My public relations/communication students and I have been discussing soft skills, including emotional intelligence (EQ), for several years.
More recently, the topic has come up in the context of relationship-building, specifically the role that EQ can play in building trust to create authentic, meaningful connections between organizations and diverse audiences. In the spirit of experiential learning, I wanted to turn these conversations into hands-on development opportunities.
Around the same time, I was speaking with Deirdre about her FEEL approach to communication. After learning more about her research and how it relates to EQ, I piloted an optional assignment in an upper-level, strategic communication course.
Assignment Overview
There are three basic components to the assignment:
Review the suggestions, identify one and put it into practice.
Write a brief reflection paper regarding the experience.
Students had about two weeks to do the work. They weren’t required to share their scores but rather consider what they learned as a result of the experience.
A Student Perspective
One student who completed the assignment, David James, a current UMass Amherst senior and communication major, felt that it was a personal confidence booster, as well as a jumping off point to better understanding public relations. He mentioned the importance of empathy, particularly for those who serve as chief relationship agents, to be able to “FEEL others’ thoughts, opinions and emotions on both a macro and micro level.”
David, who is also taking business courses, shared that, “I might not have even appreciated that enough while learning it, but in hindsight now, it covers how we should always go about the PR process. Even in the most high-stress crisis comms situations, PR efforts would benefit from a step back, a deep breath and feeling out how each target public might perceive the organization’s message.”
Overall, this exercise provides an opportunity for continuous learning; one that’s designed to encourage taking a more human approach to communication to enhance interpersonal and organizational relationships.
Jennie Donohue is a Senior Lecturer & Director of PR Curriculum, UMASS Amherst.
How you FEEL determines how you communicate. It doesn’t take a scientific study to know this or to watch your emotions play out on social media. Think about how your feelings translate into actions, reactions and the words that come out of your mouth (or the words in your tweets and/or your Facebook posts). If you’re an optimist, then you will communicate as such. The same goes if you’re the opposite. As a pessimist, your communication would reflect this too. Take on any mood and it is likely your communication relates to how you feel. Now, think about this statement: Why wouldn’t you want to study, understand and improve your feelings, so that they play out positively in your communications and the relationships that result.
Optimism Helps Your Communication
As I sit here with the book, The Optimist Creed and other Inspirational Classics by Christian Larsen, both his book and his Optimist Creed (which is pinned to my wall) remind me of all that’s positive in my daily thought process and interactions. Being positive about others, having peace of mind, finding health and happiness, letting go of mistakes and moving forward toward future achievements are just a few of the elements of the Optimist Creed. Many of these ideals are learned early on in childhood and through years of life experience, family guidance, an educational system, and societal norms, they are adhered to or not. Hopefully, the former is true and you are a living testament to the Optimist Creed.
For Your Relationships: A Pledge for Better Communication
However, what about your communication? Do you pay close attention to what you communicate daily, from the time you wake up in the morning until you lay down at night? Do you have a responsibility to yourself and to the people around you to care about the consequences of your words as they travel through your favorite channels, in any given moment? To my knowledge there is no Communication Checklist or Communications Pledge that you can print out and hang on your wall or post on your refrigerator. If there is, I haven’t seen it yet. Having the Optimist Creed on my wall is a reminder to me every day to strive for better and to keep a healthy and positive attitude. Having a Communications Pledge on my wall would be just as helpful.
I’ve been working on the FEEL First model for well over a year. My team has been diligently gathering data from a FEEL First test online that is scoring how much or how little professionals Face Fears, Engage with Empathy, Live with Ethics and Unleash Love. There are well over 6,000 answers in our database. From everything I’ve learned from my research journey, when you FEEL First you have a better opportunity to understand and manage someone else’s emotions too.
Of course, your ability to FEEL takes constant work … it’s a journey to be more open and to face what makes you uncomfortable. It takes a clear and present mind and heart to be more inclusive of others. It’s harder than you may think to be empathetic when sometimes you may only be touching the surface and you don’t even t know it. It’s not as obvious as you think to live with ethics and good judgment, when little white lies are a way of fooling your brain into larger transgressions. Lastly, if you’re not a demonstrative communicator it may be difficult to let the passion lord or the love flow.
