I expect that most of us haven’t looked at our job description recently unless we had a performance review or appraisal. If we do dust it off and have a look what does it say about our role and the way it is viewed within the organisation? There was an interesting conversation about this issue that I had on Twitter today. Ella Minty (@ellaminty) provided the quote about the PR Director role that said “you would help X to develop and implement its PR Strategy & would engage and communicate with press and media”.
Unfortunately, there are still many organisations that see PR as just something about reputation and dealing with the media. The worst thing of all is that all of us working as professional communicators let this happen. We need to ensure that 2017 is the year when things change. It is time to demonstrate the strategic value of PR and communication to all businesses. It is time for us all to step up and show we can be strategic thinkers.
My own job description was last reviewed in 2009 a time when we were only just starting to use social media. We had yet to experience the substantial change that has taken place in the past six or seven years. The focus of the role was just reputation dealing with things that go wrong and putting out good news. If I look at what I do now on a daily basis it is a world away from that job outline from seven years ago. My focus is on service delivery, improvements that support the frontline and ultimately support the business, building trust and confidence, developing for the future. It is much more than communicating with press and media.
I have written many times in this blog that communicators do much more and to be really effective have to be working at all levels in the business. They need to have a voice in the boardroom; they need to understand the frontline and they need to be aware of the works of the organisation.
How do we get to that point? The future is in our hands as professional communicators we are the ones that can change how we are viewed. 2017 has to be the year of change.
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