Face-to-face with Julie Freeman, ABC, APR
By Rhéal LeBlanc
When Communicator found out Julie Freeman, ABC, APR, was coming to town, it couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk shop with the woman who leads the International Association of Business Communicators. Taking time from a busy schedule, Freeman took time to sit down with Communicator to talk about the value the association brings to its members, the importance of face-to-face communications, and the results of Profile 2002.
Toronto will host IABC’s International Conference next year, the second time since 1995. Why was this city chosen?
Toronto is a great city with a strong chapter and strong leadership. The international staff devotes a lot of time to planning the conference and facilitating and negotiating contracts, but getting input and support from the local leadership is also very important. Toronto is also a convenient location to get to for people all over the world. Certain cities simply don’t have the convention facilities for our conference, which gathers 1,500 people.
Toronto, the largest chapter in the world, accounts for 10 per cent of the entire IABC membership. What influence does it have, or any other chapter, on the programs and policies developed at IABC World Headquarters?
There used to be an E.F. Hutton commercial on American television with the slogan, “When E.F. Hutton talks, we listen?” We could say that about Toronto. Obviously there are lots of you and you are successful. For example, we’ve heard from a number of our chapters, including Toronto, about IABC dues and currency. For many years, the U.S. currency has been stronger than others, so it not only costs more national dollars to be a member of IABC but it may account for a bigger percentage of the budget. To try to resolve the issue, Alan Jenkins, a director-at-large based in Denmark, has agreed to chair the Purchasing Power Parity Project. He has prepared some recommendations to be voted on by the board on how we can begin to make adjustments in our tier structure to deal with this issue. The general idea is to stabilize dues using tiers.
What is the main role of IABC World Headquarters, in terms of tangible member benefits, versus that of IABC chapters?
IABC’s strength is to bring together communicators all over the world. Even if people don’t do business on a global level, people in our cities don’t all come from the same place or speak the same language, so it’s important to be able to understand and interact with people from different backgrounds, cultures and values. IABC brings an international perspective to our world through a variety of ways: Communications World, the re-designed Web site, the Gold Quill competition and, of course, the International Conference, our annual family gathering. But some of these activities only come around once a year. Strong chapters are very important to IABC because they provide regular meeting opportunities and are the local deliverer of professional development. They also provide a regional perspective on issues, such as how to deal with the media in a particular area. One of our roles at IABC Headquarters is to support chapters like yours. As such we have a person on staff to help with questions, resources and research; the Leadership Institute offers professional development to chapter leaders and the opportunity to exchange with others on how to better manage a chapter; and we’re working harder to be the prime administrator of membership data and provide some operational support so volunteers don’t have to do that.
Since our field is not regulated, a communicator does not need to be a member of an association to exercise his or her field of practice. Why is being a member of IABC important?
I really have to argue that point because I think belonging to an association is very important to keep current. Communications went through a sea-change with the advent of the Internet. We are now communicating using e-mail, we are developing and maintaining intranets, and we are writing differently for online media. There are also constant learnings about how we should manage cultural changes, how to deal with mergers and acquisitions, and how to communicate about downsizing to the public and employees. Bringing two cultures together has turned out to be a very complex issue, and it has not always been very successful. In some cases, communicators have been able to help that process. Belonging to an association can provide a short-cut to the learning process needed to develop those new skills.
You have two designations, the APR and the ABC. What has accreditation done for you?
I got the first one to enhance my college credentials, learn more about PR and communications, and further my career by making me a more desirable candidate for hire. The second I obtained this spring to demonstrate my support for the credential as president of IABC. The process of preparing for both was invaluable because you learn a lot about research and how to structure a communications plan. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again because the designation shows you have a good grasp of communications principles and that you can apply those principles to your work.
What plans does IABC have to i) raise the profile of the ABC designation? ii) promote those already accredited? iii) encourage others to enter the program?
We continue to showcase ABCs at conferences, on the Web site, and in Communications World, and we always send a letter to the employer of the person receiving the designation. I’ve proposed to the accreditation council to target audiences, such as recruiters so they start looking for ABCs when they review resumés and talk to hiring managers about the designation. We also plan on communicating with members who have been in the profession between five and 10 years to encourage them to enter the program. Chapters can promote the designation by featuring their accredited members, and help others working on their accreditation by developing mentor or study programs to talk about issues on the exam or how to write a communications plan.
