PRCA & ICCO launch Ukraine Communications Support Network

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) and the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) have announced a new initiative designed to coordinate volunteer communications activity for the people of Ukraine.

The Ukraine Communications Support Network (UCSN) is Co-Chaired by Ukrainian communications leader Nataliya Popovych and former ICCO President and PRCA Chair, David Gallagher.

The USCN invites communications professionals around the world to submit proposals and projects under 12 categories for communications projects supporting Ukraine and those affected by the war.

The Network’s Steering Committee – comprised of prominent Ukrainian and international communications leaders – will oversee an approval process for voluntary activities designed to accelerate and amplify support for the people of Ukraine.

The Network will work closely with a growing volunteer base of more than 200 communications professionals and agencies to ensure practical support reaches those in need quickly and efficiently.

The 12 categories are:

1. Secretariat Support for UCSN
2. Slova / Ukrainian MOFA Support
3. International Media and Journalist Support
4. Promote Independent Journalism In Ukraine
5. Promote International Refugee Support
6. Promote Domestic Refugee Support
7. Legal Aid Support
8. Public Awareness
9. Business Continuity Support
10. Digital, Web and Developer Support
11. Social Media and Content Production Support
12. Credible Information / Counter Misinformation/Disinformation

All voluntary activities must be delivered on a pro-bono basis. Organisations and individuals approved by the Steering Committee will be eligible to refer to themselves as ‘Members of the PRCA / ICCO Ukraine Communications Support Network’ on collateral and related content.

Visit the UCSN webpage

Submit a proposal

UCSN Co-Chair Nataliya Popovych commented:

“It is rewarding to see that the appeal to public relations professionals with high moral compass has generated so many supporters willing to commit their time and resources to helping Ukraine win. Be it in increasing the cost of war for Russia or helping ease the unnecessary suffering of the Ukrainians via humanitarian solutions, Ukraine now has many briefs for the pro bono agency partners globally, and we will not forget those who have been our friends in need.”

Fellow UCSN Co-Chair David Gallagher said:

“There’s no shortage of demand for thoughtful, professional communications support for the causes and issues associated with this devastating war, and the generous response from the international PR community is inspiring. We hope this effort will make it easier for professionals and agencies to focus their efforts in meaningful ways.”

UCSN Steering Committee Members
Elena Bakum-Ramola, Publicis Groupe Ukraine
Alexandra Bell, Golin
Rod Cartwright, Rod Cartwright Consulting
David Gallagher, DG Advisory
Iva Grigorova, MSL Bulgaria
Heather Kernahan, Hotwire
Nitin Mantri, Avian WE
Alex Myers, Manifest
Nataliya Popovych , One Philosophy
Olena Sukhanova, MSL Ukraine
Grzegorz Szczepanski, Hill + Knowlton Strategies

Diverse viewpoints, or misunderstanding? The importance of double checking the perspective.

I’m not a lover of Scrabble. Or word games. I find them quite tedious.

Wordle is a great lockdown phenomenon and it’s become quite a thing for my family and their friends.

During our recent San Francisco holiday I assiduously avoided playing, leaving them to it, as I had plenty of other distractions.

The second week of my trip (which had turned into work) and finding myself on my own with long nights in hotel rooms, uninclined to sit in restaurants on my own I gave it a go. It was a good distraction. I even worked out how to do the previous, daily versions of it, I was that bored. So, I was chuffed at achieving 26 solutions in a few days and soon reached a reasonable average guess number.

On the last morning of my trip, 8 hours behind the daily UK release, I saw in the family chat that my husband had solved a particularly difficult word. Having failed that day, the kids wanted hints, so he shared the answer.

My chance to score a ‘solved it in 1’ I thought. So, I got straight to it, dropping in the word of the day, Vivid. Boom!

But no. Even using his other words, I didn’t manage to solve it, so I again resorted to my own devices.

I later shared my screen shot complaining, thinking it must have been down to US spelling. But no. It turned out I’d downloaded an app that did the same thing, with a similar name (Wordly), but I was playing with a completely different set of words.

