GA Member from France Communication & Entreprise (Com-Ent) interviews former GA Chair José Manuel Velasco
Emmanuelle Raveau, President Communication & Entreprise and José Manuel Velasco, Past-Chair Global Alliance
José Manuel Velasco Guardado, former Chair of Global Alliance : One of the keys to communication is decoding correctly the environment”
José Manuel Velasco Guardado used to be the Chair of Global Alliance from 2017 to 2019. He is now Chair of the European Regional Council.
COM-ENT : What was the main purpose of Global Alliance at the beginning? And what about now?
José Manuel Velasco Guardado : The Global Alliance formally started operating in July 2002, after a pre-formation period of six years. There were 25 founding members including some of all major national associations. The Global Alliance relied on the efforts of communication professionals to tackle common problems with a global perspective. By partnering with regional, national and international bodies to increase professionalism in public relations and communication management, this Alliance works since then to enhance the collaborative professionalism of the industry among its constituents around the world.
Now, the main purpose of the Global Alliance is to elevate the PR profession. What does it mean? That means to elevate the reputation of the industry, to elevate the hierarchical position of the function in organizations and to elevate the economic remuneration of the function (salaries of in-house practitioners and agencies fees). We address that purpose creating global standards, sharing knowledge and boosting a global network integrated by professionals and academics.
Which commitments are yours?
I fully share the purpose of the GA. Actually it matches with my personal purpose: to help communication professionals to become better executives and to help executives to become better communicators. I serve that purpose through my associate commitment and doing coaching and mentoring.
What makes it interesting or relevant to combine the visions of different countries?
The Global Alliance combines practitioners and academics. This allows us to pay attention to the knowledge generated by the profession with academic rigor and, at the same time, to drive such knowledge towards its practical use.
We are an alliance, that is, an open, inclusive and diverse organization. The current board understands that in an alliance there are memberships, partnerships, cooperations and, above all, various visions. The organization has the ability to synthesize all these different visions and to create standards that can be used globally.
What makes it difficult?
Many people speak about diversity but then they don’t practice diversity. If you truly believe on diversity you can not impose your criteria because you think it is the best criteria. For instance, it is quite common to try to impose the Western perspective, just when the greatest growth is occurring in the East. It is also difficult to find people really committed with the profession, that means to work for the Global Alliance as a voluntary contribution. And, finally, it is very difficult to obtain financial resources to fund the activities of the organization. Saying that I have to thank the current board members for their commitment and open mind and to celebrate that the GA is in a good shape from a financial perspective. We have the support of several global brands as sponsors of the GA.
Are there many differences in the way different cultures approach communication topics? Which are they?
Communication is one of the professions that is more globalized. I have had the opportunity to interact with communication professionals in the five continents and I do not see big differences in the way we understand and practice the profession. One of the keys to communication is decoding correctly the environment; that is the way to understand cultural differences. The main difference I have noticed is the varied level of the development of the profession, but that gap is downsizing very fast.
COM-ENT : What are the solutions and facilities Global Alliance is offering to its members?
José Manuel Velasco Guardado : The benefits of being part of the GA are: access to the largest professional network of communicators and the knowledge generated by that network, participate in the creation of global standards, such as the Global Capabilities Framework or the Global Communication Model, access to researches and reports that analyze the development and needs of the profession and participation in regional and global conferences. I give you two clear examples: being member of the GA you have access to the learning plattform of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the largest PR professional association in the world; and you can use a software related to the Global Capabilities Framework to assess yourself or your team.
According to you, why should someone apply to Global Alliance?
For me the main reason is to join a movement which has the mission of empowering the PR profession. But as that may be too romantic, the goal could be to update your knowledge and to stretch your professional vision and your network.
We have to choose: Do we want a world made up of small worlds or a large, open, inclusive, tolerant and supportive world? When choosing not only must we think as citizens, but as managers of the most powerful tool that human beings have: the ability to communicate. I have no doubts: I choose to be global, although it forces me to think about the well-being of those who are not close, of those who are beyond my family or geographic circle, even if I have the feeling that the magnitude of the challenges it overflows, although it suffers from not perceiving the effects in the short term, although it is not able to intuit the extent of the movement of the air caused by the wings of a butterfly.
Our tribe is global or it will be nothing more than an amalgam of individuals who share a tool in an indefinite space impregnated with selfishness. To join the GA is a way to think globally and to act globally too.
Which achievement are you most proud of?
I am proud of having triggered a change in the way we understand the GA. Some people thought we were an exclusive club. I thought the opposite: we are an inclusive alliance. We had to change the bylaws to break that idea of club and to recruit new blood to refresh and update our vision. I’m also happy of having focussed my efforts on the management side, because the organization I received wasn’t in a good shape due to a lack of management. Now we have healthy finances, the board is united around the same vision and interest and we are growing a lot. The brakes have been removed.
What are the next strides of Global Alliance and the next major projects?
José Manuel Velasco Guardado : The next step is to consolidate the regional councils we are creating right now, as the European, of which COM-ENT is part. And we have to promote the next World Public Relations Forum (WPRF) in Auckland in October 2020. Overall we have to ensure that we are delivering value for our members, creating and sharing knowledge and paying attention to the challenges the profession is facing.
This interview was posted at Communication & Entreprise (Com-Ent) website on October 3, 2019. https://www.com-ent.fr/actupuncture/les-essentiels/