COVID-19, the media and the NHS

by Victoria Macdonald

For media to tell the story of COVID-19, access is needed to hospitals, GP surgeries and care homes at the heart of the pandemic but securing permission to film comes with a range of challenges. 

You’ll learn:

• About the relationship between media and NHS comms teams and the efficiencies needed

• The importance of expert access and briefings so data can be represented appropriately at short notice

• How greater trust should be placed in comms teams to work with media to achieve responsible and accurate journalism

In late January the first COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the UK. That was just over five months ago, as I write this. Five months. It feels as if it were only yesterday and at the same time it feels like a lifetime.

It has been non-stop, it has at times been frightening, it has been exhilarating, and it has been frustrating – all packed into those five tumultuous months and with the prospect of many more months to come.

Therefore, to be asked to offer a journalist’s perspective on NHS comms during this pandemic, means having to temporarily remove yourself from the midst of the mayhem. Not easy.

Certainly, what I am writing now is not necessarily what I would write in peace time, as it were. The way journalists and NHS comms teams have operated during COVID-19 has been everything from exemplary to excoriating – with vast swathes in the middle.

Is that different from normal? Not entirely but it has been – is being – done under a spotlight and with incredible and often unrelenting pressure as we all deal with and learn about this new virus. 

Seeking efficiencies

Early on in the pandemic, the health and science correspondents / editors and producers at ITN (Channel 3, 4 and 5) wrote to the newsroom heads of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England (NHSE) and Public Health England (PHE) to ask how both sides could be more efficient in the way we were working.

Partly, this was born out of our frustration at unanswered phones, which when finally picked up would only lead us to be told another NHS organisation was dealing with that aspect of the pandemic. We were getting red finger syndrome (I just made that one up but I am sure it exists) from repetitive calling.

But we also wrote the email because all of us have been doing this job long enough to know that if the phones weren’t being answered it was because the comms teams were swamped. 

Our question was also how can we help you? We did not get an answer to that one but I am sure it would have been ‘call less’ and to the credit of DHSC, NHSE and PHE more people did seem to be brought in, although the default then appeared to be a request for an email. More red finger syndrome.

A heavy responsibility

Throughout this pandemic, my fellow health and science journalists have felt, over and above everything else, the need to get our stories right. This is no different from the non-pandemic years but COVID-19 added a whole new layer of responsibility.

The consequences of spreading misinformation were enormous and our need for fast and accurate information was vital.

We were and are operating in a period of mistrust of the media and of fake news and that weighed heavily.

There were days when new research, new Government announcements, new death rates and new infection rates all landed at once and you had minutes or just a few hours to untangle it, interpret it and make it digestible for your audience or readers.

To that end, one of the first things the comms team at DHSC did was organise briefings that were invaluable. As the chief medical officer and the medical director among others sat at the top table, you felt you were getting the right information at the right time.

Naturally, there were questions unanswered but we generally left feeling that was because right at that moment nobody had the answer, not because it was being deliberately kept from us.

Information sharing for a common goal

Through the excellent Science Media Centre, we have had access to scientists, doctors, behavioural modellers, the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser. It felt as if we were all working towards a common end: accurate and responsible journalism.

NHS Providers, the NHS Confederation, the Health Foundation, the Kings Fund and the Nuffield Trust have all helped and guided with briefings, analysis, their general and collective wisdom – and given us guests for the programme.

Of course, there are also the ones who have not helped or been forthcoming with information, or have not answered a question in time or answered it at all. Indeed, I had a response to one story at 7.20pm, some 15-and-a-half minutes after the story had gone out.

Pandemic or no pandemic, transparency is what we journalists long for and problems arise when we feel information is being withheld. It is in our DNA to go after it and that will always cause tensions.

One esteemed health journalist told me of a trust comms person outright denying a story that had been excellently sourced only for the story to appear two weeks later elsewhere. Mix up, cock up, obfuscation? Who knows but it tastes sour.

Yet there have been times when there has been a lack of transparency that has felt political rather than the fault of the comms teams. The tracing app and the problems with its development is an example. The test and trace system and our attempts to find out why the granular data was not being given to directors of public health. Why it took PHE nearly six weeks to give us the inspection reports on personal protective equipment.

None of this appeared to me to lay at the door of comms teams but rather at the door of their bosses.

The importance of access

For a television journalist, however, accuracy is but one part of the package. Access was needed to the hospitals, GP surgeries and care homes that were at the heart of the pandemic. This was where the story was and this was where we needed to be.

This is how it would go: I would ring a trust comms person, usually someone I have an established relationship with. We would talk through what it was I would like to film, how I would like to film it, how long it would take, what voices we could get, whether there were patients well enough to be interviewed.

There would be a general agreement that this would be good to do and I would hang up confident that it was all sorted. Except it never was because NHSE was in charge and it was down to them as to whether we got the access.

To this day I have not worked out whether it is better to ring the trust comms first, get their general agreement and then ring NHSE or vice versa. Both ways worked and both ways did not work. 

At one point, we got the approval from NHSE for the filming (having put the request in more than two weeks before) just as we – err – had finished the filming. For trust comms teams this could be as frustrating as it was for us.

More than once a trust chief executive, wanting to highlight how well their hospital had performed during this pandemic, was astonished to find filming was being pulled or not agreed to. 

The centralised control over local trust comms teams has been growing for some time but right now it is in an iron-clad grip.

Trust the media and comms teams to do their job

I understand the need for hospitals and their patients and staff to be protected and for them not to be swamped with film crews, but perhaps there needs to be more trust in us to do the right thing. 

I will be forever grateful to the comms teams (Claire and Clare specifically) at Epsom and St Helier and at the Royal Brompton who ensured we were able to film probably the most moving, most inspiring pieces I have ever been involved in.

The filming at Epsom and St Helier nearly didn’t get the approval we needed and so the Channel 4 News viewer might never have seen staff rising to the occasion, going above and beyond; the patients frightened but knowing they were in the best place possible. There would have been no interview with the CEO Daniel Elkeles who explained why the very difference in the size of copper piping meant the difference between getting oxygen to COVID patients and not getting it to them.

These are stories that need picture, that need the people and that are powerful on television. Gwen, standing on her doorstep with her community health team saying she had been too frightened to go to hospital, so they had come to her. That was her voice, in her words, telling us what it is like to be 94, alone and scared of COVID.

So thank you again to all those who have made our filming possible. There are many of you out there.

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Victoria Macdonald is health and social care editor at Channel 4 News. She is an award-winning journalist, who has been covering health and social care issues for Channel 4 News since 1999.

Victoria reports on changes in the NHS - the reforms and the politics - whether it is in hospitals or in the community or indeed, in Westminster.

She closely follows the care system and how it impacts on the elderly and those with disabilities as well as investigating issues, including mental health, HIV/Aids and TB, and child health.

Victoria is originally from New Zealand and worked for the Sunday Telegraph before joining Channel 4 News.

Twitter: @vsmacdonald

NHS communication in the age of coronavirus

by John Underwood, Bill Nichols, Adam Brimelow and Daniel Reynolds

If there needs to be a centralised command and control approach to communication – and, in a national emergency, there does need to be such an approach – in future this should be applied with the wider support of the communicators in frontline NHS organisations helping to deliver it. 

You’ll learn:

• How COVID-19 has created a greater appreciation of professional communications as a strategic 

function within NHS organisations

• That the pandemic crisis has created less resistance to change and enabled greater organisational 

flexibility and innovation

• How a more digital future for the NHS has been realised 

The Coronavirus pandemic is triggering dramatic change across the NHS. 

Hundreds of thousands of GP and hospital outpatient appointments are taking place by telephone or through video conferencing, health and care services are being transformed overnight and decisions that would normally have taken many months are being actioned in hours. This spectacular transformation involves everyone who works in the NHS, not least professional communications and engagement specialists.

Recent research conducted by the Centre for Health Communication Research at Bucks New University, with NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation, explored the major communication lessons emerging from the pandemic.

The research was based on a large-scale quantitative survey that was circulated to NHS communicators in May 2020. Fieldwork took place between 20 May and 3 June 2020. In total 165 NHS communicators responded from across the country and from a range of NHS organisations.

We found that during the early stages of the pandemic there was a greater appreciation of professional communications within NHS organisations and an enhanced recognition of communications as a strategic and vital function. 84% of NHS professional communicators felt they had been more influential during the pandemic – with just 6% feeling they had been less influential - and they wrote of being “more involved in helping to inform and shape organisational decision making” and of getting “a seat at the top table and a more strategic role”.

And the recognition of the communications team went beyond NHS leaders. Respondents talked of staff being more engaged with NHS organisational communications and actively seeking out corporate communications advice. One survey respondent said, “One of the biggest changes I’ve experienced is an acknowledgement and appreciation of the communications team and our work from both senior leaders and frontline staff.”

We also found that communicators celebrated the “tearing down of barriers”, a reduction in bureaucracy and the development of streamlined local approval processes during the pandemic with 82% feeling that management decision-making was generally faster. 

Respondents found less resistance to change, greater organisational flexibility and an ability for people to adapt quickly. They reported that “barriers which have been in place for years, preventing things like online communications, rapidly fell away when the lockdown kicked in.”

Perhaps most positively, professional communicators felt the pandemic had triggered a strong wave of transformative innovation across the NHS. 

We were told that engagement events had been live streamed on Facebook Live, Microsoft Teams or YouTube. Apps such as Slido or Glisser have been used to encourage and gauge audience interaction. Team collaboration software like Trello is being used more and more. Video shot on smart phones has become commonplace with more user generated content than ever. Secure, clinical messaging platforms such as Pando have a growing network of users. And patient communication software like AccuRX and Attend Anywhere is now much more commonplace. 

This race towards a more digital future has inevitably raised some concern over those who do not have access to the necessary hardware or software and what one respondent described as “pearl clutching about leaving people behind” but there appears to be a strong belief that the NHS must seize the opportunity of the moment and encourage greater digital interaction between staff and between patients and clinicians, while being mindful of the need to address the challenge of the digital divide.

In common with the rest of the population NHS communicators spent more time working from home during lockdown. Of course, as key workers, many continued to work from their offices but on average, they spent almost two thirds of their time working from home. While for some this was a welcome boon, for others it has raised issues of personal isolation, a loss of work-life balance, a negative impact on family life and a tendency towards an unhealthy, sedentary, desk-based lifestyle. 

The pandemic also appears to have driven a notable improvement in relationships between NHS communicators and the various professional colleagues they interact with. Respondents reported that the pandemic had “galvanised” their professional relationships as the NHS and its partners had come together with a single focus of activity that created a “sense of one team working together”. 

The proliferation of new, closed staff Facebook groups was mentioned by many NHS communicators and was widely deemed to be very effective. One respondent said, “We have been trying to get a staff Facebook page off the ground for ages and it has now become a really effective comms tool, particularly for clinical staff.”

The issue that generated most discussion, however, was the question of centralised “command and control” NHS communication. NHS England announced in early March 2020 that Coronavirus had been declared a level four national emergency. The NHS England Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response Framework describes level four as being “an incident that requires NHS England National Command and Control to support the NHS response”.

The Framework describes command and control in the following terms, “For responses at Alert Level 4… NHS England (national) may take command of all NHS resources across England. In this situation direction from the national team will be actioned through the regional teams”.

In practical terms the understandable purpose of the central command and control of communications is to ensure consistency of message, that the NHS speaks with one voice and that it fulfils its duty under the Civil Contingencies Act to warn and inform the public.

41% of respondents to our survey felt the application of the national command and control of communications strategy and activities had not been appropriate, with the most senior professional communicators even more inclined (57%) to that view. 

The weight of detailed comment was clearly troubled by the way command and control of communication had been applied with respondents saying things like, “Micro-management by regulators has been very frustrating and at times completely disproportionate and muddled.” And “Of course, there needs to be national command and control but the national team can’t run comms from a bunker in London to parts of the UK all with very different needs and audiences.”

These local concerns were an urgent and persistent theme of our dialogue with senior NHS communicators in private conversations and social media exchanges, particularly at the height of the pandemic. We pointed out this disquiet to colleagues at NHS England and NHS Improvement, so they were fully sighted on the potential difficulties that could arise.

The lesson here seems clear enough. If there needs to be a centralised command and control approach to communication – and, in a national emergency, there does need to be such an approach – its recent application should be evaluated to determine how in future it might be applied with the wider support of senior NHS communicators in frontline NHS organisations. This is particularly important given the possibility of further waves of Coronavirus infection.

Overall, however, the findings from this study make very positive reading for NHS professional communicators who wish to see their role fully recognised as a valuable, strategic function. In any crisis an expert, specialist communications team comes into its own and so it proved across the NHS during the early stages of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic.

The full research white paper can be found at https://www.chcr.org.uk/research/

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John Underwood is director of the Centre for Health Communication Research and an executive director at Freshwater where he advises NHS organisations on communication and engagement issues. He was previously a reporter and presenter for the BBC, ITV News and Channel Four.

Twitter: @JUHealthComms
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnunderwood1/

Dr Bill Nichols is deputy director of the Centre for Health Communications Research and a 40-year PR industry veteran. He has spent the last ten years primarily in health education. Once Sir Clive Sinclair’s publicity director, his consultancy and commercial career includes spells in France, India and the USA. 

Twitter: @billnicholsPR
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drbillnichols/

Adam Brimelow is director of communications at NHS Providers. Previously Adam was BBC health correspondent for 14 years, working across all the main national TV and radio bulletins, the Today Programme and BBC online. Adam also worked at Westminster as a BBC political reporter.

Twitter: @adambrimelow
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adambrimelow/

Daniel Reynolds is director of communications at NHS Confederation. He also oversees the communications activities of NHS Employers, the voice of employers in the NHS. He has been director of communications at both NHS Providers and the Nuffield Trust. Before moving into the health sector, he was a reporter with Sky TV.

Twitter: @DanielReynolds4
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/daniel-reynolds-462ba8131/

The communications challenge of COVID-19

by Chris Hopson

COVID-19 has created the biggest challenge the NHS has faced in its 72 year history, from the frontline through to the communications function. Learn how the infrastructure put into place by NHS Providers has enabled it to deliver an authoritative NHS perspective, giving media and the public direct access to a trusted information source.

You’ll learn:

• The importance of ongoing work and investment into the communications infrastructure

• How stakeholder trust can be secured through the delivery of real time data and objective analysis

• Five factors which influence communications excellence and success

Confronting COVID-19 is the biggest challenge the NHS has faced in its 72 year history. 

It’s required the service to do some extraordinary things at record pace. Who could possibly have imagined at the beginning of January that, within a few short months, the NHS would have created 33,000 beds to treat coronavirus patients? Discharged thousands of medically fit patients using a new process that was designed in a fortnight? Massively expanded the 111 service to cope with record demand? And accelerated changes we’d all been talking about for ages but found very difficult to deliver – like creating 24/7 mental health A&E services and moving outpatient appointments online?