It turns out our regular family conversations, deliberately avoiding the details, the specifics, the spoilers meant that we were on completely different platforms. We felt we were on the same wavelength, doing things together, but we were miles away (and not just literately).

I am not up to speed on everything that was covered in the five South by Southwest conference themes, but I did see there was ‘The Power of Inclusivity’ track setup to deal with tackling the difficulty in incorporating diverse viewpoints. It made me wonder how often such issues are caused by not clarifying each party’s understanding of their start point or double checking the tools they’re using before running off in different directions, just like I did with Wordle.

The importance of sharing the same alignments and definition of industry terms with clients (or colleagues) shouldn’t be underestimated when trying to comprehend diverse viewpoints.

Understanding diverse perspectives, experiences and audiences are a constant fascination for us. I’ll be interested to hear what methods attendees of the SXSW track learn too.

Author

Jane Hales is the co-founder of the award-winning Sapio Research. Sapio Research is a full-service, quantitative and qualitative market research company supporting Agencies and Brands to make confident decisions or achieve extraordinary headlines. They do this through their ABC process: Audience, Brand and Content Research.

How should a PR professional deal with disinformation? APRA introduced 7 principles

Prague, 18. 5. 2021 – The Association of Public Relations (APRA) perceives an intensive spread of disinformation in the Czech society as a serious problem but also as a great challenge for PR professionals. At the Forum Media Light conference, APRA presented seven principles of how a PR professional should deal with disinformation. The principles represent the first comprehensive set of recommendations on this topic. The aim of APRA is to open a professional discussion through these recommendations.

 

14.03.2022 – Last year, APRA started to support an initiative called Nelež, which helps to eliminate banner advertising on disinformation websites. “This kind of advertising gives disinformation sites credibility, directly supports their operation and at the same time, also means a reputational risk for the advertiser,” says the chief of APRA, Patrik Schober. “We are glad that the Nelež initiative continues to grow and that there are more than a hundred companies today which have committed themselves to not advertise on these platforms. Many of them are also members of APRA. ”

However, concerns for the relationship between disciplines like PR and fake news are not just about advertising on disinformation websites. Brands can easily become the target of fake news, subsequently impacting them negatively. “It is necessary to be prepared for situations like this, to be able to react quickly and to effectively disprove disinformation,” says Michal Vlasák, a member of the APRA Executive Board.

An additional concern is that by expanding the influence of disinformation, the trust in traditional media is declining. “Strong traditional media and the ongoing democratic debate on them represents a fundamental context for the field of public relations. That is why it is essential for our profession to support and cooperate with such media which strives for factual discussion and quality journalism, “adds Michal Vlasák. According to APRA, PR professionals, as experts in the media scene, can also use their expertise, understand the problem well and explain it to the public. In this way, they can contribute to increasing media literacy, which is at a low level in the Czech population.

 

How should a PR professional deal with misinformation?

7 principles according to APRA:

  1. Be clear about what disinformation is; be sure about how to discover it and where it most often comes from.
  2. Use your media expertise and educate your surroundings about what disinformation is and what risks it could bring.
  3. Do not advertise on disinformation websites. This is a reputational risk for your organization and a support for the spread of disinformation. Support serious media, you need them for your work.
  4. Do not inform operators of disinformation media. Operators and editors of disinformation media are not the same partner for a PR professional as regular journalists.
  5. Get ready. Disinformation can endanger an organization’s reputation and is a significant source of crisis communication. Define procedures for crisis communication that arises from disinformation.
  6. Ignoring misinformation may not be the solution. In the situation of a reputation threat, carefully consider how to disprove the disinformation so that it is not strengthened.
  7. Find independent sources of objective information, verify the facts with them and, if necessary, involve them in communication. Use fact-checking platforms.

 

 

Patrik Schober

APRA Chairman

APRA – Asociace public relations, z. s. | Na Poříčí 12, 110 00 Praha 1

Tel.: +420 224 875 320, +420 775 351 034 | Email: info@apra.cz | www.apra.cz

PRCA and ICCO ban award entries from Russia

The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) and the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) have announced a blanket ban on award entries from Russian organisations and individuals.

