Fourth Down Frenzy

There are times during almost any football game that you can pretty much guarantee a fourth down decision has to be made. A team can find themselves fourth and inches, fourth and a five with one minute left and down by six, fourth and two on the other teams 15…and so on, and so forth. There are many different scenarios that can occur that force a coach to decide when to go for it and when to just punt and play defense…or heck, pull out a fake punt and really make things interesting, why not right? With so many options having to be weighed in a short amount of time, it is possible that the outcome of the game can be decided at that very moment. Sometimes the decision is obvious, but more times than not, there are plenty of viable solutions that carry just as much importance as the next. So how do you decide which play to call in when it is NOT obvious?

I’m not as concerned with how the concept of fourth down plays relates to public relations for this post as I am how it relates to my personal life outside of public relations, and possibly other PR Pro’s. As PR Pro’s we are pretty good and evaluating all the “what if’s” of a situation and we often find ourselves playing the devil’s advocate and focus on the possible negative outcomes of the play we call in. If we go for it and miss getting the first down, we turn the ball over…can we afford a turn over with our current field position? Is it safer to kick the field goal than go for it or even punt it? What if we fumble? What if the other team sniffs out the fake punt…what if, what IF, WHAT IF? I’ve alluded to this concept before and we as PR Pro’s may not know the answer to all the “what if’s”, but at least we have discussed them and planned for them. It’s a big part of what we do, especially when so much is riding on the outcome of that one decision.

So what happens when a PR Pro’s professional approach doesn’t mesh well with their personal life approach? As a PR Pro, it is ingrained in my mind to anticipate the “what if’s” and to look for the possible negative outcomes that are lurking in the background…and to be honest, I find myself in a fourth down frenzy when I translate that same concept to my personal life. I have been taught, and I fully understand, that one cannot live their life worrying about the “what if’s” but I haven’t learned how to turn off my “PR brain” when I leave the office and approach my life with my “Tammy brain.” I guess what I am trying to say is we all find ourselves in a fourth-down situation from time to time and sometimes the best option is obvious and there is no need to weigh any others; but when that is not the case, do you just say fourth and “ef” it and hope for the best or do you weigh all the “what if’s?” The one thing I do know for sure is that a decision has to be made in a timely manner…if not, an entirely new set of “what if’s” is created.

Being a Public Relations T-Shirt Fan

Recently the concept of "t-shirt fans" came up in conversation because of people who support colleges they did not attend. I get accused of being a t-shirt fan, or according to my best friend a faux fan, because I support the University of Texas and did not attend school there. I have also recently become a supporter of TCU because it is the local college here in Fort Worth where I live, and who wouldn’t want to support such a great football program and the people who have taken it there? I started wondering why being a t-shirt fan is associated as being a negative to those who call themselves “true fans.” Wouldn’t colleges and other true fans want as much support as possible…even if it’s only people jumping on the bandwagon? Support is support and the way I look at it, the more support you have the better everyone will be.

So how in the heck does this apply to public relations? In the field of public relations we often find ourselves playing the role of “t-shirt fan.” There are times we may not agree with, or even want to support, the decisions being made my our bosses, boards, etc. Even if we council them on the reasons why we don't want to "bless their decisions" and communicate our hesitations to them, ultimately it is not our decision. So when we do not agree with what is being done in our organization, as long as it is ethical, we have a professional obligation to show support and be a “team player.” It wouldn’t be very good PR if the rest of the organization had on TCU shirts and I showed up in a Texas Tech shirt right?

So the question becomes am I a true fan or not? Maybe not initially, but on the exterior the message I am communicating to the stakeholders of the organization is that I am fully engaged and committed to the success and/or failure of the decisions, policies, etc., that have been made and I will do my best to get others to jump on board with us…again, as long as it is ethical. To me that means I am making the professional and conscience decision to blend in with the true fans to the point where they have no idea I am what they consider a “t-shirt fan." As far as I'm concerned, we are all there for the same reason, to support our team!

So with all that said, I am PROUD to be considered a t-shirt fan both professionally and personally. I am a fan of UTEP, Texas State, The University of Texas and now TCU…but my support doesn’t stop there. I am a fan of the game and if there is a team worth my support, then give me a shirt and make room for me on the bandwagon! I have learned that you may start off as a t-shirt fan, but if you invest enough time, energy and emotion into any team (professionally or personally), you become a true fan regardless of what others might say…sometimes more so than the so-called “true fans.”

Picture: My best friend Jill (Texas Tech Grad), college friend Jon (UTEP grad/UTEP football player) and me all supporting TCU in Las Vegas versus UNLV. Three proud t-shirt fans!

Who Really Wins Championships...Offense or Defense?

I’ve gone back and forth about writing this post because just when I think I’ve made up my mind, I talk myself out of the position I previously took. About one month ago, I had the conversation with three different individuals about the infamous quote: “Offense wins games, defense wins championships.” Initially, I was firm in my thinking that is not the case in public relations because we are more comfortable, and prefer, to play offense. If we find ourselves on the defensive side of an issue, situation, crisis, etc. we were usually blind-sided and not prepared. Here is a little secret, PR Pro’s DO NOT like to be blind-sided. It’s only logical that we would say offense wins championships.