The scale of the communications challenge has been equally enormous. 

Acres of broadcast, print and social media coverage focussed on the NHS with much of it produced by journalists with no expert knowledge of healthcare. A raft of operational communications to keep staff up to speed with a rapidly changing situation. And a very important public facing communications task, ensuring patients knew which services were open, that it was safe to come for treatment if needed, and what was happening to their individual treatment.

NHS Providers, as the voice of trusts, was keen to play its part.

We rapidly recognised that a substantial information gap was opening up between the top level Downing Street press conferences and the often distressing individual pieces of frontline testimony. We thought there was a need for calm and clear explanation of how NHS trusts were seeking to address this unprecedented challenge. 

A need for a definitive, authoritative, frontline NHS perspective on the wide range of different issues that hit the news – from testing, ventilators, and PPE to care home discharges, balancing COVID-19 and non-COVID treatment and how trusts were coping with the pandemic. We were, in short, on a mission to explain.

NHS Providers was in a unique position to provide this commentary. We have all 216 trusts and foundation trusts in membership. We have an extremely close connection with our members, including ‘always on’, direct, electronic communications channels with trust CEOs, chairs and communications directors. Our members trust us because we are their membership organisation and they know we will speak truth to power. They are therefore willing share information fully and openly with us, in real time, relying on our judgement on how to best use it.

That enables us to aggregate member intelligence into informed, accurate, national insight with a detailed, up to date understanding of key issues. We can then share and discuss this with national partners such as NHS England and NHS Improvement, building our own understanding of the relevant issue at the same time. 

We have also deliberately invested in building outstanding communications, policy and analysis teams and have created a range of national level spokespeople. This meant we were able to process and publicly communicate a significant amount of information at high speed, even though the entire organisation was working from home due to lockdown. 

The vast majority of this infrastructure had been built prior to the start of COVID and was the bedrock which allowed us to play the role that we did. In that sense, what we have been able to achieve over the last few months has been the result of years of hard work and investment.

We’ve had a huge amount of positive feedback from our members, parliamentarians, journalists and frontline staff on the role we have played over the last few months. Reflecting on what has gone well, I’d highlight five factors:

Detailed understanding based on real evidence

Our closeness to our members and our trusted relationship with national partners meant that we had a detailed, national level picture of what was going on. We became ‘the place’ to go to if, as a journalist, you wanted a detailed picture of what was happening on the issue of the day. We also had a clear house rule of not going further than what we knew – not commenting on issues where we didn’t have expertise and saying “I don’t know” if asked a question we couldn’t answer.

Objective analysis, telling it as it really is

Journalists told us that they trusted what we said because we gave them objective analysis that was free of the spin that they believed lay behind a lot of what they were being told by Government sources. We made a particular point of acknowledging where there were shortcomings and trying to be accurate about the reasons for them.

Plain and simple language

COVID-19 required all of us making public commentary to become instant experts in a range of different topics, many of them technical and difficult to explain. We put particular emphasis on not just understanding an appropriate level of detail on issues like PPE or testing, but turning our understanding into language that we knew would resonate with journalists and the general public who read them.

Range of formats including full use of new media

We deliberately used a range of different formats to deliver our message, being both proactive and reactive, and it was interesting that each of them played a key role. Our Spotlight briefings sought to bring insight into the key issues. 

Our long form Confronting Coronavirus report was the first major, detailed, analysis of how the NHS was responding to the virus. We placed a number of blogs with national newspaper titles and also issued proactive and reactive daily press comments which were used by a range of media outlets. It was particularly gratifying to see our social media activity picked up extensively. 

Our long tweet threads rapidly gained a wide and high profile following. And one tweet, highlighting the lack of notice and consultation of a Government announcement on the use of face masks in NHS settings, triggered a major news story by itself as well as 10,000 likes and over 4,000 retweets. 

Great team

Underpinning all of this was having a highly motivated, ambitious and professional team who were committed to going the extra mile, not just in terms of putting in the hours, but also working together to combine analysis and policy expertise with communications skill. And, of course, none of this would have been possible without the input and support of our wider team – our members.

One final thought. A lot of communications focus in the NHS goes on external media work. Important though that is, it’s vital to remember that a successful communications team has a variety of tasks to perform – including marketing and internal communications. We’re very proud of the marketing work we have done to support our members and keep them informed – for example creating a very well used web hub of all the key COVID-19 resources members needed in one place.

We’re also equally proud of the work we have done to support our staff and keep them fully informed during a difficult period when they were all working at home.

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Chris Hopson joined NHS Providers in September 2012 as chief executive following a career spanning the public, private and voluntary sectors, including senior roles at HM Revenue and Customs, ITV plc and Granada Media. Chris is a graduate of the cross Whitehall, civil service, High Potential Development Scheme, designed to identify and develop the next generation of top civil service leaders, and he holds an MBA from Cranfield Business School.

Twitter: @ChrisCEOHopson

COVID-19 comms and the NHS: A story of excellence, innovation and inspiration

by Sarah Waddington

When I penned the introduction to the third edition of #FuturePRoof: ‘The NHS at 70 with lessons for the wider PR community’, I opened with a thank you to the remarkable people who work within it. 

This book, ‘The impact of COVID-19 on NHS comms’, has only reinforced that debt of gratitude. Two chapters made me cry; all of them have given me hope for the future. Thank you all, for everything you do. 

Little did I know when I wrote about the myriad of challenges facing the NHS, that less than two years later (it’s now November 2020), it would also be providing the first line of defence against a hugely infectious disease known as COVID-19.

Right now, as a second wave of Coronavirus sweeps the UK, its world class staff continue to work all hours to protect us, against a backdrop of long-term underfunding, challenges with the availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), a poorly implemented Test and Trace system and a burgeoning mental health crisis.

Working right alongside those frontline staff are its professional communicators who are also keeping the wheels turning with the critical objective of keeping everyone safe. 

These inspiring professionals are prioritising internal communications so staff feel listened to, valued and informed; and engaging with patients and wider community, with a focus on our most vulnerable. They are liaising with media to give them access to the data and the stories they need; and working with Government to find solutions to the complex challenges the pandemic presents.

NHS comms teams have been central to the crisis response and their value has been seen and felt like never before. This is right and just and a huge boon for our profession. The strategic role of the NHS communicator now very firmly occupies a seat in the NHS boardroom.

Through its response to COVID-19, the NHS has been able to throw off many of the shackles that were holding it back, stopping it innovating and slowing its progress. 

Its transformation to digital-first has revolutionised patient care and engagement, while keeping safety and privacy at its core. Many of the obstacles covered in book three have been overcome in the shortest space of time, driven by necessity. 

Today we can all benefit from technology that enables home-based online consultations and self-care, and apps designed to help with prevention rather than cure. 

NHS Providers has finally given the workforce a voice, where before it had none. An entrepreneurial approach has seen trusts launch their own PPE manufacturing units and multi-agency working has been implemented in the knowledge that no one organisation can fight this terrible illness and its ramifications alone. 

It’s a story of strength and empowerment that inspires and it gives me no surprise that public confidence in the NHS continues to rise as it demonstrably lives its values. The whole NHS workforce deserves our continued advocacy and support. It will need this as it continues to address issues around under investment, understaffing, mental health and wellbeing and this long overdue system overhaul. 

I’d like to say how grateful I am to all the amazing contributors in this book who somehow in the midst of a global pandemic found the time to write and capture a unique moment in the NHS’s lifetime. 

Particular thanks go to Adam Brimelow, Claire Riley, Lisa Ward, Liz Davies and Ross Wigham who opened access to their networks to make this a reality. 

This book, like its 70th anniversary counterpart, marks an important stage in the NHS’s history and evolution. This complex network of organisations stands as a beacon of hope in these difficult times and offers a reminder that while communications may have previously been the invisible thread connecting organisations with their workforces, stakeholders and communities, it is invisible no longer. 

On behalf of everyone who reads this book, I’ll say it one more time and loudly. 

THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE FOR US, OUR BELOVED NHS.

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Sarah Waddington is an experienced management and PR consultant helping organisations to articulate their purpose and optimise performance through her agency Astute.Work. 

A pioneer of best practice, she was awarded the CIPR’s Sir Stephen Tallents Medal for exceptional achievement in public relations and is the winner of the PRCA’s Outstanding Contribution in Digital Award. 

Having built a reputation as an ethics tsar and diversity and inclusivity champion, she is a strong advocate of accountable leadership and women in business and believes in helping young talent break through. 

Sarah is a Past President of the CIPR, an IoD Ambassador, a member of the Northern Power Women Power List and is a regular speaker at industry events. Her PR-related blog is one of the top ten in the UK according to Vuelio.

The founder and editor of #FuturePRoof, a series of books and community aimed at reasserting the role of public relations as a management function, Sarah also co-edited a white paper with Stephen Waddington characterising the public relations agency business and another exploring the mental wellbeing of the profession.

Sarah is a graduate of Oxford Saïd’s Executive Leadership programme, has completed Non Executive Director training with NEDA at the London Stock Exchange and holds a certificate in Organisational Leadership from the Institute of Leadership and Management. She has an MA in Marketing from Northumbria University, a BA (Hons) in French and Media from Leeds University and is a Google Squared digital marketing alumna.

When she’s not at work you’ll find her busy being Mum to two boys and walking her cocker spaniel Madge. You can also catch her being rather noisy on Twitter @Mrs_Wadds.

Twitter: @Mrs_Wadds
Web: Astute.Work

#FuturePRoof Five documents the impact of COVID-19 on NHS comms

The fifth #FuturePRoof book has launched today [Friday 27 November], marking a unique moment in the history of the NHS.

The impact of COVID-19 on NHS comms documents the scale of the challenge faced by professional NHS communicators since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.

Sixteen compelling essays tell the story of how the pandemic has prompted a wholesale digital transformation of the NHS and how internal communications has become a primary function for comms teams working round the clock to keep staff updated and safe.

An upbeat read, a clear take out is how COVID-19 has cemented the role of communications as a strategic management function with both NHS management teams and external stakeholders who have recognised its central role in the crisis response. 

The need for greater flexibility from NHS England which operates a command and control approach when a level 4 national emergency is declared is also a key theme within the book. 

#FuturePRoof founder and editor Sarah Waddington said: “This is a very special book and I’m massively grateful to all the amazing contributors who somehow in the midst of a global pandemic found the time to write and capture an important stage in the history and evolution of the NHS.” 

Reflecting on the book Mandy Pearse, CIPR President-Elect, said: “This is a brilliant and timely addition to the #Futureproof series. The collection of essays from some of the top NHS communicators shows just how well our profession has risen to the challenge of COVID-19. It provides lessons with high applicability for the rest of the public sector and the industry as a whole.”

Anne Gregory, Professor of Corporate Communication, University of Huddersfield, commented: “This is an exceptional collection of essays chronicling the most remarkable achievements of a most remarkable group of people at the forefront of the most remarkable health crisis the modern age has seen. Read, learn and celebrate how communication professionals rose to the challenge, gained the highest respect and delivered compassion as well as professional service under the most pressured of circumstances. Hats off to them and to Sarah Waddington for telling their stories.”

Waddington added: “This complex network of organisations stands as a beacon of hope in these difficult times and offers a reminder that while communications may have previously been the invisible thread connecting organisations with their workforces, stakeholders and communities, it is invisible no longer.”

The book’s contributors are Chris Hopson, John Underwood, Bill Nichols, Adam Brimelow, Daniel Reynolds, Victoria Macdonald, Cassie Zachariou, Amanda Nash, Caroline Latta, Claire Riley, Kirk Millis-Ward, Liz Davies, Mark Flannagan, Paul Dunn, Sarah Rose, Michael Carden, Ross Wigham, Lisa Ward, Adam Shepphard and Ranjeet Kaile. 

#FuturePRoof Five: The impact of COVID-19 on NHS comms can be purchased at cost via Blurb and on the Kindle. A chapter a day will also be published on the #FuturePRoof blog and shared on Twitter via @weareproofed.

All costs associated with the design, production and marketing of #FuturePRoof are paid for by Astute.Work as part of managing director and #FuturePRoof editor Sarah Waddington’s mission to improve social mobility within the PR industry by making thought leadership and best practice accessible to all. 

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Sarah Waddington

Twitter: @Mrs_Wadds
Web: Astute.Work

Why ALL communications professionals need a strong personal brand

Today building a personal brand is no longer a choice; it’s a necessity in order for PR practitioners to succeed professionally. 

We all know plenty of people who are good – even great – at what they do, but never get the recognition they deserve. They always seem to fall short of winning clients or getting that promotion. Of course, being good at what you do is crucial for success, but it is not the only factor in the equation.

A generation ago, letting the work speak for itself was sound advice. There was no need to think beyond your current employer when a job for life was the norm and anything else an exception. With good work, an upward career path was all but guaranteed. 

Nowadays though, it’s inevitable that a large demographic of talented and hard-working individuals will be ignored. With the average professional having eleven jobs over the course of their career, maintaining an excellent reputation between a range of companies and roles is crucial if you don’t want your track record to slip between the cracks. The current recession has only accelerated this trend. 

Using your personal brand to shape the career you want

Ten years ago, I lost my job. I’d spent six years working as Head of Communications for easyJet but then, almost out of the blue, a management shake-up meant I had to leave. I loved my stint at the airline and this departure was gutting, but I had a plan. I decided that I wanted to found my own company – although this wasn’t going to be easy.

It was 2010 and the world was crawling out of a recession. All of sudden I was on my own with no clients, no team, and without the clout of a major company to open doors for me. To top things off, I only had a few months’ worth of savings to sustain myself. 

The clock was ticking. To attract clients, I knew I had to develop my reputation as a consultant – fast. Crafting a personal brand which reflected my values and aspirations was crucial to get my name out there, and in turn win clients for my new business. 

Uniqueness stands out 

In the years since I founded my communications consultancy, I discovered that there are a few recurring reasons why professionals fail in sharing their unique voice with the world: they think building a brand means they can’t be themselves; they believe they have nothing to say; they are afraid of showing up in the digital space; they get on the content treadmill, churning out half-hearted LinkedIn posts or tweets. What’s more, they don’t enjoy it because they don’t have the right strategy or system in place. Often the limiting factor is simply the mindset that “It’s not for me” – but this couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Your personal brand should reflect your personality if you are to become visible and truly unignorable. Authenticity wins hearts, even in the professional world of today. Unlike ten years ago, when showing personality was still largely frowned upon in the corporate world, today authenticity helps us get noticed. Authenticity makes us unique, and uniqueness stands out. Clients, recruiters and bosses will all appreciate learning more about you through your authentic personal brand – these working relationships based on mutual trust are what we should all be aiming for. 

Become a magnet to those who matter 

We all have a reputation, so why not build one we love? To fulfil your goals, you also need the right motivation, mindset, method and message – the four M’s needed for a truly successful personal brand. 