The ban, which applies immediately to all PRCA and ICCO awards programmes, is a direct response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

The PRCA and ICCO stand firmly beside Ukraine and are united in their condemnation of the atrocities committed by the Russian Government. The organisations also wish to reiterate their support for colleagues in Russia who oppose the actions of their government.

The ban follows ICCO’s indefinite suspension of Russian PR Association, AKOS, and the PRCA’s warning to members working with Russian organisations.

PRCA Director General and ICCO Chief Executive Francis Ingham MPRCA commented:

“Russia has continued its senseless killing campaign in Ukraine. It’s clear our industry has a moral duty to cut all ties with Moscow. For ICCO and the PRCA that responsibility extends across our international awards programmes. We will simply refuse all award entries from Russian organisations and individuals.

“Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine. We will share further comment on the expansion of our communications and humanitarian support for Ukraine in the coming days.

Why acknowledging the system as biased is not enough

Maria Da Silva – PR & Influence Consultant at Agence Proches.

Every year–as we get closer to International Women’s Day–it is essential to reflect on the significance of this date and the reason behind our celebrations, as although it is a great thing to be able to dedicate a full day to celebrating women and their successes all around the world, it would be even better not to have to. The celebration of women and their place in society should be as mundane as that of men, and we should not have to wait for a rainy or sunny day in March to show our appreciation. Unfortunately, the relentless, seemingly everlasting, biases against girls and women has forced us to resort to decoys, such as celebratory dates, to showcase the “real” value of our contribution to society.

On this special day that is IWD, business leaders, and companies around the globe will put forward all the actions they’ve taken to promote their female talents. However, some of them will remain partially blind to the deliberate or unconscious bias female workers face in the workplace, whether it be from their managers, colleagues, clients, or even other female co-workers, bias is everywhere. We know it, we see it, we hear it, but only on occasion do we really fight it.

If political institutions and companies are taking more and more initiatives to promote women in positions of power, often helping bring a small percentage of diversity to their boards, we also need to focus on the “micro-biases” and aggressions that both high-level and junior level female employees can face. Acknowledging that the system is biased is not enough, and it is pressing time for change. To level the playing field, society needs to be acutely aware and on the lookout for situations in which a women can easily be dismissed or overlooked, and actively call them out. A zero-tolerance policy to micro-aggressions, unconscious biases, and other dismissive or limiting behaviors towards girls and women will greatly help in giving them courage to pursue their studies, careers, and dreams, without feeling like they are at a disadvantage because of their gender.

So, pay attention to the way women around you are treated, question the promotion of your male co-workers over your female ones, wonder why a certain task or subject was attributed to a woman when a man could have also done the job, don’t politely smile at the sexist remarks disguised as everyday humor or banter. Only strong, steadfast, outspoken support for the deliberate progress of women will help cement the fact we are real contributors to society and need to be seen as such.

Every day, women accomplish amazing things, as well as –and sometimes even better than– men. It is important to recognise that and reward them for it, not just on March 8th but every day.

Four ways to elevate women’s voices and make the PR industry a level-playing field

Nitin Mantri, ICCO President, Group CEO Avian WE

Just two years into the new decade and the world has seen an astounding number of breakthroughs in science and technology. Shared knowledge resulted in the fastest development and rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine; WHO approved the world’s first malaria vaccine for children; NASA learned how to fly in a Martian atmosphere, IBM launched the most powerful quantum processor yet, and every company worth its salt jumped on the “metaverse’ bandwagon.

The speed at which new discoveries and advances are helping humankind accelerate into a new world is both exciting and ironic. Because all the progress notwithstanding, when it comes to gender equality, we are abysmally behind. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, the pandemic has increased the global gender gap by a generation – from 99.5 years to 135.6 years.

Gender inequality exists in every industry – from technology to corporate, politics, media, sports, entertainment, and beyond. It is a complex issue and there is no one size fits all solution.