However, the more you practice and also make a commitment to yourself that you can and will FEEL First in your communications, you will slowly move closer to this approach through all of your channels as you deepen your relationships.
The FEEL First Pledge
I mentioned earlier not having a Pledge or a Creed in communications until now … I’ve created a FEEL First Pledge as a reminder that collectively we need better communication. Practicing or saying a pledge daily will help you to move toward greater purpose through your thoughts, words, and actions to create positive impact. Having a Pledge, during an election year, the Coronavirus pandemic, and racial injustice that’s playing out across our county is necessary and needed now. If relationships are based on trust, then your communication is either the bridge that can help others or hurt them.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Words matter more so now than ever. So join me in a Pledge to FEEL First and a commitment to share communication that helps your neighbors, family, friends and colleagues and takes your communication to a new level so you can make a difference. You can download the the FEEL First Pledge below.
It’s time to unveil our 2nd PR Expanded video contest winner. A big congratulations goes to Nicole Morin, a UMASS at Amherst student, for creating her video on “Why PR Professionals Should Practice Strategic Communications.”
By way of contest background, After reading my latest book, “Answers for Modern Communicators,” Professor Jennie Donohue tasked her Introduction to Public Relations class with creating a short educational video sharing tips and insights based on one of three communication practices. The areas of practice included media relations, strategic communication/integrated marketing communication, and employee communication – that all related to the class content.
Nicole, our 2nd winner, is a junior who is pursuing a communication and journalism double major at UMass Amherst. Last semester, Nicole took the introductory public relations course where she learned about the industry, important practices, and skills, as well as the importance of maintaining mutually beneficial relationships. As she continues her undergraduate degree, Nicole is focusing on potential careers in public relations, sports or entertainment broadcasting, as well as media relations and content creation.
Nicole Morin, UMASS at Amherst Student
Take a look at Nicole’s winning video and also give her a congratulatory shout out on social media!
Happy 2020, friends! Here’s to a year that’s filled with happiness, good health, and prosperity.
When I look back at 2019, I realize it was an intense year for so many reasons. Every week was one of reflection and new insights with a 52+ week millennial research project.
Today, as a result of this reflection and realizing my research had uncovered a new Mode of Operation or communication model, I’m focusing on a FEEL roadmap in 2020; adding FEEL to all of my communications. At the same time, I’ll be helping other professionals understand why strategic communications can only get you so far in your connections and relationship building. FEEL is the stepping stone to real relationships personally and professionally. How much do you use FEEL in your communication through all of your channels? Now you can find out with the FEEL First Test.
I decided to evaluate myself and my ability to FEEL, by taking the online FEEL First test, which came together as a result of the deep conversations with millennials in 2019.
I was surprised, not so surprised, to learn that I still have some FEEL work to do in the areas of facing Fears, engaging with Empathy, etc. In 2020, I’m on my way to FEEL Mastery, which is the highest range of scores you can achieve. The FEEL First Test not only evaluates your ability to FEEL, in every area of the model, and in different settings, but it also recommends exercises to increase your level of FEEL.
And, so my roadmap begins and yours can too.
A huge thank you to all of those millennials who took the time to interview with me, and who wanted to share the value of communication, what it means to have trust in a real relationship and what they expect from the important people in their lives. You have helped me to get through a difficult time and to turn loss and sadness into purpose and focus.
Here’s my video discussing where my roadmap begins and how professionals and companies would solve a lot of their issues and communication challenges with the FEEL model.
Featured Image Photo Credit: Amit Jain at Unsplash
A Guest Post by Christy Maguire, Graduate Student at American University, PR Expanded Blog Contest Winner
Podcasting is the quickest growing
communications medium, and it seems like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.
Research shows that there are more than 750 million podcasts and that 22% of Americans over age 12 have listened to a podcast in the
past week. It’s a crowded field to be sure, but it also
offers an excellent, and even underused, opportunity for businesses to increase
engagement with its community. It’s an intimate medium that builds trust and
authority, offers inclusiveness and provides both information and inspiration.
Think of your community when podcasting instead of focusing solely on promotion. Image Credit: Pixabay
While podcasting is a great tool for
optimizing SEO and visibility, these shouldn’t always be the main focus.