If your brand is consistent with your values and you set out to help others, building a personal brand will be an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Authenticity is not just a buzzword. It is the key to understanding why some personal brands work and others don’t.

In business, a great reputation is the prerequisite to profit. If we are known for our expertise, for being outstanding at what we do and for the value we create for others, we become a magnet for the right people and opportunities. It’s exactly this reputation which separates you from the competition. 

With the four M’s as guiding principles you will show your unique self, and your skills and abilities, to those who will extract value from what you have to say and share. It is precisely this demographic who will provide the most value for you. 

Your reputation as an insurance policy 

This year has posed significant challenges for the communications industry and each one of us. Uncertainty and financial instability have left many worried about losing clients, failing to upskill or becoming irrelevant. But instead of worrying, doubling down on the investment in your personal brand will act as an insurance policy against current and future crises. 

Resilience will be far more important in the future than any particular skill. Skills can be learnt and in turn can become obsolete. Resilience on the other hand is there to stay. A first-rate reputation or personal brand is a cornerstone of resilience in business as something which protects us against forces that are outside of our control. You can be fired from a job or by your clients, but you can’t be fired from your personal brand. A magnetic brand will ensure that you remain in demand – as long as you live up to the promises of your reputation, you and your services are guaranteed to be top of mind, even when budgets are stretched. 

Become a thought-leader and create opportunities with your personal brand

With your personal brand you will be able to assert yourself as a key opinion leader, and charge clients what you are worth. A compelling and authentic personal brand will attract potential clients and prove your value, whilst giving you the luxury of choosing the most interesting clients and projects.

No one will deny that attention is a highly sought-after commodity in the digital age. This is a trend which is not going to disappear – becoming unignorable and building a successful personal brand will help you cut through the noise, rise to the top of your clients’ minds and reach your goals. 

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Oliver Aust is the CEO and founder of Eo Ipso Communications in Berlin, co-host of the podcast “Speak Like a CEO“ and author of three books on communications. His latest book, Unignorable: Build Your Personal Brand and Boost Your Business in 30 Days, has already achieved international bestseller status and is available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. 

For more info on Oliver Aust visit www.oliveraust.com or connect on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram @oliveraust_ 

Starting over: What would an inclusive membership body for communication professionals look like in the COVID-19 era?

by Peter Holt

Introduction

If we were building a new professional membership body for the PR industry from scratch, as society learns to live with COVID-19, what might it look like and how might it work?

#FuturePRoof challenged me to tackle some of the thorniest issues related to the relevance and value of membership organisations:

• Is having a crowded market of different, adjacent membership bodies a good thing? 

• Should a membership body in our profession have a high threshold to entry and continuation in terms of Continuous Professional Development (CPD)?

• How best do we strike the balance between self-regulation – holding our members to high ethical and professional standards – and support to our paying members – to help them in their career development without judgment? 

This essay draws on previous research into membership bodies, and interviews I conducted with colleagues who worked at the Law Society, the Chartered Institute of Physiotherapy, a think tank, and also the Labour Party, as well as desk research I undertook on a range of UK membership bodies.

Strategic purpose

Pulling aside articles of incorporation and Royal Charters, my guess is that a discussion about the strategic purpose for a new membership body for the communication profession would end up with a three-pronged focus:

1. The need to come together to proactively shape our industry and our profession, and its place in the world, including addressing ESG (environmental, social and governance) challenges such as sustainability and diversity

2. Public relations is not a heavily statutorily regulated profession, so for the good of society generally and our customers, and ultimately also for us as proper professionals, we need to self-regulate effectively.  More than that though, we need to sort the wheat from the chaff, so that those of us who uphold proper ethics and professional standards can be told apart from the snake-oil salesmen

3. We need to support our members, reflect their views, and support them throughout their careers.

Scope – where to draw the line around our profession?

Would we consider public relations so closely associated with marketing that the idea of having separate bodies would be laughable?  What about internal communications?  What about advertising or digital media or sales?  What about public affairs?  What about content creation and journalism?  Just where would we draw the line?

Would we be better off operating in our new body across in-house and agency teams in different branches, or just exclude one group altogether, and let them go and form their own body?  Would we split across public, voluntary/community, and private sectors, or would we come together in a big family?

Then there’s the issue of business models. Would we settle on an individual membership body, perhaps with a corporate membership option, or would we start with corporate memberships and tack on individual joining rights?

I for one hope that the scope of our new PR body would be broad – going at least as far as including the disciplines of marketing, internal communications, public affairs and digital media.

In deference to the marketing colleagues I’d probably be happy enough to stretch out and include advertising and sales. I think I’d argue more strongly against including journalism, but wouldn’t die in a ditch over it.  Broad reach, federal structure, umbrella, big tent and so on.

What wins: competition or cooperation?

I value commercial competition amongst supermarkets and telecom providers, but I am firmly of the view that the benefits of competition in membership bodies for the PR sector are grossly outweighed by the wasted opportunities.

If one could successfully take egos out of the equation, then why would we ever invent a fragmented set of representative bodies, cooperating only at the margins?

As we’d certainly not want to lose around a fifth of members annually.

The wisdom of a former head of membership for the Labour Party rings loudly in my ears – to the effect that the biggest challenge in membership retention was to demonstrate the value of membership at the 11 month mark, just before the first year’s subscription renewal – from then on, drop-out levels plummeted. 

If we’re serious about sorting the wheat from the chaff, then what’s the right balance to strike in admitting new members in terms of ethics and professional standards, and expecting all members to maintain career-long Continuous Professional Development (CPD), on a path to some form of recognised ‘senior practitioner’ status?

Once all that detail is worked through – this new member-led, membership body of ours – what say we start the long, hard road towards having it granted a Royal Charter, as an official recognition of our standards, ethics and effective self-regulating practice.

Now please take a hard look at the CIPR and my manifesto for President.

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Peter Holt FCIPR, Chart. PR, FRSA is the Assistant Chief Executive of South Northants Council, and is a candidate for President in the current CIPR election.  He blogs at www.peterholt99.wordpress.com which contains interviews with colleagues during their time at the Law Society (touching on the importance of member insight) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (touching on their localism, diversity and braveness approach), as well as desk-based research articles that have informed this thought piece on barriers to entry to membership, and on student pathways into membership, on age discrimination in the PR profession, on race in public relations and on better supporting new entrants to the profession.

COVID-19, purpose & PR: How 2020 ushered in a new era for strategic Public Relations

by Koray Camgöz

Purpose is not a PR issue, it’s a business imperative. Aside from communicating purpose, PR practitioners have a role to play in helping businesses understand theirs.

You’ll learn:

• The data making the argument for conscious capitalism 

• How a high ESG score enables greater access to capital

• About PR’s job in reducing the say-do gap and ensuring organisations and leaders live up to the values they profess

2020 lit the match that sparked an explosion of global change. This year has seen seismic shifts in the way we think about work and life. The speed of change has been remarkable; cultural trends that would have developed incrementally over generations have occurred within months. 

Change is the currency of public relations. A PR professional’s job is to inspire change in thoughts, attitudes and behaviours. We mediate the interests of stakeholders and help organisations to navigate their way through complexity. PR is ultimately about helping organisations understand their place in the world. 

Business has reached a critical juncture in 2020. The year has been characterised by fluidity and uncertainty, while expectations of how firms should operate have shifted rapidly in a short space of time. Public relations professionals are uniquely positioned to steer businesses through this period. This chapter reflects on the turbulence of 2020 and the impact it will have on the trajectory of public relations practice. 

The litmus test for purpose-led business 

It’s often said that a crisis lifts the veil on an organisation. The same could be said for a global practice. A crisis cuts through the crap and shines a harsh light on your reality. 

What did you need? What could you do without? What do you really stand for? 

In many ways, COVID-19 provided the litmus test for purpose-led business.

There was a groundswell of momentum behind the idea that businesses should prioritise people and planet above (or at least beside) profit. PR professionals championed the notion feverishly, inspired by conscious consumers eager to align themselves with brands that reflect their values. 

But was it a genuine aspiration for businesses? There were concerns that the harsh realities of a brutal recession would cripple the movement towards purpose-led business. Many feared that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) would take a back seat while businesses grappled with the threat of extinction. 

‘Why care about society and the environment when you’re struggling to pay staff and your business is on the verge of collapse?’

So, has the pandemic forced business to abandon purpose and revert to traditional capitalist models? The short answer is no.

The S&P 500 ESG index, which tracks large U.S. companies with high ESG ratings, outperformed the conventional S&P 500 index in the first four months of 2020 when the crisis took its grip. The data proves that businesses do well when they do good. 

There’s growing evidence to support the assertion that the COVID-19 crisis delivered a shot in the arm for conscious capitalism. A Blackrock report on ESG published in May reported “...this period of market turbulence and economic uncertainty has further reinforced our conviction that ESG characteristics indicate resilience during market downturns.” 

So rather than stamp out this trend, the pandemic has accentuated the need for businesses to prove they care about more than money. 

“Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to our eyes. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last some crisis shows what we have become.” Brooke Foss Westcott

It’s an encouraging development. As Brooke Foss Westcott references in the quote above, a crisis shows us what we’ve become. In this instance, it’s tested the business community’s resolve and shown that ESG is here to stay. 

At an event earlier this year the former Vodafone Corporate Affairs Director and Partner at Blurred, Matt Peacock, astutely pointed out that: “While capitalism was the cause of many of society’s ills, capitalism itself has the potential to provide the cure.” 

Based on the growing body of evidence, it’s hard to disagree. 

‘Stakeholder capitalism’ and the future of purpose 

The fragile state of public health in 2020 has undoubtedly focused minds on corporate governance and sustainability. The pandemic dished out a lesson in the futility of obsessive pursuit of profit. The togetherness shown by communities across the world and the widespread support for key workers lent credence to the belief that society - and the businesses that operate within it - should focus on more than making money. 

JPMorgan reasserted this view in June earlier this year: “The rebound in civil society has been impressive, with an increase in volunteering, social cohesion, community support and focus on public good vs. private freedoms - we see the COVID-19 crisis accelerating the trend to ESG investment.” 

In summary, they concluded: “COVID-19 is accelerating the trend of stakeholder capitalism and challenging shareholder primacy.”

Stakeholder capitalism is not a new concept. Developed in 1932 by Adolf A Berle and Gardiner C Means, it argued that business should focus on meeting the needs of all stakeholders; from customers to employees and partners. It promoted the belief that companies should hire professionals to balance the interests of all stakeholders while taking public policy into account. 

Sound familiar? It should if you work in public relations. 

It’s encouraging that corporate heavyweights are talking up the importance of stakeholder capitalism. But let’s face it, the moral case alone was never going to cause businesses to double down on their social values. To get the root of the cause, it pays to follow the money trail. 

One of the key factors driving adoption of ESG values is access to cheap capital. Banks and lenders offer more competitive rates to firms with high ESG scores. For companies borrowing billions, small gains in percentage lending rates equate to vast sums of cash. 

Opportunities for public relations

These trends offer public relations professionals two key opportunities. Firstly, purpose is not a PR issue, it’s a business imperative. But corporate communicators, PR and marketing professionals all have a pivotal role to play in articulating a company’s values and vision. As storytellers, we hold the power to shift perceptions at a critical point in time for businesses. 

But we also have broader calling. Aside from communicating purpose, PR practitioners have a role to play in helping businesses understand theirs. 

Plugged in to all areas of the business, the modern strategic communicator has a birds-eye view of the stakeholder environment and an unrivalled understanding of how a firms’ actions impact its stakeholders. That vantage point empowers PR professionals to deliver tremendous insight to the C-suite that can help shape how a business thinks, feels and acts. 

That’s always been important - but it’s become critical in 2020. The tragic murder of George Floyd, which sparked global outrage at racial inequality, is a perfect of example of how business is subservient to public sentiment. 

Businesses now need to demonstrate tangible action on the issues people care about. Those that are out of step with the public mood will pay the price. Well-crafted statements, commitments and intentions no longer cut it. If 2020 has proved anything, it’s that people’s tolerance for bullshit has disintegrated. 

The reputational stakes have been raised. The modern PR professional influences how a business acts as well what it says. Our job is to reduce the say-do gap, ensuring organisations and leaders live up to the values they profess. This strategic element of practice is on the rise. According to the latest ICCO World PR Report, agency owners across the globe attribute almost a third of all growth to strategic consulting. The turbulence of 2020 looks set to turbocharge that shift. 

Put short, purpose is here to stay - the business case is now indisputable. But for PR professionals, the events of 2020 have crystallised the value of what we do and the impact we can have on organisations, communities and the wider world. It’s an extraordinary time to work in public relations. 

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Koray Camgöz is an internationally experienced communications director with a track record of crafting impactful strategies that deliver business results. 

He is the PRCA’s Director of Communications & Marketing and recently played a key role in shaping the industry’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Koray also leads the Association’s work on equality and inclusion, which recently included changes to the PRCA’s governance structure. 

He began his career at a PR agency in New York and spent seven years at the CIPR, before joining the PRCA last year. He holds a masters degree in media and communications, a PR diploma and is a Chartered PR Practitioner. 

Twitter: @korcomms
Online: linkedin.com/in/korayc/

Leadership: Developing the edge

by Trudy Lewis 

What kind of leader/leadership do we need to see today and for our future? 

You’ll learn:

• Organisational purpose can aid productivity and boost profits but needs commitment from the top

• How being purposeful can kickstart innovation within teams

• Relationships and dialogue can help communication professionals become catalysts for change

These times are unlike any other, but they will set the scene for the future. This level of challenge and change is unprecedented and it has impacted everything. Organisations are having to rethink how and if they can operate in this current climate. 

Highlights include the crisis of COVID-19; the wakeup call, for equity, stoked by the Black Lives Matter movement; the impact on the economy; and Brexit. Added to that is climate change and the requirement to stay relevant to customers as they too experience change. 

It is all a lot to take in and the responsibility to address this is directed at leadership – with an expectation that they will step up, be in the moment and come up with answers. 

To survive, organisations will need a radical approach – leaders who are clear, equipped and effective for a future of uncertainty and speed. A report released by McKinsey (2020) said: “In addition to moving decisively on strategic changes, leaders need to help rattled workforces believe in the future.” The report includes words like ‘reset’, ‘reimagine’ and ‘rewire’ as it talks about the priorities for now and in the future.

As the challenges stack up, it points back to the question we started with – what kind of leader/leadership do we need to see today and for our future?

Be purposeful

The re-starting point will always be about the ‘why’ – that is purpose or being purposeful. 

I say ‘re-start’ because most leaders will say that the purpose has already been set. This was probably when they originally worked on the strategy and set the values. The posters will no doubt reflect the snappy strapline and the website and internal channels will have the words and maybe icons plastered about in bright colours. While it all glazes over the employees who are unsure as to what it means for them. 