What can we do about this? How can we ensure that the communications industry, where agencies are overwhelmingly staffed by women but often led by men, functions fairly and equitably? Here are four ways we can elevate women’s voices as powerfully, and as often, as we elevate men’s and make our industry a level-playing field:

Gender equality should be a CEO’s top priority

Gender equality must be in the DNA of every communications firm, embedded in its values and culture, and used as a lens for every decision from strategy to recruitment. And it must swoop down from the top leadership. If the CEO and the board of directors are not committed to ensuring a safe and supportive work culture that is conducive for the growth of their women employees, equality will just be a tick box. Change must start at the top of an organisation and the onus to eliminate biases lies on the CEO.

Build a work culture that integrates work and family

Even though we are living in the 21st century, women are still the primary, and at times, the sole caregivers in their families. In the absence of an office structure that integrates work and family, several women are forced to drop out of the workforce every year. We can prevent this by developing policies and programmes that support both women (as mothers and daughters) and men (as fathers and sons). Provide sufficient maternity and paternity leaves; introduce flexible hours for expectant and new parents, give caregiver leave or part-time work opportunities to employees who need to tend to the medical needs of aging parents or ailing family members. This way the burden of family responsibilities will be equally distributed, and women will find it easier to do their jobs.

Introduce returnee programmes
Invest in returnee programmes to balance the gender gap. Many women are not able to restart their careers after a break because the rapid evolution of technology results in their skillsets being outdated. We can address the industry’s talent problem by helping women reskill and upskill and join back the workforce. VMware, for example, started India’s biggest returnee programme called VMInclusion Taara in 2019 to address the increasing gender gap in the technology sector. Over 12,000 women have registered with the programme in a span of two years and around 2,000 women have found their way back into the workforce.

Measure progress to achieve gender equality

Gender equality policies and programmes will remain only on paper, if we don’t track and measure their implementation and progress. The best way to do it is by tying executive bonuses, including the CEO’s salary, to diversity goals. Companies like Microsoft, Intel, Nike, Facebook and Johnson and Johnson, to name a few have already done that. So, while we counsel our clients on the importance of sustainability and purpose, we also need to put our money where our mouth is and incorporate gender diversity goals in our business strategies. This will hold our leaders accountable for their behavior, help them address their unconscious biases, and build a steady pipeline of senior talent.

#BreakTheBias

It’s critical to remember that gender equality is not for the benefit of women alone. When companies empower their women employees, it has a multiplier effect on businesses, families, communities, and economies. High time we made a conscious effort to #BreakTheBias, and bring about genuine structural changes for gender equality in the communications industry.

GWPR Report Highlights Boardroom Barriers but Flexible Working May Accelerate Change

Angela Oakes, GWPR Co-founder & Joint President

By Angela Oakes, Co-founder & Joint President, Global Women in PR

The Annual Index is a GWPR (Global Women in PR) report measuring the position of women in PR around the world. This research-based report* is part of a five-year plan to help us understand the issues affecting women in the industry and to measure the progress towards gender equality.

We recently launched the third edition of the GWPR Annual Index and what has become increasingly clear from our annual research is that progress towards equality continues to be extremely slow. In addition, as a direct result of the Covid pandemic, the pace for driving women forward into a more balanced PR industry appears to have taken a step backwards.

When asked about the effect of the pandemic, some of the negative feedback included slower progression for women reaching leadership positions, less job security, increased stress from working 24/7 and the belief that it will take even longer to close the gender pay gap.

Without question these are serious career issues for PR women, but the effect goes beyond women.

In an industry where women make up two-thirds of the workforce, the boardroom is still predominantly male. We know from leading management consultancies, like McKinsey & Co; (Women in the Workplace 2020) that there is a direct link between boardroom diversity and a company’s financial performance. Our Annual Index research highlights the benefits to business of having women in the boardroom in terms of productivity, creativity and improved working practices.

Business Benefits

Overall, a significant 89% of respondents believe that more needs to be done to ensure women in the PR industry have greater boardroom presence.

