Emotional crisis

Crisis management can be hard enough to deal with when it arises. You have to focus on your game-plan, ensuring you remain cool, calm and collected.

But what happens when the crisis that personally effects you emotionally.

When I worked and the PTA there were four major crises. Two bus fires and two deaths on the network. Even though I had no role to play in these crises, I got to see how the communications team act with the highest level of professionalism and respect.

But at the same time, the weight of the incidents effected me emotionally. I had to go home and take some time to reflect and process my emotions. I can't imagine how the people who had to act managed their emotions.

The importance of team unity in these situations is paramount. The most important thing you can ask during or after a crisis is "Are you okay?"

There IS an ‘I’ in Team

During my time at university I have done A LOT of team work and group projects. Study PR and it is a given to have one group-based assignment at minimum, if not several, making up about 40% of you total grade.

We are told time and again that in the ‘real world’ you will always work as part of a team, with the inference that all projects and campaigns are in part team-based. Well, having now worked in the ‘real world’ I have quickly come to the realization that universities have got it very wrong. In my two weeks at GO Communications I have witnessed one instance where my team has worked together collaboratively – an event we ran involving a large number of media, VIPs and children.

Ok, yes. Every now and then someone will bring up an idea to bounce ideas around, but generally in a conversation of only one or two people. Apart from this, clients are handled by one team member alone, responsible for all campaigns and strategies and all associated reports and documents.

There is a possibility that this is a cultural difference stemming from the ‘collectivist’ behavior often found in Asian countries, whereby the boss is always right, individual opinion isn’t desired and conflict is avoided – not exactly an ideal environment for spit-balling and brainstorming ideas.

However, after observing other teams within the office I believe it could be more a case of personal preference and leadership styles than divergent cultural aspects.

Not sure what collectivism is? Have a look at the short video below for a simple explanation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW7aWKXB5J4

I have heard from several colleagues and friends working in various sectors in Asia, who disagree with the textbook view that the work style in Asian cultures is so very different from the westernized environment we have in Australia.  It may also exemplify the suggestion that some textbook theories regarding Asian culture and behaviour are based on stereotypes and older traditional outlooks, and don’t accommodate for cultural fusions and social modernizations.

Have you experienced a cultural difference in your work environment or expectations in Australia compared to Asian countries? What is your take on the benefits of team work vs. the focused one-man-team? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Building a brand blueprint

During my internship I had the good fortune to sit in on a meeting that was to decide the blueprint of one of the company's brand. My company is a cosmetics and jewellery company and is undergoing some big changes to its branding.

Our Vice President of Jewellery, Perfumes And Cosmetics was leading these changes and had experience leading brand blueprint workshops, so she facilitated the process as the PR, communications and creative people contributed. The objective was to make a comprehensive brand blueprint document that would inform PR activities, but also marketing, creative design, product design, even how it would be sold.

We started with more standard business terms such as what the vision, values and positioning of the product were. But then we started knuckling down to discuss the belief behind the product, or what it's essence or promise was. 

 

It all sounds a little silly, thinking about how a brand sounds, what it says, what its soul is. 

 

What surprised me was how useful such a process was. I had a much better idea of how to write and communicate the brand once I had a better understanding of what it was. 

 

But this was high level stuff. Planning a brand and how to communicate is something I likely wouldn't touch until much later in my career. Strategic PR as opposed to the technical daily grind of media releases and social media writing. 

It was also a shared process, with key people involved in the communication of the product working together. I think part of the problem with promoting a business or a product is that people have very different ideas about what it is and how it should be done. Sitting down from day one and planning this out will likely help lots with this problem.

 

Ultimately, walking out from that meeting I had a much better understanding of what the new spa range was and what it meant for the business. This would let me communicate the product to people better in future and plan PR activities around the product. I think this will result in a much stronger communications strategy overall.

Starting the day 'happy'

One of the teams at the agency is running a radio campaign for a client.  They have sponsored a daily news program on one of the local radio stations named 'Happy News', where only positive news is featured.  They have asked the office to send in ideas for news topics each morning.  It is a fun and positive way to start my day, looking for 'happy' articles while doing my daily media monitoring. A few of my suggestions made it through to be aired on the program.  I think this is a clever campaign to associate the company with a happy, positive, feel-good image.

Something I have found very useful throughout my internship is that my supervisor often CCs me into her discussions with clients and journalists.  It has been a good way for me to see how she develops and looks after her working relationships.  I can also see how she pitches stories to be published and how she handles awkward or difficult situations.

Interning abroad

I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the students to complete the internship unit abroad.  I am interning at a Public Relations agency based in Kuala Lumpur.  I hope to make the most of this experience.  I hope to work for a multinational company or in an international position, on completion of my degree.  So I hope the contacts I make and the experience I have interning abroad will open up desired opportunities for me in the future.

In the couple of days that I have been here at the consultancy I have already met so many people from various backgrounds and noticed things that differ from the typical Australian working culture.  The working days are quite a bit longer here.  Our hours are 9am to 6pm, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you go home at 6pm.  Most days there is still plenty to do after 6pm and no one is ever in a rush to get home.  I am always impressed by the work ethic of all the employees.  My team leader usually stays past 7pm to miss the traffic and finish off the days’ many tasks.

There is a nice working culture at the agency.  There are four separate teams that work on a handful of clients each.  My team consists of the team leader and one other member, both PR professionals and now myself. 

My team

 Each team takes an hour lunch break together, rather than going one by one.  It is a good way to develop relationships with co-workers and I feel this beneficial for the team work required during work hours.

