Feb. 16, 2026
Why PR Pros Urge Brands to Put People Before Processes
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Episode Summary
In a world increasingly driven by data, frameworks, and efficiency, are we losing the human element in public relations? This week, hosts Karen Swim and Michelle Kane tackle the critical need for brands to prioritize people over processes. They explore how the over-reliance on analytics, scripts, and rigid systems can lead to poor customer experiences and stifle professional growth. From the frustrations of automated service lines to the undervaluing of professional instinct and critical thinking, this episode is a passionate call for PR and communications pros to champion a more people-first approach in their strategies.
Episode Highlights- [01:39] The "Read the Room" Imperative: Why it's essential for PR professionals to craft messaging that respects the audience and current circumstances, ensuring we don't lose sight of the people we serve.
- [02:24] People as an Afterthought: A discussion on the troubling trend where frameworks, efficiency, and bottom lines overshadow the human connections that public relations is built on.
- [05:03] The Limits of Data: While data is important, it isn't everything. The hosts use a baseball analogy to illustrate the importance of gut instinct and human experience in decision-making.
- [07:01] The Decline of Critical Thinking: How rigid frameworks and an obsession with efficiency are hindering the development of critical thinking skills for both seasoned and emerging professionals.
- [08:49] The Practitioner's Dilemma: Navigating the conflict between people-led PR training and being measured by numbers, quotas, and processes that often ignore the human impact.
- [10:07] Lived Experience is Valuable: The importance of on-the-ground knowledge and why ignoring local insights in favor of broad data can lead to misguided strategies.
- [12:16] Critical Thinking Isn't Dead, It's Devalued: A powerful argument that smart people with innovative ideas are often unheard because organizations fail to make room for human intellect and nuance.
For more resources and discussions tailored to independent PR professionals, explore the community and articles available at SoloPRPro.com.
Host & Show InfoThat Solo Life is a podcast created for public relations, communication, and marketing professionals who work as independent and small practitioners. Hosted by Karen Swim, APR, founder of Words For Hire and President of Solo PR, and Michelle Kane, Principal of Voice Matters, the show delivers expert insights, encouragement, and advice for solo PR pros navigating today’s dynamic professional landscape.
Did this conversation resonate with you? Share this episode with a fellow PR pro who champions a people-first approach. Subscribe to "That Solo Life" on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review to help others find the show.
That Solo Life Episode 334: Why PR Pros Urge Brands to Put People Before Processes
Michelle Kane (00:13):
Thanks for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros, marketers, and communicators who work for themselves. People like me, Michelle Kane with Voice Matters and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi, Karen. How are you today?
Karen Swim, APR (00:30):
Good morning, Michelle. Doing well. Thank you. How are you?
Michelle Kane (00:35):
Hey, faking it till I make it? No, I'm not faking it. We are in the winter, the winter. We are in the depths of this frigid, cold snow for two weeks winter. If you're listening to this in parts of the country or that's your norm, I'm so sorry. Not just for that, but for being so weak in the face of it. I am ready for a little bit of spring.
Karen Swim, APR (01:13):
I feel like the entire country could use a little bit of spring.
Michelle Kane (01:19):
I love that. Yes. Yes, indeed we could. Just a little warmup, a little glow, a little sunshine, just to brighten our way. But anyway, we're here to talk about PR stuff as usual and we're going to take a little angle. We're going to call it read the room. How can you craft your messaging and just get through these wild days in ways that really respect your audience and the people that you and your clients are looking to serve? Because as we've talked, we talk a lot about AI and getting systems in place and everything has its place, but we just want to make sure we're not losing sight of the people that we serve because we serve the public in public relations. We don't serve ... It's not cyber relations, it's public relations. So we're going to riff about that a little bit today.
Karen Swim, APR (02:23):
Yes, it is really actually troubling that we talk so much about frameworks, efficiency, and bottom lines that in that whole discussion, I mean, we're so focused on numbers and analytics and all of the things and processes that people is an afterthought. And all of those things are to measure how effective we are with people, but we put people last and instead of putting people first. And I think that that's a mistake.
Michelle Kane (03:01):
Agree. Agree. Definitely. I mean, what's the quote? People will never forget how you made them feel. And I want to say it's my Angulu, but it's true. I mean, it's why we study sentiment, right? And it's not as a means of pulling one over on a customer just to get the sale. It's, well, no, we want you to walk away feeling good, of course, at its base good enough to write us a nice review, but also to word of mouth and coming back. We want to retain you as well. And I mean, honestly, what's the opposite of that? Giving someone a bad experience? Who wants to do that? So I
Karen Swim, APR (03:51):
Think- But I
Michelle Kane (03:52):
Think in a- Yeah, go ahead.