In this time, when trust is an issue and meaning is increasingly important to the entire workforce (not just millennials and Gen Z), demonstrating purpose is critical. 

For the leader this means an urgency to tap into purpose and a high level of commitment from the top. It requires the recognition that having social purpose is not wasteful and does not come at the expense of profits, but that it can enhance productivity and ultimately profits in the long term. 

There is something about the leader who is clear on purpose, care and empathy that positions them to take the whole organisation forward. 

Take now - throughout this challenging time, it has been the leader who has been able to connect people with a common purpose, setting a culture where everyone lives the values, with a clear advantage. 

An example of this is how being purposeful leads to innovation, as employees begin to want to create and develop products that respond to societal issues, the kind that customers are crying out for. Employees develop a boldness in their commitment as they treat the company as if it is their own and through this sense of belonging they not only add value, they become advocates.

Be self-aware

According to Forbes magazine “Self-awareness is empowering because it arms you with knowledge and enables you to make better choices – to change or grow”. It enables the individual to have empathy and leads to real connection. 

Dr Travis Bradberry, author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 writes: “Self-awareness is defined as one of the core components of emotional intelligence, which is the ability to recognise and understand emotions in yourself and others, and to use this to manage behaviour and relationships.” 

As a result, it is one of the main qualities that enables the individual to truly connect and engage with others. Leaders who are self-aware are mindful to communicate on a deeper level. They are also genuine, and this attribute causes people to believe what you say and engage with your leadership. 

Real connection

I once worked for a managing director of a large service organisation, who was revered by his employees. During my time there he was speaking at one of the events I organised and I got to see how he operated. He was charismatic and dynamic. People held on to every word he said – he was believable. I was curious as to what he did differently and found that he took every opportunity to meet the staff on the ground. Not only to be seen, but he would actually speak to them. He was genuinely interested about who they were, what they did and how they were finding the work - he was clear on what mattered. 

He created a connection with his people. Employees were engaged, loyal and championed the organisation and that attitude carried on long after he left. He developed a commitment in people that lasted from simply being aware of himself, his surroundings and his people. 

A better way

There is an assumption by many that everyone can communicate, simply because it is done on a daily basis. The reality is that everyone communicates, but not everyone does it well. 

By being clear on purpose and having self-awareness, leaders can become better equipped to be effective. Communication professionals continually encourage their leaders to be more engaging, but perhaps there is a need to be more explicit and show them the way. The reliance on tools and, at times gimmicks, to get them to come across well doesn’t always equal engagement, especially if they are not being consistent. 

The idea is to build a clear set of qualities in leadership. A recognition that they have to take responsibility and connect so that communicating comes from who they are and what drives them. Great leaders are engaging, dynamic, genuine and effective and these attributes are central to communication. It is a known fact that the greatest leaders of our time were also great communicators. 

Why is this important? Employees are relying on leaders to set the direction and articulate what’s important both in society and on what the business stands for. 

The Edelman Trust Barometer (2019) states that: “Employees have viewed corporate leaders as the most trusted source of information.” 

If leaders don’t wake up to the importance of how they communicate, they will lose people and it will impact their reputation negatively. People want more from their leaders and they will express their displeasure by being disengaged or by moving on to an organisation that stands for something and has leaders they can follow.

Conclusion

Communication is the edge leaders need – attributes like being engaging, dynamic, genuine and effective. This can enhance their leadership style and approach while ensuring that they remain relevant and have impact. But they can’t always achieve this on their own and sometimes need support to find the way forward. 

Communication professionals are trusted advisers, but they can also become a catalyst for change if they step into that space and assert themselves through relationship and dialogue. 

From what I’ve seen, many leaders are waiting for honesty and challenge as they grapple with how to get the most out of their people and achieve engagement. In these times, this is even more critical. This is where communicators can demonstrate these same attributes and re-engage leaders on a strategic level so they get it right.

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Trudy Lewis is a communication consultant and executive coach with a passion to help business leaders and their teams become more engaging and impactful through communication. 

Trudy has over 20 years’ experience as a communications professional with a focus on strategic internal communications, employee engagement and communications for change programmes. She founded Lewis Communicate in 2014 and has an MA in Communication Management. She is a Chartered PR Practitioner and Board Director of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). 

Trudy is also a qualified Executive Coach and incorporates coaching as an approach to her consulting in communication, helping leaders and professionals create space to think and move forward to achieve success. 

Twitter: @lewiscomms
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/trudy-lewis-chart-pr

Recruitment: Diversity and how to make a start

by Rohan Shah

Diversity in a corporate setting starts with the hiring process. When it comes to best practice, the system needs to allow for just outcomes – for every individual, for every race.

You’ll learn:

• How biases can result in a restricted talent pool for hire

• About augmented writing platforms, text analysis, diverse job boards, blind hiring processes and 

software

• How to create an exceptional blind recruitment process

The beauty of recruitment is that through a well thought out process, every single company can increase diversity. 

Here are my top tips.

Educate and train every employee 

A basic recruitment process/system which hasn’t been scrutinised will almost certainly be littered with bias. 

There are no fewer than 12 common hiring biases and it’s imperative an organisation puts systems in place to drastically reduce or eliminate them. 

You can do this by providing unconscious bias training and a great place to start is to have employees take an Implicit Association Test (IAT) by Harvard University. This is available here and should be taken on an annual basis: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html. 

Closed spec = closed door

It’s astounding how predictable the answers from hiring managers are when you ask them what they’re looking for in a suitable candidate. It goes something like this:

“I’m looking for an experienced account manager, who totally understands the B2B tech sector. They will be working for a direct competitor and will have managed accounts such as XYZ. They must have agency experience otherwise I think they’ll find juggling multiple clients hard work and they’ll need to have a degree – ideally from a Russell Group University.” 

Admittedly asking for a degree from a Russell Group University is slowly dying down. 

It’s important to note that whenever the word “ideally” is used, unconsciously or consciously, the hiring managers is seeking an ideal rather than what is required. 

What starts as a relatively open spec (“I’m looking for an experienced account manager”) finishes as a closed spec that leaves a very small talent pool once sector experience, client management, degree and location has been taken into account, let alone those actually open to new opportunities or not. 

Furthermore, the opportunity or appeal for diverse talent to apply or even be considered is now likely non-existent, leaving the company with limited options – one of the likely reasons why diversity hasn’t changed much over the years.

Closing a job specification to a handful of qualified people is absolutely fine if it is totally necessary, but the size of the possible applicant pool will naturally affect the amount of diverse applications received. Below is a funnel diagram which allows you to understand the possible applicant pool size against the type of job specification and requirements:

FIGURE 1 Applicant pool size against the type of job specification and requirements.

Tools and processes

I briefly mentioned earlier what tends to happen when the word “ideally” gets used. Unfortunately eliminating all layers of bias is next to impossible, especially where the human brain and emotions are involved. Software, systems and process (correctly implemented) in this instance can help with this. 

To increase your chances of your job appealing to as many people in the possible applicant pool, you need to utilise technology in a smart and efficient way. This is where augmented writing platforms and text analysis can help, as well as diverse job boards for advertising positions and blind hiring processes and/or software. 

Augmented writing platforms

I mentioned earlier how the word ‘ideally’ can trigger a certain bias and ultimately will shape behaviours and outcomes; many other words will have a similar effect too. 

Unfortunately, we’re not always aware that some of the words we use in our job specifications have a profound impact on the thought process and actions of possible applicants. Certain words fall under masculine or feminine text, which studies have shown are then likely to be associated with masculine or feminine roles. 

In addition to single words, there can also be problematic phrases or buzzwords which create doubt, may exclude people of certain ages, can indicate belonging (or not) and may very likely prevent people from different socioeconomic backgrounds applying. 

There are some fantastic applications today that will really help you get your job specifications on point. 

Diverse job boards and more

It goes without saying that you need to go where the people are to find and ultimately engage with them. 

While I would encourage you to advertise your jobs through as many diverse channels as possible, diverse niche job boards generally attract a higher concentration of qualified diverse applicants because ultimately that job board helps the candidate address their main concern, which is the ability to compete fairly for jobs. 

Blind recruitment 

A lot of people think blind recruitment is as simple as taking the name and education off a CV as well as any photos, but this doesn’t get anywhere close to creating a just recruitment process. There is software available today that can help you do blind recruitment properly but it can be very expensive and vary depending on what you are looking for. 

An alternative is to bring in a specialist who can help you create your very own process, which in many instances can work better and can be cheaper. 

Blind recruitment done well should eliminate a number of the 12+ recruitment biases such as confirmation bias, the halo effect, expectation anchor bias and even the horn effect to name a few. Here are few ways to start creating an exceptional blind recruitment process: 

• Anonymising CVs - taking off personal information, educational institutions and in some instances names of companies worked for.

• Segmentation – segment every section of each CV received and group all segments to relevant section. Each section is then assessed independently rather than as a whole CV.

• Randomisation – when having multiple people involved in the hiring process (highly recommended) ensure that they are not receiving the information in the same order. 

• Scoring – have a fair and just scoring system (scorecard) in place. Ensure scoring is not subjective but factual and incorporate scoring against your company values and purpose. 

Diversity involves inclusion

Involve a diverse selection of your employees in the hiring process – they do not (and should not) have to be a manager - I call this Divolvement. If you do not have a diverse selection of employees currently, include people externally who understand your business, your clients, mentors, coaches, NEDs and maybe even family – if you dare! 

Being diverse and collaborative in your recruitment process allows you to get different opinions from people with different needs and wants and importantly eradicates the possibility of homophily. 

Do not shy away from candidates just because everyone in the hiring process does not agree. Studies have shown that diverse teams have discussions that are more cognitively demanding. There will naturally be more debate but this in itself allows you to understand the genuine suitability of a candidate for a role by exposing blind spots (positive or negative) that may not have been spotted otherwise. 

Try to include a diverse team in as many stages of the recruitment process as possible, not only because this helps in the selection process but also because its encouraging for the candidate being interviewed. 

Always look at the interview process as a “two way street”. The candidate is interviewing you just as much as you are interviewing them - and that is exactly the way it should be. For this reason, you must ensure you start with my first point – educate and train your all your staff on why there is a need for a just recruitment process and what that might look like. 

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Rohan Shah co-founded Reuben Sinclair with the vision to introduce exceptional PR, Marketing, Sales & Digital professionals to businesses around the world whilst also changing traditional recruitment practices.

Today, Rohan is responsible for the overall growth and direction of Reuben Sinclair whilst helping a number of global and national clients transform their talent acquisition strategies. Rohan has worked tirelessly to ensure sound ethics and practices run throughout his business which has been instrumental for Reuben Sinclair in developing exclusive Talent Partner status with the PRCA and CIPR.

Rohan is a selected Chair for the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) Sales & Marketing Sector forum group aimed at leaders within creative staffing companies and was selected as an external panel member for the validation process of University of East London’s (UEL) Professional Development Certificate (PDC) where he continues to give on-going feedback on the modules covered and, in particular, the relevance to the workplace.

Twitter: @rohmi44
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rjrshah/
Web: reuben-sinclair.com/

Public affairs: A new era of purposeful campaigning

by Mita Dhullipala

Today’s public affairs professionals require the ability to absorb the zeitgeist of the time and apply it to the conceptualisation, delivery and evaluation of campaigns that can create tangible change.

You’ll learn:

• The pandemic has forced the members of the public to reflect on their attitudes, beliefs and perception

• How public affairs must be now led by intentionality, authenticity and purpose

• Health, climate, food security and other issues are likely to dominate the landscape for the foreseeable future

A mentor of mine once told me that “public affairs, at its core, is essentially about facilitating conversations” – and never has this been more poignant. 

In a world that is more polarised than ever, a world experiencing a rising tide of protectionism and indelibly scarred by a global pandemic, conversations are at fever pitch. 

Governments are now judged, not by their policy, but by their communications with the electorate – it is truly a new paradigm of engagement. Public affairs, in many instances, is a fundamental bridge between government, policy, industry and the general public. 

 It is both a responsibility and a privilege. Over the past year, events that have shaped the UK landscape have also served to unveil the true power of language, engagement and campaign rhetoric. Official communications around COVID-19 have been heavily criticised for their ambiguity and direct effect on infection rates and, ultimately, survival. 

Leave UK’s political campaign rhetoric led to a historic uncoupling, separating the UK from an institution it has been a part of for over 45 years. The examples are numerous. If we absorb anything from recent history, perhaps it should be that words are profoundly important and can do significant good – more importantly, they can also do significant harm. 

One is a tragedy, a million is a statistic 

The human story is back in vogue, a diversion from a century obsessed with data-crunching. As individuals, societies and political systems scramble to re-establish priorities, public affairs practitioners stand on shifting sands. This era represents a momentous opportunity to tell stories that have never been told, much less recognised. 

As the pandemic forces entire populations to reflect on their attitudes, beliefs and perceptions, it is no small wonder that people are acutely sensitised to hearing the stories of those most like them. A collective anxiety has gripped us all, allowing us to relate to others with an empathy previously numbed by the digital age. If ever campaigning was about winning hearts and minds – it is now.

Accountability – scrutiny as the standard 

Across all levels of society, accountability is at all time high. In a “cancelling” culture, purpose has become central to external engagement. Public affairs must be now led by defined intentionality, authenticity and purpose – more crucially these elements have to be able to stand up under forensic scrutiny. 

Global geopolitical tensions have highlighted a renewed sense of activism across societies, a revitalised desire to affect change and see the powerful held to account. A will to build back better means the status quo is being challenged, agitated and disrupted. 

It’s now not enough to talk the talk, organisations must be able to back up their prose with tangible action. The pandemic crisis opened a figurative pandora’s box of social disparities between the politically left and right, old and young, rich and poor. People are hungry for reform and this hunger should translate into campaigns, communications and engagement activities that will shape the world as we know it. 

Back to basics – appealing to basal instincts 

Health, climate, food security and other issues closely aligned to existence are front and centre – they are likely to dominate the landscape for the foreseeable future. 

Campaign messaging has taken on a certain survivalist edge – appealing to basal instincts such as fear, self-protection and the desire to remain in good health. This has been reflected in the political landscape with many campaigns choosing to play on the emotions associated with threatened human life. 

This is all too apparent in both the Democratic and Republican campaigns in the lead up to the US presidential election this year. Expertly crafted, impactful and exploitative of knee-jerk emotional reflexes. The stuff of political warfare. On the other side of the coin, many healthcare, climate and diversity campaigns (launched in this emergent post-COVID landscape) have pivoted seamlessly to harness these same base emotions to drive behaviours that will improve health, the environment and society more broadly. 

Creative, digital authenticity – a panacea

In the melee of chaos, heightened emotions and uncertainty, social media and consumerism contribute to an unstoppable 24-hour tsunami comprised of information and disinformation, in equal measure. 

