Professionalism under threat

Although a team-player at heart, an egotistical thought often sneaks in: Would my working life not be smoother if I had to depend on no-one but myself, if every action was within my control?

Lone wolves

In the words of Napoleon, 'If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.' That attitude, unfortunately, does not cut it in the working world, where everything is interdependent and lone wolves, no matter how strong, are less efficient.

However, too often I find my professionalism becoming soft around the edges because of dropped batons.

Public relations practitioners pride themselves on their contacts in the media. It takes huge legwork to build up a network of contacts and, without that, getting clients' stories out there would be far harder to do.

Takes just one client

It takes years to achieve a credible 'black book' - to get to know journalists by name and build up a trust relationship. Yet it takes just one client to undo all that good.

All PR people have experienced the tremendous high felt when an editor has agreed to print an exclusive for their client... and the crushing panic when the deadline looms and your email inbox remains empty - your client has not written the opinion piece as promised.

Or the sense of doom when a readers' competition is organised and, once the winners are chosen, the prizes are not forthcoming.

Name is blackened

It is the PR person whose name is blackened, whose job becomes harder because 'once bitten, twice shy'.

Why is it standard practice that asking once is not enough? A parent gets red in the face when she has to tell her toddler over and over to do something, but this is what is often expected of contacts in the business world. The initial request is followed up by another the day before deadline... and another an hour after deadline... and another the next day.

Are lives too busy, priorities skewered, timekeeping non-existent or are many people just plain rude?

Either way, keeping professional reputations intact without alienating clients or contacts is becoming increasingly difficult. Perhaps, before the baton is passed, a few raps on knuckles would be in order!