I recently took on a new role within Edelman (it’s a good thing, don’t worry), and as a result have begun working with a new team – once again, spread across different offices. Last week, I made a trip down to our DC office to meet with several of them.

You know what I did down there?

I learned.

I sat with each member of the team there and asked them what they did on a day-to-day basis; how they saw themselves within the team; what was going well and what wasn’t, and how I could help them. When they had questions I answered, but in general I said as little as possible and just absorbed.

I found it immensely valuable.

It seems like common sense, but I don’t think many people manage to find the time to make these sorts of meetings happen. To me though, they’re among the most important conversations that I will have in the near future – these are the people I’ll be working with day in, day out; getting to know them, what makes them tick, what they like and dislike and what they need from me will make it a thousand times easier to do my job. Plus, they’re a great group of people who I really like, which makes things even better.

I know that I’m good at what I do. By the same token, I know that my new colleagues are good at what they do, too (really freakin’ good), and that we have a tonne to learn from each other. I certainly didn’t learn everything over the space of a few hours meeting with them, but it’s a start.

What’s more — and critically — through these meetings I let them know that I don’t pretend to know their jobs. I’ll rely on them to educate me and on the leaders of the team to let me know where I’m needed, so I can focus appropriately.

Will I have ideas? Sure. I already do. However, I’m making sure I take the time to make sure that my ideas are grounded in reality and not just flights of fancy, and that I don’t just interfere in things that are working well when there are things that really do need my attention.

My old boss gave me a good piece of advice recently — he said you don’t need to know everything; instead, you need to develop a team around you that you can trust and that can make sure you know everything you need to, so you can help where you’re needed and get out of the way where you’re not.

Good advice.

As you may know, I’ve recently begun a new job at a new agency (Edelman, for the record).

In doing so, I moved to an agency that represents competitors of past clients.

While I’ve taken this in my stride, several people have now raised questions about confidentiality with me – enough that I think it’s worth addressing at a broader level.

As an ‘agency guy’ you’re privy to all sorts of plans, strategies and future-focused documents that your clients trust you to keep confidential. Other companies would love to get their hands on those documents, or even to just learn the general plans of their competition. A lot is riding on the integrity of everyone who comes into contact with those plans.

At the same time, it’s completely normal for people who move to a new job to find themselves at a company either competing with their previous employer, or servicing a competitor. As I’ve written before, PR is a small world, and the odds are reasonable that the situation could arise.

I completely understand how any company could be anxious about someone leaving when they’ve seen to high-level plans – whether it’s a company employee or an agency team member. However, I’d make several points to those who are concerned:

• Companies typically ask new employees to sign confidentiality agreements. Those agreements usually stand beyond the end of an employee’s work at those companies.
• Companies trust the integrity of people to handle their plans while they work for them. That trust shouldn’t disappear as soon as a person moves on.
• Your primary asset in the public relations business is your integrity and reputation. Lose that, and you’ve got little left.

For me, this last point is critical.

I’m not going to pretend that there aren’t unscrupulous people out there who violate the trust of their ex-employers (hell, some people do it while they still work for companies). For me, though, I’ll categorically state that my reputation is worth way more to me than one or two quick wins.

In a business where one indiscretion can lost you a reputation that took a decade to build, your career will benefit much more if you play the long-term game and respect the confidentiality of your clients long after you cease working with them.

Have you encountered confidentiality questions when you’ve changed jobs? How have you addressed them?

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