6th World Public Relations Forum

The Stockholm Accords

Development - and application - of “The Stockholm Accords” will actually occur before, during and after the Stockholm World Public Relations Forum.

In February and March, 2010, international public relations professionals will participate in virtual workshops to draft central elements of the “Accords” based on new “communicative organization” research including “Business Effective Communication.” These draft elements will be available on the Global Alliance and Swedish Public Relations Association websites for comments, especially from Forum registered delegates.

A resulting framework for the Accords will be presented to delegates as an integrated part of the Forum. Facilitated discussions at delegate round tables will further develop the Accords. A final draft will be presented to the delegates during the Forum final session.

The Communicative Organisation
The concept of the Communicative organisation was conceived as a result of the five-year research programme “Business Effective Communication” a collaboration between the Swedsih Public Relations Association, Mälardalen University and the Stockholm School of Economics. During the project a number of cases were studied to define how information and communication can be used in the leadership of organisations in order to achieve a higher degree of external effectiveness.

The value-creation networks
The world is no longer a straight line from company to consumer. The organization holds a position in a network full of different stakeholders, and the network decides if you are valuable enough to keep your position. You can be replaced anytime. Your organization needs to find the perfect position where it is so valuable that the network can´t do without you. The key to this is to develop the organisation´s communicative skills. This is where the communicator comes in to save the day.

The contextual leadership
The communicator needs to take on leadership in the communicative organization. It is his or her task to put the ideological leadership (i.e the business idea or purpose) into the correct context. However the saying goes, perhaps selling sand in Sahara isn´t the best of ideas. The leadership can take different forms; as system building, mediation, coaching or influencing. The important thing is, communication is an organizational quality, rather than a function. Herein lies the challenge for the communicator.

Reading material
Want to read more? The final report, The communicator´s role in leadership, is very amiable and of course in English. No time to read? Watch our professor explain the concept in eight minutes on YouTube.