The good PR performance versus the bad

I had an interesting experience in the office last week when a meeting took place between the CEO and a member of the local council to discuss what to do with the grant money allocated to Perth Football Club. As my desk is outside the CEO’s office, the Promotions Officer and I were able to hear the entire meeting unfold….

On the one hand you have the CEO (who has come from a PR background) wanting to build a rapport with this woman before getting down to business, then juxtapose this with the woman from the council who came in with attitude- strong, dogmatic opinions who would not listen to reason. Do not get me wrong, she had the key messages she wanted to convey, however she had clearly been primed by other members of the council with their opinions of certain things at Lathlain Park…Within the first five minutes the CEO pointed out she was uncomfortable with this woman’s behaviour, however was told “This is my personality, you have to understand that different people have different personalities” as well as other defensive type responses.

The council member had only been in this role for a week; however it was astounding to listen to her approach on all issues, especially considering she had not even bothered to do her research properly on previous meetings between the Club and the former member of the council in charge of this (The CEO would disagree with something she said as it had been previously discussed and the woman got defensive stating she had only been in office for a week therefore did not know about something.)

The CEO tried repeatedly to change the tone of the meeting, but with little success. Every time she pointed out her grievances she was met with a defensive attitude followed by more of this lady’s opinions on things- I think she would have had a bit more standing in my eyes had she taken the CEO up on her offer to take a tour of the grounds (therefore she would have seen the rusty door, and other items under question for this budget.) The meeting was concluded with the CEO saying she could not continue and in all future meetings the previous local council member who dealt with the money had to be present. After a bit more arguing the council member finally left with a threat; implying it was her money and if the CEO did not cooperate that would be it. The CEO later found this woman snooping around the grounds, looking in on other staff member’s windows and had to firmly ask her to leave.

All I can say was this episode was bizarre to say the least! This woman came across as a deranged control freak with an unrealistic sense of self-importance and it was definitely the worst way possible to conduct a business meeting. There is a big difference between asserting your authority and stance on something to being downright aggressive!

Important PR lessons (and general lessons in regards to business meetings) to learn:

• Do your research! (It was clear from the beginning this lady had some facts, but not all and was unaware of previous discussions on her topics of interest)
• Approach first (and all) meetings with stakeholders in an amicable manner (right from the beginning the CEO came across as approachable, the council member was standoffish)
• Listen to your stakeholders- convey your points in a friendly manner, but also show them you are willing to negotiate and have understood their point of view (clearly not demonstrated by our friend the local council member)
• Do not leave business meetings with a threat…(obviously self-explanatory, but people will not respond well if they feel someone is creating an obvious power structure)