Leadership Study Results: Largest-ever Global Study of Leadership in Communication Management Reveals Digital, Gender, Generational and Skills Shifts
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The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations conducted a cross-cultural leadership study of current issues facing public relations leaders. Dr. Bruce Berger, who served as chief investigator for a team of 28 researchers, carried out the largest-ever global study of leadership in communication management. Dr. Berger presented the results at the 2013 PRSA International Conference. The study revealed digital, gender, generational and skill shifts.
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Leadership Study Results: Largest-ever Global Study of Leadership in Communication Management Reveals Digital, Gender, Generational and Skills Shifts
- 1. Global Leadership Study Reveals Digital, Gender, Generational and Skills Shifts PRSA International Conference Philadelphia, PA (October 28, 2013) February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 1
- 2. Presenters Bruce Berger, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Alabama Keith Burton, Partner, Brunswick Group Gary McCormick, APR & Fellow PRSA, HGTV Prof. Maria Russell, APR & Fellow PRSA, Syracuse University February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 2
- 3. Agenda Betsy Plank and leadership (Gary) Study overview and demographics (Bruce) The top 10 issues (Gary) Generational variations (Keith) Development of future leaders (Maria) Gender perspectives (Maria & Gary) Leadership model and index (Bruce) Discussion (Keith) February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 3
- 4. The Plank Center For Leadership in PR Created in 2005 by UA Trustees Named for Betsy Plank (1924-2010) Led by national board of 24 execs & educators Mission carried out through: Awards programs and scholarships Video interviews with leaders Webinars for educators, students Platform online magazine Educator summer fellowships Annual mentorship banquet & awards Leadership research Mission: Help develop and recognize excellent PR leaders and role models in practice and the classroom, and bridge the gap between education and practice. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 4
- 5. Why is leadership important? Because leaders… Make important decisions Shape organizational culture Affect communication climate Represent the ―face‖ of the organization Influence employee attitudes and perceptions February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 5
- 6. Employee perceptions & leadership Formal Media 15% Leadership 55% Job/Work Processes 30% Jim Shaffer, 2001 February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 6
- 7. Global Study of Leadership in Public Relations and Communication Management Study Overview and Demographics February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 7
- 8. The big picture What are the key issues in the field? How are they managed? How do they affect leadership roles and practices? How can we better develop future leaders? What can we learn from culturally diverse professionals? Note: We researched answers to these questions with 1) an online survey of practitioners and 2) depth interviews with 137 leaders. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 8
- 9. Scope of the Global Study November 2011 – July 2012 8 9 23 Large Economies Languages Countries 28 Researchers 4,484 Participants February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 9
- 10. Participants by Global Regions 488 Asia Chinese-speaking countries, India, S. Korea 1% Other 672 Latin America Brazil, Chile, Mexico 827 U.S. 2,477 Europe German-speaking countries, Latvia/Estonia, Russia, Spain, U.K. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 10
- 11. Basic Demographics (4,484) Gender 48.3% 51.7% Note: The gender mix varied greatly among countries, ranging from +70% female in Brazil, Russia and Latvia/Estonia, to 43-48% female in Germany, U.K. and U.S. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 11
- 12. Basic Demographics Age > 55 years 46-55 years 36-45 years < 36 years 0% February 27, 2014 5% 10% 15% 20% The Plank Center 25% 30% 35% 12
- 13. Basic Demographics Education Major Study Area Humanities PR, Corp/Strategic Comm Journalism Business Comm/Media Studies Social Sciences Advertising, Marketing Others 16.5% 16.4% 12.1% 12.0% 11.0% 9.1% 5.6% 17.3% 50% MA/MS 30% BA/BS 9% Ph.D. 7% Other 4% High School February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 13
- 14. Basic Demographics Type Organization 20% Public company 21% Private/state run 24% Nonprofit 23% Agency Self-employed, other February 27, 2014 12% The Plank Center 14
- 15. Basic Demographics Years experience & work unit size Years Experience < 11 years 35.3% 11-20 years > 20 years 39.5% 25.1% Work Unit Size (number of professionals) <5 37.8% February 27, 2014 5-15 35.8% The Plank Center 16-25 > 25 8.6% 17.7% 15
- 16. Basic Demographics Reporting Level Top Leaders Level 1 39.7% 34.4% Levels 2-5 25.9% February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 16
- 17. Integrated Model Of excellent leadership in PR Model Self attributes Self-dynamics Organizational Structure and Culture Shared vision Team Collaboration Ethical Orientation Internal Relations Relationship Building Excellent Leadership in PR February 27, 2014 Strategic DecisionMaking Capability External Relations Communication Knowledge MGT The Plank Center 17
- 18. Global Study of Leadership in Public Relations and Communication Management The Top 10 Issues in the Field February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 18
- 19. 10 Big Issues in the Field (1-7 scale) The Top 3 Speed and volume of information flow 5.88 Dealing with crises 5.76 5.75 Digital revolution, rise of SM February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 19
- 20. 10 Big Issues in the Field 1. 2. 3. Speed and volume of information flow (5.88) Dealing with crises (5.76) Digital revolution, rise of SM (5.75) 5.49 5.49 5.34 5.25 February 27, 2014 Employee engagement Measurement of communication effectiveness Demands for transparency Finding, retaining top talent The Plank Center 20
- 21. 10 Big Issues in the Field 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Speed and volume of information flow (5.88) Dealing with crises (5.76) Digital revolution, rise of SM (5.75) Employee engagement (5.49) Measurement of communication effectiveness (5.49) Demands for transparency (5.34) Finding, retaining top talent (5.25) 5.10 4.83 4.47 February 27, 2014 Corporate social responsibility Communicating in diverse cultures Image of PR profession The Plank Center 21
