It's a New Year-- are you going to be proactive, reactive or inactive?

Individuals can learn a great deal from organizations. In the world of Public Relations, an organization can decide to be one of three things when it comes to relationship-building with key audiences upon which its success or failure depends: it can choose to be proactive, reactive or inactive.

In a proactive PR setting, the organization has a mission, vision and a plan to put things out there (share information), be responsive and craft a certain brand. There is no leaving-it-to-chances about proactive PR. In fact, there's even anticipation of things that might go wrong and what the response will be in each situation. Everything is orchestrated down to the “wire” and they have the appropriate resources to back it up. At the end of the day/period, they evaluate their plan to see how they did against the plan and make any needed adjustments.

In a reactive PR setting, the organization operates as usual but has no plan to share information to shape its public image or brand. However, the only real plan in place is to galvanize into action if something unexpectedly negative happens. Of course in the meanwhile the organization is hoping that nothing bad happens. It operates on a wait-and-see plan and then react in the best way possible as the situation allows. A sort of “we will cross that bridge when we get there” attitude.

In an inactive PR setting, the organization operates as if it is on an island by itself. It hopes that if something gets out of hand, that thing will eventually fix itself or disappear. It pays no mind to what's going in its environment and generally has a “whatever will be will be”attitude.

Did you know that in a way you are an organization? Yes, you are! You the CEO of the (insert name here ) Organization.

So it's a new year and a somewhat new slate. When it comes to the things upon which your success or failure depends, what would your approach be? Are you going to be proactive, reactive or inactive?