2. The 'whole' person goes to work every day. Have you ever tried to leave your right arm at home when you go to work in morning? It's a ridiculous suggestion.. Yet that is exactly what we expect of ourselves and those who work for us. This is not about allowing personal issues to interfere with productivity. It's about acknowledging that your whole self shows up. We tend to work a lot harder when we feel heard and acknowledged. Instead of interfering with productivity, it will generally boost productivity.

3. You can demand dignity, but you have to earn respect. There are basic common courtesies that everyone is entitled to. The rest you have to earn. If you think about people that you respect, you will soon realize that you respect them because of who they are and what they do, not because of 'what' they are. They may come to your notice because of their role, but it is their actions that command respect.

4. Your actions speak louder than your words. Specifically, what you reward speaks louder than words. Many business initiatives have failed because management didn't reward behavior it espoused. And what gets rewarded gets repeated. What doesn't get 'punished' is also important in this regard.

Managers, Start Your PR

There’ll never be a better time for a manager working for a business, non-profit or association to ask this question: “Am I getting public relations results I’m paying for -- really important external audience behaviors I need to achieve my department, division or subsidiary objectives?”

If answer is no, better get busy and rebuild that public relations engine.

Best place to look for an answer to your question is foundation on which your public relations effort is based. Are PR people assigned to your unit guided by solid fundamentals rather than mechanics like special events and communications tactics?

Do they really believe that people act on their own perception of facts before them, leading to predictable behaviors about which something can be done? And do they believe that when we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action very people whose behaviors affect organization most, public relations mission is accomplished?

Because that kind of foundation is just what you may need to help persuade those important stakeholders to your way of thinking. And leading directly to results such as new waves of prospects, expanded community support, large, new capital donations, higher employee retention numbers, new engineering firms specifying your components, a boost in membership applications, or a welcome increase in repeat purchases.

I have noticed, however, a tendency for managers to set down rules of engagement, then let things bump along under somebody else. That’s not going to work with your public relations restart. You MUST get personally involved with PR professionals managing your public relations program because they will be dealing with very stakeholders whose behaviors will help determine whether you succeed or fail in your job. And that should be an incentive.

Here’s another reason to keep a keen eye on effort. Chances are that is that this kind of PR restart will be a dramatic departure for your public relations staffers, thus requiring your oversight of decisions affecting both thematics and tactical deployment.

For example, you must stay involved as they list those key external audiences of yours whose behaviors affect your unit most. And again when they prioritize those audiences so that your public relations restart planning begins with target audience YOU believe is #1.

The success of program will depend on how efficiently you and your PR staffers gather certain data. Namely, how members of that key target audience, whose behaviors affect your unit’s success or failure, really perceive you.