So what should be done and what are the barriers to women entering the boardroom? Not surprisingly the biggest barrier continues to be women taking on childcare or caring responsibilities. Half of our survey respondents had children at home and two-fifths of women reported caring responsibilities had negatively impacted their career.

First and foremost organisations need to offer flexible working practices, so that women with children can schedule their work and home commitments accordingly. On a positive note this is happening much more frequently – and all thanks to Covid. 91% of respondents reported that they are currently working flexibly.

In addition remote working is on the rise – up 20% in a year. Over the next year PR professionals believe they will be working remotely 3 days a week and 21% expect to be doing this full time. Remote working is such an important benefit that more than half rank it more highly than financial reward.

In conclusion, the acceleration of flexible, and in particular remote working, may counter some of the obstacles created by the Covid pandemic, but there is still a long way to go before PR women achieve gender equality in the workplace.

It will be fascinating to see if the long-term impact of Covid will have positively helped women in the PR workplace of the future.

* The 2021 research was conducted Summer 2021 by strategic insight agency Opinium using an online questionnaire. This year 430 PR professionals from around the world participated; over half (61%) were at director level and the vast majority (97%) were women.

 

About GWPR

Founded to connect, champion and support women in senior PR and Communication roles around the world, GWPR is a not-for-profit organisation driven by a desire to change the landscape for women working in our industry.

www.globalwpr.com

Lessons in Transformational Leadership; An Interview w/ Dr. Vivien Chiong

Dr Chiong’s team at NTU Singapore (seen here at a campus roadshow for its augmented reality-enhanced student magazine) has been honoured in every major area of its work with more than 90 awards, including nine international team of the year awards since 2015.

Chief Communications Officer, Dr. Vivien Chiong has been pivotal in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore’s (NTU) transition to its position as one of the world’s leading educational institutions.

Dr. Chiong started out as a journalist due to her love for writing. In time, and following an impressive professional path through media and communications roles in a number of organizations, she joined NTU in 2010.

Since then, the NTU in-house team has received more than 90 awards. Dr. Chiong has also personally won 9 awards, including the 2022 ICCO Global Award for PR Leader of the Year. Amongst innumerable transformational communications strategies, she spearheaded NTU’s transition to increased use of digital tools in communication, including the creation of an augmented reality magazine to reinforce NTU’s “smart campus” branding.

Dr. Chiong also contributes nationally as the Chair of the Science and Technology Branding Taskforce, appointed by the National Research Foundation at the Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office.

ICCO: You have had an incredible journey from starting as a journalist in Singapore, to leading the communications team at one of the world’s highest ranked universities. Can you tell us what initially attracted you to media and communications and how your views may have changed over your career?

Dr. Chiong: Media and communications is an all-absorbing career and I’m fortunate to be in a job where I truly enjoy the work I do. I started out in journalism because of my love for writing. Initially, it seemed like going into corporate communication was a natural development of my passion for conveying ideas through words, visuals and sound.

After embarking on my postgraduate studies, I became interested in integrating my knowledge of the different aspects of media and communication and to marry theory with practice, and in the strategic use of communication.

I have been in several different industries such as cable television, water and the environment, before moving into the higher education sector. These diverse experiences have helped shape my thinking as a communicator.

For example, working with colleagues at Disney and Cartoon Network in the earlier years of my career, I learnt invaluable lessons about characterisation. Later when I joined Singapore’s national water agency, I created a mascot called Water Wally – as a strategic communication tool for water messages. Today, even after 15 years, Water Wally remains one of the most endearing national mascots in Singapore.

 

ICCO: Can you tell us about a mentor or someone that inspired you in the early stages of your career?

Dr. Chiong: I have been blessed with good bosses throughout my career, who have always been willing to put their faith in me and are open to my counsel on communication matters. Whilst they may not have been experts in the intricacies of communication, their clear expectations of how they wanted it to help fulfil specific objectives have driven my team and I to stretch ourselves and come up with creative solutions to meet these objectives.