- 22. The Most Important Issue Speed and volume of information flow 23.1% n= 1,029 Digital revolution 15.3% n= 684 Measurement of communication 12.2% n= 547 Dealing with crises 11.9% n= 532 February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 22
- 23. The Most Important Issue Transparency 8.4% n= 375 Employee engagement 7.9% n= 354 Finding, retaining top talent 7.5% n= 337 February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 23
- 24. The Most Important Issue Corporate social responsibility 6.1% n= 274 Diverse cultures 5.3% n= 239 Professional image 2.5% n= 112 February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 24
- 25. Some Demographics of Issues By Country/Region Finding Talent China, India and Russia ranked this as most important #1 or #2 issue. Measurement Brazil, Chile, India, Mexico, South Korea and UK ranked this as most important #1 or #2 issue. Transparency Brazil, Chile and South Korea rated it highest; Germany, Russia and UK the lowest. CSR February 27, 2014 India, Spain, UK and US gave it the lowest ratings; Latin American countries rated it highest. The Plank Center 25
- 26. The digital revolution transforms practice and leaders worldwide, but it’s not the only big issue. Theme February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 1 26
- 27. Global Study of Leadership in Public Relations and Communication Management Generational Variations February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 27
- 28. Workplaces today are multigenerational February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 28
- 29. This means differing values, characteristics Veterans Boomers Gen X Millennials patriotic dependable conformist respectful rigid work ethic conservative workaholic idealistic competitive loyal materialistic values titles self-fulfillment self-reliant adaptable cynical distrusting resourceful entrepreneurial tech-savvy entitled optimistic impatient team oriented work-life balance multitasking close to parents Ron Alsop, The Trophy Kids Grow Up, 2008 February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 29
- 30. Our study confirms some differences < 36 age group in the global study: Rated speed of info flow and digital revolution lower than older age groups Rated measurement and PR image significantly higher than other age groups. Gave highest ratings to 3 leadership dimensions: --communication skills/knowledge --vision for communication --supportive organizational culture and structure February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 30
- 31. Our study confirms some differences < 36 age group in the global study: Gave significantly higher ratings than other age groups to 9 of 12 development approaches, especially: --require accreditation --improve measurement skills --associations work together to improve leadership --manage stress. Expressed most optimism about future of PR. Gave significantly lower scores to preference for working for a male boss. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 31
- 32. But the biggest headline is leadership and culture for communication Three survey statements reflect factors in a culture for communication: • The highest ranking PR professional in my organization is an excellent leader. • My organization encourages and practices 2-way communication. • The CEO or top executive in my organization understands the value of PR. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 32
- 33. Overall results are disappointing… Modest ratings of leaders and culture: The highest ranking PR professional in my organization is an excellent leader. 4.66 My organization encourages and practices 4.67 two-way communication. The CEO or top executive in my organization understands the value of PR. 5.16 Note: Participants were asked to what extent they agreed with each statement. 1 = very little extent, 7 = a great extent. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 33
- 34. Younger, lower-level practitioners were most critical Hierarchy PR leader performance 2-way comm. CEO values PR PR leaders 5.32 5.05 5.41 1-level below leader 4.28 4.48 5.11 2-5 levels below leader 4.14 4.35 4.86 Note: Participants were asked to what extent they agreed with each statement. 1 = very little extent, 7 = a great extent. All differences were significant: p<.01. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 34
- 35. The future of PR is all about me, me, me! Anonymous Millennial Theme February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 2 35
- 36. Global Study of Leadership in Public Relations and Communication Management Developing Future Leaders—12 Approaches February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 36
- 37. 3 people skills were rated most important (1-7 scale) 1. Strengthen change management skills and capabilities 2. Improve the listening skills of professionals 3. Enhance conflict management skills February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 5.67 5.51 5.51 37
- 38. other approaches were important: 5 4. Develop better measures to document value 5.34 5. Strengthen the business component of education 6. Increase cultural understanding and sensitivity 7. Enhance skills to cope with stress 5.10 5.06 8. Enhance the emotional intelligence of professionals February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 5.26 5.05 38
- 39. 4 other approaches were much less important: 9. Impose tough penalties on ethical violators 4.51 10. Urge associations to work together to develop leaders 11. Develop a global education curriculum 4.24 12. Require professional accreditation or licensing February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 4.37 3.90 39
- 40. Factor analysis yielded two factors Factor 1: Self-Development Approaches • • • • • • February 27, 2014 Improve listening skills Enhance emotional intelligence Enhance conflict management skills Increase cultural understanding, sensitivity Strengthen change management skills Enhance skills to cope with stress The Plank Center 40
- 41. Factor analysis yielded two factors Factor 2: Systemic Development Approaches • • • • • • February 27, 2014 Require accreditation, licensing Develop a global education curriculum Penalize ethical violators Develop better measures Strengthen business education Urge associations to work together to develop leaders The Plank Center 41
- 42. Preparing leaders for the future means focusing on 1. Software or soft skills of people • Increase reflection and self insights • Improve interpersonal skills for conflict, change management • Create greater awareness of others, cultures 2. Hardware or professional and educational structures • Improve measurement skills and standards • Bring ethical codes to life • Increase knowledge of business, global environment February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 42
