Public relations and the visioning process in healthcare: Perspectives of US practitioners

Abstract

The ability of leaders in healthcare organizations to successfully articulate a vision — a desired future state — is central to organizational success in the rapidly changing world of healthcare. Public relations professionals playing the role of key policy and strategy advisors are in ideal positions to help create organizational visions. This pilot study explored the role of top public relations practitioners in the visioning process. In-depth interviews were conducted with US practitioners in various healthcare positions. The results indicate that professionals in top positions in healthcare organizations are not making optimal contributions to the visioning process. Some practitioners view their visioning roles as limited to communication and did not view the crucial task of bringing the views of stakeholders to the visioning process as part of their responsibilities. Others who indicated it was part of their role to bring views of stakeholders to the visioning process did not report using any systematic effort to prioritize stakeholder groups. The author urges professionals involved in visioning to use available material concerning stakeholder prioritization in order to maximize their contributions to visioning at their respective organizations.