Quality of PR Leadership Shows Downward Trend

Does the PR profession care about improving its leadership?

Judging by the "Report Card on Public Relations Leaders 2019," a biennial study from the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama, the answer is “no.” This most recent study, the third of its kind, finds no positive changes in PR leadership compared to studies in 2015 and 2017. In 2019, PR leaders received an overall grade of C+. 

In total, 828 PR leaders and practitioners nationwide who work in companies, agencies, nonprofits and government and educational organizations completed the survey, which asked them to evaluate five areas of PR leadership: performance, organizational culture, trust in the organization, work engagement and job satisfaction. 

While overall grades were little changed in 2019, scores for job engagement, trust and job satisfaction dropped slightly. And some previously reported gaps in how PR professionals view their jobs and their leaders grew wider.

For example, differences deepened between male and female perceptions of their PR work cultures and the quality of their leaders. According to the 2019 study, compared to men in the profession, women in public relations are still less engaged and satisfied with their jobs, less confident in their work cultures, less trusting of their organizations and more critical of their leaders. Men and women in public relations continued to be concerned about limited two-way communication, shared decision-making, diversity and quality of work cultures. 

In every area the study evaluated, discrepancies remained between perceptions of top leaders and others. About two-thirds (68.7 percent) of top PR leaders said they were engaged with their work, compared to only about half (54.4 percent) of employees.

In the five areas studied, here’s a look at trends in PR leadership grades over the last four years:

Leadership performance: A-/C+

Trend line 2015–2019: down slightly

The overall grade for PR leaders fell from B- to C+. However, a split grade of A-/C+ was given because perceptions of PR leaders and their employees regarding leadership continue to diverge. Top leaders (who together represented 35.1 percent of total survey respondents) rated their own performance at about an A-. Meanwhile, employees (64.9 percent of respondents), rated the performance of their leaders at C+. 

Job engagement: B-

Trend line 2015–2019: largest area of decline, down from B+ in 2015

In “Report Card 2019,” 59.4 percent of survey respondents described themselves as “engaged” in their work, similar to the 59.7 percent in 2015. Engaged employees make greater effort, work with passion and feel strongly connected to their organizations, the report said. The percentage of survey respondents who deemed themselves “not engaged” (meaning they show up at work and do just enough to keep their jobs) declined slightly — from 34.4 percent in 2015 to 32.6 percent in 2019. The proportion of “actively disengaged” employees grew from 6 percent to 8 percent. At 57 percent, fewer women were engaged than men (62.3 percent). 

A more concerning trend sees the “actively disengaged” group growing among women and top leaders in general. Over the course of the three surveys conducted in 2015, 2017 and 2019, the percentage of “actively disengaged” top leaders jumped from 3.2 percent to 5.8 percent. The percentage of “actively disengaged” women nearly doubled, from 5.1 percent to 9.6 percent. Overall, nearly half of non-top leaders (45.6 percent) were “not engaged” or “actively disengaged.” 

Trust in their organizations: C+

Trend line 2015–2019: down slightly, and consistently the lowest score among the five areas

Top leaders rated their trust in the organizations they work for significantly higher than PR professionals at other levels. Female professionals continued to be much less trusting of their organizations than males. 

Job satisfaction: C+

Trend line 2015–2019: down slightly 

By percentage, numbers indicating job satisfaction in the PR field were little changed compared to previous studies. In 2019, the percentage of PR leaders and professionals who described themselves as satisfied with their jobs was 62.1. Dissatisfied respondents represented 24.4 percent, and those neither satisfied nor dissatisfied totaled 13.5 percent. 

In a finding that does not bode well for the PR profession, the biggest decline in job satisfaction was among top leaders — from 73.2 percent to 70.1 percent. However, job satisfaction was again higher for men (66.8 percent) than women (58.1 percent). Overall, nearly half (47.8 percent) of lower-level professionals reported they were not satisfied with their jobs. 

Organizational culture: C+

Trend line 2015–2019: virtually unchanged 

In this context, “culture” is defined as internal environments, processes and structures that facilitate or impede communications. Such factors include the extent to which the CEO and other leaders value public relations, share decision-making, practice two-way communication, and value or practice diversity. 

Top leaders gave significantly higher ratings to their organizations’ cultural factors than other respondents. Men rated culture more positively than women, who rated diversity, two-way communication, and shared decision-making significantly lower. Among professionals in different types of PR organizations, those in agencies rated their cultural factors the highest.

PR leaders must resolve to improve.

The 2019 study finds that PR leadership remains average, and issues persist regarding gender, work hierarchies and organizational cultures. The conclusion seems clear: We need to strengthen and improve leadership at all levels of the PR profession and better develop the next generation of PR leaders. 

The power to improve lies in our current leaders’ heads, hearts and hands. But as an industry we confront two issues: First, do PR leaders want to improve? And if they do, how can they move from knowing what must be done to actually doing it?  

For me, the “Report Card” underscores our need for a strong collective approach. The entire PR community must come together, embrace the issue and improve our leadership.  

I recently asked a class of PR students what kind of leader they would work harder for — one rated at C+, B or A. We all know the answer.


photo credit: istock