 

ICCO: Part of your growing legacy is your creative use of digital technology. In a continuously and rapidly evolving technological landscape, how do you identify developments that are going to be impactful in your work?

Scan the magazine cover to see the rest of the room: As a “smart magazine” that combines print with augmented reality, NTU’s magazine HEY! uses video, 3D models and 3D animations to engage its young target audiences. The augmented reality features are produced in-house and creatively applied across the magazine to make the pages “come alive”.

Dr. Chiong: I am fascinated by technology and what it can do. In the past, many in corporate communication focused on media publicity but the landscape has changed dramatically with digital technologies like mobile applications and social media. I’m especially excited by augmented reality and virtual reality because they bring new dimensions to storytelling.

At NTU, we revamped our print magazine HEY! into an augmented reality (AR) title to reinforce NTU’s Smart Campus branding. All photos in the magazine are taken using smartphones including the cover. Here’s an example of how we use AR. On a HEY! cover showing an NTU dorm, when scanned with the HEY! AR app, the photo seamlessly transitions into a video showing other parts of the room, giving the illusion of a 360-degree photo.

To create such communication effects requires a change in the editorial process. The creative director needs to decide on the cover photo on the spot – instead of poring over hundreds of photos back in the office – so that the video producer can ensure the video flows seamlessly from the chosen photo.

We also experiment with 3D models of objects that readers can scan and then bring into their immediate environment and interact with. Besides videos and 3D models, we also experiment with animation, sound and space. We have been very energised by all these new possibilities to better tell a story.

One of the best things about working in a university is that we are big on exploring the unknown. I have been very motivated to experiment with new ways of communication.

 

ICCO: Can you speak to an underlying strategy that you have applied across your work over the years that you are personally proud of and tell us why you think it is so successful?

Dr. Chiong: When I first joined NTU in 2010, my strategy was to integrate three existing pillars of communication – media publicity, content marketing, marketing communication — and to introduce social media as part of the university’s communication strategy. Later, I read in communication literature that there was a new term coined for this called PESO which stands for paid, earned, shared and owned media.

The PESO model of communication has served NTU well, given its diverse target audiences. It has also helped us to be smarter in the use of our modest resources. Most valuable to me is that the integrated approach ensures team members are not siloed in their area of work and learn to work collaboratively. I always confidently tell new staff joining us that here, you will get to broaden your skills to cover the full spectrum of communication work. This will lay their foundations to become a communication leader one day.

To help us in planning, scheduling and content sharing, we designed a bespoke system on Airtable which enables us to track more than 1200 communication activities a year. When we shifted to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, it had no impact on our productivity and teamwork which continued to be high.

 

ICCO: As ICCO’s PR Leader of the Year, can you tell us what the most important attributes are for a successful leader, particularly in communications?

Dr. Chiong: All leaders need to have a vision and be able to show the way to achieve the vision.

A communication leader needs to combine strategic insight and creativity with their vision and leadership to help fulfil the organisation’s mission and objectives. He/she sets clear goals, manages complexities and upholds high ethical standards.

In my experience having led several in-house communication teams, all communicators, no matter how junior, want to know how their work can help in achieving their organisation’s goals.

As a manager, it is important to motivate the team to work towards the organisation’s broad objectives. So I value qualities like teamwork, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.

I place emphasis on the professional development of my team members. I may not work directly with each one of them on a daily basis but I observe and assess their individual skills, aptitude, interests and attitude. Working closely with my deputies, we expose them to a range of assignments and experiences that will stretch them and build their competencies. This also helps to prevent them from getting bored or stuck in a rut, or suffering from burnout.

I’m proud that in the last three years, three of my junior staff have been recognised with Newcomer of the Year awards. At NTU, we have also won nine international Team of the Year Awards since 2015 – the biggest being the 2020 ICCO In-house Digital Team of the Year Award – so thank you, ICCO!

I’m very grateful to award organisers and judges for all their hard work as the international peer recognition goes a long way towards motivating staff to continue to strive for excellence in communication.

