Public Relations’ Great Resignation: Ken Jacobs on What Leaders Need to Do to Keep People
Simon Erskine Locke, Founder & CEO of CommunicationsMatchTM
Whether they like it or not, public relations agency and corporate communications leaders need to take the “Great Resignation” very seriously and know that it will impact them, shares Ken Jacobs, PCC, CPC, principal, Jacobs Consulting & Executive Coaching, in the latest Communicators-to-Communicators zoom interview (4 mins). Jacobs is also CommunicationsMatch’s Coaching & Development partner.
Although there are a range of issues leaders need to take into account, in the video Jacobs is laser-focused on what he considers the single most significant thing needed to retain the best and the brightest – purpose.
“It is essential that companies go back, explore and articulate what is the purpose of your organization… and, communicate, communicate and communicate,” Jacobs notes. For young Millennials and Generation Z, purpose is a strong generational value, and as we come out of the pandemic, many, even outside those generations, are wondering “what is work supposed to be about.”
Thinking back on my career in the industry, for me, purpose was far less important than strategy. I needed to believe that the companies I worked for had the right elements and people in place to succeed. I put this to Jacobs…
“Culture eats strategy’s lunch every time; culture always trumps strategy,” he responds, adding that people want to work for purpose-driven companies. “Purpose is a big part of your organizational culture.”
Jacobs shares in the video that strategy and purpose are not an either/or proposition. “Employees want to work with companies where their strategies are purpose-driven. This is a time when it is all coming together.”
He argues that when they are in lock step, leaders will retain their best and brightest… the ultimate goal for a strategy to tackle the upheavals of the great resignation.
Watch the video interview here: https://youtu.be/BzjMwnKGZ_0
About the Author: Simon Erskine Locke is founder & CEO of communications agency and professional search and services platform, CommunicationsMatch™, which powers PRSA’s Find a Firm agency search tools. CommunicationsMatch developed Agency Select™, the industry’s first integrated agency search and RFP tools, in partnership with RFP Associates. CommunicationsMatch is also a partner of communications research firm Researchscape.