Stockholm Accords

The Value of Public Relations and Communication Management

Download as pdf: Stockholm Accords final version

CALL TO ACTION

by Public Relations Professionals (associations, managers, consultants, educators, researchers and students) to administer its principles on a sustained basis and to affirm them throughout the profession, as well as to management and other relevant stakeholder groups-

 Governance

All Organizations operating under the stakeholder governance model empower their leaders -board members and elected officials- to be directly responsible for deciding and implementing stakeholder relationship policies.

The communicative organization requires timely information, knowledge and understanding of economic, social, environmental and legal developments, as well as of its stakeholders’ expectations.
This to promptly  identify and deal with  the opportunities and risks that can impact the organization’s direction, action and communication.

Public relations and communication management professionals:

  • Participate in defining organizational values, principles, strategies, policies and processes.
  • Apply social networking, research skills and tools to interpret stakeholders’ and society’s expectations as a basis for decisions.
  • Deliver timely analysis and recommendations for an effective governance of  stakeholder relationships by enhancing transparency, trustworthy behaviour, authentic and verifiable representation, thus sustaining the organization’s “licence to operate”.
  • Create an internal listening culture, an open system that allows the organization to anticipate, adapt and respond.

Management

In today’s accelerating and globally competitive network society, the quality and effectiveness of an organization’s decisions are increasingly determined by their time of implementation.

The communicative organization  acts on the principle that it is in the organization’s interest to be sensitive to the legitimate concerns of stakeholders, as well as balanced with wider societal expectations.

This requires a high priority for listening before  strategic and operational decisions.

Public relations and communication management professionals:

  • Inform and shape the organization’s overall two-way communication abilities.
  • Communicate the value of the organization’s products/services and relationships with stakeholders thereby creating, consolidating and developing its financial, legal, relational and operational capital.
  • Participate in the solution of organizational issues, as well as lead  those specifically  focused on stakeholder relationships.

Sustainability

The organization’s sustainability depends on balancing today’s demands with the ability to meet future needs based on economic, social and environmental dimensions.

The communicative organization assumes leadership by interpreting sustainability as a transformational opportunity to improve its competitive positioning by pursuing and constantly reporting on the achievement of its sustainability policies across the economic, social and environmental “triple bottom line”.

Public relations and communication management professionals:

  • Involve and engage key stakeholders in the organization’s sustainability policies and programs.
  • Interpret societal expectations for sound economic, social and environmental commitments that yield a return to the organization and society.
  • Ensure stakeholder participation to identify information that should be regularly, transparently and authentically reported.
  • Promote and support efforts to reach an ongoing integrated reporting of financial, social, economic and environmental.

Internal Communication

Organizational internal communication enhances recruitment, retention, development of common interests, and commitment to organizational goals by an increasingly diverse, extended and segmented set of “internal” publics.

The communicative organization expands well beyond the traditional definition of full-time employees.  Internal stakeholders now include: full-timers, part-timers, seasonal employees, retirees, contractors, consultants, suppliers, agents, distributors and volunteers.

Public relations and communication management professionals:

Seek constant feedback for a mutual understanding of

  • How front-line people comprehend, accept and achieve the organization’s strategy.
  • How – and how well — organizational leaders collaborate and communicate with stakeholders.
  • How knowledge and policy are being shared.
  • How processes and structures are identified, developed and enhanced

and, most importantly,

  • How the organization’s reputation depends largely on the actions taken by internal stakeholders.

External Communication

As the expansion of the network society accelerates, organizations must review and adjust their policies, actions and communicative behavior to improve their relationships with increasingly influential stakeholders, as well as with society at large.

The communicative organization develops skills to continually nurture its relationships with customers, investors, communities, governments, active citizen groups, industry alliances, mainstream and digital media and other situational stakeholders.

Public relations and communication management professionals:

  • Bring the organization’s “voice” and interests into stakeholder deliberations and decisions.
  • Assist all organizational functions in crafting and delivering effective communication.
  • Contribute to the development and promotion of products, services or processes that strengthen brand loyalty and equity.

Coordination of Internal and External Communications

Organizational communication today is often a multi-faceted, multi-stakeholder, inter-relational enterprise, concurrently engaging several value networks concurrently and often involving diverse legal frameworks.

The communicative organization ensures full consistency of its storytelling by balancing global transparency, finite resources and time sensitive demands dealing with fast moving inside/outside changes and new conflicts of interests that emerge from multiple stakeholder participation.

Communication with internal, boundary and external stakeholders is coherent and coordinated with the organization’s mission, vision, values, as well as its actions and behaviors.

Public relations and communication management professionals’:

  • Oversee the development and implementation of internal and external communications to assure consistency of content and accurate presentation of the organization’s identity.
  • Research, develop, monitor and adjust the organization’s communicative behavior.
  • Create and nurture a knowledge base that includes social and psychological sciences.
  • Manage and apply research to implement evaluation and measurement programs for continued improvement.