Would you like to be an organization that attracts and retains interns and volunteers?

Why are some organizations more successful than others in attracting and retaining 'volunteers,' or 'interns'? I'm going to answer that question by relating a personal experience I had working for a Fortune 500 company. One of the first volunteers I had the pleasure of working with was a student named Ellen. The company I was working for at the time had established a good rapport with colleges and universities throughout the United States. These institutions were the company’s chief source of “volunteers.” “Could you use a student intern for the summer?” the company headquarters asked. “Yes!” I said instantly. “I have at least a dozen projects for a good project coordinator.” “Could a student handle the work?” asked headquarters. “I happen to have a job description. I’ll fax it to you and you can have the student decide for herself if she can handle it,” I replied. Now think about this. A person was volunteering help. And I was ready to accept it (1). I had a list of tasks (2). I had a job description (3), and even a job title (4). Before the student reported for work, I alerted her co-workers that we were going to have an intern (5). I didn’t want anyone to feel threatened by a new person. In fact, I asked members of my staff to conduct parts of the student’s orientation (6). When the student reported for work, she was introduced to co-workers (7). She was given a work area (8). And the work area was set up with all the tools she needed to do her job (9). We gave her a schedule for her first day (10). It included a tour of the facility (11) and time to look over a list of people (12) she would be working with. The list identified who the people were, why they were important to her, and it had their phone numbers. There also was time on the schedule for her to read publications describing our operation (13). As a volunteer, she was interested in gaining job experience to list in her resume that would eventually help her get established in the job market. With the job title we gave her, she could say on her resume that she worked one summer as project coordinator for a Fortune 500 company. There was no question in her mind about what we expected her to do. The job description identified who she reported to, what standards were expected, how her internship was to contribute to our overall goals, and it outlined 12 specific assignments. When I reviewed it with her, I asked about her professional ambitions (14) and explained how her assignments would contribute to her personal goals (15). I said to myself at the time, if she completes half of the 12 assignments, it would be quite an accomplishment for an intern and of significant value to the company. During the internship, we gave our volunteer periodic critiques (16) of her work and personal written notes of praise that she could attach to her resume (17). Work was always delegated (18). People want to be given an assignment with all the information, authority, support and resources to get the job done (19). And they want to be recognized and rewarded for good work when it is deserved (20). To my delight, Ellen completed all 12 assignments in an outstanding manner. And guess what? I just gave you 20 ways to be an organization that attracts and retains interns and volunteers.

Why Are All PR Objectives Objectionable?

Well, not all public relations objectives are objectionable, just the ones you and I didn’t write. That’s probably a more accurate statement. Every public relations practitioner, agency and institute of learning has its own way of writing objectives for a plan, proposal or campaign. Students who graduate with a degree in public relations can expect to be confronted early on the job by a supervisor who says, “That’s not how we write objectives.” Such a statement reveals three things: one, that in practice, we acknowledge that there are different ways to write objectives; two, that various entities have preferences for how objectives should be written; three, that some entities believe that their way is the only way to write an objective. Let’s look at objectives taken from a PRSA Silver Anvil award-winning plan to see if they are acceptable or objectionable. Here’s one: Objective: Convince investors that management’s strategy to gain back market share would work. As a plan reviewer I would want to know if the target of this objective is existing or potential investors or both. Next, I would try to view it from a cost/benefit standpoint. I am expected to approve an expenditure for convincing investors, but what is the benefit? What could I expect investors to do as a result of being convinced that management’s strategy to gain back market share would work? How does this objective contribute toward achieving the plan’s goal? I don’t see a stated benefit. If a benefit is not stated, how could I determine any return on investing in this objective? Here’s another one: Objective: Gain longer-term support from moderate growth investors to justify a higher valuation. The proposed action is to gain longer-term support, in other words to get shareholders to hold onto the stock. The target is investors with moderate growth goals. The purpose of the objective is to show others that moderate growth investors must be retaining shares because they have reason to believe the stock is undervalued or worth more than the current market price. To survive cost/benefit scrutiny, maybe the objective should be written this way: To convince investors with moderate growth goals to retain the company’s stock for a longer time so that their retention of shares will suggest to other investors that the stock is worth more than the market price and that there might even be some growth potential in its value. As I said, we all have our own ideas of how to write objectives. So I will end this blog with my rules for writing objectives. 1) An objective should have three parts: It should tell 1) what must be done; 2) with whom, 3) and how it contributes toward accomplishment of the plan’s goal. a. Part I. Tells what must be done. The action must be stated and preceded by the word “to,” used in the sense of producing or causing a result, to form an infinitive phrase. Example: To provide… b. Part II. Tells with whom an action is to be taken. An objective should always include a target audience because nothing can be accomplished without some form of human involvement. c. Part III. Tells how taking an action with a particular target audience is expected to contribute toward the achievement of a plan’s goal. d. Example of an objective: To show industry analysts the company’s latest application of cost-saving technology so they will be motivated to publish “buy” recommendations for the company’s stock. e. In other words, an objective should have an action, receiver of the action and desired behavior of the receiver as a result of the action. 2) An objective should be measureable; it must include a desired outcome that can be measured. That is not to say that it should specify a means of measurement; it should be stated in a way that enables measurement. 3) An objective must be achievable; it must aim at a result that is possible to obtain cost effectively. 4) An objective may include a target date or deadline; however, that information is easier to review and assess when presented in a plan's timeline. 5) An objective should include only aims over which the plan developer has complete control; goals for sales, return on investment and employee productivity, for example, involve factors that are the responsibility of management areas over which public relations has no control.

