ridiNg iN taNdEM try thiS!

2
mystarjob.com, Saturday 8 November 2014
karen Says
WHEN PEOPLE
GO PUBLIC
Try This!
IN a reflective mood, I sat down recently to think about life (while
swimming, as it has always been my proverbial Bo tree – so I sat
swimming if you follow my meandering train of thought). I have
been fortunate to have freedom of choice in jobs, studies, where
I wanted to live – very much in line with my life goals. Thanks Pa,
thanks Mi!
People who know me know I get (more than a tiny bit) peeved
by sweeping generalisations. In my current role, I read about GenYs and Zs on pretty much a daily basis and like reading the hypotheses of these generalisations, as I can understand better why, for
example, someone who has grown up in an environment of economic uncertainty and high rates of unemployment, as opposed
to his/her parents where lifetime employment was the norm,
might have different inclinations and views of the future.
Employee engagement is a priority for many, and taking a step
back to understand what might lead to employee disengagement brings us to at least one logical conclusion: a mismatch in
expectations from both employee and employer. And related to
this, missed opportunities for both when organisations fail to
accurately and effectively convey their brand promise to potential
employees.
Roshan Thiran talks about writing a failure resume – why it is
important for individuals to take the time to document past failures, as spectacular as they may be, and to pen down what was
learnt.
In light of this, and the high cost of employee turnover, organisations too might want to rethink the role of HR in the PR space.
Millie Ong expertly addresses the notion of employer branding
and its power beyond recruitment.
Along the same lines, Amanda Chua takes up the discussion
where last week’s focus on HR as a strategic partner left off, and
delves into the emerging role of HR as a PR of sorts, espousing
that forward-thinking HR teams should align themselves to the
organisation in order to be internal spokespersons as well as
external brand ambassadors.
In The Leaderonomics Show, as if echoing the sentiment of GenYs and Zs everywhere, Robert Levitt shares with us his realisation
that there are things more important than himself, and that people are far more important than money – going on to tell us how
he has walked his talk and made an impact.
On the topic of using our powers for good, we also spoke to
Colin Kirton on how he has married his passion and skills with the
desire to make a difference through theatre.
Marking her debut contribution to Leaderonomics, best-selling
author Morag Barrett shares some practical tips on how to retain
talented employees. On engagement, Yi-Wen makes the case for
women in the workplace, but cautions that efforts should not be
at the expense of either gender, or just for gender parity’s sake.
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Riding in tandem
By LIM LAY HSUAN
[email protected]
IN riding a tandem bicycle, all the riders
need to find the right synergy and synchronise their pedaling to get the tandem to go
forward.
In the same analogy (and in my humble
opinion), that is how the human resources
(HR) department ought to be collaborating
with its public relations (PR) and corporate
communications (CC) departments.
With global talent cloud gaining traction all around the world, there has been
much discussion on how these departments need to collaborate with one another to establish a sustainable HR-PR-CC
relationship that can move an organisation
forward.
I was initially quite oblivious as to how
these departments are inter-related with
one another. Since then, I have had the
opportunity to communicate with several
HR personnel on feature articles.
It was then when I realised how important it was for HR to communicate with
their PR and CC, and vice versa, to ensure
similar and consistent message is relayed
internally (among their employees) and
externally (to the public).
The HR-PR integration
Internally, HR crafts memos, emails and
newsletters while preparing for the latest
policy change and developing the best
method of communication strategy
to educate employees on areas
such as changes to a benefit
plan, key performance review
process, and diversity and
inclusion programmes.
Externally, HR writes advertisements
and job scopes for onboarding, maintain
corporate blogs, and work with universities and other corporate partners to fill
up gaps and initiate talent acceleration
programmes.
At its core, HR is very much associated
with communication and collaboration.
In today’s interconnected world, it is
highly likely that PR and CC departments
are responsible in monitoring an organisation’s social media platform and managing
media queries and press releases.
Fundamentally, we see that their functions often overlap with one another. In a
way, they are company brand champions,
determined to maintain a positive corporate image which serve the organisation
and the public.
What say you?
n How should your HR collaborate with
your PR/CC to best align employees
with an organisation’s communication
efforts?
n How should your PR/CC collaborate
with your HR to best motivate employees or to choose the right candidates
for the job in an organisation?
Do share with us your views by writing
to [email protected]
Well, it is only wise for HR and PR/CC to
ride in tandem, and be positioned strategically to work together and not as standalone silos.
Have a fantastic weekend all!
KAREN NEOH
Editor
leaderonomics.com
The opinions expressed in this career guide are those of the writers or
the people they quoted and not necessarily those of Leaderonomics.
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01
“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange
these apples then you and I will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange
these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”
– George Bernard Shaw
02
03
04
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The
strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson
“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is
progress, and working together is success.” – Henry Ford
“Communication leads to community, that is, to
understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” – Rollo May
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