Back to School

A few weeks ago, our family moved to Austin, Texas. The move wasn't the only big change for us, though. This year also marked the beginning of 6th grade (middle school in Texas) for my eldest daughter and the start of kindergarten for my youngest daughter. With those monumental events came lots of new and exciting things: new friends, new school clothes, new opportunities and new routines. Today's post is going to focus on our adventure into the world of kindergarten.

My daughter was so excited to finally be going to the "big kids' school." When we went in for kindergarten orientation, the school administration tried to cover every question that the new students might have. They went through the entire routine for the first day, from arriving to school, finding the classroom, going to lunch and recess, and then finding the right bus to get home. I was impressed by how organized the whole night was and the attention to details by the teachers and staff.

The first day of school came and my daughter got dressed up in her special "first day of school outfit." We packed her a lunch in her new lunch box which had been carefully selected to match her new flowered backpack and then drove her to school. All day I wondered how things were going for her. When the time came, I went to the bus stop to greet her when she got off the bus. She was amped about her day and didn't stop talking about it all the way home. As she sat at the kitchen table with her snack (still talking at 100mph about her day) I unpacked her backpack and lunchbox. Her lunchbox was still full!

I asked her why she hadn't eaten her lunch. She replied, "I did!"
"But it's all still here," I responded. "How could you have eaten your lunch?"
"Remember the calf-teer-ia?" she asked, "I went through the line and got their lunch."
I was confused. I said, "How did you do that? You didn't have any money because I packed your lunch."
She puffed out her chest and proudly replied, "I charged it!" (And so, at age 5, a shopper was born.) :)

So here is the Corporate Communications lesson out of all of this...
Tip of the day: Expect and plan for the unexpected.
Strategy is great. In fact, I believe you should never operate without one. However, even the best laid plans can go awry. In public relations, you have to be prepared for this. It's not about having a crystal ball, but it is about contingency planning. You may plan for 'a' to happen. But what do you do if 'b' or 'c' happens instead? Explore different scenarios and craft appropriate responses to have in your back pocket, just in case. My daughter's school did that by having a plan in place to deal with kids who showed up in the lunch line without money.

See, there really are PR lessons to be learned from every-day life!