- 43. Soft skills and selfinsights are the Gold Standard for future leaders. Theme February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 3 43
- 44. Global Study of Leadership in Public Relations and Communication Management Gender Perspectives on Leadership February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 44
- 45. Men and women alike… Women and men are equally capable leaders (F=6.47, M=6.53 on a 7.0 scale*) I prefer to work for a male boss (F=5.09, M=5.41) I’m positive about the future of PR (F=5.17, M=5.15) I learn more about leadership from role models & mentors than from education or training (F=5.14, M=5.12) *The scale captured the extent to which participants agreed with the statements, where ―1‖ equals ―strongly disagree‖ with, and ―7‖ equals ―strongly agree‖ with. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 45
- 46. Men and women alike… Ranked the top 10 issues in more or less the same order Gave high ratings to all 7 leadership dimensions and ordered them more or less the same: Highest 2: strategic decision making, comm. knowledge mgmt. Lowest 2: ethical orientation, organizational culture Emphasized the need for soft skills in the future; ranked the 12 approaches in similar order Gave similar ratings to issue strategies and tactics February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 46
- 47. But profiles are different… Women in the study • • • • • Men in the study Younger (70% < 45) Less experience (44% < 11 yrs ) Lower levels (33% top leaders) Small teams (60%--5 or fewer) Work for nonprofits, private companies • Major in public relations (20%), humanities • 60-80% of participants in Brazil, China, Chile, Latvia, Russi a February 27, 2014 • • • • • Older (70% > 45) More experience (26% < 11 yrs) Higher levels (45% top leaders) Larger teams (60%--25 or more) Work for agencies, public companies • Major in business, social sciences, natural sciences • 50-55% of participants in India, South Korea, Germany, UK, US The Plank Center 47
- 48. And perceptions differ… Professional women in the study Rated all 10 issues higher than men—8 significantly higher. (Esp. PR image, measurement and transparency) Rated all 12 development approaches significantly higher. (Esp. emotional IQ, conflict mgmt., listening and stress mgmt.) Rated all 7 dimensions of leadership significantly higher. (Esp. vision, ethical orientation and org culture & structure) Rated their interpersonal communication skills significantly lower than men rated them. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 48
- 49. And perceptions differ… Professional men in the study Considered themselves to be leaders significantly more often. Expressed desire to be a leader significantly more often. Preferred to work for a male boss significantly more often. Rated the performance of the senior communication leader significantly higher than women. Rated CEO’s understanding of value of PR significantly higher. Rated the presence of 2-way communication in their organizations significantly higher. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 49
- 50. What’s going on? Are these female-male variations due to: Different socialization experiences? Different requirements for women vs. men to ascend to communication leadership positions? Different visions for the practice of leadership in PR? Expectations of women (and men?) that women must ―do more‖ to become leaders, e.g., get more education or training? The roles and responsibilities of leadership seem different to women because their journey is more difficult? February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 50
- 51. Men and women: Same destination, different journey. Theme February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 4 51
- 52. Global Study of Leadership in Public Relations and Communication Management Leadership Model and Index February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 52
- 53. Integrated Model Of excellent leadership in PR Model Developed and tested this conceptual model: Self attributes Self-dynamics Organizational Structure and Culture Shared vision Team Collaboration Ethical Orientation Internal Relations Relationship Building Excellent Leadership in PR February 27, 2014 Strategic DecisionMaking Capability External Relations Communication Knowledge MGT The Plank Center 53
- 54. Leadership and a Culture for Communication Our organizational statements reflect factors in a culture for communication: • The highest ranking PR professional in my organization is an excellent leader • My organization encourages and practices 2-way communication • The CEO or top executive in my organization understands the value of PR We summed the mean scores for these statements for each country/region. February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 54
- 55. Country/Region Number Mean S.D. India 129 16.37 3.58 Mexico 172 15.22 4.75 Chinese-speaking countries 131 14.86 4.23 United States 707 14.76 4.50 Latvia/Estonia 125 14.71 3.91 German-speaking countries 1569 14.69 4.03 Spain 186 14.46 4.87 United Kingdom 124 14.32 4.09 Chile 135 13.81 4.43 Russia 194 13.64 4.58 South Korea 204 13.41 2.06 Brazil 255 13.02 Summated Leadership Index* 4.59 Total: February 27, 2014 3,944 14.50 4.25 Number Mean *The reliability test (Cronbach’s alpha) was .66, just below the criterion of .70. Dropping the third statement raised the alpha to .70. We kept it in. The ANOVA test showed a significant F-value: 8.09 S.D. The Plank Center 55
- 56. Digital drives, but the transformation enfolds a set of deep changes. Theme February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 5 56
- 57. Leaders and our future ―The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.‖ John C. Maxwell, 2001 February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 57
- 58. The Sensemakers: Leaders in Public Relations A global study of leadership in public relations and communication management Edited by Bruce K. Berger and Juan Meng Spring 2014, Routledge February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 58
- 59. The Plank Center For Leadership in Public Relations http://plankcenter.ua.edu/ Thank You February 27, 2014 The Plank Center 58
Editor's Notes
- Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today. We’re delighted to speak with you about the crucial topic of leadership in public relations, and to share with you some of the results of a large global study sponsored by the Plank Center, Heyman Associates, and IBM.Leadership is one of the profession’s most valuable present and future assets. It is vital human capital that too often seems overlooked, or simply taken for granted in research and practice. We’re going to give it a sharp focus today.
