Not so long ago I was working with my boss, the commander, on a few communication techniques I thought it would make him, and therefore our organization, more effective.
He was happy to work to improve himself. He’s a humble dude. He realized communicating better would benefit the whole organization, so he told me, “This is good, Dave but I want you to teach this to everyone.”
In this organization, ‘everyone’ equates to several thousand people across the world.
No problem.
We embarked on a few-year mission to integrate communication into everything we do. The details of this adventure will make another exciting MaxDis post. For now, let’s think about who the PAO serves.
Serving the boss is the right thing to do. He or she is the commander and you are their personal communication advisor. To help your organization get the resources and authorities it needs to protect America, you’re going to have to advise the boss directly.
Serving your organization is the right thing to do. A PAO who focuses only on the boss is setting their organization up to fail. The boss only communicates so much; the sum of all the people communicating in your organization is a great deal more. Find a way to expand your service so it benefits the whole.
Serving your team is the right thing to do. Your team needs leadership, proper care and feeding. Too often PA troops are left to their own device. Although they’re generally a good lot, they can fail when uncared for. Failing PA troops make your team and the organization look bad. Looking bad results in less resources and influence for public affairs teams everywhere. Less resources and influence means less ability to do your job. Need I go on? A good PAO takes direction from his subordinate leaders and makes time to lead – it took me some time to learn this.
“Oh but this is impossible. I’m only one person,” cries the weak PAO. It’s not impossible, I’ve seen it done. Priority and time management is key. Your attention to each of the audiences (groups) will ebb and flow as the requirements of the mission do but as long as you keep your eye on what you hope to achieve, it’s for sure possible.
Our nation depends on you doing this well.
Now go and do likewise.
Photo by Staff Sgt. Deirdre Salvas