Karen Swim, APR (03:54):
I think in a lot of ways that's exactly what we're doing, right? Yeah. Is that by focusing on process and efficiencies and bottom line numbers that we really are setting the stage for delivering terrible experiences. And we do this internally and externally. So you think about how we don't individualize employee training, how we don't address issues with proper development. Everything is about a quota, a number, hitting a standard. We have scripts for everything that end up frustrating people. So I'm not understanding how we got here in our culture. And hopefully as communication professionals, we can help companies to rethink some of that and bring humanity to the forefront.
Michelle Kane (04:50):
Yeah, that's very true. Very true. Because if you're on the receiving end of that, you know, either instinctively or in the moment of, wait a second. And data drives so much and data is great, but it's not the only thing. I mean, think about if you're a baseball fan, many of us bemoan the fact that every decision is so data driven. Oh, well, I have to pull the picture after 51.5 pitches. And rather than just going with your instinct and your gut, that applies to so much of business as well. Because at the end of the day, we're dealing with our humanity and our human selves, and that's everything from our grit and our strength and our endurance and the challenges we all face and our personalities. And the more we all learn about our personalities, the more we learn like, "Oh, we can all be on different spectrums.
(05:53):
Oh, okay. Well, who's got there?" You're just discovering maybe your ADHD as a 50 something year old woman, not saying I have, but when I read those little articles, I go, "Oh." So we're all dealing with a lot. And I think in a way there's a certain safety we probably feel then of clinging to the data because numbers are numbers and they never change.
Karen Swim, APR (06:20):
I love the baseball example though. And I love it because it has nothing to do with AI because we all know those AI frustrations from chatbots to calling automated service lines and being so frustrated to fight to get to a human being that's not going to then read a script and only read the script to you, but somebody who's actually going to talk to you that it costs people customers, but baseball has nothing to do with any of that. And so I love that you brought in being able to operate off of your human experience and your instinct, which that is something that I believe that we are losing in the workplace. And I think that that's a detriment to seasoned pros and seasoned professionals, as well as those that are coming into the profession.
Michelle Kane (07:11):
Oh yeah.
Karen Swim, APR (07:14):
We talk about losing the ability of critical thinking, but we're not allowing critical thinking to develop because everything is becoming wrote because it's part of the framework and part of the efficiency. But what if the framework doesn't make sense in every situation? You stick to the framework, you stick to the policy, you meet this quota, you hit these numbers, you do it this way because our data says it's the most efficient way to do things. Well, that can be wrong and it shouldn't be black and white that way. There should be nuances and we don't allow that anymore.
Michelle Kane (07:55):
Yeah, you're right. And our society has a big problem overall with not appreciating, recognizing, understanding that nuance matters. And while numbers themselves don't lie, some of the data points might be incorrect. They might be off that you're using to come up with the data. There's all sorts of room. So yeah, I agree. And it is a shame for the practitioners just coming up to not have those experiences to become seasoned. It's not good.
Karen Swim, APR (08:36):
I mean, and I think as practitioners, it is tough for us as well to operate in an environment that is not putting people first. Our training teaches us that our publics, meaning our clients and those that they serve, are important. They're essential that we are to have people led people first strategies. However, what we're measured on, what we're hired on, sometimes what we're fired on, are all of those things except for people. And that makes it really, really hard because we're forced into these really unforgiving situations where brands want to see X and they want to see a certain number and it has to follow a certain timeline and it has to be a certain process without thinking about how is PR deeply impacting the business because that's not a media hit here and there. It's so much more than that. And that makes me really ... While I'm excited about the opportunities for our profession, that thinking makes me afraid for our profession because I feel like we're taking away the heart and soul of what it means to practice public relations.
Michelle Kane (10:02):
Yeah. And the impact that we can have. I once worked on a project where I was kind of like the regional touch base and kind of helped them get the lay of the land. And a couple of the things they chose not to do in this region based on their presumptions about who we were, I was like, no, a lot of people like that in this area. You might be thinking they don't, but that's kind of why you have me here. Oh, okay. Hey, as long as your check clears, but still. And yeah, even down to changing the location of their store, the location, the town name, we want people from Philly to come. I'm like, "Well, not if you use that town name, but all I can do is say my
Karen Swim, APR (10:54):
Piece."
