✅ Monday briefing: Accidental managers
A week in management, media and public relations
Most managers are promoted without any formal training. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) argues that it significantly impacts business performance. The same arguments could be made for public relations practice.
A report published by the CMI highlights the proliferation of "accidental managers" in the UK - people promoted to management roles without proper training. It found more than four-fifths of managers had no formal management training when starting their role.
✅ Good management and leadership make a big difference to organisations contributing to productivity, innovation, staff retention and overall business performance. Bad management can be corrosive and toxic and have the opposite impact.
✅ Lack of management training is linked to lower confidence and poorer performance on key skills like managing change and calling out bad behaviour. Managers with formal training were more likely to say they were confident in their abilities.
✅ Ineffective managers damage organisations through lower staff motivation and job satisfaction, and higher turnover. Half of employees with ineffective managers planned to leave their jobs in the next year.
The arguments that the CMI applies to management can be applied to public relations. There are a similar percentage of accidental public relations practitioners as there are accidental managers.
A report published by PR Academy in March estimated that the number of practitioners with a professional qualification provided by AMEC, CIPR or PRCA is between 15,000 to 20,000. The PRCA Census 2021 reported that 99,900 practitioners were working in the industry.
The CMI calls for organisations to prioritise developing good management skills through training and qualifications. It argues this will boost productivity, innovation, staff retention and deliver long-term economic growth.
Media
❌ AI NEWS FLAWED: Experiments using ChatGPT for newsgathering and reporting find that the AI chatbot can provide accurate and impartial information but has some inconsistencies in speed, detail, and diversity of sources. Testing shows it favours English-language sources and struggles with generating summaries. Source: Reuters Institute.
🐦 PLATFORMED OUT: Six months after NPR left X / Twitter, data shows the move has had little impact on traffic. The platform provides limited value beyond reputation and conversation. NPR is focusing more on other platforms such as Instagram and Threads. Source: Neiman.
Research and insight
🔄 PATIENCE OVER PPC: Less measurable marketing tactics such as content, social media, events, and public relations tend to perform better than digital ads, but get little investment because it's harder to quantify impact and scale budgets quickly. Companies should measure success through lifts in brand search and conversions. Source: SparkToro.
📕 BELLWETHER REPORT: Total UK marketing budgets were revised up by 5.3% in Q3 2023 in a bid to sell their way out of economic stagnation. It’s a story of two halves: 21.1% of firms increased marketing spend while 15.8% cut budgets. Public relations rose at the strongest pace in five years at 4.0%, up from -1.9%. Source IPA.
Artificial intelligence
👦 MEETING STAND-IN: Fireflies and Otter AI bots are increasingly attending meetings in place of people. They turn up on time and pay attention and provide summaries and actions. The technology is being embraced by some while others find it dystopian. Source: The Guardian.
🏫 RESPONSIBLE AI: The University of Cambridge has created guidelines to support communicators in using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and DALL-E. It includes issues such as using AI to research and generate ideas, not publishing content created fully by AI, managing privacy risks, and investing in training. Source: The University of Cambridge.
🤨 AI PARADOX: The public relations industry is hesitant about fully embracing AI, recognising its effectiveness and efficiency benefits but proceeding cautiously amid fears about impacts on jobs and lack of regulatory clarity. Made By Giants founder Grace Keeling spotlights the dissonance between opportunity and risk. Source: PR Moment.
😃 SMILES SWAPPED: The camera never lies until it does. Google's new Pixel smartphones use AI to alter people's facial expressions in photos turning frowns upside down but sparking a debate about manipulating reality versus simply enhancing images. Source: BBC.
Social media
🥇 LINKEDIN TOPIC BADGE: Jesper Andersen conducted an experiment to understand how to earn a LinkedIn Top Voice badge. You need to contribute to LinkedIn AI-generated articles and get community likes. He notes that the system seems easy to game and the quality is mixed. Source: Jesper Andersen.
🎛 SIMPLIFIED SETTINGS: Meta is moving account settings for all its platforms into a centralised Accounts Center. It will make it easier for people to control information across Meta apps such as Facebook and Instagram. Source: Meta.
Thank you to the following members of the House of Marketing & PR community of practice for sharing and debating stories covered in the newsletter over the last week: Andrew Bruce Smith, Jesper Andersen, Ruth Jones. Amy Mollett, Alan Morrison and Sarah Waddington CBE.