PR used to stand for public relations, but not anymore.
Today it’s all about personal relationships. This is truly what business is all about. A recent Gallup article on building strong relationships had this to say, “Remember that reciprocity is vital to maintaining strong relationships. Offer help, connect people with each other, or share industry information. Others will respond when you need help.”
Really what this means is – a strong and healthy PR is a two-way-street.
I got to thinking about the concept of personal relationships during a recent phone call to a family member. We don’t live close and it’s not uncommon for us to see each other once a year. When we do talk, it’s important to make it count. But, in this instance, after I said good-bye, I immediately felt guilty. Why? Because I was on the phone while I was doing something else. I was quite literally phoning it in. I was in something called “continuous partial attention.” This is something I had no idea even existed until I read Bronwyn Fryer’s article Is listening an endangered skill?
What is continuous partial attention? It’s something we do every day and rarely notice it. It’s exactly what you do when talking to someone and mid-conversation pull out your phone and start checking emails or texting someone back. Admit it, we’ve all done it.
Well, on this day, I was doing it too. I was being a busy bee, running errands, driving my car, and thought – this is a great time to phone home. Well it wasn’t. The quality of our chat was subpar. I could tell she couldn’t hear me well and I could sense her annoyance when my attention was diverted because of a series of emergency vehicles zooming past me with their sirens blaring.
The truth of the matter is I was failing her as a good conversationalist. I wasn’t fully present. Hell, I was hardly listening, and the content of my speech suffered. I lacked depth. She sounded genuine when she expressed how it was a nice surprise to hear from me, but I would bet that she would have shared more with me if she knew I were sitting on my couch versus assessing traffic patterns.
So that’s the issue. We are all busy. We all have people we care about – family, friends, our clients, and our colleagues. Do them, and you, a service and commit to being fully present in your interactions. Because, at the end of the day, it is about personal relationships.