Our lives are unceasingly punctuated by stories, tweets, posts, connections and imagery. Politics has taken to digital-first strategy in a way that has revolutionised the space. 

Cambridge Analytica was an eventuality more than an aberration and regulation continues to be debated rather than truly enforced. In a landscape where seconds of time are fought for on a minute-by-minute basis, the only way to achieve cut-through is by executing campaigns that shock, thrill or deliver the expected in the most unexpected of ways. 

However, creative digital content is increasingly expected to resonate authentically with target audiences – exploring themes and concepts that are directly relatable to the people they seek to influence. It all comes back to that human story. 

Belief is the key

There are several traits that make up an excellent public affairs practitioner or campaign strategist. For example, an ability to absorb the zeitgeist of the time and apply it to the conceptualisation, delivery and evaluation of a campaign that is able to create tangible change. However, in my experience of this complex, ostensibly frustrating and overpoweringly inspiring industry, the only trait you really need to succeed is an unconquerable belief. 

A belief that positive change is possible and within reach. 

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Mita Dhullipala joined Weber Shandwick London’s Healthcare team in April 2019 as a manager with Health Policy, Advocacy and Public Affairs expertise. 

Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, Mita was involved in influencing health policy at a trade union. During her time at the trade union, she worked on several areas of healthcare policy including undergraduate medical education. She has also spent time working at a boutique financial PR company, dealing specifically with biotechnology companies, this enabled her to develop a niche knowledge of the sector and the commercial challenges it faces. 

Mita has a strong background in political lobbying, crisis management, advocacy and media relations through her work at a boutique political consultancy in New Delhi as well as through leading communications and media relations for the LGBT+ for a People’s Vote campaign in 2019.

Twitter: @mita_dhullipala
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mita-dhullipala-964287109/

Social is a serious business

by Katy Howell

As consumers demand more from brands, ethics and morals around diversity and sustainability matter more than ever. It’s time to raise the bar on social if you want to stay in the game.

You’ll learn:

• Great social marketing starts with setting goals

• The importance of social data insights

• Tech knowledge, experimentation and innovation is key

Social might be free at point of entry, but it’s by no means simple. In fact, over the last few years it’s become a complex intertwining of sophisticated advertising, community management and data analysis. Oh and it’s no longer free either. Not if you want to deliver results. 

It’s time to raise the bar on social if you still want to be in the game. Because, whilst brands are looking for the smarts that can deliver business value, audiences are upping the ante on creativity and leading the charge with attention-grabbing content. 

It just isn’t enough to be posting content regularly. No matter how compelling the story might be, you’ll need to work a lot harder. 

Let’s start at the end 

Like most good comms, great social marketing starts with knowing where you’re heading. Setting the goals. In the same way AVEs as a metric are being driven out of the PR profession, the idea that followers, likes and engagement add any true business value is also becoming poor practice in social. In reality, these vanity metrics mean little in boardrooms where the fight is on to improve ROI.

Begin with business goals. Are you trying to increase marketing qualified leads (MQLs), increase basket size, improve brand trust or drive customer acquisition? Work back from this bottom of the funnel to understand the journey your audiences will take to the top of the funnel. Plot out metrics to include web visits, conversion rates, search uplift; through to social metrics such as clicks to site, downloads, impressions and reach. 

Engagement metrics have a place when evaluating content. Video views, reactions and shares will tell you if your content resonates, but will not tell you if it drives business value. Ultimately your purpose is to make a positive impact on the business. Chase the wrong goals and you’ll waste time and budget. 

Do the maths 

Social is a fascinating numbers game. So dig out your calculators and dive into social data. You just cannot run a profile without understanding audiences on social. You need more than demographics; you’ll need to understand behaviours, attitudes, interests and trending topics. And that comes from the wonderful world of unstructured, natural language, social data insights. 

Using listening tools (we use Brandwatch, but there are more on the market) you are able to hone in on conversations. Only then comes the creative thinking. The aim is to analyse the insights based on hypothesis. 

Like a detective, you have to hunt for the answers by sifting through clues and cues. For instance, in a search for how people talk about food, you might investigate if they mention lunch more than dinner (and then find out it’s all about the breakfast!), you can uncover what food groups get talked about most and whether the ketchup / mayo battle is still ongoing. You start with the idea and then search to see if the data supports it. 

Analysing the data is a combination of creativity and maths (statistical analysis, probabilities and a dose of percentages). The results offer a window into: 

• Trend predictions and topics that inform campaigns and narratives 

• New audience targets you might not have considered and a better view of where they are taking place 

• Moments that make up the insanely fast speed at which conversations ignite on social

Knowing what the audience wants and where you can join in the conversation is half the battle in making the social connection. 

I say join the conversation, but I don’t mean it

In truth, no one particularly wants to have a conversation with a brand. Maybe a few companies enjoy customer repartee, but for most, audiences only engage when they are complaining. So why bother with social? 

Well most audiences are on social as a distraction. Your brand can be just that - and get their attention too. After all, it is their attention and action that you want most. That way you can communicate your message. 

The key is to be entertaining, informative, fun, insightful, surprising and just plain interesting. It’s why so many articles bang on about storytelling. It’s in the sweet spot of PR and the hooks and angles you craft are the points of narration in what should be sequential stories in social. Better still, give your brand personality on social and it immediately becomes more interesting for your audience. 

Of course stories are not enough on social. In an activist climate and cancel culture, your brand needs to know what it stands for – its purpose. And that purpose needs to be genuine and honest (you cannot paper over cracks in social). As consumers demand more from brands, ethics and morals around diversity and sustainability matter more than ever. 

Thumb-stopping content

The right story is also not enough. Creativity is what will bring you stand out in a feed. Over half the world is now on social (51%). You’re competing with a staggering 3.96 billion people with many having an average of nine social profiles from TikTok to Facebook. Copy and visuals need to mean something to your audience. To resonate with what interests them, so they stop and look. 

If pushing hard on storytelling and creative isn’t enough then you need to think about how it will be delivered. Social has a plethora of formats and functions. They’re different for every channel. You need to understand each one and its value to your customers. Is a Facebook instant experience better than a carousel? Does a still image work with your messaging, or will a gif explain it better?

Oh and then we get to the biggest challenge for those on social. It’s ever-changing nature. From algorithms to formats you need to stay on top of what’s new. You need tech knowledge and experimentation at your side. 

From Snapchat’s AR to Facebook shops and the future of spectacles and VR, social is moving at speed. And I haven’t even mentioned dark social or bots! The aim of the big platforms is to be everything in one place, on your mobile, in your hand, an extension of a user’s life. You need to know exactly what you can do, what’s the latest evolution, what’s being turned off and what’s being ramped up, and why it will impact your brand. You need to know it all if you are ever going to see business benefits. 

Oh! And we’re back to the numbers 

Organic, the content you post for free in feeds, is of limited value. Yes, organic content shows people that you are still alive and humming. However, penetration to audiences you want to reach (even your own followers on some platforms) is low. So low in some cases, as to be of no value. Paid is the future of social. Paid is now a multifaceted mix of algorithms, AI, functionality and bid pricing. And every platform from LinkedIn to TikTok has a different way to buy. It’s complicated!

But boy is it worth it. Get the story right, the creative singing, your relevance high and your paid on target and you’ll smash your goals out the park. 

Social is a big hot mess of creativity, maths, data, behavioural science, technology…. you get the picture. It’s complicated. Its’s sophisticated. And it’s brilliant at delivering business value.

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Katy Howell, CEO of immediate future, pioneered social media marketing, launching her social media agency 16 years ago, just as Facebook made its way onto university campus.

Often called in as the UK expert on social by TV, radio and the press, she appears regularly on BBC News, Victoria Derbyshire and Reuters, as well in The Telegraph, FT and Guardian. She’s considered the 4th most influential social media marketing expert, has been named one of the 25 women who have made an outstanding contribution to digital by the Drum, and was honoured to be amongst the Top 100 Asian tech entrepreneurs in the UK.

She speaks at conferences, runs masterclasses, and guest lectures at two universities. She’s co-authored three books on social and is a regular contributor to the press.

Her expertise lies in helping brands deliver significant impact by breaking the social boring: using social data to springboard creative that delivers growth to business. Her agency wins industry awards every year for their smarts and innovation in social media. 

Twitter: @katyhowell
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/katyhowell
Web: immediatefuture.co.uk

Are radio stations still a valid PR tool?

by Evadney Campbell MBE

Radio is often overlooked as a medium for client coverage but it remains as valid today as it always was and continues to offer impressive listenership figures.

You’ll learn:

• Why targeting radio for client coverage is worthwhile

• How radio listenership continues to broaden thanks to the technology at our finger tips

• About the opportunity offered by podcasts

As PR professionals our raison d’etre is to gain free media coverage for our clients. We’re constantly on the lookout for avenues through which we can raise the profile of our clients to secure that coveted ‘third-party endorsement’. 

In this constant search for media outlets, is radio still a valid media option? 

Unlike the marketing / advertising department, the PR team achieves third-party endorsement through earned media coverage. This means getting our clients’ stories to appear on media websites, in print, i.e. magazines, newspapers, trade or otherwise and via broadcast outlets, purely due to their merit. PR secures this without having to pay the media outlets, as opposed to the paid space secured by the marketing and advertising teams.

The interesting consideration is that both disciplines share the same goals - that of promoting clients, making them look successful, honest, important, exciting or relevant. 

Ultimately, everyone’s job is to make our target audiences choose our clients’ products or services above their competitors. It is this end result, which is the goal of both the PR and the marketing teams, which frequently leads to confusion on the part of clients.

The distinction comes from the different means used to achieve the end results.

Validity of radio in the PR’s box of tools

While various avenues are used to deliver a successful campaign for clients, one media outlet which frequently gets overlooked is one of the oldest still available to us - radio.

In this time when social media or even the use of influencers seem to be the main medium being used to promote, raise profile and reach the audience, many clients and public relations agencies fall into the trap of believing radio is dead. Or if not dead, dying and that audiences are no longer to be reached this way.

Let’s be realistic here, listenership of radio has been on the decline. It’s worth noting however that during the COVID-19 pandemic, this has changed. Whether it will be sustainable is yet to be seen and I would argue depends on your target demographic. 

Listening to traditional radio among young people is indeed on a downward trajectory. Recent research into the state of radio by British Council [1] paints a bleak picture for the future of radio. 

We, at Shiloh PR however, beg to differ. We’re a boutique public relations agency and work hard to really take advantage of all avenues we have available at our finger tips to get our clients maximum exposure.

As a company with founders who have decades of working in radio in a variety of roles, we’re acutely aware of the power of using this medium to get maximum attention from the stories we pitch.

Alongside my management of Shiloh PR, I’ve worked as a broadcast journalist. This means using broadcast media as a key part of our PR strategy.

When it comes to radio specifically, I work part-time as a lecturer in radio production for one university and teach how to carry out radio interviews for PR graduates at another.

Students have questioned the value of radio countless times. “No one listens to radio”, or “I never listen to radio”, are just two of the many reasons I’ve been given by students as to why radio is no longer seen as a useful medium.

This leaves me constantly having to convince these young people that radio stations are far from obsolete, or that they are only being listened to by ‘older’ people. 

What we need to recognise is that what we consider as radio listenership is now much broader.

Proof radio is still a major player

Take a look at these figures from Rajar [2], the official body that monitors radios across the country. These figures show the number of listeners across these main stations for the last quarter of 2019.

• Heart 90S - 627k reach

• Heart Dance 380k reach

• Capital Xtra Reloaded 330k reach

• Smooth Radio Chill 301k reach

• Heart 70s 248k reach

• Smooth Radio Country 204k

If those figures are not impressive enough, bear in mind that all the above stations are aimed at a specific demographic.

Here is yet another station that more than demonstrates the value and importance of targeting radio for your clients. BBC 5 Live went up from 4.9m to 5.4m listeners during that same period. 

In addition, BBC Radio 4 saw its figures rise from 10.4m a year ago to 10.9m now. I could go on, as those same extraordinary figures are reflected by many other radio stations.

Now which PR professional would turn up their nose at giving their clients access to those figures? 

Changing face of radio

The more I explore radio listenership, particularly among young people, the more I am assured that PR professionals need to view radio as a key part of their PR strategy.

It is important to understand that radio is no longer the piece of equipment which sits on the sideboard in a room. It’s on every computer, iPad or laptop. It is in each individual’s hand on our phone. Through a single app, or the press of a button, you can listen to a radio station broadcasting anywhere in the world. 

According to Ofcom [3], podcasts are booming in the UK. Nearly 6 million adults now tune in each week to a podcast. Its 2018 report claims that the number of people listening to podcasts has almost doubled over the last 5 years.

And as referenced earlier, in the midst of this pandemic, one surprising finding according to a BBC article [4], is that radio listening has increased as a result of more people staying in their homes. 

“Global, which owns Capital FM and talk station LBC, said online radio listening had risen by 15%. The BBC said streaming of its radio stations had risen 18% by the end of March 2020.”

During this global pandemic, the importance of radio has grown, argues a spokeswoman for Global. “These figures indicate that the public are turning to radio in times of crisis”.

Now, many PR professionals may not have considered this medium when working on a strategy for a client. But, we would strongly advise them to think again.

A question we as PR professionals must ask is, will this trend continue? My view is that if radio was no longer a valued media outlet, new radio stations wouldn’t continue to be launched. 

A new national speech radio station, ‘Times Radio’, was launched on 29 June 2020. I think this is to be celebrated and with a growth in specialist radio stations which are being launched online almost daily, whatever your area of PR expertise, there will be a radio platform eager to have your content and showcase your stories. 

Sources

[1] https://music.britishcouncil.org/news-and-features/2019-01-28/sounding-out-is-radio-dead

[2] https://radiotoday.co.uk/2020/02/rajar-q4-2019-london-and-national-brands-round-up/

[3] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2018/uk-podcast-listening-booms

[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52037461

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Evadney Campbell MBE is the co-founder of Shiloh PR. Shiloh PR offers public relations services and media training to corporations and persons in senior management carrying out broadcast interviews. In addition, the team have expert knowledge in reaching the UK’s black and ethnic minority communities through the media.

Evadney was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 1994 for her services to the African and Caribbean communities in Gloucester following her dedication to charity work.

A former BBC broadcast journalist, Evadney is also author of the book ‘How to Carry out Media Interviews’ and is an international speaker/trainer who has had engagements across West Africa, the Caribbean, the UK and Europe.

Evadney was awarded the WINTRADE President Awards winner 2019.

She’s an ambassador for Women in PR (WIPR) and a judge for the Great British Entrepreneur Awards (GBEA) and the Royal Television Society Journalism Awards.

Evadney is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire, Luton and University College London.

Twitter: @shilohpr
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/shilohpr
Web: shilohpr.com

#Commshero: Building a community of heroes

by Asif Choudry

PR and marketing campaigns too often use broadcast and sales techniques to engage with audiences. The most effective way to build a brand is through long-term relationships developed from community building. 

