Once you have taken into consideration why communication is important for a healthcare manager, and have examined and enhanced your own skills for the job, you have set the stage for looking beyond yourself to the specifics of the audiences with whom you are required to communicate.
On the second level, we will examine the audiences closest to home. You will find some interesting peculiarities about such audiences as employees, medical staff, and boards of trustees. Each of these groups and others like them have a vested interest in the successful achievement of your organization’s overall mission and operational goals, just as you do. But they each view health care and the health-related organization from their own perspective.
The extent to which you understand the public relations (PR) function of your organization as something far beyond persuasion is a key part of your knowledge about communication. Even if your organization is a small one without a designated PR department, you still need to be concerned about the public relations aspects of your actions. The next few chapters will provide you with a foundation for understanding how to communicate with those audiences/publics closest to home.