Open-door policy prompts PR agency to restructure
Generally directing its guidance toward the communications firm’s extensive list of clientele, this time, Dixon Schwabl’s team members were counseling themselves.
Given the integrated communication firm’s expansive roster of clients—more than 200 nationally—its success and talents as an agency were never a question.
What caused uncertainty was a mounting number of internal concerns—more specifically, plans for growth within the firm’s PR department.
Embracing the company’s open-door policy, when these workplace anxieties were voiced in late 2011 and into 2012, Kim Allen, managing partner of public relations, knew something had to be done. Allen realized that it would involve everyone on the department’s 13-person team.
Employing a textbook SWOT analysis, the group divided into smaller teams to brainstorm solutions to improve the department’s structure. In the end, and along with the aid of Megan Connor Murphy, vice president of public relations, the team decided to develop key departments within the PR division based on employee experience, interest, and current clients.
Six divisions and areas of expertise were chosen in total: business-to-business, consumer, public affairs/economic development, special events, not-for-profit, and social media/digital.
Since making its decision to restructure, Dixon Schwabl has never looked back; its PR team recorded a banner year, in fact.
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