You’ll learn:

• How being part of a community addresses our emotional needs

• Why a multi-channel approach is more effective when community building

• The level of commitment required to successfully run a community

Seth Godin wrote: “How do we find the right people on the right day in a way that creates value for them and for us? How do we deliver the right service to the right audience in the right way? The rising stars of our economy are in this business now, even more than production or finance.

“If you’re seeking to build awareness, consider building a community instead.”

Throughout my career I’ve met many amazing people working in communications and marketing and they are masters of telling great stories about their organisations, colleagues or clients. However, they are too modest to shout about the value they bring to the table. 

I wanted to create a community that celebrated their hero status and brought together like-minded people both in real life and virtually to share ideas, best practice and support each other. This is how #CommsHero was born. 

Before writing this, I hadn’t thought formally about how to build a community, it’s just something I’d done naturally from working in sales and marketing for 25 years. My job is to network, build and engage with networks, start conversations, nurture relationships and often work on projects with people from my networks that have become clients. 

Networking or community building

Over recent years, the term networking has been superseded by community building. Perhaps this is down to ‘networking’ now exclusively being attributed to groups of salespeople meeting at Chamber of Commerce breakfasts or BNI meetings. 

You may recognise this diagram of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. 

FIGURE 1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

After physiological and safety needs have been fulfilled, the third level of human needs is social and involves feelings of belongingness and love. The need for interpersonal relationships motivates behaviour.

Affiliating means being part of a group, such as family, friends or work. Everyone wants to be part of a group

It was that sense of belonging that I felt was missing from a comms community that shared many common goals but was divided by aspects such as geography, job title, sector and professional body membership.

I have worked with many comms people across all those aspects and never considered them different. It was this factor that inspired me to do something about this and the concept of #CommsHero was founded in 2014. 

Fast forward to 2020 and the community has over 10,000 followers on Twitter and will be hosting the 13th event, which is a week-long virtual gathering with thirty speakers talking about a variety of comms topics. 

I aim to make this the start of an annual week-long event where members of the #CommsHero community remind themselves of the amazing work they do. Here are my tips on how to build a community of heroes.

Be multichannel

The digital world has enabled us to reach many people quickly. However, there is no shortcut to building a following and you should use all the channels available. 

Years of relationship building as part of my job helped me to start the #CommsHero community with a small group of advocates and brand champions. #CommsHero exists mainly online using Twitter. 

Marketing is more than just Twitter, although it does play a big part in how the community is continually engaged @CommsHero.

Multichannel is important and using the right channels for the right people is how to get your message heard. We have used personalised print, handwritten letters, Twitter, LinkedIn, photos, videos and speaking to people in real life (yes, this is what we actually did before email and social media).

It takes time and effort

Devoting time to engaging your community does matter (and not just when you want something from them either). If you are committed to building your community, you must be willing to ‘put a shift in’. Those long hours outside of the day job creating and having conversations with people does pay off. It gets you loyalty and exposure to an ever-increasing network of people. Those fans are more likely to listen and support you when it is your time. 

Be there for your community

Do not let digital technology make you lazy. If you are posting content to create engagement, make sure you are present regularly to reply. #CommsHero does not do automated responses or scheduled tweets. Every engagement is by a human and that guarantees authenticity. There are many opportunities to be there for your community and these include birthdays, job posts, celebrating good work, talking about pets, children, life – the list is endless.

Dare to be different

There is lots of noise out there and being the most-worthy campaign does not guarantee you will be heard. Focus on crafting creative and engaging content that will make you stand out. This content must be kept fresh and although the #CommsHero logo remains the same, the look of the brand has evolved over six years. However, how the brand makes you feel has never changed. 

Being different requires commitment. For example, handwriting letters (in this instance one to every attendee of a #CommsHero event and those lucky recipients of swag). I had forgotten what it is like to get writer’s cramp, but it is worth every bit of pain as the engagement and response has always been amazing.

Make it a real live thing

#CommsHero has hosted an event every year since starting in 2014. In some years we have hosted three or four in different parts of the UK. Bringing your online community together to meet each other and further cement those online relationships is amazing to see in action. A key factor is to make this type of gathering fun, worthwhile, accessible and value for money. Many blogs have been written by #CommsHero attendees that suggests this has been achieved and they can be found here https://commshero.com/blog/.

Get your community involved

We have invited members of the #CommsHero community to take over the Twitter account. 

@AmandaColeman is one example of this and she blogged about this experience. 

https://amandacomms1.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/social-media-heroes-or-villains/ 

Some of the speakers for the events have been chosen from the #CommsHero community. Also, others have volunteered to facilitate parts of the events or write blogs that are published on www.commshero.com. This gives the community members the chance to really be involved.

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea

Being a community builder requires you to develop a thick skin. You cannot and will not please everyone and that can sometimes affect you personally. 

My first experience of ‘haters’ was after the first event in 2014 but as you can see, the following has grown and #CommsHero goes from strength to strength. Your loyal following from the community will get you through any of these times and that is why it is important to invest in those relationships.

Overall, being the founder of a growing community is a great responsibility and it comes with many rewards. The positive feedback received from the many people who have engaged with #CommsHero since 2014 has been a constant source of inspiration to keep it going. I would recommend community building to everyone but make sure you’re in it for the long-term. You will make many friends and possibly a few enemies, however the good far outweighs the bad.

During my research I found these useful articles on community building:

• The 10 step process for building a thriving community from scratch 

https://cmxhub.com/build-a-thriving-community-from-scratch/ 

• How to build a strong community https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/310613

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Asif Choudry is Sales & Marketing Director with resource, an award-winning creative marketing and print provider. He is a CIM Fellow and Chartered Marketer. He is the founder of #CommsHero 

(@CommsHero), the award winning conference that is a community celebrating the heroics comms people perform every day. Although a big fan of social media, he’s not afraid to use tried and tested comms channels like meeting IRL (In Real Life), speaking on the phone and handwriting a letter or three. 

Twitter: @AsifChoudry
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/asifchoudry/
Web: weareresource.co.uk/

Is coaching key to solving PR’s racial diversity deficit?

by Anouchka Burton

Coaching provides an opportunity for employees to achieve their optimal potential in the workplace and is a useful tool for organisations keen to nurture and retain BAME talent.

You’ll learn:

• How coaching can help organisations support diverse talent

• Some of the benefits of workplace coaching 

• How acknowledging biases can help break down the barriers to becoming a more inclusive employer

“Just be yourself and you’ll go far.” 

This is the single best and worst bit of advice that I have received, several times, from line managers, directors and bosses in a 15-year communications career. 

It’s the best advice because it’s true: by bringing your authentic self to work, you are more likely to be happier, more productive and more creative, which is essential to sustain a career in an industry like PR. 

And it is the worst advice because if you are BAME, (the not-entirely-useful designation for people who are Black, Asian or part of an ethnic minority), being your authentic self can feel like an impossible – and certainly career limiting – task in an industry that routinely recruits for a “cultural fit”. That fit is predominantly white, middle-class and from the South-East. 

For around a decade now, the annual CIPR State of the Profession report has provided a snapshot of PR’s changing profile as our industry bends and flexes in response to social, economic and environmental trends. 

Yet one area where PR remains stubbornly fixed is in its racial diversity. Year on year, UK PR remains around 90% white/10% BAME. Many will ask, what’s the problem with that, as it is broadly in-line with the British population? Well, our industry shouldn’t be satisfied with simply reflecting British demographics, particularly as we claim to have a global outlook that informs our creativity, consultancy and campaigning. 

It seems strange that an industry clustered around ethnically diverse cities up and down the country appears comfortable with so few diverse voices within it. And it’s actually a big problem when – as reported by the CIPR’s separate Race in PR study in 2020 – the lived experiences of BAME PR’s are marred by microaggressions, discrimination and outright bullying. 

CIPR’s figures suggest that there is a steady stream of BAME PR’s leaving the industry as fast as they are joining it. So, what can coaching do about this haemorrhaging of diverse talent?

Coaching is key, but what is it?

Like the definition of PR, the definition of coaching has been debated for as long as the profession has existed. 

In a professional context, a good description is that coaching is “unlocking people’s potential to maximise their own performance” (Whitmore, Coaching for Performance). Generally, this is achieved through structured or managed conversation between two (sometimes more) people that aims to positively benefit the person being coached. 

Coaches typically provide a non-judgemental and open space for self-exploration and reflection, supporting individuals on a journey that results in some sort of change. They listen, question and provide constructive challenge to any self-limiting ways of thinking and behaving. Sessions are designed to improve overall wellbeing and can include topics such as positive emotions, strengths, values and purpose. Sometimes coaching sessions also include practical interventions related to the individual’s specific workplace role or career path.

Crucially, coaches are not there to share their own experiences or provide advice (that would be the role of a mentor), rather they are trained to be non-directive and to encourage coachees to find their own solutions from within.

Coaching diverse teams

“Just being yourself” is possible if you have a firm understanding of your personal strengths and how they can be positively applied in a professional environment. An understanding of how your life experiences can motivate, provide a sense of purpose and a unique perspective in the workplace. Just being yourself is possible if you recognise your talents and can confidently use them, without worrying about whether or not you “fit in”.

In this context, coaching has the potential to transform outcomes for people from diverse communities. Some benefits of workplace coaching include:

• Positive behavioural change

• Growth in confidence and self-efficacy

• Increase in well-being and job satisfaction

• Better understanding between individuals in teams

• Improving goal-attainment, productivity, and problem-solving

• Driving engagement and communication

• Generating a sense of empowerment over one’s career and skills development

Coaching provides an opportunity for employees to achieve optimal functioning in the workplace. This is achieved by empowering them to seek additional professional skills and career progression, pursue a better understanding of their own work personalities and enhance their well-being through self-care. 

At its heart, coaching is an opportunity for someone to be listened to without judgement and encouraged with compassion. It’s precisely this type of support that improves job satisfaction among employees.

Coaching for diversity

“Just being yourself” is possible if you are working in an environment where you feel valued and have a sense of belonging. An environment where cultural diversity is appreciated and professional advancement is not dependent on your socio-economic background. An environment where you know that your contribution is recognised as an equal and respected voice in your team. 

At some point in the careers of BAME professionals, they decide to exit the industry. A lack of BAME PR leaders suggests that this happens around mid/senior level. Except that’s not the full story: the Race in PR Report also found that “many BAME individuals decided to work as independent practitioners; becoming independent was seen to offer a solution to challenges in the workplace.” BAME PR’s are leaving their employers, not the PR industry. 

So, employers need to start thinking about coaching as a tool to understand the ambitions and frustrations of their BAME staff and explore ways to create an environment that encourages their retention.

By utilising coaching support, PR leaders have a space to increase awareness and understanding of diversity and inclusion and better manage diverse PR teams. This space can be used by PR leaders to safely reflect on how their own life experiences might influence their behaviour. 

Sometimes these conversations will be challenging, as people confront their own fears and acknowledge biases that can create a barrier to adopting a diverse perspective. In a coaching setting, PR leaders can be empowered to develop practical strategies that increase diversity and support an inclusive working environment. This can result in a renewed relationship with their employees, one with more empathy and more understanding, as well as a more open workplace that supports everyone. 

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Anouchka Burton is an independent communications consultant, passionate about working with purpose-driven businesses, organisations and charities that have a commitment to creating positive social change. She is also a workplace wellbeing coach, specialising in working with women and people from diverse backgrounds.

Twitter: @anouchkaburton
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anouchkaburton/

PR INDUSTRY IN UPHEAVAL BUT RESILIENT AS IT COMES TO TERMS WITH COVID-19 AND BREXIT

The latest #FuturePRoof COVID-19 survey tells the story of the human cost on public relations workforce

The latest #FuturePRoof survey is the most challenging yet. It finds an industry dealing with significant structural changes, managing the health impact of COVID-19 on practitioners, and bracing for the outcome of Brexit trade negotiations.

The human impact of the crisis dominates the responses. Industry talent is in a state of upheaval. 30.8% of organisations are hiring. 29.8% of practitioners have decided to change roles. 23.1% of respondents continue to manage furlough and redundancies. 3.8% of practitioners are looking for work.

The #FuturePRoof data is consistent with analysis published by the PRCA three months into the crisis that suggests a significant impact on talent and an overall decline in sector size will occur by 2021.

The impact of COVID-19 on the health of public relations practitioners is underreported by trade media. 20.2% of respondents report that at least one team member has contracted COVID-19 and recovered. A further 4.8% say they have employees experiencing long-COVID. Sadly 2.9% have lost a member of staff or have a member of staff who has lost someone in their family.

However public relations practitioners appear to be well equipped to deal with the mental health impact of the pandemic. 63.5% of practitioners have drawn on existing organisational support. 36.5% have sought help from industry bodies or other third parties.

The strategic role of communications has generally received greater recognition during the crisis. Practitioners have proved resilient and innovative, finding new ways to work and making a significant contribution to their organisation.

The majority of practitioners who responded to the survey believe that Brexit is expected to bring further economic and structural pain to the public relations industry and the UK economy. While issues such as the movement of people and standards have been determined, trade tariffs remain up in the air and are unlikely to be agreed until mid-November.

“Public relations, like other management functions, has been impacted by COVID-19. Practitioners have proved resilient, stepping up and asserting greater value to the organisations that they serve. The reputation and role of the communication function in many organisations has been elevated,” said Sarah Waddington, founder and editor, #FuturePRoof.

“But the human stories within this survey have been hard to read and the pandemic is far from over yet. Practitioners have been working flat out and must prioritise their personal health and wellbeing with further potential lockdowns and the outcome of Brexit negotiations to come.”

Francis Ingham, Director General of the PRCA, said: “All around the world, our industry has been hit hard by COVID-19. But thankfully, our worst fears at the beginning of this crisis have proved to be groundless. I stand by the prediction I made some months ago, that by the end of 2020, the industry will be 20% smaller in cash terms, and 10% smaller in terms of headcount. If that’s roughly right, then it could have been a lot worse frankly.

“I also believe that in the medium term our recovery will be strong. This pandemic has massively accelerated the pre-existing trends that play to our strengths, and will therefore make it easier for us to grow relative to other creative industries. 

“Having said that, we have major issues to confront: the need to broaden access to our industry at a rapid pace; the need for many agencies to return to stability and profitability; the challenge of mental health, made all the more difficult by what we have all endured and indeed continue to endure; and of course finding our way forward on what working practices will look like when this is behind us. All tough topics.

“These #FuturePRoof survey results are a fantastically valuable piece of work at a time like this. Thought provoking. Challenging. Candid. Exactly the qualities we need right now.”

The #FuturePRoof team has engaged the community and the broader PR industry since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis to understand its ongoing impact on practitioners and their work. The latest research explores the impact of COVID-19 on practitioners in terms of their personal and professional life. It was conducted during September 2020 and led by #FuturePRoof chair Stephen Waddington.