- Our presentation team includes four board members of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama. Keith, Gary and Maria are well known and respected leaders in our field, and therefore a perfect group to discuss leadership. As we go through the presentation, I encourage you to reflect upon yourself as a leader, and your own experiences and insights. We hope you’ll share your thoughts in our discussion period because we all have a stake in the leadership challenge in PR.
- Here’s our agenda. The global study is the largest study of leadership in the field ever conducted. It is rich with information and findings, and we are going to focus on four of about 10 intriguing themes, or areas of findings. We’ll first take a look at who participated in the study, then the top issues in the field. We’ll next highlight some generational variations, 12 approaches to developing future leaders, and gender perspectives. We’ll close with a brief look at a leadership model and index that we developed. We’ll have time for your thoughts at the end.To get us started, Gary McCormick, past president of PRSA and a very close friend and colleague of Betsy Plank, is going to say a few words about Betsy and leadership.
- Note to Gary: You can ignore what follows here. It’s just what I’ve used in the past. Your words are far more eloquent.The Center is named for Betsy Plank, a UA graduate who is often called the First Lady of Public Relations in the U.S. She entered the field in 1945 when more than 95% of professionals, and all of the leaders, were male. She opened many doors for women in the field. She was the first woman in the profession to be a corporate director. She was the first woman to be named president of PRSA. She was the first woman to be named co-chair of the national PR Education commission. The first lady or man to win the top three awards in the PR field in the U.S. … And she was a founder of the PRSSA and a passionate advocate for PR students, PR education and PR research.The Center is guided and directed by a national advisory board of 24 leading PR executives and educators, and seeks to achieve its mission through various programs and approaches listed here.
- We all know, and have experienced, that leaders of organizations, work units, and professions touch our work and social lives in many ways—through their strategic decisions, their affects on organizational culture and communication climate, and their influences on our attitudes, beliefs , actions, and performance, among many others.
- As Jim Shaffer found, what leaders say and do has far more influence on how we see our organizations, and what we think about them, and perhaps even what we tell others about them, than does what we do or experience in our work, or what an organization’s many formal communications convey to us. The impact of formal media is quite modest, though we spend a great deal of time with it as practitioners. Our teams and work units have more impact, but leaders exert the greatest influence on how we understand and feel about our work and company.
- The Plank Center has consistently focused on leadership research. Since 2006, 22 studies have been completed around a variety of leadership topics. These have been important studies, but modest in scope and focused solely on the US. We decided 18 months ago to take a much bigger look at leadership in public relations. After all, we live and practice in a high speed, complexly interconnected global world. We wanted a global picture to better understand what’s happening in practice, as well as the changing context for practice. We also wanted to know if the leadership model we have been developing had any value or meaning outside of the US.So we took a big look at the much bigger picture of our practice globally.
- The 5 research questions listed here guided our work. Understanding issues is important because they provide context for practice. In a recent Harvard Business Review, James Rosebush claimed that great leaders are in short supply today because the “context” of leadership has changed dramatically. Leaders no longer have superior information access and control, and institutions are no longer revered. So we wanted to closely examine issues in the field to better understand context, learn what strategies and tactics leaders use to manage the issues, and learn how issues specifically affect dimensions of leadership. In addition, we wanted to capture insights about leadership development needs, organizational culture, and the future from a culturally rich and diverse pool of global professionals.
- The scope of the study is reflected in these numbers: 8 of the 10 largest economies in the world, 9 languages, 23 countries, 28 researchers and 4,484 participants. These professionals participated in an online survey with 58 questions that required about 10 minutes to complete. The survey was developed, pretested and launched in various countries over a six-month period. Where possible, samples were drawn from membership lists of professional associations. In other countries, snowball sampling was used because membership lists don’t exist or access to them is difficult. I should mention the survey is the first phase of the study. A second phase involved depth interviews with 137 senior leaders around the globe, which was completed several months ago. Now, let me tell you a little bit about those who participated in the survey.
- Four large regions were represented. The largest group of countries (8) was in Europe, just over half of all participants. In the US, more than 800 professionals completed the survey. Latin America included three countries: Brazil, Chile and Mexico. And Asia included the four Chinese-speaking countries (China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan), along with South Korea and India. We planned to complete the survey in a handful of Middle Eastern countries, too, but the absence of professional data bases and ongoing political turmoil prevented us from gathering a significant number of participants. So we included the ME responses in the overall numbers, but we couldn’t do any country or regional comparisons.
- A few more women than men participated in the study, but as the footnote suggests, gender varied greatly by country. One of the key themes in our findings which we will get to later has to do with gender—and the somewhat different journeys men and women take to leadership, and their somewhat different perceptions of key issues, leadership development approaches and dimensions of leadership in the field.
- This was a seasoned group of participants with substantial experience. The shifting gender trend in the field is also reflected in these numbers, though it’s not visible here. About 70% of those under the age of 36 are women; about 70% of those over the age of 55 are men.
- This busy slide highlights two intriguing demographics: First, in the left column, PR practitioners in our study majored in college in…well, just about everything: PR, journalism, business, social sciences, humanities and so forth. Second, in the right column, participants were well educated. About 60 % hold graduate degrees. Men majored significantly more often in business, natural sciences and social sciences. Women majored significantly more often in public relations and humanities. Nearly one in five women majored in public relations. The number was highest in Brazil, where nearly 60% of women in this study earned a degree in public relations. The number also is high in Asia.
- The study had a nice mix and balance of organizational types: public companies (more in the US); private or state run companies (more in Europe and Latin America); nonprofits, which included educational institutions, social services, government and political parties; and communication agencies.
