A leader participates in an interview with a news team in order to further the Army narrative. The photo was taken by Staff Sgt. Jesse Untalan
As Army leaders, there are three reasons why effective communication is important: we owe it to our subordinates so they know what’s going on, we owe it to our leaders so they understand what’s going on, and we owe it to the American citizens who provide us the precious resources of people and funding and hold us accountable for how we employ those resources. The Secretary of the Army uses a legislative liaison and a public affairs officer to help communicate Army priorities to key audiences to secure resources (budget, policies, support, etc.). As leaders, we all have a shared responsibility to tell our unit story; and as field grade leaders, we own that narrative.
There are some misconceptions of the purpose of a Public Affairs Officer (PAO). Some believe the responsibility to communicate falls solely on a PAO, rather than on all the leaders. Many officers (usually those with scar tissue) have strong opinions about the PAO. A common meme shows a PAO believing they provide communications advice, while a commander leans on a PAO to write speeches and the rest of the staff thinks a PAO takes photos or updates social media. In fact, the PAO is another weapons system in the commander’s arsenal. Much like the Army Secretary communicates to secure a budget, Army leaders should be communicating to achieve an effect.
The Public Affairs Officer
Staffs at the O6-command level (BCTs, functional brigades, groups) are all assigned a PAO, who acts as the external operations officer in the same way the S3 is the internal operations officer. The S3 oversees and schedules all training while the PAO tackles community outreach (involving event speakers, parade involvement, etc.), media relations (typically with the local media around a base), and the internal communications (often now leaning heavily on social media, but newsletters also fit into this category).
The PAO, however, cannot execute these strategies on their own. A unit PAO relies heavily on peers to help with social media content, subject matter experts (SMEs) to talk to the media, and provide representation at community events. Thus, even though O6-level units have PAOs, the onus of effective communication falls on all leaders.
Public Affairs Support Down and Out
With readiness as the Chief of Staff of the Army’s top priority, a good PAO should be heavily involved in a unit’s training cycle in order to understand communication opportunities to build readiness. At the division and brigade levels, a PAO should support the subordinate units by forming relationships with the S3.
By understanding a unit’s training priorities, a PAO can highlight key training events or understand when Soldiers are available to participate in community relations events. A good S3 will begin to see opportunities in unit training schedules in which to highlight the unit, or offer a unit on “red cycle” for outreach activities. An even better S3 will see training as the best way to enforce a narrative by “showing” rather than “telling” what a unit does well. Rather than looking up at what the brigade or division is doing, a unit can display all the great things its Soldiers do by highlighting their operations, furthering the unit narrative.
Unit narratives should reinforce the Army narrative. Strong units should nest with Army messaging to highlight readiness (CSA priority #1), future Army/future fight (CSA priority #2), and taking care of troops (CSA priority #3). At the battalion and brigade levels, field grade officers can have direct impact on the Army’s future by telling the PAO tell the Army story from the tactical level.
Public Affairs Support to the Commander and Staff
Field grade time on a battalion, brigade or division staff is focused on supporting the commander. Good staff officers figure out how to meet the commander’s intent and get to yes by accomplishing tasks that support the commander’s priorities; the commander’s priorities are the good staff officer’s priorities. When a public affairs officer embraces all tasks, they build trust with the commander and becomes a value-added member of the staff.
Just as a good PAO embraces a commander’s tasks, they work hard to contribute to the staff’s success. Field grade officer time is about planning and synchronization. Corps and divisions dictate training cycles – the staff can either add to that training by providing opportunities within that training or detract from the training by not being prepared to help the unit execute the training.
A good PAO links into the military decision making process to proactively plan for public affairs support. Additionally, by being a value-added member of the staff, a PAO positions to ask for assistance. A PAO is often asking a staff for help – to highlight an event, to obtain a speaker for an event, or to find a Soldier to offer expertise to the media. When a PAO has worked opportunities into the tasking cycle other leaders should work to support these requests, as they further the unit, and thus, the Army narrative.
Communicating – Shared Responsibility for All Leaders
While the PAO will write the communications plan, the responsibility of communicating a unit’s accomplishments falls on the entire staff. By showcasing a unit’s training, planning appropriately for media coverage, or knowing which units can support community relations events, a staff can position its unit positively in the eyes of the higher headquarters the American people.
Some would argue there are no rewards for those who engage the media or speak at community events. Others argue the reward is the trust and confidence of the American people. While senior leaders focus on talking to the media, field grade leaders have a unique opportunity to become internal spokespersons and engage directly within their battalions and brigades. A shared understanding is not only key for Congressional decision makers, but also for units training towards a common goal. Leaders are often intimidated by negative news stories, but by getting in front of a story, accepting responsibility for an issue, and committing to fixing the problem, leaders can set the tone for reporting on controversial topics. It’s more important to be accurate than to be positive. Failures and accidents happen, but a timely and honest response reinforce the Army narrative that Soldiers are ready to fight and win the nation’s wars. When a leader stays in their lane, they can never be wrong.
MAJ Allie Weiskopf has commanded two public affairs units, and served as a public affairs officer at the group, division, corps levels. She is currently a public affairs officer in the office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Defense.