104 practitioners responded to the survey from across the UK. These included in-house (37.5%), agency (29.8%), freelance (28.8%) and unemployed practitioners (3.8%). Respondents were predominantly director (55.8%) and manager (26.9%) level.

Anecdotal comments provide further insight into the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on practice.

Home and office: blurring of home and work life

Practitioners adapted to home working but missed social interaction and learning opportunities that are a feature of office life. The lack of boundaries between home and office was also a challenge, leading to longer working hours.

“Happy to be back in the office [following the release of lockdown] and have some structure, seeing colleagues, and having the extra physical activity of going into the office.”

“Have struggled with the lack of face-to-face time and no travel to punctuate remote working.”

“I miss travelling, meeting clients and colleagues, and networking.”

“I manage a large team and working virtually for me is fine, others miss the social interaction and softer learning opportunities of working with others in a physical space.”

“I worked from early morning to late in the evening every day and into the weekends.”

Family: overseeing children and extended family challenging

Practitioners generally welcomed increased time with partners, children, and other family members although it led to additional challenges, notably home schooling.

“[We] had my partner’s student family member staying with us. That was tough mentally.”

“It has helped me - and us as a family - distinguish between needs and wants, and to value our unit more than ever before.”

“It has been a case of doing what you can around young children, a shrinking client base, virtual networking and picking up projects I can squeeze in […], often early and late in the day.”

“Long working days, no time off, balancing family and work life, and dealing with the mental impact of adjustments in life and worry about elderly loved ones led to burn out.”

“Managing childcare, work and the stress and worry relating to health has been a nightmare.”

“Juggling home schooling and work was exhausting.”

Health and wellbeing: illness and mental health

There has been a significant focus on mental health in the public relations profession over the past five years. Illness from COVID-19 and mental health have been the biggest health and wellbeing issues during the crisis.

“Losing a partner to COVID-19 has been tough.”

“I’ve lost family members […] and that was hard as I sat through days of them dying and [arranging] long distant funerals.”

“Working for a care provider has been hard. Long hours and often distressing news and updates at our management group which I sit on is impacting me.”

“I have experienced a lot more anxiety. I've always had it, but this is the worst it's been in a long time. Comes and goes. It’s mostly fine.”

“I’ve been lucky in that little has changed, however, I’ve struggled to remain productive while working remotely and my mental health is suffering.”

“Have felt very flat and tired at times. I'm exhausted.”

“I got made redundant during lockdown, it’s been the most mentally challenging period of my life.”

Business: freelancers left behind

Government support in the form of business interruption loans and the furlough scheme have been welcomed by the industry as a measure of protection against the financial impact of the crisis, however freelancers and small agencies that pay directors via dividends have been left behind.

“No government help for limited companies that pay dividends. Worst time but survived.”

“High debt caused by office space fees has caused high stress levels. The money from bank loans will run out. Many small businesses are facing the same situation, we’re tied into leases with no respite.”

“I’m a new business entitled to no government support and as primary carer for two young children I have been able to work or earn little in the last six months.”

“COVID-19 saw all my work drop away for three months. Savings were used. No government benefits applied to me unfortunately.”

Resilience: collaboration and innovation in work

Although COVID-19 has been disruptive to many aspects of life, many practitioners recognised the opportunity for communications and innovation in practice. These include collaboration, new ways of working and learning.

“Long term, I feel optimistic that COVID-19 has provided opportunities for innovation - new ways of working, connecting, engaging, and communicating.”

“Professionally, it has been liberating and exciting, providing endless scope for collaboration, experimentation, community building and generosity.”

“Invested in the business in the team, equipment and marketing. Now reaping the benefits having recorded record months for invoicing and new business.”

“Have also been accepted on the CIM Level 6 professional marketing certificate - sole aim being to widen my skill set further.”

Role of communications

The strategic role of communication has been recognised during the COVID-19 crisis, however it remains a tactical function in many organisations. There is still work to do to ensure management teams value it appropriately.

“Work in the public sector has been incredibly busy, my organisation was already trying to manage significant change and a financial crisis.”

“Feel undervalued by employer during the crisis. Very hierarchical organisation and opportunities to advise and engage with executive minimal. Communications still seen as one-way, top down.”

“Communication has been key throughout. It is great that it is getting the profile [it deserves] but it's relentless.”

“My workload tripled. This has led to me recognising how little management value or appreciate the [communication function].”

“Our hours have been long, but the team has galvanised around a clear and common goal, which has been energising.”

“Frustrated by my organisation leaving communications out of key discussions around staff communications.”

“It’s been super tough in the NHS but when you compare what we’ve had to do with our frontline colleagues, we have nothing to complain about.”

‘To bias or not to bias’: The science behind (bad) decisions

by Annique Simpson

Understanding the psychology of decision-making can help practitioners increase the impact of and engagement with their PR campaigns. It can also help debias decisions and increase accountability.

You’ll learn:

• Why every PR practitioner should have a basic understanding of psychology

• How cognitive biases affect the choices we make

• Ways to stop biases affecting the decision-making process

If there’s one thing you can set your watch by, it’s that life is full of decisions. 

From the mundane (washing dishes); to the unfair (requesting a refund for your 2020 holiday); to the fun (dancing to your favourite song) to the life-changing (buying your first house). 

PR and communications specialists can make or break a person’s decision-making process. After all, we’re the ones who identify and present information to our target audiences in the hope that they’ll choose to think, feel and do as we wish.

But with this power comes responsibility. To ensure we use our powers for good, it’s vital that we understand how and why people make good (and bad) decisions. 

The psychology of decision-making is an excellent place to start.

Think quick on your feet

A popular decision theory is that our thoughts are governed by two different systems:

- System 1 is fast, automatic, non-conscious, low-effort, emotional. 

- System 2 slow, conscious, controlled, high-effort, rational.

System 1 is our default decision-making process. Which works really well with our fast-paced, information-rich, highly social lives. 

As System 2 is more effortful, we tend to use it when we’re dealing with new, important, or complex information, like completing a tax form or changing career. 

System 1 benefits greatly from mental shortcuts, also known as heuristics. They generally help us make fairly good judgements. However, when they don’t, we can experience systematic errors in our decision-making, also known as cognitive biases. 

‘If it walks like a duck…’ – representative bias

Angela is shy, withdrawn, and helpful. She is also meek, has a passion for order and structure, and is not too concerned with the real world.

Based on this scenario, which of these professions do you think Angela is likely to hold?

a) Librarian

b) Nurse

c) Salesperson

If you chose option a, you were probably relying on the representativeness heuristic. That is, you based your decision on the fact that, out of all the listed professions, the description of Angela most resembles (or is representative of) the stereotype of a librarian.

Decision theorists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky found that, when presented with similar scenarios, people tend to choose the most stereotypical option, even when they have information showing other options as more statistically probable. 

The representativeness heuristic can be a lifesaver in our line of work. Imagine having to make communications decisions without the use of these handy stereotypes:

• Employees prefer face-to-face events 

• Older people don’t use social media

• Legal and HR teams are major blockers for innovative communications

Tricky, isn’t it? 

However, by solely focusing on representativeness we could miss diagnostic information pointing to key differences between our stereotypes and the present situation, leading us to make poor decisions. For example, the older people-social media stereotype may lead us to ignore Facebook stats showing higher usage among over-30s.

Communications professor Priscilla Murphy provided examples of how two types of representativeness biases can lead to ‘bad’ PR decisions [1]:

Base rate bias – our tendency to focus on information relating to a specific event and ignore information about the general population (i.e. base rates). PR practitioners may create communication programmes based on subjective ideas about audience members and neglect to determine the proportion of said members in their target audience population.

Illusion of validity – We tend to overestimate our ability to predict a future event if it closely resembles a known event. A PR manager may predict an excellent turnout to a news conference based on a positive response in the past, ignoring other preventative factors. These include the news topic, unseen newsroom events, the company spokesperson or an emerging news story.

‘It’s at the tip of my tongue’ – availability bias 

Which was the more common cause of death in the UK in 2018:

a) Asthma

b) Murder 

If you chose option b, you’d be wrong but it’s understandable when you consider the availability heuristic. It describes our tendency to evaluate our decisions about the future based on examples, instances or cases that most easily comes to mind. 

Some events come to mind quicker than others because they tend to occur frequently, like rainy weather in the UK. Other events are more salient for reasons completely unrelated to their likelihood of occurring. These reasons include:

• They’re easier to think about or imagine

• They happened recently

• They’re highly emotional

Murders tend to get more media coverage than asthma-related deaths, which typically makes them more memorable or ‘available’. So when faced with the question above, we’re more inclined to see murder as a more common cause of death when in fact official UK records show there were 726 reported murders [2] in 2018 compared to 1,422 asthma deaths [3].

While this demonstrates how availability can be a friend to PR specialists (i.e. harnessing the power of celebrity/influencer), it can also be a foe. 

Crises are highly memorable – think TSB’s IT meltdown and H&M’s racist monkey hoodie scandal – potentially leading people to view such events as commonplace (even if they aren’t) and take steps to avoid personal risk (i.e. bank or shop elsewhere). 

‘It’s your fault’ - attribution bias

Imagine you’ve run a social media campaign about your company’s anti-racism efforts which achieves low engagement. 

How would you explain this to your manager?

Humans are naturally motivated to attribute causes to actions and outcomes. It helps us predict future behaviour and events, making it easier for us to navigate the world.

According to one popular framework, we consider three sources of information when explaining behaviour or outcomes:

• Is the action/outcome due to the actor’s disposition or the situation? (internal vs. external)

• Is the cause of the action/outcome permanent or temporary? (stable vs. unstable)

• Does the cause of the action/outcome relate to a specific context or does it apply more broadly? (specific vs. global)

Attribution biases can serve a positive function in our lives. The self-serving bias – our tendency to attribute positive outcomes to internal factors and negative events to external factors – is thought to support psychological wellbeing. 

However, attribution biases can also be highly problematic. 

‘Unconscious’ bias is a type of attribution bias. It often involves unsupported causal explanations for another person/group’s thoughts, actions or outcomes. These can be positive or negative depending on whether we like or identify with the person/group. 

For example, ingroup-outgroup bias refers to our inclination to prefer and make positive evaluations of people who share the same identity or interest (in-group) and negative evaluations of those who don’t (outgroup). 

This is a highly replicable finding in psychology – even when people are grouped based on trivial criteria (e.g. painting preferences) – and has been shown to influence various decisions, including employee promotions, choosing a romantic date and awarding public funds to low-income households.

Can we prevent biases?

Sort of. Heuristics typically save us the time and energy we need to survive and thrive. Hence, it takes real effort to prevent or override any resulting biases. But, as we’ve seen, if you want to help others (and yourself) make fair and effective decisions, it’s worth the investment.

Effective ways to debias decisions include:

• Consider alternative explanations, perspectives or possible outcomes before making a decision 

• Leave as much time for decision-making as possible

• Seek reliable feedback on decisions as soon as possible to ensure errors are quickly identified, understood and corrected

• Present information in a way that:

I) makes it easy for your audience to evaluate all options. 

II) simplifies the decision task for them (see nudge theory) 

• Complete training aimed at helping overcome specific biases (e.g. tips for analysing probabilities)

• Record rationales for key decisions and monitor these for patterns that suggest bias

• Establish clear accountability for decisions made

It’s within our gift, as PR and communications professionals, to help people make choices that are best for them and/or our employers/clients. It’s not always easy but thankfully psychology is on hand to help you make the best decision possible.

Sources

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/036381119190050U

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/homicideinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2018#main-points

[3] https://www.asthma.org.uk/about/media/news/press-release-asthma-death-toll-in-england-and-wales-is-the-highest-this-decade/

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Annique Simpson is an award-winning internal communications business partner with four years’ experience spanning property, telecommunications, banking, and healthcare. She holds a BSc in Psychology, a journalism postgraduate diploma, and a CIPR Internal Communications postgraduate certificate.

Her interest areas include change communications, measurement and evaluation, event management and all things content. She has won several awards for her work, including the Moorfields Eye Charity Award for Innovation, Education and Research (2016). She also received the runner-up prize for the CIPR Inside’s Future Leader Award (2017) after only one year in industry.

In 2016, Annique set up the IC Book Club, with the CIPR, to support professional development and networking within the internal communications community. She’s passionate about making the communications industry more inclusive and is founding member of the UK Black Comms Network and a mentor on the 2020 BME PR Pros’ BAME mentoring programme. 

An avid writer, Annique writes a monthly blog exploring communications through a psychology lens. She spends the rest of her free time going to music gigs, playing her piano or hanging out on Twitter.

Twitter: @annique_simpson
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anniquesimpson/ 
Web: anniquesimpson.com

The reputation challenge

by Zaiba Malik

Competing priorities among stakeholders might make a focus on purpose challenging for organisations, but research shows those committed to employees, diversity and inclusion and ESG will outperform their peers over the long-term. 

You’ll learn:

• Why commitment to purpose needs to be organisation-wide

• The impact that workforce activism can have on the bottom line

• How a focus on ESG can pay dividends for businesses prepared to put the work in

Reputation. It’s a big word and a big concept. We all want to protect and grow it, not put a massive dent in it. 

Through a whole series of events and cycles, we now find ourselves in a world where the reputation of a business or organisation is based upon the need to show (not just tell) that it hears and understands society, customers, employees, government, NGOs and investors, that it can be trusted, is fair, a force for good. It doesn’t take a genius to point out that this is by no means an easy task, not least because of competing and conflicting interests amongst stakeholders. 

But there is something to be said for corporate and consumer spheres at this current time – they have an opportunity, a chance to fill the vacuum left by politicians, journalists, charities and other entities that are supposed to serve our interests. 

Where once brands were selling us something, they can now be much more. The world today expects proactive purpose, ‘doing the right thing’. A clothes retailer can be about a happy and diverse workforce, an insurance firm can be about promoting mental health and a supermarket can be about supporting workers in the supply chain. 

This focus on purpose needs time, money and coordination but most of all it requires commitment at every level from the Board to the shop floor. This isn’t about a few bullet points added into the CSR section of the annual report, this is about long-term operational and cultural changes, a wholesale re-thinking of strategy. 

What’s in it for a business, why go through all that hassle? Well, the evidence shows that an organisation that demonstrates social conscience and ethical behaviour fares better in the long term. 

In some parts, we were already on this road to purpose but the pandemic has more sharply focused our attention on the welfare of employees, community spirit and inclusion, climate change and the effects of globalisation. 

I’ve outlined three key areas where there is a risk to reputation; in each challenge, there is an opportunity to reframe and reset our relationship with and view of business.

Employees

There’s been a new starring role for employees since the start of the pandemic. We see staff on our TV screens, on billboards and in person being real ambassadors of their brand. 

