Tag Archives: Dr Johanna Fawkes

A Work-In-Progress – What the first capabilities study says about PR in the UAE (and your role too)

Posted on by
Reply
Anne Gregory co-lead the Global Capability Framework, and she was in Dubai last week to talk about the first ever study in communication capabilities in the UAE

We had a VVIP in Dubai this week (I was going to say VIP, but everyone is a VIP in this town). Someone who, for me at least, is a public relations rockstar. And a person who has done a great deal to promote the function and its development, globally. Anne Gregory is a name you’ve got to remember. She’s been the chair of the CIPR and the Global Alliance. And, along with Johanna Fawkes, she created the Global Capability Framework (GCF).

I’ve reference the GCF before, and why it should matter to anyone who works in or wants to work in communications. Anne was in Dubai to talk about the UAE GCF research; this piece of work, which is being led by Ganga Dhanesh and Gaelle Duthler from Zayed University, is the first ever study to identify the most (and least) important capabilities of public relations and communication management in the country.

Well, the initial results are in. Anne, Gaelle, and Ganga spoke at an open event this Thursday about the initial findings from the study, to uncover which capabilities matter most to UAE practitioners. The results may surprise you.

These are the top ten capabilities required of communicators in the UAE as defined by the industry here

At the top by a mile is reputation, which makes a good deal of sense given we’re reputation builders. However, what I’m not showing here is what’s at the bottom. Among that group is ethics. Given what’s happening globally (think fake news, distrust of the media and PR), as well as regionally (social media manipulation, political disagreements, a lack of media/communications transparency), I’m partly surprised, partly understanding of the irony of communicators not linking these two capabilities more closely.

To ask a simple question, which I’ve asked before of others, would you trust someone who you don’t think is ethical? Clearly, we’ve got to do more on raising the need for the industry to view ethics as something which is important, and bodies such as the PRCA and MEPRA have got to play their part.

At number two, strategy was another standout. Conversely, measurement didn’t make it into the top ten, and was also near to the bottom of capabilities listed. While there’s a realization among many senior communicators on the need to align the function with their organization’s goals, measurement of outcomes matters, especially to our organizational leaders. It’s how we prove our worth.

Out of the top ten, what I also found interesting was the focus on crisis communications (is this driven by social media, I wonder), as well as environment (this means a contextual understand of all the factors we’re dealing with regarding our functions and organizations), and digital (I’d assume this reflects how quickly we’ve become a connected society).

How can you use the Global Capabilities Framework?

Now, what Anne and the University of Huddersfield/the Global Alliance have also done is make available a brilliant tool that lets communicators assess themselves and their teams against the framework. It’ll allow you to look at your skills, see your strengths and weaknesses, and understand where you need to develop and then re-assess yourself to see how you’re progressing.

There’s two assessment levels: the Core capability assessment is comprised of 11 questions, and the Full assessment has a total of 37 questions.

Once you’ve done your assessment, you’ll be shown a simple spider chart like the below.

This tool is free for any organization that is part of the Global Alliance (for example, CIPR). It also feeds into various professional development programs. You can check out the GCF tool here.

That’s all from me today. Do you agree with this list? Or do you disagree? As always, drop me a note, share your views and get engaged!

The Global Capability Framework and how it will raise awareness of our roles as communicators among our HR colleagues

Posted on by
1

The World Public Relations Forum took place last month in Oslo. The event, probably the world’s biggest gathering of international PR professionals, included an announcement by the University of Huddersfield and the Global Alliance on the launch of the Global Capability Framework (GCF).

I’m more than just excited about the GCF. This project, which took two years to complete, defines the capabilities of PR professionals globally (there are country frameworks too for Argentina, Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States). It’s a design that we can all use to better career plan, manage our teams and their development, recruit for the right skills and develop curricula that will help those practicing PR.

The 11 key capabilities identified by the GCF are of universal value to everyone in the profession (image source: Huddersfield Business School)

What’s more exciting is how the team behind the GCF are bringing this framework to life. They’re working with a team of software engineers to create a tool that’ll enable us to assess both individual and collective capabilities and set developmental goals. A sample visual is below.

I’ll admit that a shot of how the tool works doesn’t do it justice. I’ve seen the tool in action, and the possibilities it provides in terms of not only mapping skills and future development, but also transforming development goals into a training plan are inspiring.

What the Global Capability Framework and the tool also provide is an ability to engage with and educate our friends in HR what communications is. To paraphrase Dr Anne Gregory, Professor of Corporate Communication at the University of Huddersfield and director of the project, we have a capability framework that can be applied globally; reflects cultural and regional variations in public relations as a profession; and is forward looking in its approach which can be used by both global academic and practitioner communities.

What this means is that for the first time, our colleagues in HR have a resource that maps out everything they need to hire communicators, to train communicators, and to develop them over the long term. They also have a tool which will measure progress.

Why does this matter? I’ve often found that the functions we work with, such as Human Resources, don’t know what we do well enough. And yet they’re defining our function for us, they’re writing our job descriptions, they’re involved in hiring, and they’re measuring our success. We’re now talking their language, with a framework which has been developed both both academics and practitioners. The GCF will also help to standardize teaching for future generations of PR professionals.

It’s always been a tragic irony that the world’s community of communicators have struggled to explain exactly what they do and how they do it to their colleagues, particularly in HR and also in management. We now have the means to educate the people we work alongside in Human Resources. Our next challenge is how to educate those above us on our contributions to the organizations we work for.

Thank you to Professor Anne Gregory, Dr Johanna Fawkes, Dr Elizabeth Montoya-Martinez and Dr Royce Turner at the University of Huddersfield in the UK, to Argentina’s Professor Gabriel Sadi, Australia’s Dr Marianne Sison and Dr Katharina Wolf, Canada’s Dr Amy Thurlow and Dr Alex Sevigny, Singapore’s Professor Gregor Half, Spain’s Professor Elena Gutierrez-Garcia, South Africa’s Professor Ronel Rensburg, Sweden’s Professor Jesper Falkheimer and America’s Professor Katerina Tsetsura for all the work and time you’ve put into this. I believe the impact that this work will have on the industry is immense. I’m looking forward to using the GCF tool and helping others better understand what we do.

For more information on the GCF, you can download the complete capability framework and individual frameworks from the University of Huddersfield here.