065: Creating a workplace people want to return to with Lee Caraher

With PR, Public Relations, and communications evolving all the time, the myth that PR is only for companies and media related should be shaken off. Think about who is your public? your customers, employees, business associates, suppliers, government, the community, including those who hate your business. Without PR, businesses are sure to be left behind as it revolves around influencing or informing someone about something or anything that is of interest to you. How you define public defines how PR is conducted. Thus, leaving PR only for the companies could be a grave mistake on your part.

Gone are the times when a CEO or a corporate executive could take refuge behind the veil of corporate brand; even if you attempt it, you are definitely committing a blunder, in present times. Personal branding is a reality everywhere, including Australia. Ensuring visibility and engagement both within and outside work is important. Take the typical example for what people look for while looking for a job; obviously it is not the pay or working conditions. But it is about “What is it going to be like working for ….” And “Who am I working with and for”. Unfortunately, businesses do not realise this.

Those leaders who want to thrive should make themselves visible within the organisation and exhibit your organisational-value-driven behaviour to build personal relations. Take advantage of social media, emails or zoom to connect with your employees. Similarly, connect with outsiders on LinkedIn or webinars through your areas of expertise. Telling stories of how one learned something hard way is a great way to connect with people.

High workforce mobility coupled with wider job choices than ever and changing nature of jobs, everyone is bound to leave the organisation at some point of time. But what is important is ensuring that they remain with the organisation for longer than they intended/planned. This calls for creating a “place to stay for”. But people can’t be kept for a whole career. So, one needs to look beyond and strategise on how to build a “place one would want to return to”.

It would be another blunder if you work in the direction of policies against re-hiring. Rather turn to loyalty as the key to keep people attached and connected. Keeping the people who left within your radar ensure both celebrating them and also maintaining a path to return will go a long way in ensuring both growth and sustainability.

But the question of “how” remains. Thus, to help you know more about building an organisational culture that will lead to boomerang of your past employees, in this special episode of Made For More podcast, we are glad to bring to you, our guest, Lee Caraher. She is the CEO of of Double Forte, a national independent PR & Communications agency. An acclaimed communication strategist and author of two books, she is known for her practical solutions to big problems. She is on a mission to help small businesses break through the noise and make big impact. She has a reputation of building cohesive high producing teams who have fun together at the same time. So, tune in to learn more!

Topics We Discussed include:

· Getting to know Lee Caraher (3:22)

· The myth of “PR is only for companies” (5:20)

· Ways to elevate Personal Relations within the organisation (8:43)

· Ways to elevate Personal Relations outside the organisation (10:45)

· A culture that people want to return to (13:41)

· Millennials and return (20:40)

· Re-hiring (21:48)

· Loyalty and return (22:26)

· Allowing and encouraging Return (23:09)

· Organisational Outreach to past (25:19)

· Connecting with people who left (26:28)