- As mentioned earlier, survey participants are experienced, with nearly two-thirds having 11 or more years of experience, and one quarter more than 20 years of experience. Work unit size varied a good deal, as indicated in the lower bar. Many of the smaller work units were likely in nonprofits or small agencies.
- In this study, we defined a “leader” as an individual who is responsible for organizing and leading a communication group, unit or entire function to help an organization achieve its objectives. Leaders can and do exist at every level, of course, so we used this more inclusive definition.About 40% of participants were thus leaders, and another third were level one professionals—one level below the leader. Other participants, about 25%, were two levels or more below the leader. As the demographics suggest, we worked with a quite diverse sample of global practitioners.
- I will wrap up this section with just a few words about this integrated model of excellent leadership in PR. We have been developing it and testing it for the past four years. We are not going to discuss it in depth today, but you will see and hear references today to the seven dimensions of PR leadership, so this gives you some context. Simply put, the model indicates that excellent leadership in PR is a dynamic process that involves the interaction of 7 dimensions. These include 6 core dimensions (in gray), and a few sub dimensions (in brown). The 7th dimension is the circle on the left—organizational culture and structure, which affect leadership. These dimensions are a complex mix of individual skills and personal attributes, professional knowledge, and values and behaviors that consistently can produce ethical and effective leadership. This guides teams and helps orgs achieve their objectives and gain legitimacy in society. I’ll come back to this at the end of the presentation. Now Gary will talk about top issue findings…
- As Bruce mentioned earlier, issues are important because they provide context in which we practice public relations. They influence what leaders and practitioners do, and sometimes how they do it. So, we first asked survey participants to indicate the relative importance of 10 issues in the field, which were identified in previous studies and professional reports. They rated the issues using a 1-7 point scale, where “1”means unimportant and “7” means very important. For comparative purposes, ratings of 3.0 or lower mean the issue is not important. Ratings of 5.0 or higher mean the issue is important. Ratings approaching 6.0, or higher, mean the issue is very important.
- The three highest rated issues in the survey were linked to technology: the speed and volume of information flow, dealing with crises, and managing the digital revolution and rise of social media. It’s not news that technologies are transforming practice, but this is strong evidence of a global phenomenon. The digital revolution drives the speed and flow of news and information to everyone from everywhere. This exacerbates crisis management by eliminating time and distance barriers and reducing the window of opportunity for response to a hyper minute. The rise of social media facilitates rapid communication and the formation of groups and group actions.
- Four other issues were ranked as important, but somewhat less so. They are employee engagement, measuring communication effectiveness, dealing with demands for transparency, and locating and keeping top talent.Many items in our report vary by country and region, and so does the evaluation of key issues. Here, for example, finding and keeping top talent and improving measurement were rated as the overall highest issues in Latin America, India and China—all rapidly developing areas with growing public relations capabilities and interests.
- Least important of the top 10 issues are corporate social responsibility, meeting communication needs in diverse countries and improving the image of the public relations profession. Overall, the list is impressive in terms of the major, major issues that leaders and practitioners must deal with.
- We then asked survey participants to indicate which of the 10 issues was most important in their organization. Nearly one in four (23%) said the speed and volume of information flow was most important. You can think “Big Data” here, which has been defined as the volume, velocity and variety of information. Leaders, must be able to identify what is and isn’t important in the flow. They must then translate and activate that information inside their organizations—they play an increasingly important role as information interpreters, sense makers, decision makers. A related problem is the opportunity flow, that overload of opportunities to say, show, participate, demonstrate, like, follow, photograph and post…and so forth. There is too much information, and there is too much opportunity to connect and interact. Issues #2-#4 were also highly rated: the digital revolution, measurement, and crisis management. Collectively, the top four issues accounted for nearly two-thirds of total responses globally (62.4%).
- Some intriguing demographic differences lie behind the numbers in this second cluster of issues. For example, the BRIC countries gave high mean ratings to the issue of finding, developing, and retaining top PR talent. This issue was rated the #1 issue in the Chinese-speaking countries and in India; it was the #2 issue in Russia. The importance of the talent issue may only increase as these highly populated and powerful economies continue their development.
- None of the last three issues was rated as the #1 issue in any country, though 625 professionals said one of the three was the most important issue somewhere in the world. There were many demographic variations that we will explore in more depth later: by gender, generation and organizational hierarchy.
- There are also country and region differences regarding the top issues, as seen here.As I mentioned, Talent is a big issue in some of the largest countries and economies in the world. These are also countries where the profession is growing rapidly. Measurement was a leading issue in six countries, mostly in Asia and Latin America.CSR mean scores were lowest for the UK and US , which also rated the transparency issue a good deal lower than most other countries or regions. Overall, Brazilian professionals ranked 7 of 10 issues higher (mean scores) than other countries or regions. German-speaking countries (5 issues) and the UK (4 issues) gave the lowest mean rankings to 9 of 10 issues. We’re not quite sure why that is.