 

ICCO: Having developed an NTU in-house team of at least 30 members representing multiple ethnicities and age groups, can you explain the benefits of such diversity, and how do you ensure all voices and perspectives can be heard?

Dr. Chiong: NTU is a cosmopolitan university competing globally and Singapore is a multicultural society. Operating in such a richly diverse environment coupled with NTU’s wide-ranging set of stakeholders, our communication can only benefit from having a diverse team of different age groups and ethnicities working on it. Because we work collaboratively and not in a linear fashion, many pairs of eyes will go through a piece of work. The idea is not for one person doing the assignment to send it through to his/her immediate supervisor for approval. They engage different team members and other internal stakeholders who bring different sensibilities and talents to improve the final product.

 

ICCO: The Global Women in PR annual index found that in 2021 73% of women “would be more likely to choose a job that offered flexible working over one that did not”. What is your experience of this within your team, and has NTU adapted to accommodate this growing need?

Dr. Chiong: Covid-19 has shown us that flexible and remote working doesn’t have to affect the quality of the work we do, particularly in communication.

A hybrid work arrangement could become standard in the future. Long term remote-only working will affect team bonding as Zoom sessions cannot replicate real life social interactions – those corridor and pantry chats that are good for camaraderie and the sparking of serendipitous ideas.

But equally, a change in environment can spark creative ideas. Clocking fixed hours at the same office desk may not be that good for creativity. If a hybrid arrangement is going to thrive in the workplace, it will need all staff to demonstrate the self-discipline and ability to deliver on their assignments.

My team has been operating on a hybrid work arrangement and we recently had a team bonding event where internal awards for the last year were presented. The nominees presented the challenges they faced and how they overcame them, so it was a wonderful sharing session for everyone to feast on some best practices and lessons learnt. The winner in each of the five categories was chosen by their peers. We had not brought every team member together in person for a long time, and I could see that everyone was delighted to be able to finally be in the same room.

 

ICCO: Retaining talent is the top priority issue for PR right now. What advice do you have for junior and mid-level communication professionals, who want to stay in the industry for the long haul, particularly younger women? And what can leaders do to improve talent retention?

Dr. Chiong: I think the age-old proverb “a rolling stone gathers no moss” offers a caution for junior communicators. It takes time to learn about a new industry, to roll out your communication programmes, and show your results. If you keep hopping around, you will never stay long enough to show any results that are truly your own.

Many junior and mid-level communicators get into the field because they love the creative aspects of the work. But a passion for words and an aesthetic eye are not enough. A full-fledged communicator must also learn to conduct formative and post- campaign research, have a keen interest in analytics and in new emerging digital technologies.

As for talent retention, I think communicators will stay in a job where they feel their work is strategic and valued by the organisation, where there are opportunities to experiment and grow, and where their professionalism is recognised.

A Time For Authenticity and Action

Extracted from the 2021-22 ICCO World Report.

Sudha Singh’s thought provoking reflections on diversity, equity and inclusion are featured in the 2021-2022 ICCO PR World report.

As I review the data from ICCO’s World PR Report, I sit with the awareness and understanding that countries and cultures are not homogenous, they are different and unique. That when we speak about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), we are at different points in our journey; sensitivity and awareness levels may wildly differ from country to country within a region or a continent. It is important to understand that priorities differ from country to country and sometimes in the same country the drivers of DEI differ from one region to another.

The US and UK – parts of the West that were roiled [in 2020] after the brutal murder of George Floyd and ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) – and Latin America fared poorly on the question of ethnic representation. The US was at 3.6 and the other two at 4.1. The key takeaway here is that there is heightened awareness and recognition of the inequalities in these geographies which is great, because it means that there is an acknowledgement of a) the problem and b) the need for urgent change.

This is further reflected in the fact the same three countries score highest on firms that have a diversity and inclusion policy with the US at 71% followed by Latin America(62%) and UK(60%).