Staying in Kuala Lumpur for a month and working 9 – 6 Monday to Friday, I feel as if we are getting the real experience of full time public relations work in a different country.  Unlike university, where you have three other units, part time work and a private life all obscuring your focus on an assignment or task at hand, the benefit of working full time have been a more refined focus specifically on the handful of clients your team is responsible for.

Georgia
15560340

Brainstorming and moving forward.

Hello friends,

Week 3: 

In my first blog/week I got to pitch some ideas to our senior management team for our potential sporting/leisure client. In my third week our COO was collating the official pitch for our presentation to the client and asked myself and a few others to expand on the initial ideas. 

I was paired with one of the Brand Executives I hadn't yet worked with, to explain the original concepts Eva and I created, as well as discuss some of his ideas. It was a really great brainstorming session and no matter how big or small the idea, it could be bounced off of one another and potentially expanded.

It reminded me of a PR Consultancy class last year where we learnt and trialled creative brainstorming tactics; one of the tactics was to think of the craziest ideas we could to solve a global problem or issue; if ethics, money and environment were not a factor.

The tactic was designed to teach us that the craziest ideas are often the start of innovative and creative approaches. I found this worked really well for me personally, as there were less restrictions and boundaries in the creative process. I tried to apply this to my thought process when working on the pitch.

We eventually narrowed our brainstorm into a few major ideas and presented these to our COO in a power point presentation accompanied by the relevant target media for every idea.

Our COO collated our team’s ideas to present to the client. I was lucky enough to attend the official presentation, which was extremely beneficial. I had never been on the consultancy side of a professional presentation before, other than in an academic setting so it was interesting to see the delivery and communication style between my senior management team and the client.

During the meeting our client was also given the chance to express more of their wants and expectations. This was a great opportunity to see how we could adapt our thought process and original pitch to create a successful PR plan (if hired).

Well, until next time. 

Hannah 

University Life Lessons

Hi everyone,

Coming up to the half way mark of my 20 day internship with the Emirates Western Force and although I’m contracted for the entire 2013 Super Rugby Season and will be here regardless of the completion of 20 days work or not, I thought I would fill you all in with some of the most rewarding lessons I’ve had thus far.

Firstly, I’ve always cursed group assignments for a number of reasons: weak links in the group, insane workload with limited time span, differing of opinions between members... I can go on forever, but I’ve only recently realized how this has translated into the business environment. Every one of these lessons I’ve experienced firsthand in my short time at RugbyWA, these are all issues that come up on a day to day basis, there is always someone absent and unable to contribute fully, there is always a difference in opinion and most importantly: there is never enough time, everything is required yesterday. Those pains in the #youknowwhat group assignments that have been the bane of our university life have been valuable lessons to prepare us for what the real world will deliver. They prepare us how to cope in a team environment and I have to say, if I hadn’t of gone through that, I wouldn’t be working in a major sporting club where teams are EVERYTHING!

Secondly, always go back to the basics; the amount of times I’ve had to refer back to my notes from either PR media or PR techniques is insane. It’s silly how easily you can forget how to put together a fact sheet/ backgrounder, even now when I’m trying to put together my first media release I keep referring back to the ‘Inverted Pyramid’ slide from one of the first lectures in PR Techniques. In fact the only portion of my degree that I STILL haven’t found any use for is Public Relations Corporate.  

Finally you can never be too prepared for a meeting. On my first day at RugbyWA I was told I would be sitting in on a meeting with The Crusaders agent 2 minutes before the meeting started (For those who don’t know, The Crusaders are an opposition team from New Zealand and their agent is the person who basically looks after the team during their visits). I was in panic mode, I knew nothing about who this guy was, his team’s recent form, or even what the meeting was about. In the end I just ended up sitting lifelessly in the corner, unable to contribute anything more than an odd chuckle here and there (talk about embarrassing!). Thankfully for my second meeting of the day, I was given a one hour ‘heads-up’ before lunch that I would be meeting with the Head of the Australian Rugby Union about an exhibition match in June. I skipped lunch and did as much research as I possibly could and am glad to say that I was able to contribute much more than a simple room echo!

It’s amazing how much you can learn/have to learn in 10 days in the working world. Thanks for reading my second blog contribution in as many days, but I feel I had to commemorate my halfway mark in some way, shape or form J.

Good luck my fellow amigos!

Elliott Telfer

14284115

Review, Edit and Review.

How time goes so fast! I am in my third week at WACOSS and enjoying every moment.

This week has been all about Reviewing, Editing and Reviewing. My job this week is to assist with the Membership Review.  As apart of this review the communications team needed to come up with a survey to send out to WACOSS members. This task allowed the communications team to pinpoint areas that WACOSS felt they needed to improve on.

The Membership Survey was being sent out to over 300 members. The three main areas in which WACOSS wanted gain feedback from included keeping our members informed, how well our members support the WACOSS Social Policy agenda and the availability of access to training and other services WACOSS can provide.

The communications team had to come up with questions to identify the above areas and make sure that the questions we asked gave us valuable feedback that we could use. This would help WACOSS develop strategies and solutions to address member satisfaction.

Completing this task taught me the importance of language and writing. It was important that we used WACOSS terminology so members could clearly understand what was being asked.  There is a ‘fine art’ as my colegeu at WACOSS called to using WACOSS language to speak to our members in anything that is produced in the marketing and communications department.

The survey took numerous edits, reviewing sessions, meetings and a lot of print outs.  But finally , we were able to send out the survey earlier this week. Responses are still coming through and results are not clear yet. I ma excited to see what comes out of this survey and how well members think WACOSS is performing. This tactic is an important part in how WACOSS evaluates there own performance and how they can improves as a member organisation.

Only 1 more week to go at WACOSS and I am going to miss this place and the lovely people I have been working with.

Until next time…

Carla Lo Presti

14283730

Bentley Campus