Training to be a Professional Mind Reader

"...the public relations person must know human behavior and combine that knowledge with specific information about people within the institution and people outside whom the institution deals with." -- Chapter 1, Public Relations Writing

By nature I am a perceptive person. My Myers-Briggs type leans heavily in the intuitive as opposed to sensing side. I have always been very (if not overly) sensitive to the actions and emotions, concealed or expressed, of those around me. It never ceases to amaze me when I meet those in highly public positions who seem oblivious to how their speech and actions affect those listening to and watching them.

My goal in this class is to learn how to professionally apply this natural knowledge and hopefully assist the organization for whom I work to market itself better. At this point in time, our institution has a fairly disjointed method of marketing. The campus admissions office is responsible for their own marketing material including the college catalog and all brochures and material sent out to prospective students. Any other entity within the school, i.e. distance education, community education, etc., does their own thing. The webpages don't even match up. Just click online campus to see the difference. I can see a trend toward trying to unite and combine, but because this would ultimately involve rearranging departments and job descriptions, I don't think it will happen until some retire or new administration comes in that is not afraid to shake things up.

Hopefully this class will teach me how to prepare a logical and air-tight proposal for how an effective marketing and public relations department (more likely position) would look and how it could benefit the college not only in presenting a unified and effective front, but monetarily as well. (Let's face it--that's the bottom line. If you can show them how it will save them money, they'll listen.)

So for those of you who have worked at a similarly dysfunctional organization, feel free to share your experiences!