Businesses can get too caught up in using podcasting solely for promotion,
without looking closely at building engagement and loyalty. Don’t forget that
engagement can also be measured. Have you increased website traffic, comments, reviews,
membership, feedback, and event participation through your podcast? Have
customers mentioned your podcast on social media, in blog posts, or through
referrals?
Whether your business already has a podcast,
or you are considering starting one, there are several factors to take into
consideration to increase engagement:
1. Invite
Feedback
Issue a
Call to Action
At the end
of every podcast episode, issue a call to action. The best
calls to action invite your listeners back to your website to further interact
with your content, obtain their email address or offer a freebie.
Invite Listener
Questions
Get listeners involved by inviting them to ask questions of future guests. This is not only an excellent way to promote a future guest or episode but encourages loyalty by making listeners feel like part of the process. A growing trend is to ask listeners to call in to leave a question, which can be directly embedded into an episode. Google Voice is easy to set up and convert into usable audio.
Welcome
Comments
Basecamp, a
project management software company, encourages feedback by making each show a
separate blog page with a comments section. They recently aired an episode around their new logo, which
generated a mix of reactions. The company even did a blog post about how important feedback was
to them by detailing their inspiration for past episodes, indicating that much
of it came from listeners, coworkers, businesses and PR firms.
Establish a
social media account on a platform that has the best reach for your audience,
and tell your listeners where they can find you. The Smithsonian has its own
social media accounts, but they established a separate Twitter account for
their main podcast, Sidedoor Podcast, allowing
listeners to share, comment on and engage with the content.
2. Be
Creative
Podcasting
is personal. The medium offers a chance for your business to tell your
customers how to engage with content, build your brand and tell stories. We
can’t always predict what will resonate, so it’s important to not stick to a
formula or rigid guidelines. Harvard Business Review offers a discussion guide
for each podcast episode of Women
at Work signaling that this content is intended to
be discussed widely, similar to a book or article.
Trader Joe’s podcast, Inside Trader Joe’s, is fun and is filled with puns, which is perfectly aligned with its reputation. The company planned for just five episodesbut continued after gaining a quick following by customers who wanted more.
Nonprofit Save the Children did a
six-episode drama series called Anywhere But Home based on
true stories of children’s harrowing, yet inspiring journeys. Stories offer
hope and connection on a level that direct appeals do not.
3. Leverage
Relationships and Build Partnerships
Invite
Guest Hosts and Feature Client Stories
A simple way to build relationships with top executives, clients, and members is to invite them to guest host an episode on a relevant issue or to share their business story.
Membership organizations have an excellent opportunity to spotlight their members. By doing so, organizations create opportunities for its members to network and connect, immediately drawing them in and illustrating the organization’s usefulness. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s podcast, The Bloodline With LLS, covers a range of topics, including information and resources, but also has diagnosis stories offering hope and connection to those living with blood cancers.
Clothing retailer Rebecca Minkoff hosts a popular podcast called Superwomen. Every week she interviews female CEOs, business leaders, and artists, not only promoting the brand’s values of supporting women-led businesses but sharing their platform with potential partners.
Collaborate
with Targeted Partners
The lifestyle brand goop has a successful
podcast and recently
partnered with the clothing brand Banana Republic on a limited series
called “Women on Top.” These conversations featuring boundary-breaking women
promote their joint efforts to discuss issues around women empowerment. Loyalists
of both companies are introduced around shared values.
Host Live
Events
Listeners like, and are beginning to expect, live podcast events. This affords businesses the opportunity to interact with its community in real-time. There are two ways to do this. The first option is to tape a live podcast event, which could be held at a summit or conference. Be sure to advertise this before the event. The second option is to use audio from conferences, meetings, and panels to engage those who are unable to attend, widening your reach.
There are no hard and fast rules for engagement, though consistency is key. Podcasts can be as short as 5 minutes but would be better suited to daily or biweekly episodes. Longer and more complex shows might only air once a month. They can be limited to a short series or be tailored around a special event. Be sure that it’s on a schedule that allows your business to take full advantage of engaging your community in a meaningful way. Experiment, enjoy and tweak as necessary.