Then one of the other common PR strategies got the best of me and I found myself stuck. It’s the ‘ol “angel on one shoulder and devil on the other” theory…and I started examining the other side of the issue. Here was my thought process:

Thought 1:

What is a defense? I feel confident in saying that a pretty basic defensive philosophy would say that if the defense is strong enough, the opponent will not score and if the opponent does not score, they cannot win. Simply put, the defense must prevent a score, gain possession of the ball and if the opportunity arises score while on defense.

Thought 2:

How often in public relations are we fortunate enough to get to “call the shots” and keep the offense on the field? Reality is, our jobs would be pretty simple if we were prepared for everything that was thrown our way and were able to pick apart the other teams defense and score. But that’s not reality; we get blind-sided often as PR Pros so that automatically puts us on the defense side of the ball.

Thought 3:

Who prepares more for a game, the defense or the offense? Simple, the defense! They have to watch film on the other teams offense, they have to know every set, play, route that the other teams offense is going to use. Their job is to keep the opponent scoreless right? The offense can’t do that, only the defense can. Here is where my stance started to change…we can’t always foresee the circumstances we are going to find ourselves in as PR Pros, but once we know what the offense is going to do, we can adapt our “game scheme” and keep them from scoring, get the ball back and let the offense do its thing. When we find ourselves on defense, that just means we’ve seen their play, we know their move and we know how to respond. When on offense we “anticipate” that we know how the other team will respond and sometimes (ok, quite often) we are shocked by what doesn’t happen instead of what does happen.

Thought 4:

I still would argue that as a PR Pro, I prefer to be on the offense side of the ball, it’s just more comfortable feeling prepared and having the ball in your hands. BUT, because the PR world is not that simple, it’s what we do on defense that can ultimately determine our organizations success or failure when a situation we were not prepared for arises.

So…yes, I did just change my mind (it’s my right, I’m a woman) and I am confident with my stance in saying that the “PR Game Philosophy” follows that of football: “Offense wins games, defense wins championships.” It only took me one month to come to that conclusion…

Football 101

My mom enjoys telling a story about when I was a 7th grade cheerleader and I was cheering at a football game when I started yelling "defense, defense!" I then proceeded to turn to the other cheerleaders in a "know-it-all" kind of way and say to them, "that means the other team has the ball." Maybe I could have approached informing them about offense and defense in a more kind way, but I often found myself getting quite embarrassed when they were yelling defense instead of offense and vice versa. I used to proclaim, "it's not that hard of a game to figure out, why don't you pay attention." Needless to say, we had lots of talks at home about "polite communication."

As I got older, I realized it was not a pre-requisite to complete Football 101 before becoming a cheerleader (even though I think it should be) and not everyone was lucky enough to have a dad that taught them about the game. The basic football fundamentals were foreign to many of the girls I cheered with over the years and I was lucky to have a grasp of the basics of the game before becoming a cheerleader. This story came up recently in conversation and it got me thinking: what concepts would be covered in Football 101 and why would it be important? If I were in charge of the class, I think Football 101 would cover:

Offense vs. defense
Down and distance
Scoring, and
Football Terminology

Once those concepts are covered, any person, including a 7th grade cheerleader, would better understand the game. I share that story to use as a foundation for this: next week my other role as professor begins when I start teaching the Fundamentals of Human Communication, or Communication 101, at Tarrant County College. I am always shocked by the (lack of) communication skills college students, as well as, the general population possess. How can you play the game if you don't learn the basics first? The number one skill sought by organizations is "effective communication skills." So why do so many people skip Communications 101? My theory is that if a person understands and practices the most basic communication skills, the he or she can and will be more effective in most areas of their life. They don't need to become a communications expert, but just understanding the game will give them an advantage. Communications 101 should include the following:

Communication is inescapable; you cannot not communicate.
Communication is complicated
Context vs. content
Adapting communication to meet YOUR needs

So as I approach preparing for my classes, my focus is in wanting my students to walk away at the end of the semester and be able to stand on the sidelines and understand the game. Because once they have the basic understanding of the communications game, they will no longer find themselves being yelled at by a "know it all" cheerleader (or boss, or partner, or friend, etc.)

Watching PR Game Film

Since my professional football career never took off like I intended it to, I have never actually experienced the process of watching game film. However, my perception is that it actually serves two purposes of equal importance:

1. Watch film on your opponents to prepare for your upcoming game(s) and
2. Watch film on your past game(s) to evaluate strengths and weaknesses

This week while at work I found myself "watching film on one of last year's games" in order to prepare for a pre-season opener. Last year school district public relations professionals, myself included, were not prepared for the game when President Obama decided to speak to the nation's students in September. We did not have time to prepare for the unexpected feedback, emotions, logistical issues, personal beliefs, etc., that this situation created. Regardless of political affiliations, President Obama's sporadic decision to address the students was similar to that of Boise State's use of trick plays a few years ago (no, I am not at all saying The President tricked us, just an example). As I previously stated, one of the purposes of watching game film is to watch film on your opponents to prepare for an upcoming game. Well guess what? We didn't have the advantage of watching game film last year...but this year we do.

