Top ten tips to reset and prosper as a leader and communications practitioner
Christmas can feel like the light at the end of the tunnel, after a long slog through cold mornings and gloomy afternoons. The end-of-year weariness is temporarily offset by office parties, champagne, and high spirits. And with it comes the blessed relief that for the only time in the year, email in-boxes will grind to a halt– or at least, can be ignored guilt free… if only for a few days.
But festive cheer can be laced with an underlying sense of doom. We know what follows party season: the dreaded January return. The work put on hold will not disappear, fires yet to be put out still smoulder.
We’ve all been there– senior communications professionals are no exception. This is the time great numbers of us ask whether our company truly values us, or if there might be a better fit elsewhere– even if it means branching out alone into consultancy.
Perhaps you’re updating your CV or flicking through the job pages on LinkedIn. You could be thinking about how to refresh your technical skills, and finally trying to get your head around the new rules of digital PR and marketing.
Whatever your dilemma as a senior comms pro, whether you do decide to jump ship or not, there are some immediate steps you can take to get your mojo back and take control of 2023.
Take this time to reflect
If you’re experiencing overwhelm and low motivation, or your confidence has taken a hit, fear not: you are not alone. Many of us take a mental pause this time of year. The thoughts repressed all year by the relentless treadmill of the day-to-day can start to emerge; existential questions about career and life choices bubble up.
Am I where I thought I would be this time last year? Am I succeeding? What will be my focus for the new year? What are my goals and how can I reach them? Am I healthy… Am I happy?!
For some, this is a time of possibility. Perhaps you have big plans and your mind is whirring with ideas of how to achieve them. Maybe you know where your growth areas are and you’re looking for opportunities to upskill.
Or, maybe the time spent with your family this festive season is a reminder that the balance is not quite right. Your relationships are strained and something’s got to give.
Take stock of how to become the leader that you want to be for ‘23
Here’s how:
- Recognise your own agency. You are where you are as a result of your own choices, and you can choose to do things differently. Whether that is a complete change of career or a simple shift in mindset, try to look at your situation with fresh eyes.
- Assess your support network. Do you have friends and colleagues that you can rely on? A mentor and/or coach that can help you to see new paths or perspectives, and help you to plan the way ahead?
- Get back to basics. When did you last consider your values? What success looks like? What makes you happy? Make some time over the holidays to dig deep and work out what it is you really want.
- Visualise your future. Imagine you’ve had the most amazing 2023. You’re sitting down with a friend and telling them all about your successes and achievements. What were they? What were the steps that helped you to achieve them? What was the game-changing moment/decision/action?
- Decide now, that you will make time for your future, and invest in yourself. This will mean different things to different people. It could mean carving out time for self-care, signing up to a course, committing to finding a new job in the next 3 months, or engaging a coach to keep you on track. What’s important is that you decide.
Together with assessing where you are in your career, this is also a good time to take stock of your knowledge and understanding of communications in the digital era. Are you and the team you lead seizing the new opportunities available to have an impact, or could your approach to communications benefit from a refresh?
Step up as a communications practitioner
As a communications leader, you know the ‘game’ has changed dramatically from when you first started out in your career. Traditional print and broadcast media are not as trusted as they once were.
So why focus so much effort on communicating via intermediaries your audience either distrusts or, in increasing numbers, has tuned out? It makes no sense, especially in a crowded media landscape in which audiences have a seemingly infinite number of choices on where to receive their information.
You’ve probably spent a fair chunk of 2022 trying different approaches on social media, dipping your toes into the podcast pool, and even some good old-fashioned press releases and media pitches… and everything in between! But it doesn’t seem to move the needle.
You need your organisation to gain more profile, but it is increasingly hard not to get drowned out by competitors. So how do you gain more visibility with the audiences that are important to you?
Start by making sure you focus on thought leadership and community building. Stop chasing your audience but instead create the platforms to bring them to you.
Become a (better) communications guru in ‘23
Here’s how:
- Build better platforms: review your organisation’s purpose, vision, value, and mission so you can align all communications programmes around what is most important.
- Prime your audience: check that you have segmented your audiences, understand them and try to think like them– so you can fix their problems.
- Market positioning: try to identify your organisation’s place in the industry, what you mean to accomplish, how you will do so, and when.
- Content audit: review your content strategy, communications strategy, marketing strategy, assets, content calendar, target audience, and process workflow.
- Thought leadership & community building: Create a content programme to enable your organisation to be a more influential voice for your industry. Cultivate your own industry community so that your business becomes the industry’s ‘watering hole.’
COAUTHOR: Nick O’Hara has more than 20 years’ experience in strategic communications, public affairs, and PR, having worked in senior roles for a number of highly respected organisations in both the public and private sectors. He is a former UK civil servant with intimate knowledge of Westminster and Whitehall, who has advised cabinet ministers and permanent secretaries. Throughout his career, he has specialised in designing and implementing external communications strategies, advising senior executives on political, policy and communications issues. In 2022 he co-founded Renovata—a global strategic communications and thought leadership consultancy—because he wanted to empower visionaries to make their communities, their industry, and the world better. He now focuses on working with leaders in the private, public and non-profit sectors to develop their purpose and improve how they communicate it.