- Theme #1: The first part of our theme regarding issues is old news, but the emerging story is how this transformation affects leaders and their roles as information sense makers, interpreters and decision makers. Nearly two-thirds rated four issues as most important in the field: 1) the speed and flow of information, 2) the digital revolution and rise of social media, 3) measurement, and 4) fast-moving crises. Organizations are racing to revise or create strategies to manage this revolution, and struggling at the same time to develop meaningful measures. Some countries are moving faster than others, but leaders everywhere reflect on how this revolution transforms their vision and roles. Leaders everywhere indicate they reshape their roles to become more astute decision makers about what is and isn’t important in the vast information flow and corresponding opportunity flows. Sense making may be the central role of leaders in our field now. And now to Keith…
- Ron Alsop’s book, The Trophy Kids Grow Up, is one of several that describes the first wave of the millennial generation and the values, expectations and changes they bring to the workplace. While the three or four generations of professionals in our survey shared similar observations about a number things like top issues and strategies and tactics, they differed in other important ways. Indeed, our survey provides evidence of generational differences on a global scale, and I want to describe these over the next few minutes. First, however, let me say a bit about the important generational realities in our workplaces today.
- Keith, this is one of the slides you included in your Koten lecture presentation at UA.
- These four generations are characterized by different values and characteristics, as indicated here. This is not news to any of you.Importantly, though, by next year, Millennials will represent 50% of those in the workforce. This challenging “me” generation represents the talent and leadership pool in our organizations tomorrow. And as this chart indicates, they are different. They are impatient, they feel entitled, and their DNA is digital media. In the words of immortal rock and roller Jim Morrison and the Doors, “They want the world, and they want it now.” On the other hand, they also are multi-taskers, team oriented, optimistic and family and community oriented.
- Our study confirmed some of these differences among generations—on a global scale. With respect to the top 10 issues, younger practitioners rated the speed and flow of information, and the digital revolution, somewhat lower than did older professionals. Perhaps they are simply more comfortable and confident about digital channels and social media. However, they rated the issues of measurement and PR image as significantly more important than all other age groups.And they gave the highest ratings to three of the seven leadership dimensions: communication knowledge management, vision for communication and a supportive organizational culture and structure. The notions of a team-based, supportive and inclusive culture has been noted in a number of studies and books about this generation.
- Younger professionals also gave significantly higher ratings to many of the development approaches for future leaders…especially for accreditation, improving measurement skills, improving stress management, and encouraging professional associations and education to work together to enhance leadership development in the future. Perhaps not surprisingly, they expressed more optimism about the future of public relations. This was especially true in Brazil, Mexico and India. And they gave significantly lower scores than other age groups to the preference of working for a male boss. Scores in China, South Korea and Russia were exceptionally low in this regard.
- But perhaps the most striking findings are located in perceptions of leadership performance and organizational culture. Excellence theory, the predominant conceptual approach in PR, claims that a number of factors facilitate the excellent practice of public relations and help create a culture for communication in organizations. This refers to an open culture where ideas and information are widely and consistently exchanged, and employees feel free to engage and participate in discussion—without fear of retribution. They feel they count.We included three of these factors in our survey, as noted here: the quality and performance of the senior PR leader, the extent to which 2-way communication is present and practiced in organizations, and the CEO’s or top executive’s understanding of the value of PR. Other factors include: an integrated communication function, a reporting relationship to the top officer, a function that does not report to marketing, and so forth. We didn’t include these in our survey.
- As indicated here, on a seven-point scale, the overall results for all survey participants are modest, a bit above average.It also is intriguing that, as much as we sometimes complain about the CEO or top executive not understanding what public relations is or the value of public relations, CEO understanding receives the highest score at each hierarchical level, and this was true across virtually all countries. In later interviews that were conducted with leaders in each country, this theme emerged again. It was a particular issue in Latin America, where communication leaders said the CEO got it and was a champion. But that understanding and enthusiasm did not carry over to other leaders of other functions.
- A deeper look at the data reveals that younger and lower-level participants in the survey were the most critical of the senior PR leader’s performance, the extent of 2-way communication in the organization, and the CEO’s understanding of the value of public relations. These are not negative scores, but they are “C” and “C+“ grades—not the kind of ringing endorsement we seek for our communication leaders or our organizational cultures. Clearly, there is work to do in many organizations, and the results highlight again some crucial generational variations that must be attended. Perhaps creating a culture for communication has never been more vital.
- Theme #2: Our survey provides evidence of generational differences on a global scale. This challenging “me” generation already affects the workplace—soon to be the largest generation in the workplace—and it is the talent pool for tomorrow. The findings raise some important questions for the profession. For example: What do these perhaps more reluctant leaders mean for the future of the profession? What are we doing to nourish their potential leadership development? At what point in their careers do emerging professionals begin to receive the leadership development they need?What are the keys to connecting with all generations in a work team or workplace? Maria will now speak to leadership development findings…
- Our survey participants, who are public relations leaders all over the world, also shared their insights regarding the development of future leaders in the field. The demand for excellent leaders may be even greater in a dynamic and uncertain future. So we asked participants to indicate to what extent (1-7 scale) they agreed with the relative importance of each of 12 actions that might be taken to improve development of future leaders. These 12 actions were drawn from previous studies and relevant literature. The mean scores for their responses are indicated; again, a score of 5 or higher is important. Numbers approaching 6, or higher, mean it’s very important. Answers in this section were among the most consistent answers across all countries in the survey.
- Strengthening change management capabilities (5.67) was rated highest, a strong reflection of the dynamic changes in practice, organizations and the global marketplace today. We know that organizational change is driven by internal communication, which affects the cycle time required for change to be processed, understood and adopted. Thus, managing change in the function to help manage change in organizations to improve performance is a priority that may only become more urgent. Two other traditionally softer skills—listening and conflict management—were also highly rated (both 5.51). Improved listening skills is probably an area for improvement for all of us.
