IPR Announces 2021 Leadership Slate
Institute for Public Relations
The Institute for Public Relations Board of Trustees has elected Stacey Jones of Accenture as Chair of the IPR Board of Trustees and Yanique Woodall of The Home Depot as Vice Chair, effective January 1, 2021.

Steve Cody, founder and CEO of Peppercomm, will serve as Immediate Past Chair after serving two years as Chair. Doug Pinkham, president of the Public Affairs Council, will continue serving as Treasurer. Jones served as Vice Chair for nearly two years.

As senior managing director and head of global corporate communications at Accenture, Jones oversees global media and analyst relations; ventures and acquisitions; corporate initiatives; issues management; executive positioning; and people (internal) communications.

Woodall, senior director of corporate communications and external affairs and head of brand communications, leads brand communications at The Home Depot. She plays a key role in its messaging strategy to support social impact programs, marketing, merchandising, product innovation, and technology goals. Woodall is featured in the “In A Car with IPR” episode launched yesterday, January 12.

Read more to learn about IPR's 2021 leadership slate.
Welcome Letter from the 2021 IPR Chair: An Optimist's Outlook for IPR in 2021
Stacey Jones, IPR Chair, Head of Global Corporate Communications, Senior Managing Director, Accenture
Until last week, this posting was going to focus on how difficult and uncertain last year was – and how much I was looking forward to starting fresh. But now, just a few short days into 2021, we’ve already witnessed some of the worst we could have imagined. There is little I can add about the awful events at the Capitol that hasn’t already been said or written. But since I am truly an optimist at heart, I still hold fast to the belief that in the coming year, things will only get better.

So, let me take a step back and offer a few IPR-related reflections. First, it’s hard to fully express my gratitude for the role IPR continues to play in the industry and the opportunity to serve as chair. Just over six years ago, Pat Ford wisely advised me that IPR is an organization that he truly believed makes a difference for the profession – and although we all have limited time, it was an important place to spend it.

Perhaps it’s also obvious, but certainly truer this year than ever: IPR’s role has never been more critical to bringing the power of research-based knowledge to public relations and delivering the necessary evidence that helps professionals formulate both effective strategies and scientifically sound methods to measure results.

Read more to see why Jones is choosing to focus on "community, continuous learning, and change" in 2021.
New "In A Car with IPR" with Yanique Woodall of The Home Depot
Yanique Woodall, Vice Chair, IPR Board of Trustees, Senior Director, Corporate Communications and External Affairs, The Home Depot
"In A Car with IPR" is a video series by the Institute for Public Relations where we get to know leaders in the public relations industry.

In this "In A Car with IPR" episode, we meet up with the new IPR Vice Chair, Yanique Woodall, Senior Director, Corporate Communications and External Affairs, and Head of Brand Communications, at The Home Depot to discuss the latest in crisis comms, corporate purpose, leadership, and more.

We start with a pre-pandemic trip to Georgia, where Woodall shows us around The Home Depot headquarters and explains The Orange Promise. Then, we revisit Woodall during the COVID-19 pandemic to discuss how The Home Depot has re-imagined how they operate in these unprecedented times.

Watch the full episode and check out the deleted scenes!
Vaccine Hesitancy and Concerns about Vaccine Safety in Shanghai, China
Abram L. Wagner, Ph.D., MPH, University of Michigan, and colleagues
This summary is provided by the IPR COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Resource Center based on the original article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Dr. Abram L. Wagner and colleagues explored parents' vaccine hesitance and concerns about vaccine safety and effectiveness in Shanghai, China.

Parents of children 18 years or younger completed a questionnaire during winter 2019-2020. The residency of the participants (Shanghai local, recent migrant, or non-local) was taken into account.

Key findings include:
  • 73% of parents were concerned about vaccine side effects.
  • 63% of respondents were concerned with vaccine safety.
  • 52% of parents were concerned about vaccine effectiveness.
  • Compared to locals, rural non-locals were more concerned about vaccine side effects, vaccine safety, and vaccine effectiveness.
  • This finding suggests that differences in vaccine hesitancy by residency could lead to geographical and sociodemographic disparities in vaccination coverage.

Read more to discover how factors, such as residency, impact parents' vaccine hesitancy in Shanghai, China.
With a Little Help From My Friends: Coworker Communication and Workplace Friendship
Patricia M. Sias, Ph.D., Eric Tsetsi, Ph.D., Nathan Woo, and Aaren D. Smith, University of Arizona
This summary is provided by the IPR Organizational Communication Research Center based on the original article in Communication Studies

Dr. Patricia M. Sias and colleagues explored why and how coworker relationships developed into workplace friendships.

An online panel of 210 U.S. adults was conducted.

Key findings include:
  • Ongoing task interdependence (the extent to which team members have to interact with each other in order to complete tasks) positively influenced employees' communication frequency with both friend and non-friend coworkers, which increased workplace relationship quality.
  • Ongoing task interdependence fostered effective trust and emotional ties among coworkers.
  • Informal communication (e.g., face-to-face conversation, phone conversation, and texting) more likely cultivated closer workplace friendships than formal communication.

Read more to learn which factors influence the development of coworker friendships.
Women Received Higher Marks in Crisis Management During COVID-19 than Men
Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review assessed male and female business leaders' effectiveness during the COVID-19 crisis.

Data on 454 male and 366 female leaders were collected from March-June 2020 using Harvard Business Review's global database of 360-degree assessments.

Key findings include:
  • Employees put greater importance on leaders' interpersonal skills during a crisis, such as "inspires and motivates" and "collaboration/teamwork," on which women leaders were rated higher.
  • Women were rated more positively than men on 13 of the 19 competencies in the assessment. (see image)
  • Employees reporting to women had higher levels of engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Direct reports to men had 49.2% engagement, whereas direct reports to women had 55.2% engagement.

Read more to discover other reasons why Harvard Business Review found female leaders to be rated higher in crisis management than men during the COVID-19 crisis.
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