By COL Scott Rawlinson, who’s bringing MaxDisclosure into 2021 like the leader he is
There really isn’t a static model for the career of a Public Affairs Officer. I’m focusing on commissioned officers, as opposed to Non-commissioned officers, because there are smarter people than me who can present ideas on how to best model NCO careers.
The training and education opportunities for PAOs is substantial, and I strongly encourage everyone to take a chance at competing for them when the time comes. Go into it with the singular goal of becoming better at your profession, and you will likely succeed at that goal. Don’t waste the opportunity.
However, we also have an obligation to sustain our self-education. We can and should each do that at each level of assignment. To that end, I’m using the cliché of “The Big Picture” to illustrate my point.
As we enter as young Captains, most of the time we have the privilege of learning from and leading Soldiers and NCOs. With few exceptions, these assignments heavily involve Command Information production and management. We’ll call this “The Small Picture.”
Literally, much of your time will be spent in seeking opportunities for imagery that tells a story. Not exclusively, but this will likely be and should be the demand for your skills. Immerse yourself in the technical details of the How, What, When, Where and Who of your career. You can then with authority assign teams or individuals against assignments, make sure they understand the intent, make sure they have the necessary resources, and make sure they can get the imagery processed and distributed to the right audience within a reasonable and relevant time. Literally … pictures.
As we grow in rank and responsibility, you should grow away from command information production and get more into planning, synchronizing, resourcing, forecasting, developing, leading, advocating … all which should be focused on higher intent and guidance. We should spend more time with our counterparts on the staff and less with our public affairs peers to better grasp command priorities and the nuance of our command stories. Read everything you can, go to meetings you weren’t invited to, understand what each staff element does and where it fits into the command’s priorities. We should gradually move away from Small Pictures and toward Big Pictures.
Our messages are more powerful if they’re resonant and we are able to take an active part in lines of efforts and communication goals that help achieve an end state. To communicate for its own sake can be a waste of time, or to use another cliché—start with Why. We each have obligation to understand Why we’re communicating, and our time and energy with production and connection should advance that nested goal.
This is not to say we should not each have our own command’s priorities foremost in mind. In fact, if we’re not aligned with our command’s priorities, we’re doing the command and our profession a disservice. Rather, use judgment and creativity to nest your command’s messaging priorities with higher, and you present natural opportunities for amplification across multiple lines of effort.
None of this is particularly insightful, but it does bear repeating that a small profession like this can have an outsize effect if we can synchronize at echelon. To put it more simply, the closer you are to a problem or initiative, make sure you exhaust your resources getting the Small Pictures right and trust that higher will absolutely tie your hard work into Big Pictures.
(Photo by SPC John Irish, DVIDS)