At the frontline, it’s not enough for the C-Suite to see workers as those people who do what they are told in exchange for a wage. This contractual arrangement is now much more open to scrutiny as we see with whistleblowers, legal challenges to NDAs and tribunals. As job security and working conditions reach a critical level, bosses need to understand that pride and integrity are just as important as a salary for many employees. 

Look at what happened at Google in 2018 when 20,000 workers took part in a worldwide walkout to protest at the way in which the company handled cases of sexual harassment. This has since given rise to a new strain of worker activism in many industries which has challenged both working conditions and the social impact of employers. And it’s not just group action that impacts on reputation – shoppers at Asda threatened to boycott the retailer after a baker claimed on Twitter that he lost his job after refusing to sign a new contract. 

If ever incentive was needed for improved engagement, HR policies and open dialogue between employer and employee, it’s estimated that workforce activism could cost organisations up to 25% of global revenue each year (Herbert Smith Freehills, 2019). 

Diversity and inclusion

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) have been on the agenda for many years. Their public profile ebbs and flows depending on the news agenda. 

Obviously, it is currently of high prominence because of the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing global protests. Even though the focus here was very much on ethnic diversity, it’s fair to say that no organisation is immune from questions on how it represents, reflects and supports the full spectrum of its workforce, customers and society ranging from gender and disabilities to socioeconomic background and sexual orientation. 

The evidence of a diverse and inclusive business can be seen, quite frankly, in black and white with data on the make-up of the workforce at all levels. But this should not just be a numbers game. Diversity can be measured but inclusion runs deeper; it’s more about intangibles and how people treat one another. 

Successful organisations recognise that a lack of diversity and inclusion can put revenue at risk, increase employee turnover, stifle innovation and reduce customer loyalty. Companies that are leaders in diversity and inclusion outperform “laggards” by 36% (McKinsey, 2020). Certainly no business wants to be accused of racism – just ask Adidas how that feels; its HR executive recently resigned in a high-profile race row. 

As Kasper Rorsted, Adidas CEO has admitted, D&I needs to be a strategic priority: “While we have talked about the importance of inclusion, we must do more to create an environment in which all of our employees feel safe, heard and have equal opportunity.”

ESG

The recent case of Boohoo is a prime example of what can happen when a business prioritises short-term gains over purpose. With allegations of unlawful and unsafe working conditions in its supply chain, the fast fashion company saw around £1.3bn of its market value wiped off - one of its largest shareholders sold almost all its stock because of Boohoo’s “inadequate” response. 

Research has found that nine out of ten investors would prioritise a company’s economic recovery over its ethical principles (Boston Consulting Group, 2020). This may not seem entirely unsurprising at a time when it’s estimated that the UK economy could take until 2024 to return to the size it was before the lockdown and that unemployment could rise to 9%.

Survival in the short-term may seem to be the critical goal at the moment but the commitment to environmental, social and governance objectives - that holy trinity of ESG – must take precedence, many argue. 

The damage wrought by the pandemic has underlined the detrimental impact of globalisation upon people and planet. 

Now, more than ever, the public has a very loud voice in what is deemed ‘the right thing to do’. And it’s not even a case of voting with their feet - or rather, voting with a click of the Buy button. 

Even those who are not customers must be heard – spurred by activist organisations, social media opinion is binary; you’re either wrong or right. There is little room or appetite for nuance which makes the need for a proactive coherent stance on purpose all the more important. And purpose pays. BlackRock calculates that 88% of “a globally-representative selection” of sustainable indices outperformed their non-sustainable peers over the same period. 

ESG is not for the faint-hearted – it requires technical expertise, changes to operations, transparency and credible communication but given that the pandemic has given us all a foretaste of what could happen in the future, a controlled rather than forced move may be prudent. Ultimately, a strong purpose is in everyone’s interest. 

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Zaiba Malik is a highly experienced communications consultant who specialises in reputation, issues and crisis management and media coaching at national and global levels. She is a former award-winning news and current affairs journalist. 

She is the founder and director of Coppergate Communications which provides business and communications advice. 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/zaibamalik
Web: coppergatecommunications.com

Cultural transformation to help diverse talent thrive

by Dr Joanna Abeyie MBE

Question: How do we attract, retain and nurture diverse talent? Answer: Build an inclusive people strategy based on meaningful communication. The more you’re listening and understanding, the better you’ll get at creating inclusive processes.

You’ll learn:

• How to build meaningful engagement with diverse talent

• About taking a long-term commitment to attracting and retaining diverse talent

• How to support inclusive career progression 

When we think about diverse talent, inclusivity strategies or special schemes and programmes are often seen as the way forward. 

But what if we didn’t need any of this? Imagine a world where our organisations built people strategies that are so inclusive they provide the right support for everyone from the outset.

Knowing how to recruit inclusively and understand what all different types of people need in order to be successful should be a prerequisite for anyone working in HR or a talent management role. 

I would like to see a cultural transformation that redefines the way that we do things from the ground up. 

A transformation that makes sure that whoever you are, irrespective of your background, you’re able to get into the organisation you want to work for and when you’re there, enjoy a level playing field so you get the best out of the environment you’re in. 

The art of meaningful engagement 

To attract diverse talent, organisations need to hold themselves to account.

If you find you’re getting the same type of applicants, try to form relationships with talent pools that you don’t normally use. But know that this isn’t a quick fix - building real and meaningful engagement is a long-term process.

Waiting until the job vacancy comes up is too late and is the reason mistakes are repeated. There needs to be a long-term focus on engaging that diverse talent in readiness for future vacancies. 

Speak to organisations or charities that work with diverse individuals and find out what you can do to support applicants now.

You need to ensure that diverse talent is looking at your organisation and can understand how to get through your recruitment process, which may have hidden barriers within it.

Consider holding careers events where those individuals come into your organisation and see what you’re doing. Try holding CV and pre-application workshops to support individuals through the process. 

The more you’re listening and understanding, the better you’ll get at creating inclusive processes in the first place.

Inclusive workplace progression

Once you have those individuals in your organisation, it’s really important that development and promotion processes are transparent.

Level the playing field so that when promotions come up, they’re actually fair.

Employees should be rewarded for their work performance, not for the ability to be in the office late or go on nights out bonding with senior colleagues.

One example of best practice I recently saw and would recommend is where a company had their employee and manager sit down together to decide the employee’s objectives for the next quarter. They would then have regular check-ins and together they would be able to see if the objectives had been met.

This makes sure there isn’t any preferential treatment or bias in the way promotions are awarded.

Listening is key

When you look at the Black Lives Matter movement, there have been a lot of people who have assumed that they know what to do to help black people do better in the workplace. I actually think the only way to know is to ask them about their experiences and what makes it hard for them. 

Speak to your employees and find a way for them to share their experiences confidentially. Let them know you understand what’s going on and, even if it is not your lived experience, you’d really like to contribute to it not being anybody else’s lived experience.

And it works both ways - individuals from ethnic minorities may have colleagues who, if racism is not their lived experience, may be nervous about touching on it. Just providing that space for a little bit of understanding that they might not get it right, even though they’re intending to, will help to move the conversation forward.

We’ve held a lot of open conversations about ethnicity in the workplace and something that comes up is white privilege. This term is thrown around lot and I think there’s sometimes confusion because white privilege isn’t about hardship, or taking away from the experiences of a young, white working class individual or a white wheelchair user. It’s about the fact that their skin colour probably won’t be their barrier where for a black person it is. 

In saying Black Lives Matter, nobody is saying all lives don’t matter. The message is that in terms of police brutality, and far beyond that in terms of society’s structure, such as the justice system and the education system, black people are being disproportionately negatively affected.

Organisations might say we don’t hire a lot of ethnic minorities so we’re going to create a mentoring programme or a bursary. It might sound good but be aware that people would love to not have to do that - to not have to be developed or trained and go on all of these mentoring courses. They’d just like to be taken seriously for the expertise that they currently have.

People without any real understanding of what people are experiencing sit down and decide what their problems are and what they need and quite often they’re wrong.

Nurturing your talent

If you want to know how people feel, you can just ask them. The more in touch you are with people once they’re in your organisation, the more likely it is that you will be able to find a way to really help. 

I am managing director of Blue Moon, which finds organisations world-class senior leadership talent using inclusive search processes and by utilising untapped and alternative talent pools.

We work closely with businesses to analyse and alter their infrastructure and environment from the ground up.

This ensures that anyone who joins the business can be the best version of themselves, therefore ensuring they can carry out the most effective work possible.

We do lots of focus groups and when we confidentially present the findings back to senior leadership teams, they sometimes don’t believe employees have had the negative experiences they report because it’s the first time they’ve heard it.

Making sure people have the chance to share their experiences freely without getting in trouble and without leaders dismissing those experiences is really important.

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Dr Joanna Abeyie MBE is a multi-award-winning social impact entrepreneur and champion of diversity, inclusion and equality. Joanna runs Blue Moon, a flagship inclusive Executive Search Business and Diversity and Inclusion Consultancy Practice. Joanna was awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Year’s Honours list for her services to diversity and inclusion in the creative and media industries.

Twitter: @Joanna_Abeyie
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joanna-abeyie-mbe
Web: createbluemoon.com/ 

Community engagement: How NHS blood and transplant approached partnership working to normalise organ donation

by Andrea Ttofa

With a third of people waiting for a kidney transplant being black, Asian or minority ethnic and donation rates for living kidney donation and donation after death much lower than among the white population, NHS Blood and Transplant needed to find a way to engage, motivate and inspire action among these communities. 

You’ll learn:

• Why campaigns need to represent the audiences they are targeting

• The importance of co-creation when working with diverse audiences

• The transformative impact of emotive storytelling

For me organ donation is something I support instinctively. As a child I saw stories on the TV about people who had their lives saved by an organ donor and they wowed me. Organ donation has always just seemed the obvious thing to do - I won’t need my organs when I’m gone.

But in my role as Head of Organ Donation Marketing at NHS Blood and Transplant, making organ donation relevant and driving action among people from different ethnic backgrounds and belief systems was not straightforward.

Shortage of BAME donors 

The number of people donating after they die has doubled in the UK over the last decade and there have been improvements in the number of donors who are black, Asian or minority ethnic. But the proportion of donors from these communities significantly lags behind the patient need. One in five people who die waiting for a transplant each year are from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds. 

While organ donation and transplantation arguably punch above their weight in terms of the media coverage they generate, and we regularly see a direct link between stories appearing and spikes in people registering as organ donors, these stories don’t impact people across different ethnic groups in the same way.

But why? 

Looking back a few years, most of the coverage would be in the mainstream media. People telling their stories were white. So were our spokespeople. Unsurprisingly, attempts to secure coverage on community radio stations or in community publications were rarely successful.

Understanding awareness levels, motivators and barriers

Surveys regularly tell us that black, Asian and minority ethnic people are less likely to be supportive of organ donation in principle and are less likely to be willing to donate. Probing deeper, we often hear fears that organ donation is against their culture or beliefs or that doctors won’t try to save them if they become ill. 

Research shows there are low levels of awareness that someone’s ethnicity is important when it comes to matching a donor to recipient and that black and Asian patients wait longer than white patients for a kidney transplant.  

In terms of motivators, there are a lot of similarities irrespective of ethnicity. The concepts of saving lives and thinking about whether you would want someone to save your loved one through donation if they needed a transplant - and then whether you should be willing to donate, are compelling arguments in favour of donating.

Making donation visible

It was clear that we needed to do something different to raise awareness levels among black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and inspire people to become organ donors.

There was a lack of trust in the messengers and we needed to make donation more visible, by working in partnership with individuals and organisations who would be listened to and trusted.

We needed to change who delivered the message to community leaders, black, Asian and minority ethnic medical staff, patients and donor families.

It’s a fine line between demonstrating the urgent need and coming across as blaming.  

So, it was important that we engaged partner organisations as we developed the messaging. Their input on the messaging, language and tone was invaluable. 

Funding community action

For a long time, there have been individuals and organisations doing great work to promote donation. But it wasn’t joined up and they didn’t necessarily feel supported by our organisation. 

When the Government provided funding for a BAME organ donation campaign, that gave us the opportunity to do something different. Working with the National Black, Asian, Mixed Race and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance (the NBTA), we launched the BAME community investment scheme. This laid out criteria for community-led organisations to access small pots of money to promote donation.

In the first year of the scheme we funded 25 projects. Many of the projects were event or educationally led, and saw people hearing about donation from people from a similar background, whether this was doctors, faith leaders, patients or donor families.  

Another positive was that regional and community media wanted to report on the work and the projects created content for the funded organisations’ social channels, helping to expand their reach and message. This meant the content we were sharing became more diverse.

Human stories

Telling emotional real stories about donation and transplantation has always sat at the heart of NHS Blood and Transplant’s media and social media efforts. But historically we hadn’t been able to tell many stories of black or Asian donors or transplant patients. 

Telling real stories is essential to demonstrating how families feel about donating a loved one’s organs, to reassuring people about the process, and on the transplant side to showing the huge and positive impact a transplant can make to someone’s life and their family. 

The number of deceased donors from black and Asian communities was small and their families didn’t necessarily want to share them. NHS Blood and Transplant also doesn’t manage the transplant list so identifying patients to share their stories was often a challenge. 

As we developed stronger links with community-based organisations and hospital communications teams, they identified donor families and patients who were willing to tell their stories, and we worked collaboratively to tell them. 

Reassuring about the donation process

As we know there is a level of misunderstanding about the donation process itself, we also wanted to work with healthcare professionals as trusted messengers.

Through our networks, we identified black and Asian intensive care doctors, nurses and transplant surgeons who would be willing to answer commonly asked questions and address myths and misconceptions. This gave us a wealth of content we could provide to other organisations to share on their own channels and they could be confident it was accurate. 

An example of this is our work with the British Islamic Medical Association, who were brilliantly willing to use the opportunity of their national conference to work with us to create myth busting content and to show that there was support from among the Muslim medical community to raise awareness of donation.

We also engaged with faith organisations to ensure they understood the organ donation process and to address questions they had about it, as they were key to reassuring people in their communities around the permissibility of organ donation. 

Saving lives

Each year over 4,000 people benefit from a life transforming organ transplant in the UK. But everyday someone still dies waiting for a transplant. It’s great that over the last few years we have seen some improvement in BAME donation rates. And I strongly believe that working collaboratively with individuals and organisations to educate people through trusted voices is an important way to improve these rates further and save more lives. 

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Andrea Ttofa joined Resuscitation Council UK in June 2020 as its Director of Engagement and Influencing.

Andrea worked at NHS Blood and Transplant from December 2012 to June 2020, where she was the Head of Organ Donation Marketing and prior to that, the organisation’s Head of Media and PR. Andrea was responsible for the public campaign to introduce the opt out organ donation system in England, which came into effect in May 2020.

Over the last 15 years, Andrea has held various communications, marketing and PR roles in the not for profit sector and NHS.

Twitter: @ormygirl
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andrea-ttofa-91077010