Leadership at Central

Hi all,

My third blog and well and truly nearing the end of my placement.

At first just a bit of an update on what I have been doing. The esteemed publication Chat (aka the staff magazine of Central Institute of Technology). It is sent to all the staff this week and I have had a massive role in putting it together. The magazine is designed, as we have all learnt about internal magazines, to bring the whole organisation together. This is especially true with larger organisations like Central who have a vast array of staff in different spots in Perth. Chat basically follows a newspaper format (much more stylised though) and consists of a bunch of interesting stories about staff and students aimed to inform the staff about areas of the college they would never visit and people they would probably never meet or meet infrequently. It brings the whole college together which is important to do due to the disjointed make-up of Central.

Enough about what I have been doing now and more about what I have learnt. In particular I've learnt something about PR in relation to the leader of an organisation. This is that, if your organisation has a genuine leader who truly cares about what they stand for and wants to better the community, your job as a practitioner is made a lot easier. At Central I've noticed the MD Neil Fernandes does this. He actually worries about the things that occur in his organisation and takes pride in achievements Central makes. He also takes a special interest in marketing and PR and realises the benefits of these department. Often he will come down to just see us and what we're up to and will input on the going's on. He also writes his own speech's for events. As well as making our jobs as communications officers easier it also adds an element of reality and gives his speeches heartfelt meaning.

Neil's approach at being a leader has made my internship at Central a great experience but has also shown to me what makes a good leader and the most effective leader in terms of a PR viewpoint. It was odd having a leader where most people agreed with and actually liked considering some of my past jobs, comradeship was gained through mutual hatred of a leader. I think having a leader like Neil in an organisation during a crisis would be very handy as well. Not that I've been through a major crisis but I think having someone who shows genuine emotion for his or her organisation will greatly help when they are inevitably put into the public eye through the media. People would see the leader is genuine and relate to that.

Anyway, enough ranting and raving about great leaders. Soon it will all be over and I'll recap my time there in my last blog so stay tuned!

Hamish.