This week I shared some thoughts in Ben Matthews’ blog post ‘How to build a high performing communications team.’ Ben’s blog contains lots of helpful tips which are particularly pertinent at the moment as many charities are restructuring their communications teams, and are aiming to get maximum value from their staff.
There are three other ideas which I would add to Ben’s excellent crowdsourced tips.
One, if you’re leading a communications team, you should never stop learning, and inspiring the people who work for you to do the same. That can only come if you keep pushing yourself and re-appraising what you and your team do, encouraging everyone to do things even better and to learn from mistakes. It’s what I always aim for.
Two, motivating your team in such uncertain times, amid restructures and budget cuts, is a big challenge for communications leaders. So don’t forget the value of good old enthusiasm and passion when taking your team with you. It may be worth more than the extra zeros that you crave in your budget. This principle is just as important if you have to pull together a multi disciplinary team from across the organisation for a high stakes communications project. One of the nicest compliments ever paid to me at work was by a colleague who told me that I had ‘galvanised his team’ when leading a big marketing project.
Three, as the comms leader you need to be a hub of ideas, useful contacts and information within the organisation. For anyone seeking inspiration in this area, read Alex Swallow’s brilliant blog about spreading power. A good communications leader will do this externally, but you need to do it internally as well. In my experience this makes an enormous difference in the way that colleagues engage with your team’s work.
What are your ideas for leading high performing communications teams?