Stats show almost half of PR professionals to resume international business travel

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Almost half (44%) of PR professionals around the world plan to resume international business travel in the next six months, according to new research published by the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) and the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO).

168 CEOs, Directors, and Department Heads took part in the latest PRCA and ICCO quarterly Confidence Tracker, which assesses market confidence in public relations around the world.

The study – conducted by Question & Retain – evidences a strong appetite for the resumption of international travel, with just under a third (29%) of senior professionals planning to travel internationally for business within the next three months.

Market confidence holds firm

The study also reveals impressive levels of confidence amongst PR and communications leaders. More than eight out of ten (84%) respondents said they were ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ in the future of their organisation. This represents a 20% year-on-year increase; the same study carried out in October 2020 revealed 64% felt they were ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’. The figure was as low as 38% in April 2020 at the outset of the pandemic.

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

“Confidence across every global region is high. Many of our members have fared exceptionally well – new businesses is being driven by a growing demand for a diverse range of retained and project-based communication services. It’s also very encouraging to see so many of our members expecting to travel again in the near future.”

What does this Leader-Leader Culture really mean?

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As Emma Ewing and I have been prepping for a masterclass — Creating an Empowered, Leader-Leader Culture — for next week’s ICCO conference in Lisbon, I am reminded that all it takes is ONE leader that is courageous enough to see who they really are as a leader and stretch their leadership agility in order to foster a leader-leader culture.

So, what does this Leader-Leader Culture really mean?

It’s when a leader can create an environment of trust, safety, truth and feedback that leads to radical success — basically your team knows you have their back and this gives them confidence to take ownership, risks and innovate.

Many leaders are so busy they default to the overall company culture which more often than not is bureaucratic, performance-driven and fear-based. The key is for leaders to foster a leader-leader culture for their team despite and within their company culture — a sort of satellite way of being a respite for their team. This is the secret sauce to equipping your people to make better quality decisions and be motivated to take appropriate accountability for getting results and driving projects forward.

Emma and I will be talking all of this through next week — if you are in Europe, you should join us in Lisbon. We will cover how leaders in agency and in-house can actively create the conditions for a successful leader-leader culture through a combination of powerful conversations, questions and feedback and I will be telling my own stories of leadership failures, ah-ha moments and turnarounds.