Creativity in Public Relations Planning

Public relations and creativity have certain characteristics in common. One is that both have eluded definition since their inceptions. Neither one has a single, authoritative perspective or definition. Research has identified more than 500 different definitions of public relations. As for creativity, the ways in which societies have perceived the concept have changed throughout history, as has the term itself. Despite the ambiguity and multi-dimensional nature of public relations and creativity, the two concepts are inextricably associated and, together, act as a powerful force in influencing human behavior. Another common characteristic of public relations and creativity is that they are mental and social processes involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Both are fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight. An alternative characteristic is that both are appreciated for the simple act of making something new or simply spawning something that had not been considered. Intuitively, public relations and creativity would seem to be quite simple phenomena; however, both in fact, are complex and deliver quantifiable but never absolutely predictable outcomes. So how does creativity manifest itself in the practice of public relations? This is such a sweeping question that books could be devoted to answering it. Let’s narrow the focus to the application of creativity in the public relations planning process. Specifically, we can look at creativity as it applies to writing the 10 components of a public relations plan or proposal. Introductory Statement The introductory statement or summary of a plan is the plan developer’s first opportunity to instill in plan reviewers confidence that the developer or the planning team has a solid grasp of the problem, challenge, opportunity or situation as a designer, a skilled agent of making things happen. Did you catch the key word “designer?” To be regarded at the start of a plan with the stature of a designer would be a high compliment to a plan developer because it would recognize the developer as a professional. Such confidence derives from introductory statements written in clear, concise, simple, coherent language. Errors in accuracy, omissions of facts, and abuses of plain English immediately undermine impressions of a plan developer’s competence. It would not be an exaggeration to say that reviewers await plans with high expectations of right brain activity, genius or divine inspiration. Consider the introductory statement a handshake, first impression, connection of mutual respect. The introductory statement should cause a plan reviewer to think with confidence, “I know the task at hand and so do you.” Situation Analysis What role does creativity play in a plan’s situation analysis? The analysis is best presented in story form, right from the beginning, the way a situation has unfolded and led to the need for public relations action. What could be more creative than telling a story? You know what it means to embellish a story. Well, that’s what needs to be done here. Describe the situation in detail and embellish the story with information that provides overall context, with research or recommendations for research that validates what is known or needs to be known, and a thoughtful analysis that provides a foundation for the other components of a plan. In-depth information here signals plan reviewers that you have full understanding of, strong interest in, and unquestionable commitment to the job at hand. Goal What about a plan’s goal? How does creativity figure into developing a goal? At this point you go from analyzing to synthesizing---bringing all the pieces of the situation analysis together into a single, declarative statement. You have investigated. You have thought about the situation from every angle, and now you create a single goal. The study of creative thought underlying this synthesizing process belongs to the domains of psychology and cognitive science. Call it critical thinking, because an error in determining an appropriate goal would invalidate an entire plan or proposal. The goal is the rallying point for every component of a plan and can be assessed, ultimately, by asking, Did we achieve this state of being or condition or not? Focus Public relations plans focus on people. To determine the focal points or target audiences or publics of a plan requires a selection process. However, the process needs to be more than logical selection by association with the problem, opportunity, challenge or situation. The process can be made most effective by thinking intuitively about individuals, groups, and organizations and how they might be related to the subject of a particular plan. Using one’s intuition in this way is a dimension of creativity. To adequately identify and describe a target of a plan requires the ability to place oneself in the positions of others, to see what others see, to feel the way others feel. Empathizing, which is what is being described, is the amazing human maneuver of mentally walking in someone else’s shoes. To plan to influence the behavior of others you must know the subjects from the inside out. Objectives The objectives of a plan describe what must be done with the plan’s target audiences or publics to accomplish the plan’s goal. Another aspect of creativity comes into play in the writing of objectives. Creativity is an "assumptions-breaking process." Creative ideas are often generated when one discards preconceived assumptions and attempts a new approach or method that might even seem unthinkable to others. An objective has three components: 1) an action; 2) receiver of the action; 3) and a desired behavior of the receiver as a result of the action. The first component is one of a plan’s most overlooked places for creativity. Typical of many objectives, the first component so often is an ordinary action, such as To inform, To convince, To provide, To educate. There are, of course, many creative ways to grab people’s attention. Actions could be To surprise, To raise curiosity, To violate expectations, To disrupt a pattern, To create a gap of knowledge, To subvert a traditional schema, To tap into, To present consequences, To simulate, To inspire, To provoke. Think of it this way. What do you have to do to get your target audience to drop its ear buds and pay attention? Strategies and Activities or Tactics The strategy component of a plan is a creative platform. Strategies describe how objectives are to be accomplished; activities or tactics explain how the strategies are to be carried out. There are many different ways to develop strategies. One might be to learn from the successful lessons of others. Another might be to uncover, through research, ideas not thought of by others. Another might be to derive ideas from brainstorming sessions. In public relations, human behavior is influenced by strategic communication. Keep in mind; however, that what influences society’s behavior has evolved over the years. People today are in search of meaning and purpose. To be effective, strategies must be more than a simple nudge from Point A to Point B. Strategies must have meaning to people in order to be influential. So when you are developing strategies, you must describe what must be done to make them influential. If your strategy is to entertain individuals with a dinner party, for example, it is essential to describe how you will make the dinner experience meaningful enough to influence your guests to react according to your strategy. Meaning and purpose are motivators and both can be leveraged with creativity. This discussion of creativity in public relations planning will be in the second edition of my book, Writing Winning Proposals, which currently is "under construction." We can say that creativity is an individual character trait, but can we also say that some individuals can learn to be creative when they are shown where creativity can be applied?