Michelle Kane (10:55):
And I'm sure they were going off some data that they understood to be true. And it's like, okay, lived experience is valuable and that's whether you're 23 and just entering the profession or you're not. And you've been around for a little while Because again, we're not speaking to a monolithic audience. It doesn't matter even how targeted your audience might be, there are still variations within those audiences no matter what. So it really does matter that you need to have that authenticity. You need to have that ability to move outside of those frameworks as the project dictates. It's fine to have the frameworks, but to just think, "This is what we must do. " We need
Karen Swim, APR (11:59):
Framework. It's kind of like the same reason that we need laws. We can't allow chaos. We have to have organizational structure, but you also have to make room for people to use their head. And I think I want to say that critical thinking is not dead. I think it's just not valued. And I think that you have smart people in every kind of job that know the right things to do. They know ways to innovate to make something better. They're just not being heard. And that really is a sad shame.
Michelle Kane (12:42):
Yeah. Yeah. That's true. Wow, we ended on a bit of a downer today. As we were prepping for this episode, we'll be honest, we were thinking, "Can some celebrity do something silly so we can have a fun one?" But we're putting that charge out there into the world. Let's have something ridiculous to chew on, but this was a valuable conversation that is necessary and we will continue to have it over the course of future episodes. If you did find value in our time today, please do share this around. Check us out at soloprpro.com. There's all kinds of great information there for people striking out on their own. And until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.
Michelle Kane (00:13):
Thanks for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros, marketers, and communicators who work for themselves. People like me, Michelle Kane with Voice Matters and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi, Karen. How are you today?
Karen Swim, APR (00:30):
Good morning, Michelle. Doing well. Thank you. How are you?
Michelle Kane (00:35):
Hey, faking it till I make it? No, I'm not faking it. We are in the winter, the winter. We are in the depths of this frigid, cold snow for two weeks winter. If you're listening to this in parts of the country or that's your norm, I'm so sorry. Not just for that, but for being so weak in the face of it. I am ready for a little bit of spring.
Karen Swim, APR (01:13):
I feel like the entire country could use a little bit of spring.
Michelle Kane (01:19):
I love that. Yes. Yes, indeed we could. Just a little warmup, a little glow, a little sunshine, just to brighten our way. But anyway, we're here to talk about PR stuff as usual and we're going to take a little angle. We're going to call it read the room. How can you craft your messaging and just get through these wild days in ways that really respect your audience and the people that you and your clients are looking to serve? Because as we've talked, we talk a lot about AI and getting systems in place and everything has its place, but we just want to make sure we're not losing sight of the people that we serve because we serve the public in public relations. We don't serve ... It's not cyber relations, it's public relations. So we're going to riff about that a little bit today.
Karen Swim, APR (02:23):
Yes, it is really actually troubling that we talk so much about frameworks, efficiency, and bottom lines that in that whole discussion, I mean, we're so focused on numbers and analytics and all of the things and processes that people is an afterthought. And all of those things are to measure how effective we are with people, but we put people last and instead of putting people first. And I think that that's a mistake.
Michelle Kane (03:01):
Agree. Agree. Definitely. I mean, what's the quote? People will never forget how you made them feel. And I want to say it's my Angulu, but it's true. I mean, it's why we study sentiment, right? And it's not as a means of pulling one over on a customer just to get the sale. It's, well, no, we want you to walk away feeling good, of course, at its base good enough to write us a nice review, but also to word of mouth and coming back. We want to retain you as well. And I mean, honestly, what's the opposite of that? Giving someone a bad experience? Who wants to do that? So I
Karen Swim, APR (03:51):
Think- But I
Michelle Kane (03:52):
Think in a- Yeah, go ahead.
Karen Swim, APR (03:54):
I think in a lot of ways that's exactly what we're doing, right? Yeah. Is that by focusing on process and efficiencies and bottom line numbers that we really are setting the stage for delivering terrible experiences. And we do this internally and externally. So you think about how we don't individualize employee training, how we don't address issues with proper development. Everything is about a quota, a number, hitting a standard. We have scripts for everything that end up frustrating people. So I'm not understanding how we got here in our culture. And hopefully as communication professionals, we can help companies to rethink some of that and bring humanity to the forefront.
Michelle Kane (04:50):
Yeah, that's very true. Very true. Because if you're on the receiving end of that, you know, either instinctively or in the moment of, wait a second. And data drives so much and data is great, but it's not the only thing. I mean, think about if you're a baseball fan, many of us bemoan the fact that every decision is so data driven. Oh, well, I have to pull the picture after 51.5 pitches. And rather than just going with your instinct and your gut, that applies to so much of business as well. Because at the end of the day, we're dealing with our humanity and our human selves, and that's everything from our grit and our strength and our endurance and the challenges we all face and our personalities. And the more we all learn about our personalities, the more we learn like, "Oh, we can all be on different spectrums.