However, there seems to be worrying shift though in the Middle-East, Asia-Pac, and Africa if we compare with last year’s data: representation of ethnic minorities has gone down in percentage terms. Surprisingly Western Europe fares the worst amongst the eight regions surveyed and we need further data to understand why that is. Overall, the data is indicative of the absence of sub-stantive progress across countries/corporates and that may very well be due to the fact that in the past 18 months companies have paused to reflect and review their efforts in the direction. Or that most corporates have been fairly oblivious to systemic inequalities. It is encouraging to see that a large number of those surveyed review their policy at least once a year if not more.

The DEI agenda in the West was propelled by the horrific murder of George Floyd, BLM and the pandemic that exacerbated racial and ethnic inequalities. It required seismic events to spotlight the trials and tribulations of marginalised communities.

The impetus in some regions/ countries is regulatory requirements and for many companies it gets to the top of the agenda because of the associated business and reputation risks. In India for example the conversation centres largely on gender; the LGBTQ agenda comes to the fore at multinationals – where DEI policies at the HQ become the trigger points in local markets. Western multinationals have the power to enable positive change in the countries and communities where they operate.

However, it is critical to keep in mind that companies must not try to force fit their policies in local markets, they must be mindful of local realities and engage with teams and experts to identify priorities or focus areas.

The last 18 months has laid bare the stark inequalities in our world. As we slowly move towards recovery, the outlook is fairly positive for our industry. This has also been a time for the sobering realisation that we are failing abysmally on representation, equity and inclusion, and the consensus all around is that it will require transformative changes if we are to build a fairer industry. For businesses as they struggled with aftershocks, it has been a time to align their core purpose to broader societal needs, listen to their stakeholders, take a stand on important is-sues and not just because of share holder imperatives. CEOs and the C-suite are grappling with the pace of change, to adapt, and understand whatever state of flux we are in at that point in time. For an industry that aspires to have a seat at the table, and advise clients on purpose and sustainability, this puts us on the back foot. How can we advise clients authentically if we as an industry are not equitable or inclusive?

As we look to the future it is important to think about what we can do to build a better and fairer industry. We can start by creating awareness about best practice through setting benchmarks and making cultural intelligence a key skill for all practitioners. According to a recent article in Forbes, the rise of awareness about diversity and inclusion has been one of the most transformative cultural trends of the last 10 years. How can we ride this wave, and what can we do to take advantage of the momentum?

Prioritise on just two things:

  1. a) Be Authentic
  2. b) Take Action

To be authentic live the values that we preach. Don’t just say it to other people or for your clients, embed inclusion into your business. Start with C-Suite buy in and accountability; listen to your employees and stakeholders; create an inclusive hiring process; be transparent about the pay gap; consider intersectionality; be a sponsor and monitor constantly.

Take Action: Before you head to the next conference or write the next blog on equity and inclusion check your equity and inclusion policy. If you have one, map where you are on the journey; share your journey including your challenges. If you are not on the journey, get started.

ICCO suspends Russian PR Association indefinitely

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) has suspended the membership of the Association of Consulting Companies in the Field of Public Relations (AKOS) indefinitely, with immediate effect.

The decision – taken by ICCO’s Executive Committee – follows Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and flagrant violation of international law.

The Executive Committee acted following concerns that AKOS had failed to distance itself from the actions of the Russian Government.

ICCO was founded and operates on the principles of truth, trust and integrity. Today’s decision is driven by the belief that international law and human rights must always be respected. The move is consistent with a broader wave of international sanctions against Russia.

Nitin Mantri, ICCO President said:

“Our thoughts are with all those suffering as a result of the invasion. This decision was not taken lightly. ICCO wishes to state publicly its support for a great number of Russian communications professionals who oppose the actions of their Government. Yet we must strongly condemn any agency involved in proliferation of misinformation or suppression of free speech. “

Francis Ingham, ICCO Chief Executive said

“We condemn the Russian Government’s actions in the strongest possible terms. ICCO stands committed to the principle of international law, and have a responsibility to our members and the public to send a clear message that this activity is not tolerated.  ICCO does not tolerate membership of any Associations that do not to oppose inexcusable breaches of international law and human rights.”