Christy Maguire, Graduate Student, American University
Christy Maguire produces and hosts the podcast Forties Stories, which amplifies the voices of 40-something women and promotes
connection and compassion – one story at a time. She is currently a graduate
student in American University’s Strategic Communications program. Connect with
her on Twitter @_christymaguire.
Every relationship is different and precious in its own way. You work so hard to build relationships and when you make that special connection you don’t want to lose it!
Knowing this, how much do you nurture your relationships and how present are you in those interactions? When you want to build an unbreakable bond you have to show up and be vulnerable, transparent, honest, and compassionate, and with all of your passion in tow. That’s why it’s important to FEEL (face Fears, engage with Empathy, use Ethics and unleash the Love) with every encounter.
There are so many reasons why you should FEEL First when it comes to building and maintaining the health of your relationships. When you FEEL, you’ll be more present and open, your understanding and patience will increase, and you’ll be true to yourself and your values (which does not go unnoticed). You’ll also let your passion loose for others to get excited and for them to find synergies with you.
My FEEL First research and the accompanying model [Note: this is the 2nd iteration of the Infographic] came to life after the tragic loss of a loved one, my stepdaughter. I had to say goodbye to a cherished relationship. For me, relationships will always take center stage. I’m focused on the FEEL First approach to hold dear every relationship I have moving forward.
How much do you FEEL in the relationships you are forging? And, once you’re in a relationship are you still in FEEL mode? Here’s my video with more on FEEL First and how to take this approach to a new level.
Modern Communicators need to FEEL and THINK before they communicate. Although PR professionals are taught to THINK, which is Timing, Heart, Independence, New Navigation and Knowledge about an audience, the FEEL model is the first step. When you FEEL you’re digging deeper to discover Fears, Empathy, Ethics and Love for the mission.
In this video I break down the FEEL model and why it’s important to FEEL first, then THINK, before you share your story, especially with younger generations. Millennials, for example, face the pressure to be “perfect” and we’re also seeing a spike in depression, anxiety and suicide rates amongst this group. When you FEEL you truly serve people, can offer more help, create deeper impact, and build long lasting relationships.
Make 2019 the year that you step back and really challenge yourself to FEEL as the first step toward better communication.
A Guest Post By Shayla Costa, UMASS at Amherst Student, Winner of the PR Expanded Infographic Contest
An assignment in my Principles of Public Relations class with Professor Jennie Donohue was to read Deirdre Breakenridge’s new book Answers for Modern Communicators and create an infographic based on one of four concepts. These concepts included media relations, employee and internal communication, building internal and external relationships, and reputation and trust. For a while I was actually stuck and had no idea what I was going to base my infographic on, until Deirdre answered my questions about her book when she stopped by my class. It was when she said that “Relationships are the heart of every business” that I was hit with inspiration and began to organize my thoughts. In the end I went from not knowing how to begin, to creating the winning infographic amidst a fairly large class.
When Deirdre talked about the importance of relationships in the industry, I immediately knew that I wanted to focus my assignment on the concept of building internal and external relationships. After reading the book, I chose four main points to organize my infographic. These topics included listening, doing research, communicating, and being truthful. Using information from the book, such as the importance of speaking less and listening more and to move your relationships from online to in-person, I elaborated on each section.
In the end, I had an organized infographic that taught a basic understanding of building and maintaining relationships in the industry. I had no idea that I was a finalist to win the competition, so when I got the news that I actually won I was ecstatic. This assignment was an amazing opportunity and learning experience, and I am so grateful that I won. I am focusing on a career in public relations, so being able to get published on PR Expanded is a great gateway to starting my career.
Shayla Costa is a senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst studying Journalism and Portuguese. She is focusing on a career in Public Relations and has already gained experience working with a client and creating press materials through her public relations courses. Shayla is published on the Amherst Wire and has produced articles on various topics like local news on her WordPress blog. In her free time Shayla enjoys listening to true-crime podcasts and keeping up with current events. After she graduates in May 2019, she hopes to utilize her knowledge and experience to excel in the industry.
My public relations/communication students and I have been discussing soft skills, including emotional intelligence (EQ), for several years.
