Reading the latest edition of PR Week I was struck by the mixed messages for comms professionals as they begin to wind down for Christmas and consider the year ahead.
Half full or half empty?
It appears that, for communicators in business and industry, the glasses of champagne will be flowing over at their Christmas drinks as PR Week ‘predicts year of growth’, reporting on the findings of the latest Public Relations Consultant’s Association (PRCA) Leaders’ Panel.
Meanwhile, public sector colleagues will be drowning their sorrows in their dregs of mulled wine as the front page headline heralds big cuts in public sector comms in a ‘£3bn savings drive’ announced as part of the pre-budget review.
There is always a lag between the real economy and the public sector economy, with three year spending reviews setting public sector budgets years ahead. That difference is going to become quite stark over the next few years as the efforts to revive the economy get businesses spending again while public sector budgets are cut to pay off the costs of those efforts.
While we all know that public sector spending is about to take a massive hit, we don’t yet know what it will mean for public sector comms.
Reflecting on this week’s industry optimism, PR Week’s editor, Danny Rogers, says in his leader that “The consensus is that public relations survived the recession because clients are regarding it as an essential board-level discipline”. That is certainly true; in all sectors comms has grown in stature over recent years and is now recognised as a strategic function that requires a seat at the board table.
The capability, capacity and senior level representation of comms functions in the public sector has grown immensely in recent years. I’ve seen it first hand in the NHS. So, in the same way that public relations was seen to have survived the recession because it has become an essential board level discipline, will it survive the public spending cuts for the same reason?
I’d like to think so. If spending reductions are going to be made through efficiencies, spreading of best practice and innovations, then comms has a vital role to play in explaining and engaging the public and staff in the creative approaches and tough decisions that need to be made. But if the money is going to be saved by ‘salami-slicing’ style cuts, then I think comms could be set back a long way.
One of the reasons we saw such an increase in the resourcing and stature of public sector comms over the last decade was that the government not only wanted to improve public services by making significant investments, they wanted everyone to know about the investment and improvements. They wanted reputations maintained and improvements communicated. But if we have a period of drastic cuts in public services, a symbolic slash and burn, will there be any reputations to maintain? Will there be any desire to engage staff and the public in decision making if all the options are bad news?
I’m confident that public sector communicators, like their private sector counterparts, can weather the current storm. We face challenging times, but are well placed to help lead our organisations through them. Public sector communicators need to stay on the front foot, showing our worth at the boardroom table and, as argued here before, looking at how we can deliver greater efficiency and effectiveness ourselves, as well as supporting our organisations to do the same.
Glass half full or empty?
Reading the latest edition of PR Week I was struck by the mixed messages for comms professionals as they begin to wind down for Christmas and consider the year ahead.
Half full or half empty?
It appears that, for communicators in business and industry, the glasses of champagne will be flowing over at their Christmas drinks as PR Week ‘predicts year of growth’, reporting on the findings of the latest Public Relations Consultant’s Association (PRCA) Leaders’ Panel.
Meanwhile, public sector colleagues will be drowning their sorrows in their dregs of mulled wine as the front page headline heralds big cuts in public sector comms in a ‘£3bn savings drive’ announced as part of the pre-budget review.
There is always a lag between the real economy and the public sector economy, with three year spending reviews setting public sector budgets years ahead. That difference is going to become quite stark over the next few years as the efforts to revive the economy get businesses spending again while public sector budgets are cut to pay off the costs of those efforts.
While we all know that public sector spending is about to take a massive hit, we don’t yet know what it will mean for public sector comms.
Reflecting on this week’s industry optimism, PR Week’s editor, Danny Rogers, says in his leader that “The consensus is that public relations survived the recession because clients are regarding it as an essential board-level discipline”. That is certainly true; in all sectors comms has grown in stature over recent years and is now recognised as a strategic function that requires a seat at the board table.
The capability, capacity and senior level representation of comms functions in the public sector has grown immensely in recent years. I’ve seen it first hand in the NHS. So, in the same way that public relations was seen to have survived the recession because it has become an essential board level discipline, will it survive the public spending cuts for the same reason?
I’d like to think so. If spending reductions are going to be made through efficiencies, spreading of best practice and innovations, then comms has a vital role to play in explaining and engaging the public and staff in the creative approaches and tough decisions that need to be made. But if the money is going to be saved by ‘salami-slicing’ style cuts, then I think comms could be set back a long way.
One of the reasons we saw such an increase in the resourcing and stature of public sector comms over the last decade was that the government not only wanted to improve public services by making significant investments, they wanted everyone to know about the investment and improvements. They wanted reputations maintained and improvements communicated. But if we have a period of drastic cuts in public services, a symbolic slash and burn, will there be any reputations to maintain? Will there be any desire to engage staff and the public in decision making if all the options are bad news?
I’m confident that public sector communicators, like their private sector counterparts, can weather the current storm. We face challenging times, but are well placed to help lead our organisations through them. Public sector communicators need to stay on the front foot, showing our worth at the boardroom table and, as argued here before, looking at how we can deliver greater efficiency and effectiveness ourselves, as well as supporting our organisations to do the same.