(05:53):
Oh, okay. Well, who's got there?" You're just discovering maybe your ADHD as a 50 something year old woman, not saying I have, but when I read those little articles, I go, "Oh." So we're all dealing with a lot. And I think in a way there's a certain safety we probably feel then of clinging to the data because numbers are numbers and they never change.
Karen Swim, APR (06:20):
I love the baseball example though. And I love it because it has nothing to do with AI because we all know those AI frustrations from chatbots to calling automated service lines and being so frustrated to fight to get to a human being that's not going to then read a script and only read the script to you, but somebody who's actually going to talk to you that it costs people customers, but baseball has nothing to do with any of that. And so I love that you brought in being able to operate off of your human experience and your instinct, which that is something that I believe that we are losing in the workplace. And I think that that's a detriment to seasoned pros and seasoned professionals, as well as those that are coming into the profession.
Michelle Kane (07:11):
Oh yeah.
Karen Swim, APR (07:14):
We talk about losing the ability of critical thinking, but we're not allowing critical thinking to develop because everything is becoming wrote because it's part of the framework and part of the efficiency. But what if the framework doesn't make sense in every situation? You stick to the framework, you stick to the policy, you meet this quota, you hit these numbers, you do it this way because our data says it's the most efficient way to do things. Well, that can be wrong and it shouldn't be black and white that way. There should be nuances and we don't allow that anymore.
Michelle Kane (07:55):
Yeah, you're right. And our society has a big problem overall with not appreciating, recognizing, understanding that nuance matters. And while numbers themselves don't lie, some of the data points might be incorrect. They might be off that you're using to come up with the data. There's all sorts of room. So yeah, I agree. And it is a shame for the practitioners just coming up to not have those experiences to become seasoned. It's not good.
Karen Swim, APR (08:36):
I mean, and I think as practitioners, it is tough for us as well to operate in an environment that is not putting people first. Our training teaches us that our publics, meaning our clients and those that they serve, are important. They're essential that we are to have people led people first strategies. However, what we're measured on, what we're hired on, sometimes what we're fired on, are all of those things except for people. And that makes it really, really hard because we're forced into these really unforgiving situations where brands want to see X and they want to see a certain number and it has to follow a certain timeline and it has to be a certain process without thinking about how is PR deeply impacting the business because that's not a media hit here and there. It's so much more than that. And that makes me really ... While I'm excited about the opportunities for our profession, that thinking makes me afraid for our profession because I feel like we're taking away the heart and soul of what it means to practice public relations.
Michelle Kane (10:02):
Yeah. And the impact that we can have. I once worked on a project where I was kind of like the regional touch base and kind of helped them get the lay of the land. And a couple of the things they chose not to do in this region based on their presumptions about who we were, I was like, no, a lot of people like that in this area. You might be thinking they don't, but that's kind of why you have me here. Oh, okay. Hey, as long as your check clears, but still. And yeah, even down to changing the location of their store, the location, the town name, we want people from Philly to come. I'm like, "Well, not if you use that town name, but all I can do is say my
Karen Swim, APR (10:54):
Piece."
Michelle Kane (10:55):
And I'm sure they were going off some data that they understood to be true. And it's like, okay, lived experience is valuable and that's whether you're 23 and just entering the profession or you're not. And you've been around for a little while Because again, we're not speaking to a monolithic audience. It doesn't matter even how targeted your audience might be, there are still variations within those audiences no matter what. So it really does matter that you need to have that authenticity. You need to have that ability to move outside of those frameworks as the project dictates. It's fine to have the frameworks, but to just think, "This is what we must do. " We need
Karen Swim, APR (11:59):
Framework. It's kind of like the same reason that we need laws. We can't allow chaos. We have to have organizational structure, but you also have to make room for people to use their head. And I think I want to say that critical thinking is not dead. I think it's just not valued. And I think that you have smart people in every kind of job that know the right things to do. They know ways to innovate to make something better. They're just not being heard. And that really is a sad shame.
Michelle Kane (12:42):
Yeah. Yeah. That's true. Wow, we ended on a bit of a downer today. As we were prepping for this episode, we'll be honest, we were thinking, "Can some celebrity do something silly so we can have a fun one?" But we're putting that charge out there into the world. Let's have something ridiculous to chew on, but this was a valuable conversation that is necessary and we will continue to have it over the course of future episodes. If you did find value in our time today, please do share this around. Check us out at soloprpro.com. There's all kinds of great information there for people striking out on their own. And until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.