105 tweets on Communications Management (by Anne Gregory & Paul Willis)

This is a selection of 105 tweets from the book Strategic Public Relations Leadership, by Anne Gregory & Paul Willis (Routledge, Oxon 2013, 163 pages).

1. Organisational narrative is the territory of public relations (p.3)
2. Currently, to be a senior public relations practitioner requires leadership capability (p.5)
3. There are four key roles for the public relations leader: the orienter, the navigator, the catalyst and the implementer (p.5)
4. Organisations are not just economic units or collections of resources, but ‘actors’ in the social sphere. They help shape culture (p.7)
5. In a network society an organisation is just one node in a network, not at the center because, by their nature, networks don't have centers (p.8)
6. Intangibles are largely based on the ability of the organisation to attract support because it is seen to provide value in various forms (p.9)
7. The public relations leader’s job is to see the organisation as a whole, with a helicopter view, seeing it as stakeholders see it (p.11)
8. Public relations is a key activity which helps managers make informed decisions (p.12)
9. Strategy making is a communicative act. It is not a thing done in isolation, but in conversations between senior peers (p.12)
10. Communication is organisation, not just about an organisation (p.12)
11. Public relations perspective is so critically important because it goes to the heart of how an organisation is recognized in the world (p.12)
12. The distance between declared values and the ‘lived experience’ of stakeholders determines the legitimately gap (p.13)
13. From a public relations point of view, the way organisations interact with their stakeholders is the organisational narrative (p.13)
14. Stakeholders interacts with organisations for many reasons and, for most, particular organisations are not the focal part of their lives (p.14)
15. An organisation’s reputation is determined not by publicity programs, but the alignment of declared and enacted values (p.14)
16. Leadership and public relations share many of the same preoccupations; they are strategic processes inextricably linked (p.17, 21)
17. Leadership is a process through which an individual influences a group of other individuals to achieve a common goal (p.18)
18. Leaders can be found throughout an organisation rather than just in the executive suite (p.18)
19. Influence is the key currency of leaders and they are bankrupt without it (p.18)
20. Leaders are encouraged to see themselves at the center of a circle where their job is to guide, challenge, support and empower (p.19)
21. Both leaders and public relations practitioners try to avoid seeing the organisation trough a single functional lens (p.20)
22. Communication is a core competence of public relations and leadership (p.20)
23. New perspectives in the leadership field highlight that communicative ability is the most important attribute of a leader (p.20)
24. The CEO is the most important internal stakeholder for the public relations leader (p.24)
25. What CEOs are judged on now is their skill in protecting the organisation’s intangible assets and generating non-financial returns (p.25)
26. Currently, CEOs need to focus on the social and adaptive aspects of their role (p.27)
27. Organisational knowledge and innovation is the result of complex interactions between networks of stakeholders, including employees (p.27)
28. The CEO’s job is associated increasingly with inter-personal communications and building relationships (p.28)
29. Having influence is dependent on being a valuable source of intelligence rather than where a person sits in the organisation’s hierarchy (p.28)
30. The strategic capabilities of the public relations adviser directly support and complement the CEO’s key preoccupations (p.29)
31. Rather than a fleeting collision, the relationship between the CEO and public relations leader should be symbiotic as well as ongoing (p.30)
32. The stakeholders determine the nature of an organisation, providing its licence to operate; without their cooperation it will cease to exist (p.35)
33. The PR practitioner helps the organisation’s leaders to make sense of an external environment that is in a permanent state of flux (p.36)
34. It is the job of the public relations function to ensure (…) that all stakeholder interest are balanced (p.38)
35. Knowing stakeholders intimately is a critical skill of public relations practitioners (p.39)
36. The interest of all stakeholders must be properly balanced within the declared value base (p.38)
37. PR's role: to act as a brand guardian and champion & as a catalyst for change if the reality experienced is different from the one espoused (p.42)
38. Public relations leaders should be engaged in equipping others with public relations skills at all levels (p.42)
39. The clearer & more engaged staff are in developing the organisation’s vision & narrative, the greater the communicative & reputational impact (p.42)
40. PR leaders are the organisational antennae, constantly enquiring, sensing, interpreting & articulating what is going on & what may happen (p.47)
41. The organisational environment highlights the need to develop a mindset that emphasizes flexibility and alertness over standardised responses (p.51)
42. Contextual intelligence: changing yourself, seeking to change the environment, or moving to another context (p.54)
43. Values are the organisation's 'true north', its point of reference (p.57)
44. The world is becoming increasingly complex and organisations have to make sense and deal with that complexity (p.57)
45. Public relations leaders are at the heart of making sense of complexity (p.57)
46. Values indicate what the culture should be while corporate behaviors indicate what the culture actually is (p.58)
47. Values provide a constant in the dynamic world and a point of stability even though the organisation can go through major change (p.59)
48. There is a large difference between values-based organisations and rules-based or compliance-based organisations (p.60)
49. Organisations with a solid values base, lived out in practice, are forgiven much and supported when under threat (p.60)
50. At corporate level values provide a guide to decision-making and ensure that the organisation is 'acting in character' (p.62)
51. A self-reflective organisation is a learning organisation; it is an innovatory and self-refreshing organisation (p.62)
52. When employees are recruited they are rarely asked if they can actively support organisational values (p.63/1)