This week I pulled out my folder titled "Presidential Address to Students" and evaluated how we as a school district managed the crisis situation last year. I'm not calling the President's decision a crisis, like a school shooting or natural disaster would be, but situations created like this one get filed away in my "crisis" folder because I evaluate it much like I would a crisis. There are three distinct stages of a crisis: pre-crisis, crisis and post crisis. Many successful crisis situations and outcomes are determined in the first stage. I will explain it like this: pre-crisis stage=watching game film on your opponent. Effective planning during the pre-crisis stage can help determine if you will walk a way with a win. The next two stages can be a little less painful if the first stage is executed well.

This year we are lucky because we know The President is planning on speaking to the nation's students again, we have game film to watch so we can prepare for our "opponents," and we have our past game film to use to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses from last year's crisis situation. I am not too proud to say that last year we looked like Shane Falco and The Replacements but this year we will look like Drew Brees and the World Champion Saints!

Pic: I took this at a local CVS, I would love to build one of these in my house.

PR Two-a-Days

I am well aware that it has been awhile since my last post and I'm just going to chalk it up to enjoying my summer. With that said, today all across the wonderful state of Texas, many high school football programs kicked off two-a-day workouts. What that means is FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE! My favorite time of the year is now upon us! I can't wait to enjoy Friday night football, College Game Day when I wake-up on Saturday, NFL Sunday and ending it all with Monday Night Football. Not to mention the random Thursday night games, and if I am lucky, one on Tuesday and Wednesday. Basically it is possible to surround myself with football 24/7!

Two-a-days, such a crazy concept to those not associated with football (or just a fan of football). Why in the world would a team practice twice in one day, when it is 106 degrees outside? The simple answer is because football season couldn't get here fast enough. But the real answer is because it is necessary to establish the "team mentality," to assess where you are as a team, what you need to work on, what is will work for you, what won't and because it's football and it's fun!

This morning when I started thinking about today kicking off the high school football season, I found myself wondering is there such a thing as PR two-a-days? Then it hit me...everyday is a two-a-day in the PR world (and I would argue sometimes a three-a-day). As a PR Pro, every day I work towards establishing a solid "team mentality" within the school district I work for, as well as with our district stakeholders: students, parents, community members and local media representatives. If you walked into our office any day of the week you would hear us discussing our strengths, weaknessess, failures and successes and what we need to do to either maintain the status quo or make it even better. No matter what my role is: crisis communicator, gatekeeper, sounding board, decision maker, event planner, entertainer, bad news bearer, spokesperson, counselor or information seeker the number one priority is what is best for the "team mentality" and for my school district as a whole...and because it's a fun job (the professional football player gig didn't work out for me, so the PR gig runs a close second)!

To answer my own question, there is such a thing as PR two-a-days, we should just call it PR every-a-days! Stay tuned for more posts now that football is upon us. I will have plenty of opportunities for inspiration.

When You Find Yourself on the IR

In football, players who have been injured, and are likely not to return for the season can be placed on injured reserve (IR). Generally the player on injured reserve is still paid his salary, is part of the team and by placing the injured player on the IR, the organization is basically saying they still want this player on their team. A player might find himself on the IR due to a number of different factors. Some are "other-induced" such as Tom Brady's 2008 season ending injury and others are "self-induced" like NFL kicker Bill Gramatica's torn ACL after his celebration leap. Either way, the last place you want to find yourself is on the IR.

As a young PR Pro, I am finding myself on the professional IR. Just like football players find themselves on the IR because of a number of different factors, I too find myself on the IR because of a number of different factors. Some are self-induced and some are other-induced...I find myself asking, "how does someone who is on the IR make sure they don't end-up on the inactive list?"

Learn from past mistakes. I bet we won't see another celebratory leap from Gramatica anytime soon. And, then again, we might...sometimes people don't learn the first time and it takes them being on the IR a few times before it sinks in. Some people are just passionate (over one point) or just plain stupid.

AND

Stay motivated to work on your game while on the IR. Find ways to work around your injury and advance other aspects of your game so when you find yourself on the active list, you are a better player (person) than you were pre-IR.

For now, those are the two things I am keeping in mind while I am on the IR. There are days I feel like Tom Brady and days I feel like Gramatica. Neither are fun, but both are important to who I am now and who I plan to be in the future!  What do you do when you find yourself on the IR?

(Okay so that wasn't really a football/PR post, but it was important for me to get those words in writing for my mental sanity).

Pic: Jamie Squire/Getty Images retrieved from fannation.com