Achievement, Leadership, Enlightenment, and Perseverance Organization - Case Study Example

 LEAP ORGANIZATION The History of L.E.A.P Organizations L.E.A.P stands for academic achievement, leadership, enlightenment, and perseverance. This is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2009 in Clarksville, TN by Richard Garrett Reason (Clarksville Online, 2015). The task of the leap organization is to promote constructive ethical growth and sustainable life skills development for the youth. It also teaches its members about growth, responsibility, and outreach. The dream of the organization is to put into practice sustainable plans that grant and empower youth with the information and resources they require to advance their decision- making leading into healthy and industrious lives (Leaporg.net, 2014). The non-profit organization was separated from its own body by the initiator through the assistance of Becky Moore of the United Way and Pastor Tommy Vallejo. It later on became the leap and got its IRS 501 (c) 3 statuses on 29th April, 2009. In addition, Pastor Harris was also active in opening the Emmanuel Family Life Center for the organization to function (Clarksville Online, 2015). The leap organizations have made strong partnerships with the home, business community, media and organizations helping the youth in the society since it opened its doors. The products and services of the LEAP organization The leap organization expects all middle and high school students to take part in a media contest (Leaporg.net, 2014). The students make multimedia products like videos, posters, websites, games, photo essays, public service statements, and documentaries. These products focus on the importance of institution learning and how to get ready for it. The leap organization build up and reinforce communities of dynamic nationality with values of enlightenment, academic achievement, leadership, and perseverance through hope, faith and love by offering tutoring, mentoring, affordable housing, and various assistance programs (Leaporg.net, 2014). The organization also give educational field trips, counseling, career development, and community service learning opportunities for students’ aged 11 to 18 years at no cost. These are some of the services and products of a leap organization: Life Skills and Leadership The youths that willingly register in the organization’s agenda benefit from inventive and amusing leadership forums. The youths gain knowledge and apply necessary skills of leadership, for instance, conflict resolution, team building, goal setting, public speaking, and etiquette. Career development The leap organization provides a project based, hands on learning understanding for the youth during interactive job inclination training (Leaporg, 2014). The arrangement and preparation in the organization provide job training to make the youth get ready to join the workforce. Intervention Program In the leap organizations, the youth get involved in the interactive teaching that give handy guidance for considerate dating and relations, fighting and quarrel resolution, and building healthy friendships. The organization also builds skills for responsible decision-making, effective communication, and media literacy. The needs for Public Relations Strategy Public Relation is a subject which looks after character, with the aim of earning understanding, support and influencing views and actions. It is the planned and sustained attempt to establish and uphold kindness and common understanding between an organization and its people (Simon, 1986). It is important to note that an organization is only strong when its repute is good. Hence, the public relation purpose is to manage that reputation. Similarly, organizations require efficient public relations promotion even if its products or services are good. The promotion will make the services and products offered more encouraging and attracted to the public (Simon, 1986). It will also make the services and products appealing towards the goal of the organization. These are some of the reasons why there is need for a public relation strategy in an organization: Public relation strategy aims to focus and manage all the communications of an organization, balance the general business plan of an organization, discover ways in which public relation can help attain organizations’ objectives, ensure utmost profit from all the public relation activities and also help in teaching those inside an organization about the value of good public relation. The public relation functions addressed by the public relation strategies in LEAP organizations include: Counseling The leap organizations have approved community workers who offer case management, counseling, and resource harmonization services to the young people. The societal problems that include behavioral problems, drug and alcohol misuse, fighting, destructive actions, adolescent crimes, low self-esteem, child abuse and neglect are addressed by the individual, family or group meetings (Leaporg, 2014). These counseling services may be provided in schools, community centers, the people’s homes and leap offices. Social media In leap organizations, the planned use of social media is really helping companies to reach new people visibly. In the leap organization, social media also bring added value to mission driven work. Social media is propelling non-profit goals to build a movement around a core advocacy issue, improve customer service, get in touch with new donors, or increase understanding of a non-profit brand around the world. The main features of social media are participation and interaction, connecting people and providing the tools necessary to have a conversation. The activities of social media present a very high potential of communication with target groups and have the advantage of reducing costs to create greater awareness (Green & Chartered Institute of Public Relations, 2010). The use of social media tools, for instance, blogs, podcasts, videos and joint wikis can make organizations initiate further interactions, make their job more interactive, and can positively share out their messages. Crisis management Effective public relations can also create and build up the image of an individual or an organization. For the leap organizations, a public relation can remove confusions and create mutual understanding between the organization and the public at the time of adverse promotion or when the organization is under crisis. Public relations’ role in government affairs Public relations in government affairs contributes to the implementation of public policy, assisting the news media in coverage of government activities, reporting the population on agency activities, increasing the internal unity of the agency and mobilization of support for the agency itself (Leaporg, 2014). The basic function of the government public relations department is to provide information and education to the people. The public relation objectives should further the welfare and interests of the public as a whole and promote the development of the country. Communication and Public relations A well-crafted public relations strategy and implementation will be reflected in increasing variety awareness. It will also enhance the integrity and transform the organization into an opinion leader in the professional area in which