I am proud to be a Chartered Practitioner at last – the CIPR
says that we are the first PR Agency in Surrey to have a Chartered PR
Practitioner on the team!
It’s a milestone year for us – 20 years since Chaz and I
started the business. We are planning some celebrations this year and have been
looking back at some great moments and great clients and team members that
we’ve worked with over the years.
PR and marketing have, of course, changed enormously in that
time. The PR profession has completely evolved and we have constantly evolved
as an agency to keep up with the changing needs of our clients, the ever
evolving communications landscape and to offer a more strategic, tailored and
measurable service.
We have always been proud of our people development and it
is fantastic that as the CIPR has developed and now offers flexible learning
and development options available to all of us practitioners.
I was delighted to learn recently that as an accredited
practitioner who has kept up my CPD I was able to attend a Chartership day and
get Chartered. I recently completed the Masters Level Diplomas in PR and
internal communications which gave me confidence to put myself forward for the
assessment – but must admit when the preparation work arrived and as the day
got nearer, the nerves started to kick in. It is that on the spot aspect of assessment, a
bit like a French oral test or a driving test, which is particularly
challenging. But nothing ventured I
thought….
The day itself was equally interesting and rigorous. Five of
us per group in three 90 minute sessions on leadership, strategy and ethics. It definitely wasn’t for the unprepared. We had a case study to review ready for
discussion and then the topic was widened to get our opinions and our own
examples from Practise. Not everyone
passed on the day but there is the opportunity to go back a second time and
retry.
Those of us who were successful really felt as though we had
achieved something high level. It was great to meet a variety of senior, interesting
professionals from all areas of the PR industry and really committed assessors
who put us through our paces. I hope to
stay in touch and continue the conversation with all of them.
More than that, it felt fantastic that as an industry we
have evolved the services that we offer so that we are more accountable and
what we do is more measurable – more than ever, we have to prove ourselves and
achieve measurable success. We are not
perfect of course – there is always more to learn and develop. We need to keep
listening to the changing needs of our clients and develop our skills and
competencies and share experiences. We
are challenged more but the role of a PR Practitioner is more interesting and
more rewarding than ever.
To all Fellow Practitioners, when you’re ready, definitely
get Chartered and to all clients and potential clients looking forward to
sharing the benefits with you and to inviting you to our 20 year birthday
celebrations soon……..
