Common Sense PR

Office Politics: Befriend your Enemies and They Won’t Be Enemies any More

by Eric Eggertson on August 2nd, 2007

No matter how many internal battles you win, you always lose.

That’s because fighting with your co-workers, however satisfying it may be, always ends up damaging you, and possibly your team.

An anonymous PR person posts about their internal battles with stupid HR people at myragan.com.

Score one for the communications folks, who are able to pat each other on the back for not being stupid HR people.

Fortunately, Tom Murphy has a sane response to the dilemma of what to do about stupid HR people: make them your ally.

Says Tom:

"The reality today is that people are the number one asset for every company on the planet - and people are at the centre of any successful PR campaign.

"For me a strong working relationship with HR is an absolutely non-negotiable for PR. Building that relationship is essential for every PR practitioner whether you are in-house or on the agency side. The benefits, from better insight into internal challenges to increased PR opportunities are worth every minute of your time.

"My advice is understand HR’s challenges and objectives.  Align yourself with them and you will create a fantastic environment which will have a positive impact on your internal and external communications programmes."

Go Tom. Fighting an internal battle, or bitching about the morons in another department, is counterproductive. Better to apply those communications skills you’re supposed to be good at, and build strong relationships with key people and groups.

Tags: hr, human resources, communications, business, corporate, infighting, relationships, working, myragan, tom murphy

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POSTED IN: Communication Skills, Consulting, Employee Communications, Executive Mindset, Office Politics, Writing