PR learnings: Creating a winning team

It’s not often in the world of tech PR that our working worlds collide with our outside interests. But this month, for my colleagues Dan, Ed and I, we were very privileged to attend one of the PRCA’s regular industry events, hosted by ex-Saracens player, Will Fraser. Combining PR thought leadership with rugby – one of our favourite sports – we weren’t going to miss this for the world!

After a glittering 13-year-career playing rugby for the Saracens, one of England’s leading premiership rugby teams, Will was forced to retire following a neck injury. He’s now the Director of The Saracens Way, a series of programmes taking Saracens’ core values, winning mentality and daily processes, and directly applying them to any working environment, and here they are translated to our PR industry, for getting the best out of your ‘squad’:

Humility: Be humble in victory, gracious in defeat, and respect and celebrate everybody’s contribution. At the end of the day, PR professionals are humans – as are our clients, the journalists and analysts we engage with, and the suppliers we work with.

Work rate: Earn respect by working hard, inspire others by reaching for new heights, and always be ready to get your hands dirty. And don’t forget, happiness is key to productivity. A happy team will deliver around 12 per cent more than one that isn’t.

Discipline: Do the right thing at the right time; know your role and responsibility; maintain self-control. Whilst the role of a back-row rugby player is very different to a PR account manager, honing your discipline skills to manage your workload effectively will be very valuable to your efficiency.

Honesty: Be honest with yourself; embrace others’ opinions; live the values. Practicing what you preach is one of PR’s ongoing tussles: and one that will make front-page news (see The biggest PR disasters of 2018). For teams, being honest means not taking on more work than you know you can do; and it means admitting when you’re struggling. This will allow your other team members to provide support and extra capacity when you need it.

Who would’ve thought a rugby team’s philosophy could be so inspiring? If you would like to meet my team and read what others have said about us, please visit Babel’s website here. And if you think you have a winning mentality and a strong team-ethic, and want to join us, we’d love to hear from you.