it operates (Parsons, 2008). The public relation professionals intervene and deduce pertinent messages between a company, its clients and the public. Their duty is to generate meaningful and targeted insights. Researching In this case, a public relation involves feelings, effects and inquiring the views of those concerned with the operations and policies of an organization, then evaluating the inflow. This task also requires determining facts regarding the organization. Successful strategies for the public relation in organizations The public relation programs build relationships and change the behaviors in the organizations. The public relation ensures that an organization continue to succeed and survive. The core principles and values of public relations can strengthen an organization. In fact, adhering and utilizing strategic communications also strengthens the organizations’ achievements daily. The successful public relations programs are broad. These programs may include aims, strategies, and procedures to achieve the organization’s goals (Parsons, 2008). The program of newsletters and events are the tactics implemented in the organization. This is because studies indicate that these programs are required to accomplish the objectives of the organization. The best public relations suggestions or recommendations in organizations Public relation improvement is significant in organizations and companies. The improved public relation makes an organization to compete favorably with similar organizations (Parsons, 2008). There is need to invest in media and communication training Organizations should spend in media training. The media and communication education ensures that all the employees and trustees of the organization communicate similar messages. The training also allows for brief communication statements to be made in the organization. The media training make employees get ready to speak to any person, group or reporter in difficult situations (Johnston & Sheehan, 2014). Media and communication training is essential for everyone in an organization, for instance, front office staff, technicians, management, and trustees. The training also allows people to overcome their fears of speaking. It can compel them to address key issues and get ready for the hard questions that may come their way. Partnership An organization needs to team up with other organizations in the community to really be more successful. It is important to figure out which organizations have comparable goals to your organization (Parsons, 2008). The goals of these organizations should not automatically be the same, but it is important to discover ways that can be used to work collectively. Policy The organizations should conduct social marketing programs. These programs can do well in encouraging personal behavior change. However, social marketing programs are not easy to maintain in an organization unless the environment they are in supports that change for the long run (Johnston & Sheehan, 2014). Time and again, policy change is needed, and media support programs can be an effective complement to a social marketing program in an organization. Operate with reasons It is important to do something with reasons defining the organization program. This can be made through a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a tool that business planners use to measure an organization and its environment. The word SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The idea of operating with a purpose in an organization is to take advantage of its strengths and opportunities and to resolve its weaknesses and threats by forming objectives and working to realize those objectives. Curiosity and learning In any organization, the public relations professionals should have an inquisitive mind. In other words, they should be curious about their surroundings. These professionals should have the desire to learn everything possible about the product, service, client, competitors and the organization itself (Johnston & Sheehan, 2014). It is advisable for the public relations executive to try a number of approaches in order to solve an organizational problem. Unfortunately, some of the approaches may not work. If and when they do not work, the public relation professional should not regard them as personal mistakes but as learning opportunities. The organizations’ challenges are solved by determination and aptitude. Energy, drive, and ambition It is recommended that the successful public relation persons have energy, drive, and ambition. These people work quickly, and they are not afraid to take a calculated risk. These are very important elements in the character of public relations officers (Green & Chartered Institute of Public Relations, 2010). The challenges to be solved inspire most of the top practitioners. The public relation officers should be willing to work the hours it takes to attain their goals. Objective thinking In any organization, public relations officers should remain as objective and factual as possible. It is important for the public relation officers to have an outstanding verdict. The public relation officers must be familiar with what to do, when and what to say. They should also have a sense of timing. In addition, the public relation officers need to have a capacity for strong concentration and interest to intricate detail. Lastly, the public relation officers also need enthusiastic powers of observation. This is particularly important in counseling in the organization. In conclusion, organizations require more than ever building trust and boosting their reputation in the market. The more an organization strives to provide full information about the products and services it offers, the more it will get involved in field work to study the market, identify untapped opportunities, find existing challenges and how to overcome them (Green & Chartered Institute of Public Relations, 2010). Also, the more a company provides appropriate information in its area of expertise, the more it becomes reliable in the eyes of customers. Accurate and more reliable information on organizations’ goal, objectives, activities, products, and services will indeed influence purchasing choices for the clients of the organization. Organizations can use the standard established model based on an institutional image in their activities. The model will help in maintaining certain stability in the relationship between the public and institutions. Organizations’ strategies may also be used to obtain a high understanding through public support and social media and to influence policy and legislative environment through lobby activities. References Clarksville Online. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/tag/leadership-enlightenment-academic-achievement-and-perseverance-organization/ Green, A., & Chartered Institute of Public Relations. (2010). Creativity in public relations. London: Kogan Page. Johnston, J., & Sheehan, M. (2014). Public relations: Theory and practice. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. Leaporg.net. (2014). Retrieved from http://leaporg.net/2011/03/24/leap-2nd-annual-stomp-sound-off-crew-challenge/ Parsons, P. (2008). Ethics in public relations: A guide to best practice. London: Kogan Page. Simon, R. (1986). Public relations: Concepts and practices. New York: Macmillan. Read More