'The communicator's job is to provide the rational voice'

Name: Humayon Pramanik

Job title and company: Director of communications and external Affairs at The Association for Project Management

Location: I live in London and work in Buckinghamshire, UK

Time in PR: almost 20 years (makes me feel old…!)

What does your current role involve?

I oversee three teams in communications, marketing and policy and public affairs at APM, a chartered professional body. Our audiences are varied and include membership, business, government and media. 

I sit on the leadership team at APM and see my role as being three things: ‘strategy’ as in what we do and why, ‘tone’ as in setting our approach and ‘teams’ as in building skill and culture.

What do you love most about working in public relations?

There are so many things to like, but I must go with content. There’s nothing I enjoy more in my work than commissioning and even having a hand in creating quality content that’s of value to someone. 

I’m fortunate to be in a leadership role at APM which means that communications is taken seriously enough for it to input into overall organisational strategy, which for me is hugely satisfying.

I also love the fact that we get to do something professionally (and be paid for it) that is so human. The need to communicate is innate and sometimes we forget that – far too often we prioritise the corporate in corporate communications.

What's been the highlight of your career so far?

I tend to think of success and impact as interchangeable, and probably the biggest impact (and therefore highlight) I’ve had in my career so far is the work I did on mental health in schools while working for an educational trust. 

Post-pandemic many children suffered from poor mental health, so I wanted to share the great work my trust was doing to support the communities we serve. This led to the establishment of what I called ‘Ideas’, a trust-run series of conferences, podcasts and video.

It’s something I’ll look back at with great satisfaction as not only did the campaign have huge amounts engagement from government and media, we did something that helped lots of schools to better support children with their mental health.

How does the CIPR support your career?

I’ve no doubt that chartership will help me massively in my development, but it’s having access to the latest thought leadership that has enabled me to share new and innovative thinking with my teams. I’m also a member of the CIPR Education and Skills Committee which means I have regular access to other very talented comms professionals working in a similar space and facing similar challenges.

Best piece of career advice you’ve been given?

‘Be the coolest head in whatever room you walk into’, which is something an old boss once told me. I really do see it as the communicator’s job to provide the rational voice in most conversations, to ask the right questions and to critically assess facts whatever the circumstance and especially in times of crisis.

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