- Five other approaches were also rated as important to developing future leaders. The importance of measurement is emphasized here again. More knowledge and understanding of business and cultures are valuable, and in a busy and noisy world, the ability to manage stress and understand the roles of emotions in the work place are also emphasized. Some of you might wonder: Why emotions? According to recent PR research, emotional leadership is one key dimension of effective public relations leadership. The most important emotional leadership attribute is “Empathy”. It means two things simultaneously: First, you are able to detect, feel and assess other people’s emotions in the work place; Second, you are also good at expressing your feelings toward an issue or others in a constructive way, aiming at communication based on identified common ground, even in times of conflict.
- Four systemic actions in the profession were rated much lower: accreditation or licensing (3.90), a core global education program (4.24), urging professional associations to jointly tackle the leadership issue (4.37), and firmly punishing ethical violators (4.51). These are certainly important professional actions, but survey participants are saying they are significantly less important to the development of future leaders than the other approaches.
- We then used exploratory factor analysis to determine whether any relationships existed among the 12 approaches. Two factors were extracted. The first represents what we callself-development approaches. It includes these six interrelated approaches: improving listening skills, enhancing emotional intelligence, enhancing conflict management skills, increasing cultural understanding and sensitivity, and strengthening change management skills and stress management. This group of approaches focuses on individual development of what have unfortunately been called “soft skills,” as well as the power of self-insight and awareness, one of the crucial 7 dimensions of leadership.Self-development approaches are a strong factor, accounting for about 42% of variance in the survey sample.
- The second factor represents what we call systemic development approaches and includes: requiring professional accreditation, developing a global PR education, imposing tough penalties on ethical violators, developing measures, urging professional associations to tackle the leadership issue together, and strengthening the business/economic component in education. These approaches focus on strengthening the overall profession through improved education (more business and cultural knowledge) and the development and spread of core values and standards (codes of ethics, accreditation, measurement). Such changes might be best accomplished through the combined efforts of associations. This factor accounts for about 10% of variance in the sample.
- These findings suggest two things: First, focus on improving: 1) the software or soft skills of individualsto increase self-insights and reflection, improve interpersonal skills to manage change and conflict, and create greater cultural awareness. And second, focus on strengthening the 2) hardware or professional and educational structuresthat produce measurement skills and guidelines, ethical frameworks, and knowledge of the practice and the economic and global environments in which they occur. These two factors emphasize the need to develop leader capabilities in three dimensions of our leadership model: self-insight and awareness, ethical orientation and core values and standards, and communication knowledge management.
- Theme #3: Yes, digital media skills are crucial, and so are measurement skills. But practitioners say mastery of the so-called soft people skills is crucial to improving PR leaders for an uncertain future. More widely publicized changes such as accreditation, a global education curriculum, measurement standards, and enforcement of ethical codes are also important, but they run second to soft skills. Aren’t soft skills, for example, crucial to activating organizational character and engaging stakeholders and others as advocates for shared beliefs and actions? Aren’t listening skills, cultural sensitivity and change management skills vital in doing so? To develop these and other capabilities, leaders need to spend more of that scarce resource—time—in self-reflection, in thinking about how they think and in knowing their strengths and limitations. Self-reflection is not a passive activity, but it is the pathway to greater self awareness, which is the basis for improving leadership skills and connecting more fully with followers. And now Gary will join me…
- In one section of the survey, we inquired about issues such as wielding power, relationships between gender and leadership, institutional support for leadership, and the future of our profession. Although our study provided a wealth of information, it also uncovered many other areas for further investigation. This section of the survey included 12 statements which participants were asked to rate from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (agree to a very great extent). We’re just going to focus on the gender area responses to questions in this section, and draw in other findings regarding gender and leadership in our study. We believe the findings are intriguing, but we are not sure what they mean, so we welcome your insights in our later discussion.
- First, women and men in the survey gave a number of answers that were quite similar. Very consistently across all countries, for example, nearly all participants said that women and men were equally capable leaders. These are among the highest mean scores in the survey. Both men and women said they preferred to work for a male boss, though men felt this significantly more than women. Both were modestly optimistic about the future of the profession.Both said they learned more about leadership from role models and mentors than any other form of learning.
- In addition, women and men ranked the top 10 issues in more or less the same order.They gave high ratings to all seven leadership dimensions and ranked them in about the same way. The highest mean scores given by both men and women were to strategic decision-making capability and communication knowledge management. The lowest mean scores were given by both to having a strong ethical orientation and the quality of organizational culture and structure. Both emphasized the need for soft skills in the future and ranked the skills in the same order.And women and men gave similar ratings to tactics and strategies used to manage the issues. This was one of the most consistent findings in the study—the similarity of strategies and tactics.
- But there are some differences, too, and one important one is the demographic profiles of women and men who participated in the study. Their composite profiles are as follows:Composite woman: I am younger and have less professional experience. I often work at lower levels in the organization. I also work in smaller communication teams, more often in nonprofit organizations or private companies. I am well educated and more often hold a degree in PR or the humanities. I represent a significant majority of survey practitioners in the profession in large, emerging countries like Brazil, China and Russia.Composite man: I am a good deal older and have more professional experience in the field. I have a higher level position, and I work more often in larger teams in communication agencies and public corporations. I also am well educated and am more likely to have studied in business or the social or natural sciences. I represent a small majority of survey participants in in large countries like India, Germany, the UK and the US.
