MEDIA RELEASE: What is the State of the African PR landscape? Your Say Matters

 

The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) Africa has launched its inaugural study examining the state of the PR and communications industry in Africa.

The flagship study, conducted by Reputation Matters, will gather demographic data on the industry and investigate issues including perceptions of PR in business, ethics, talent, and the pandemic’s impact.

The survey comes on the eve of PRCA Africa celebrating its one year anniversary. Since launching, the world’s largest professional PR association has expanded its presence across the continent with members joining from agencies, in-house teams, and as freelancers.

The survey takes a few minutes to complete and all responses will remain anonymous.  

PRCA Africa Chair Jordan Rittenberry said:

“The State of the African PR Landscape report will greatly benefit PR and communications professionals in Africa. What we do know is that we’re in one of the most exciting and vibrant parts of the world for PR and communications. But where are the opportunities for growth? And what ethical challenges do we still need to confront? This is an opportunity for us to gather in-depth analysis on how the industry is really tracking and to inform PRCA Africa’s policy priorities for this year and beyond.”

Reputation Matters Managing Director Regine le Roux said:

“Prioritising public relations and finding ways to secure a seat around the boardroom table has always been of keen interest to us. With this research the PR industry will be able to learn from each other and find ways to grow together. There is so much knowledge and lessons to be shared with each other across the continent.”

Take the survey here.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Reputation Matters: research@reputationmatters.co.za www.reputationmatters.co.za

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Media contact:

Regine le Roux

regine@reputationmatters.co.za

083 302 1528

About PRCA

The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) is the world’s largest professional PR body.

We represent more than 35,000 PR professionals in 82 countries worldwide. With offices in London, Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, and Buenos Aires, we are a global advocate for excellence in public relations.

Our mission is to create a more professional, ethical, and prosperous PR industry. We champion - and enforce - professional standards around the world through our Professional Charter and Code of Conduct. The Code compels members to adhere to the highest standards of ethical practice.

We deliver exceptional training, authoritative industry data, and global networking, and development opportunities.

We also manage the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) - the umbrella body for 41 PR associations and 3,000 agencies across the world, and LG Comms – the UK’s national body for local government communicators. Additionally, we support the delivery of the Motor Industry Communicators Association (MICA).

About Reputation Matters

Reputation Matters has been providing customised reputation research and management solutions since its inception in 2005. The company is 100% woman-owned and a Level 4 exempted micro-enterprise BBBEE contributor.

Reputation Matters believes that if you treasure your reputation, you will measure it and are very proud of their proprietary reputation research tool, the Repudometer®. The model scientifically measures and quantifies organisations’ reputations based on an assessment of ten elements. The Repudometer® assists organisations in understanding who their stakeholders are, what perceptions each stakeholder group has of the organisation, and how to implement results-oriented, research-based communication solutions that help take their reputations to the next level.

Reputation Matters’ vision is to be Africa’s go-to reputation specialists building businesses that you want to do business with. The values that drive this vision are growth, respect, excellence, authenticity and trust.

Reputation Matters have offices in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

For more information about Reputation Matters, visit www.reputationmatters.co.za or call 021 790 0208. Reputation Matters is also on Facebook (www.facebook.com/yourreputationmatters) and Twitter (@ReputationIsKey)

Audiobook: Think like a Monk, Jay Shetty

There are so many incredible titbits of knowledge shared in this book.

Two of the key take homes for me:

1. If you have a negative thought about someone, write down ten positive things about that person. It will help you to get out of a negative mindset and force you to think of the positives. [Although, some days I do realise that I still have a lot of growth to do in this area and need to set a whole day aside when I feel irked by someone 😊)
2. The other lesson for me, was to enjoy and take in a moment. And, then to reflect on it at a later stage, especially when you are stressed. I also think back at the moment as a moment of gratitude before going to bed at night. How to focus on a moment: 

Ø  Five things that you can see

Ø  Four things that you can touch

Ø  Three things that you can hear

Ø  Two things that you can smell

Ø  One thing that you can taste

It is incredible what a calming effect this has.

I also like how he describes the earth as our hotel, we are just visitors. We need to look after it and return it better than we found it.

“Leave everything and everyone a little better than you found them/it”

“Service is the exchange of love.”

Highly highly recommendable. There is a lot of information. I think that I will be listening to it again, and perhaps one chapter per month, just to make sure that I get the most of out the all the wisdom shared. 

10/10 

 

You and your internal climate: Three interesting trends

 

 Caption: Image on Unsplash

Over the past two years we have noticed a significant increase in the number of organisations who are taking an inward look to measure their internal climates. This is nothing new. What is interesting is that in the past, these internal employee engagement / organisational climate surveys were very much a tick box exercise driven by ‘global’, providing interesting yet significantly vague results on what employees were really feeling.

But, with organisations needing to find different and better ways to conduct business during a global pandemic, engaging and listening to employees are taking a priority. Businesses are finding ways to build a more engaged, resilient, and dedicated workforce.

“More and more organisations are seeing the value of interrogating their global results and finding ways to improve locally,” shares Regine le Roux, managing director of Reputation Matters, strategic reputation management specialists.

“We are working with a number of multinationals to help them gain insights locally, to build better relationships with one of their most important stakeholder groups, their employees,” says le Roux.

Three key trends that we’ve picked up:

Valuing values: the corner stone of an organisation’s success is laying the foundation of clearly articulated values to drive the business’ success. It helps with decision making, impacts behaviour and ultimately has an impact on an organisation’s culture. “It does not surprise me when an organisation approaches us and shares that their employee morale is very low, which is impacting productivity. To then find out that they don’t have time to think about or articulate their values,” shares le Roux. Core values need to form part of daily conversations and be ingrained in everything that the organisation does. Values have no value if they are purely pretty posters on a wall (which no one sees anyway as everyone is working from home).

Compassionate Communication “There has been a general improvement in internal communication across the board, which is not too surprising considering that everyone had to transition and make the best with working from home offices,” says le Roux.  What is important now, is to keep the momentum going and to continue engaging with your teams.  Are you providing enough of an ‘ear’ for employees to give you feedback and to raise their concerns? During difficult times, employees want to hear from their leader, make sure that your leader’s voice is still being heard. Never before have companies had to deal with as much loss. Everyone has been impacted by the pandemic, be it losing a loved one, a colleague or having to contend with recovering from, or worrying about getting the virus. Compassionate communication has never been more important. Is grief counselling something that is part of your employee wellbeing programme?

X marks the spot When we compare the results of the different generations, we’ve picked up that Generation X, people between the age of 40 to 54, were the least satisfied with their jobs. We saw a lot of movement with Gen Xers starting new ventures and changing careers. “My interpretation of the situation is that during the hard lockdown months, a typical Gen X person, who had probably been in a particular company and position for a number of years had a lot of time on their hands to take stock of where they were career wise. It was a time of much reflection and considering whether they were getting the most out of their current job to meet their life goals.” shares le Roux. Be sure to engage with your employees, understand their headspace, and see how best you can support them through their journey.

To discuss how best to quantify your value or to help you find ways to improve your internal communication contact Reputation Matters: research@reputationmatters.co.za www.reputationmatters.co.za

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Kindness and a sense of humour will get you through most things

#quotes #motivation #grateful #weimaraner #HoutBay #weimaraner #weimisocute #weimilove #lessons #kindness #senseofhumour