is quintessentially core to the strategic direction of an organisation, and for effective organisational management. Not only is public relations seen as a function for managing organisational relationships, but also as exceptional at offering management advise in dealing with critical issues that can be harmful to an organisation’s reputation and those relationships. As such, public relations has the audacity to advise and support management on broad policies and procedures that are favourable in creating a strong bond between the organisation and its public. It is that capacity to identify and get the feel of an organisation’s operating environment (especially where it conflicts with the public's interest and threatens organizational survival) that makes public relations strategically important in organisational management. Where public relations practitioners are engaged at top management, it is highly expected for an organisation to have policies, procedures, and actions that mutually benefit both the organization and its public.

For instance, when an organisation is faced with issues of legal consequences in nature, getting an opinion from public relations practitioners within the organisation can be the difference in the organisation’s approach towards considering a mutually beneficial outcome, to avoid reputational crises. Clearly, legal and public relations counselors approach situations from different perspectives. Where legal personnel may advise the organization to engage in ‘litigation’, public relations may prefer engaging communicating and negotiating with the other party after considering the damage litigation would bring on the corporate body and the organisation’s or brand’s reputation.

In 1994, a Greenpeace chapter of England accused one of the major and renowned fast-food chain of promoting eating habits that were perceived harmful to human health and well-being. Pamphlets to that effect were found being distributed in the streets of London by five protestors. The fast-food giant, in a legal initiative, demanded that the protestors apologise for their actions or appear in court as defendants in a libel suit. Of the five, three protestors apologised while the other two faced trial. Although the court ruled in favour of the fast-food giant, the court of public opinion ruled in favour of the protestors. Further, media outlets propelled the idea that the court case made the fats-food giant appear confrontational and bullying its own concerned customers, who had no resources to defend themselves with legal representation (instead of listening to them). It was considered one of the public relations disasters for the fast-food giant.

Effective organisational management increasingly recognise the essence of public relations in attaining organizational success and continuity. Without prejudicing internal roles in public relations, outsourcing can also bring a fresh perspective to an organisation’s public relations issues and problems. Regardless of which divide the practitioner is from, creating a great public relations campaign takes understanding the issues and problems, applying a creatively thought-out plan, and putting together an appealing execution - just to mention a few.

#Publicrelations #StrategicPlanning #Leadership #PJElwyns #BrandReputation #ReputationManagement #CorporateCulture

Crises: Is your organisation’s leadership looking the other way?

In one of my previous articles tackling leadership and crisis management, I wrote about why organisational leadership perceive crises as a catalyst for problems and not as an opportunity for learning and improving organisational operations. Since then, I have had a number of discussions on the topic, and I decided to share more thoughts in this short write-up.

The rarity of crisis may sway organisational leadership to believe that their organisation is less prone to a crisis event until they are facing one. Some organisations do not bother having crisis management plans in place, and look at unfolding crises as just some operational issues until the immediate damage begins to show. The hitch is, once a crisis occurs, an organisation falls under close media, public and government scrutiny. As such, crises run the risk of escalating in intensity and interfere with normal business operations.

Where an organisation does not have a crisis plan to monitor issues and engage a crisis as it unfolds, it engages knee jerk responses which may be uncoordinated to yield the much needed relief from a crisis. Because crises disturb an organisation’s stability by creating potential for loss of business, reputation and endangering business continuity, among others, it is a grave mistake for leadership to consider crisis as just ‘one of those operational issues’ and handle them with that flicker.

The tide is fast changing and the environment is no longer the same. Amongst others, new technologies and the increasing consumerism that influences change in public policies for more consumer protection, allows for issues to quickly escalate into crises, making crises inevitable. Such developments continue to jolt organisational leadership into realising the detriment of burying their heads in the sand. Modern organisational leadership no longer has that privilege. Crises can, within a very short space of time, cost organisations millions of dollars in damaged reputation, lost market share, and at times in litigations.

Leaders in an organisation should take the drive to institute crisis management measures including instituting a crisis team with a plan to track issues for potential crises and engage one when it occurs. At times running a crisis simulation program across all functions of the organisation strengthens preparedness. Where an organisation lacks the capacity, it is advisable to engage experts (independent or otherwise) to work with the organisation towards achieving a strategically fitting crisis management plan for your organisation.

As one of my many acquaintances in management indicated, ‘crises offer many opportunities for reviewing processes, systems and stakeholder relationships, among some facets. The old adage that "silence is golden" is now under great threat (when it comes to crises)'. Organisational leadership need to factor in organisational crisis management when thinking strategic business plans, and take notice of the impact that crises can have on their organisation's business success and continuity.

#StrategicPlanning #Leadership #CrisisManagement #PJElwyns #BrandReputation #ReputationManagement

Leadership and Crisis Management

Crises are inevitable in modern environments, the substance that should matters most to leadership is; what type of crisis will occur, when, and how leadership will respond in managing the crises. The increasing competitive environment, increased human activities, and demands for better living continuously place individuals, organisations, groups, and governments in situations susceptible to crisis. In such situations, leadership (self and group) plays a critical role in shaping how crises are handled.

In April 2010, bp’s drive to increase its profitability and sustain competitive advantage in the oil market resulted in what is famously known as the Bp Deep-water Horizon oil spill. This crisis resulted from an explosion on bp’s oil drilling rig, in which 11 people died and 17 were injured. The oil spill caused a massive environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico, affecting tourism and livelihood of the people of the gulf. The behavior of Chief Executive, Tony Hayward who demanded his 'life back' and chose to go on a holiday during the crisis period was perceived as bp being out of sync with the crisis situation at hand. The CEO’s inability to handle the crisis effectively cost him his position and did further damage to the ‘beyond petroleum’ brand reputation. This highlights the importance for organisational leadership in managing crises effectively.

Leadership is significant in the overall (organisational) direction and becomes more eminent where an organisation undergoes crisis situations. Thus far, a leader’s behavioral dispositions in crisis situations are critical cues on how the overall entity will respond to an unfolding crisis. The importance of leadership approach during crises illuminates the rationale that crises shape people’s perception of their leaders. Unfortunately, while modern (organisational) operating environment is far much prone to crises than any other time before, many leadership training do not prepare executives for crisis management.

This is even exacerbated with the fact that most leaders perceives crises as a catalyst for problems, (and not as an opportunity for learning and creating a new beginning), because crises disturb an (organisation’s) stability by creating potential for loss of business; loss of reputation; and endangering organisational present status. However, (organisations) cannot effectively deal with crises situations without effective leadership. This suggests that in responding to crisis, leadership assumes ‘the buck stops here’ attitude, and is responsible for the overall attitude the entire organisation attains in resolving challenges.

A very good example is that of George W. Bush. Returning from a reputation sinking recounting of Florida presidential ballots debacle in 2000, G.W was mostly perceived as a weak president and his approval rating was the lowest of any winning team. However, closely followed by the 9/11 attacks, G.W took an aggressive stand against terrorism, sounded more resolved and decisive, became eloquent, and sided with the people. His action not only engaged a world crusade against acts of terror, but also endeared him with the people. His approval rating immediately went up.

Crisis management strategies that an (organisation) may adopt may not only be prompted by organisational environment factors, but are also closely knitted with the efficiency of prevailing leadership.

#CrisisManagement #Leadership #PublicRelations #PJElwyns #ReputationManagement