Expanding the Digital Public Diplomacy Talent Pool, by Loren Hurst
In my last article I discussed the role of the live stream producer and the key skills needed to manage risk in the production environment. At the level of individual programs, production is all about leading and coordinating teams. Clear communication, detailed organization, and purposeful action promote efficiency and deliver results. As someone who has worked both behind and in front of the camera, I’ve seen great examples of smooth programs and great teamwork, and the chaos that results from poor teamwork. As diplomacy increasingly goes digital, there are broader insights we can draw from live production skill sets. These skills can form the basis for building an extended talent pool across the entire diplomatic space.
Building an extended pool of digital public diplomacy talent has two dimensions - let’s call them technical and non-technical. The technical dimension is defined by the process-driven functions required to produce and deliver digital communication products. Talent development here is characterized by hardware and software knowledge, production processes training, and messaging development that fits within the confines of digital products. These are specialized skill sets that take considerable time and practice to attain and master.
The non-technical dimension is defined by the strategic implications of digital engagement. Those professionals do not necessarily need to know how to route an audio switcher. However, far too often we still encounter what I would term digital diplomacy illiteracy, and more importantly a lack of understanding of how digital engagement interplays with policy and reputation risk. Accordingly, there is a real and compelling need for training among all agency bureaus on the strategic impacts of fast-paced digital spaces.
Speak the same language
How do we go about building this talent pool and prioritizing digital diplomacy literacy? Public diplomacy professionals are in uncharted territory and the changes are likely to accelerate. Covid-19 put the evolution of digital engagement into hyperdrive. While the impacts on workforces and office culture are still the subject of heated debate, the reality of additional pandemics and the all-too-certain disruptive impacts of climate change demand increased use of remote work and digital engagement. We won’t even discuss the potential enormous impacts of artificial intelligence on public diplomacy. The complexity of these challenges demand communicators who can engage across disciplines and make sense of complexity as new generations of digital natives move into diplomatic functions.
Vital lessons can be gleaned from virtual programming strategies and processes. First and foremost, start with the basics. All agency personnel should at least do introductory coursework and consultations to learn how to speak the language of digital engagement. There’s no way around doing this legwork as professionals need to understand foundational terms and concepts. A large part of my producer role is to act as a translator, sitting between the wishes of non-tech stakeholders and the reality of the engineering-driven tech side. There is an immediate bureau-wide need for immersion through site visits, case studies and storytelling, and relationship-building to gain familiarity of what digital engagement means for every agency professional.
Second, like learning any language, it’s crucial to practice. As skills training and interoperability increases across the agency, it becomes easier to ascertain how digital engagement can become an integral part of any bureau’s skill set. At the post level, for example, Public Affairs Officers should be forthright about relaying these realities to economic and political offices, all the way up to the Ambassador level. As a producer, I will often advise a strong “no” on change requests that will unduly complicate a program and put its integrity at risk. To nod “yes” to every request would be irresponsible; likewise, it is the job of public diplomacy experts to speak plainly about the strategic impact of digital engagement and advise wise courses of action.
Digital literacy is risk management
It is impossible to overstate the importance of digital literacy among every level of the diplomatic corps. Whoever does this, the United States or its adversaries, will have an edge going forward. Viewed from this perspective, public diplomacy is ultimately about managing risk. Public relations professionals are too often viewed as “fixers” after a crisis has erupted and are brought into policy discussions much too late to manage risk. The corporate world largely understands this, with reputation risk consistently being rated a top concern among business leaders. Even at the level of geopolitics, digital literacy has outsized impacts. The most prominent recent example is Ukraine, where the recent mutiny among Russian forces was accomplished “not with guns but essentially with smartphones”.
Moreover, from a practical perspective, the pandemic was simply a harbinger of more disruptions to come. The ability to maintain a robust public diplomacy function, to say nothing of making real progress on a range of challenges, will require broad digital literacy and considered strategies to cultivate it. To achieve this, it’s instructive to think like a program producer where stakeholder liaison duties are crucial to success. Not everyone understands the intricacies of technology and that’s understandable. However, this is no excuse for not understanding the strategic impact of technology, social media, and user-generated content on policy efforts. Sustained literacy efforts and a corps of dedicated digital liaisons to raise public diplomacy’s role as a risk management function will likely make the difference between successful foreign relations or ceding these contested spaces to adversaries.
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Loren Hurst produces, directs, and moderates live stream and broadcast media programs in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Global Public Affairs.