Sally Logan-Milne Award Exemplary Essay
With the tall poppy syndrome phenomenon so prevalent in Australia & New Zealand, it is no wonder that many of us Kiwis struggle with imposter syndrome as a by-product. Ryan Willoughby, our 2021 Sally Logan-Milne Award winner, was reluctant to enter the PRINZ Awards at first. He felt he was too early in his career, and perhaps felt too shy to trumpet his successes. Luckily, he was encouraged by a colleague to enter and Ryan used his experience with Imposter Syndrome as his inspiration.
Ryan is currently the Communications Lead for NIWA, and has an extensive background in science communication. Somewhat surprisingly, Ryan was not a top student of science or math… or even English. What he does excel at is creating a compelling story and being able to translate academia into accessible information that the general public can understand. He credits his success in communications to his work ethic, his curiosity and diversity of interests. Ryan’s award-winning essay is an inspiring read and may be useful for anyone interested in putting themselves forward for the Sally Logan-Milne Award. He was kind enough to allow us to share it:
Sally Logan-Milne Young Practitioner of the Year Entry by Ryan Willoughby
I am an imposter. But as I have grown in my profession, my philosophy has become that diversity in skills is the key to good public relations. Through this essay, I am going to convince you how there is no set of attributes to allow a person to excel in public relations or any role. I will explain how a kid who could hardly string a sentence together managed to build a career in public relations. I will show how this career developed through the support of mentors and how I make the transition to mentor myself to help shape the next generation of practitioners.
On a typical job description our profession requires ‘excellent writing abilities’, for which I only partly fit the bill. From age five, I was put into special programmes to improve my reading and writing. Conversely, teachers noticed I was well ahead of my peers in terms of the creativity and complexity of my stories. In the coming years my story telling grew with little effort and my spelling and grammar slowly improved with great effort. By chance I found public relations at university. Despite graduating in the top 3 per cent of my year, I was regularly reprimanded for my spelling and grammar. Looking at joining the workforce, I wondered how this might be exposed in the ‘real world’.
My early roles were formative but managers were much less forgiving of my mistakes. It was often misinterpreted as laziness. My first published story was about Wayne Tukapua, who overcame paralysis to complete a triathlon with my employer, Sport Manawatu. This was my proudest moment and most embarrassing. The journalist published and praised me for the story but lectured me on the errors. Despite continued effort, I was still making errors in writing. At roles in tourism and local government, I was wearing many hats across marketing and public relations, but I continued to show a talent for media relations. I was building skills but I felt like my writing would forever hold me back.
But, as it turned out, there was more to public relations than I had been introduced to. I began to use my story telling skills through different mediums. Beginning at Massey University in 2016, my media stories took flight through photography, videography and social media. My stories have been featured around the world, from the world’s first Kākāpō brain surgery to a curious shark who raked up over 300,000+ views on YouTube. Massey is where my passion for communicating science was born and fed. I learnt the value of relationship building with your team, leadership, scientists, and journalists. I realised that a degree doesn’t mean you are done learning. After three years, I realised that my skills might have a place in this profession.
As I grew my abilities I was encouraged to step back and become more strategic in my work. Instead of writing one story, write five and wrap other communications functions around them, like marketing, into a campaign to achieve organisational goals. My first campaign was centred around New Generation Beef. A potential new beef product. At the top level, this story would tell Massey’s smart agriculture story and, at a programme level, it would help the project become a product. The campaign involved building a strategy that included media relations, events, marketing, design and measurable outcomes. It took months, but the results were worthwhile and showed direct, measurable benefit to the programme and university. As I collaborated on more, I realised I was no longer simply telling stories; I was developing strategic communications to achieve outcomes.
To grow, I was told that I needed to take on a more senior role at another organisation and lead my own work. I took this role at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), in a new team in January 2020. I was leading strategic projects when the pandemic hit. ESR’s role in the COVID-19 response was major. As a media specialist, I was tasked with leading external communications for the COVID-19 response team. We had huge bodies of work to provide health intelligence for the
Government. Our work included genome sequencing, wastewater testing, saliva testing and even developing the first COVID test. I also led high-profile visits, such as the Prime Minister. I had always been a team member but never led. I built
strategies, process and trained staff. I also rebuilt damaged relationships with scientists and government to become trusted advisors, resulting in two requests for secondment into government roles. My manager was there to support but also let me run. It was the most challenging year of my career.
But building my career required more than simply flexing my existing skills. Alongside my COVID-19 work, I was keen to lead more projects. During the pandemic, I took on the WellKiwis campaign. This study aims to fight global flu rates by studying Wellington mums. However, the participation rates were floundering, and I was tasked to recover them. This involved leading a team of five in research and focus groups to build a strategy. The study is now back on track and thriving, with comprehensive stakeholder analysis, revitalised collateral designed and distributed, and a suite of other complementary media. It is being prepared as a flagship communityorientated project for ESR and the strategy will be developed further to include retention and greater stakeholder analysis. I have since been drawn into more and more strategic work for the organisation by senior leaders. My manager continues to support my professional development. Our plan includes more projects of my own, mentorship for future leadership and opportunities for me to become a mentor to others. I have taken a
number of courses, including a PRINZ course on digital PR in 2020. I have no intention of becoming a ‘one-trick
pony’.
I began to realise that others might benefit from my story. Last year, I gave two talks on diversity in skills for public relations and one at my high school, in which I broadened this philosophy to every career. I often cite my work with the Pūhoro STEM Academy. The programme guides young Māori to pursue careers in science. It aims to tackle the stereotype that Māori aren’t ‘smart enough’ for science. They interact with Māori scientists and those who don’t fit the mould. As part of the PRINZ young leaders’ group, I am working with other professionals to explore spreading the word in schools and throughout the profession. I believe diversity of skills in all professions are key to thriving workforces and I intend to take an active role.
I suppose that I am an imposter. But I no longer feel like I am an imposter. Maybe there needs to be more imposters in our workforce? I now embrace this irregularity and look for ways I can make it work for me, my profession and many more. As the COVID-19 padnemic has shown, it takes diversity and common goals to solve our biggest problems. My goal in public relations is to ensure the profession is healthy, thriving and full of diversity.