How has the role of business communicators evolved over the past few years?
We do more today than simply write the press release or hold a special event to launch a product. There’s an understanding that image, public relations, and cultural issues can trip up plans to launch a product, so communicators are adopting more of a strategic role. In some organizations, communicators sit at the management table and play a broader role in communications, impressing upon senior management that the best public relations is the actions of the company. An organization’s success and reputation have to be grounded in good actions, and thinking through the implications of actions. That’s where communicators can play a role. We are making progress.
What is the single most important issue facing business communicators today?
For senior management to understand the contribution communicators make. The challenge for us is to help CEOs and senior management see communicators’ contribution in a real way, which is more than building awareness. We have to help people understand how important we are and what contribution we make. But in making this case, we better be sure that we are indeed making that contribution.
IABC/Toronto has many student members who are getting ready to enter the field. What is your advice to them?
Most CEOs are former accountants, finance people, engineers and marketing types, so be sure your academic preparation includes economics and accounting courses, and potentially some research courses that help you to understand statistics. CEOs want to know about the return-on-investment, the impact on sales, and measurable results. Communicators need to be able to understand the perspective of senior managers and pitch their ideas in those terms. Senior managers need to understand what communicators contribute to business decisions, and communicators need to show their real contribution in terms other than just creating awareness or understanding.
How can IABC help communicators gain a seat at the executive table?
IABC is helping to educate members about the skills they need. We are looking at offering basic business skills at conferences. We will be starting an online university in the fall that will allow members to take courses at universities such as the London School of Economics or the University of Chicago. The courses will include accounting and finance—hard-edge, quantitative business courses that help gain the perspective of senior management. As someone once told me, people do things for their reasons, not your reasons, so it is incumbent upon us to understand their reasons. IABC can help by providing some professional development training and initiating dialogue between non-communicator, management types and communicators through various ways, including presentations at international conferences, publishing articles in Communication World, and adding content on the Web site, for example.
Profile 2002 appears to be good news for communicators in Canada. Compared to past surveys, Canadian communicators say they have more access to senior management and are more likely to have an active role within the management team than their American counterparts, department staff numbers are increasing and their budgets are getting bigger. Why are Canadians reporting more gains than their U.S. counterparts?
It's tough to nail down an absolute reason as to why Canada is reporting more gains than U.S. communicators. One explanation is that during the 90s, hi-tech organizations didn't want "thinking" on their behalf, they wanted press. Press meant there would be a high chance of a venture capitalist reading the story, which could then lead to future funding. It wasn't about strategy, it was about garnering press. That mentality and greediness created an unsteady economy for the communications industry and now, the U.S. is suffering. We were the worst of the culprits, whereas Canada didn't get as caught up into the hype and continued to work strategically with their clients, never losing focus. That's a U.S. perspective, which is in agreement with Lou Williams, ABC, APR, of L.C. Williams & Associates, the firm that conducted the survey. However, I recognize that others from the U.S. and Canada may have a different perspective.
Respondents to the IABC survey agree that advances in technology have provided new means of disseminating information, but what has been the impact on face-to-face communications, in your opinion?
I don’t think the value of face-to-face will ever go away. In fact, a recent article in The Economist quoted managers saying that, for complicated issues, there is still a need for face-to-face. It may be easier to disseminate information online, but we have underestimated the amount we can push toward people. In a conflict situation, e-mail is not ideal. In fact, it can make matters worse. The art of e-communication is to understand how much of it to do and when to do it. There’s enormous value in face-to-face. Part of it is just the courtesy, and that’s why I came to Toronto. IABC is making a genuine effort to interact with chapter members face-to-face and further an understanding of chapter issues.
Profile 2002 results show that the advent of technology is driving an increased desire for more personal face-to-face information. What opportunity does this present for business communicators?
Face-to-face communications is more complicated than e-communications, which is one dimensional. Any communicator can write a message to go out by e-mail, but as senior communicators we need to be able to counsel management on how to do face-to-face and manage the process. I think one of the opportunities is to raise the flag about face-to-face communication and help people understand how valuable it is.
Rhéal LeBlanc is an independent practitioner specializing in internal communications, writing and text adaptation from English to French. He can be reached at rl.communications@sympatico.ca.