- Earlier we discussed similarities in responses to many of the survey questions. But there were some perceptual differences—not so much in kind but rather in scale, or magnitude.For example, both men and women rated all 10 issues highly, but women rated all of the issues numerically higher than men, and 8 of the 10 issues significantly higher. This was the case for professional image, measurement and transparency especially. This difference in magnitude was even more pronounced for the 12 development approaches, which were all rated significantly higher by women, especially four of the so-called soft skills.Women also rated significantly higher than men all 7 dimensions of the leadership model, especially vision, ethical orientation and organization culture and structure. On the other hand, women rated their interpersonal communication skills significantly lower than men rated them.
- The perceptions of men in the study were significantly different and higher than women in the areas of self as leader and organizational culture components. For example:Men considered themselves significantly more often than did women to BE leaders and to want TO BE a leader in the future. They indicated they preferred to work for a male boss significantly more often than did women, though both expressed this preference.In the area of their existing functional and organizational culture, and based on the three questions discussed earlier: Men rated significantly higher the performance of the senior PR leader, the CEO’s understanding of PR, and the presence of 2-way communication in their organization.
- Well, those are some interesting data points in the survey, but what do they mean? What can we learn and take away? Here are some questions to consider, and we would welcome your insights and thoughts in the discussion session in just a few minutes:Are these gender variations a result of differing socialization experiences that men and women undergo?Are the requirements for ascending to leadership positions actually or perceptually different for women and men?Do men and women hold somewhat different visions for what leadership in public relations is or might be?Are the expectations of women (and men?) that women must “do more” to gain leadership positions, e.g., acquire more education or training, possess soft skills and business acumen, etc.?Does the historically more difficult journey to the top for women make the role and responsibilities somehow different?Maria/Gary: Hopefully you can discuss a couple of these questions.
- Theme #4: When Betsy Plank entered the profession, the field was more than 95% male. Today, it’s as much as 70% female in a number of countries, and women are ascending in greater numbers to leadership positions. Our survey provides evidence that women and men view leadership, and the possibilities and processes of becoming a leader, somewhat differently. The more difficult matter is what does this mean now and for the future? Qualitative research can perhaps better answer these questions than quantitative research, like our survey. Several studies in recent years have helped shed light on this topic. But more research and discussion are needed in this area and in other areas highlighted in our study today. And now to Bruce to wrap it up.
- I’m going to touch quickly on two other areas in our study that we didn’t devote time to this afternoon. The first is our Integrated Model for Excellent Leadership in Public Relations. The second is a Leadership Index that we developed to compare the conditions for excellent leadership in the 12 countries and regions in our study.
- I briefly mentioned this model at the beginning of the session. We previously tested the model with two samples of professionals in the US and one international sample. It held up strongly in those three tests: the dimensions are a strong single factor that we call PR leadership.We then tested the model in the countries in the study. To our surprise, the global survey confirmed that this model may have applicability in many countries, not just the US. It needs more work and testing, but it may help us theorize leadership in the field. And practically speaking, it may be very useful in planning and designing development programs for future leaders, as each of the dimensions represents a set of skills, capabilities, values or behaviors that contribute to excellent leadership.
- Regarding the leadership index, this slide appeared earlier when Keith talked about generational issues. We used this same set of data to examine comparisons of leadership conditions across the countries—what’s the status of leadership in different countries and regions? The higher the mean scores for answers to these questions, the better is the condition for excellent leadership in public relations in the organization. In order to understand the conditions for leadership in each country/region, then, we summed the mean scores for the 3 statements listed on this slide, for each of the 12 countries & regions in our comparisons. Prior to doing so, we removed those participants who classified themselves as “self-employed” or “other” because in those cases we could not examine the organizational factors.
- The resulting mean scores for each country & region are indicated here. We call these scores the Summated Leadership Index. The higher the mean, the better or richer is the organizational condition for PR leadership. The highest possible score is 21. From all the countries/regions included in this study, India had the highest mean score of 16.37, significantly higher than most other countries. Mexico was second highest at 15.22, and significantly higher than the lowest three countries. Brazil had the lowest mean score of 13.02, significantly lower than most other countries. South Korea at 13.41 was significantly lower than Germany, Mexico, the US and India. We are using this for descriptive purposes today, and more testing needs to be done, so I don’t want to make too much of it. But what the index clearly suggests is there is room for leadership improvement everywhere. The highest possible mean for the leadership index is 21, but our data reveal the average mean is 14.50.
- Theme #5: The transformation driven by the powerful engine of digital media has attracted great attention. Our survey confirms the significance of this change globally. But other profound changes also are occurring, and they, too, affect who leads in the future, how they are prepared to lead. Our survey captured the growing need for professionals to improve “soft skills.” Meeting this challenge may entail important changes in education and professional development programs that currently focus on boosting core technical and analytical skills. The growing feminization of the profession, the different views of leadership held by men and women, the generational differences, and the sharp divide between leaders and followers underscore a transformation that goes beyond the digital: it is an interrelated set of deep changes that infuses practice today and shapes it for tomorrow, everywhere.
- Leadership in our field is too important to take for granted. We need to devote more time to discussing and evaluating PR leadership—what it is, what it means, and how we improve it. Leadership should be at the center of our professional dialogue, not in the margins. We need to spend more time assessing the performance of leaders. And we need to make leadership a priority in PR. Our research has identified some of the ways we can do that. Why is this so important? Because the foundation for sustaining and advancing our profession into the future—everywhere—is the overall qualities, values, and capabilities of our leaders.
- For more about the study, you can visit the Plank Center website. We also have a book coming out this spring that will provide a comprehensive report and analysis of the global study—both the survey and the interviews with senior leaders.(Click to next slide…)We thank you, and now I will turn it over to Keith.