I write this post from Dubai, where the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has invited me to speak at a conference called ‘Public Relations in the Age of Dialogue.’ There’s much symbolism here: a great global city, in a region at an extraordinary crossroads between tradition and modernity, hosting a dialogue about a profession undergoing a similarly profound transition.

This change is not limited to the public relations or communication profession. It pervades almost every organization and society – autocratic or democratic — as we adapt to an age in which both internal and external publics have unprecedented access to communication and therefore wield new influence and power. It’s as true on the Arab Street as it is on Wall Street.

It’s worth considering the role for public relations in this ‘age of dialogue.’ One answer comes from the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, which today released a survey of almost 300 leaders of the world’s major PR industry associations. The survey reveals that these leaders see three transformational opportunities for public relations today:

  1. Defining organizational character. If reputation is an absolute measure of how others judge an organization, an authentic and aspirational effort to define its ‘DNA’ or core  character and ways of doing things might be the organization’s way of influencing the factors that build that reputation. Communicators can play a critical role in defining, maintaining, assessing and sustaining an organization’s DNA or core character.
  1. Creating a culture of listening and engagement. The widespread use of digital networks makes communication a richer and yet riskier process than ever before. But today’s tools are only a means to an end: that of embedding a culture of listening and engagement not just in the communications department, but across the organization. Communicators must therefore develop and deploy this culture for the benefit of both the organization and its stakeholders.

  1. Understanding personal, organizational and professional responsibility. Individuals, organizations and professions bear responsibilities to society – bringing ethical and sustainability considerations into the decisions and actions we undertake every day. Understanding responsibility is the first step to gaining credibility. As communicators, we must consider the nature of a communicator’s responsibility today. Which processes can ensure a coherent, yet sustainable, balance of the three spheres?

These roles are critical to the elevation of organizational communication from the popular perception that it’s about ‘spin’ and ‘feel-good’ benefits rather than a discipline that prizes transparency, authenticity and measurable contributions of value to organizations and to society.

The Global Alliance will debate and develop these three themes over the course of the year, culminating in a bold attempt to define a fresh ‘mandate’ for public relations in society at the World Public Relations Forum in Australia this November.

Whether you’re a communicator or a consumer – and of course most of us are both — it’s a debate worth watching, and a dialogue worth joining. This is not only because communication is changing, but also because our organizations and our world are changing as a consequence.

Daniel Tisch, APR, Fellow CPRS is Chair for the Global Alliance for Public Relations & Communication Management

Heidy Modarelli handles Growth & Marketing for IPR. She has previously written for Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, The Next Web, and VentureBeat.
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4 thoughts on “Public Relations in the Age of Dialogue: From the Arab Street to Wall Street, A New Conversation Begins

  1. We are truly looking forward to this dialogue over the next few months and hope as many of our international friends will get involved and also join us for the final discussions in Melbourne in November at the 2012 World Public Relations Forum. Australians love a challenge and the future shape and development of our discipline is one that touches us all.

  2. Dan, we are really at the cross-roads, and in urgent need of rebuilding relationships across boundaries and cultures.

    Reputation is central in any relationship, and this can only be developed and sustain through engagement. Engagement involves talking and listening. Employers and employees must understand each other; organizations and stakeholders must understand each other; and governments must understand each other. PR has a far greater role now than ever before.

    PR professional have the responsibility of helping the relevant stakeholders appreciate the ever increasing need for dialogue (engagement) at all levels of businesses and public governance.

  3. Well stated, Dan. This truly is an exciting time to either be working in public relations or, in the case of my PR students, preparing for that intial foray into the profession.

    Reputation…Engagement…Responsibility…These concepts have always been part and parcel (or SHOULD have been) of the services we provide to clients or employers. But in today’s mega-wired world, those words have taken on a deeper and longer-lasting meaning.

    Although I’m closing slowly in on a half-century of life as a PR professional and now PR professor, I continue to be excited and energized by discussions such as this that promise our chosen way of life as communicators will remain both vibrant and vital.

  4. Congratulations Daniel!

    What an exciting and challenging time for anyone involved in Global Communications. The Transparency, Authenticity and Measurable contributions you mention, but seen through the eyes of so many cultures. Love it.
    I think we all agree that language is key. But language without culture isn’t much of an advantage. Helping clients use the right words to turn products and services into powerful messages, and messages into measurable actions and specific results is the ultimate goal of the appropriate dialogue between businesses and consumers….. and that involves great and timing language translations!.

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