53. Maybe a honest discussion at this stage would help both sides make an informed decision (p.63/2)
54. It is meaningless, indeed dangerous, to have values that do not reflect reality, but for most organisations values are also aspirational (p.63)
55. The truth is that values will not always be lived up to because organisations are made up of people who are not perfect (p.63)
56. Everything the organisation does communicates (p.66)
57. As one director of communications we know notes, "My job is to fix reality" (p.67)
58. Values can be tested by an analysis of those things the organisation decides not to do as well as by what it does (p.67)
59. Values-based organisations have a character, an aura about them (p.67)
60. Values displayed in behavior and action can be effectively and powerfully enshrined in narratives - organisational stories (p.68)
61. Organisation of history provides a sense of place, continuity and stability when it forms the basis of the developing corporate narrative (p.68)
62. Moral leaders reward ethical behaviour (p.78)
63. When an organisation operates in the fast-moving and highly competitive context, the value of public relations is appreciated more (p.84)
64. PR have to demonstrate its essential contribution to developing strategy & organisational outcomes, not just its ability to communicate strategy (p.84)
65. The public relations leader has to maintain something of the ‘outsider’ to retain objectivity & discharge their ethical guardian & activist responsibilities (p.88)
66. A useful exercise for leaders is to analyse who they spend time with (p.88)
67. Objectives are the measurable steps that break the aims into what could be regarded as the milestones for the plan (p.110)
68. Return On Engagement (ROE) is much more complex to measure than receipt of messages (p.112)
69. In a nutshell, strategy is how the objective will be achieved and tactics are what is to be done (p.112)
70. Competence in planning is a key indicator of competence in role (p.113)
71. The catalyst acts as the organisation's general guardian and fixer (p.115)
72. Trust and legitimacy are not ‘nice to have’; they are essential. Ultimately, society decides whether it will give a license to operate (p.116)
73. The number of public relations professionals on boards is increasing and one of their roles is to be the guardian of strategic issues & risks (p.116)
74. The primary role of public relations is not information dissemination, but intelligence acquisition (p.119)
75. The communicating organisation is not a choice. Organisations communicate whether they want to or not (p.122)
76. The catalyst’s job is to look at the organisation in its totality, to see where the potential friction points are and to ensure that action is taken (p.122)
77. Being an accomplished communication technician is an essential part of public relations leadership (p.125)
78. The technical skills associated with PR include writing, content development, making presentations, negotiating with others & research (p.125)
79. PR leaders continue to display high-level technical skills in tandem with their role as a strategic adviser to the CEO and other executives (p.125)
80. Periodic demonstration of technical capabilities can help to show others into public relations team that the leader really is ‘one of them’ (p.126)
81. Knowing when to bend or ignore the rules becomes a key facet of expertise (p.128)
82. Personal experience via trial and error is more important than context-independent, explicit, verbally formulated facts and rules (p.128)
83. The traditional news cycle is dead and public relations leaders are instead faced with 24/7 speculation, comment and analysis (p.132)
84. Expertise is associated with how individuals interpret and respond to the context they operate in (p.133)
85. Even a decision not to communicate is a communication decision (p.135)
86. The PR leader develops the communicative ability of the whole organisation rather than just focusing on traditional communication activities (p.135)
87. Helping to build and encourage a communicative culture in the organisation is a crucial first step for the internal educator (p.137)
88. As the cultural guide a public relations leader should also be an exemplar for best practices in communication (p.141)
89. Good communication includes ensuring that all of the behaviours reinforce the communicative culture the organisation wishes to foster (p.141)
90. The role of the public relations leader as an internal educator is to promote and build the organisation’s communicative capacity (p.144)
91. Public relations professionals are judged as much by how they behave as what they know and do (p.145)
92. A consultancy mindset is important for the public relations leader to intervene as an adviser at levels of organisational strategy (p.145)
93. Consultants do not just intervene and implement solutions themselves; they also enable others (p.147)
94. Communication is a core organisational competence and all employees are required to build productive stakeholder relationships (p.147)
95. Public relations practitioners are often working on the communicative aspects of a wider problem (p.147)
96. In a good consultancy practice both parties are satisfied with the amount of control they have over a relationship (p.150)
97. A good consultancy practice generates commitment: (...) both parties believe that the relationship is worth spending energy on (p.151)
98. Working with the public relations team should be a stimulating and educating experience for the clients they work with (p.151)
99. A good consultancy practice produces that each party believes that the other is engaging in positive steps to maintain the relationship (p.152)
100. The orienter role is about keeping a cool head, as well as a clear sense of purpose and direction (p.154)
101. Good consultants are concerned with the impact of their work rather than just the level of activity they have carried out (p.154)
102. We are told that a week is a long time in politics. In public relations we know that a day can transform the fortunes of an organisation (p.157)
103. Communication is the essence of leadership which is why it is required in abundance in the public relations leader (p.158)
104. The PR leader as a catalyst – being the grit in the oyster to ensure that the organisational reality matches the organisational rhetoric (p.158)
105. Public relations leaders are the fixer in chief of those things that will have impact on the organisation's relationships and reputation (p.159)

Anne Gregory & Paul Willis

Strategic Public Relations Leadership

Routledge

Oxon (United Kingdom), 2013

163 pages