From service provider to strategic partner
I have created this checklist to help you work through a number of steps as you transition from being seen as a service provider to strategic partner within your own organisation. If you haven’t already, I’d suggest reading this article first.
Build strong relationships
Strong relationships are at the heart of communications success. The better you know someone, the better you can understand what they do and in turn teach them more about what you do.
So, what are you doing to build strong relationships across your organisation? Working with your team, think about how you can really get to know what your organisation does and the people who do it. This includes:
Attend regular meetings - see if you can be a guest attendee at the monthly/fortnightly/weekly meeting of your programs team. Use this as an opportunity to hear what they have coming up. Also brief them on what your team is working on.
See what your organisation is about first hand - whether it’s workshops, construction or scientific research that your organisation does, it’s important that you spend some time seeing it done. Take every opportunity you can to see this work being delivered.
Be a friendly face - If people know who you are they are more likely to talk to you about their work. Take every opportunity you can to be present and visible. This could include asking a question at an all staff forum, attending social events and saying hi to people in the kitchen, lift or hallway.
Think about what assumptions might be holding you back
As communications professionals, we get frustrated by assumptions made about us. This can include the idea that we want to ‘dumb down’ our colleagues' work or that we are more interested in likes than engagement. Often, assumptions can go both ways. It’s likely that you’ve got some preconceived ideas about them that might be preventing good work happening.
Make sure they know what you do - it’s likely that your colleagues that don’t work in communications aren’t aware of the full scope of your work. They may know that you deliver proactive media, but aren’t aware of your work in issues management as well. How can you ensure they are across the full scope of work your team delivers?
Let them know that you can help them - colleagues may not reach out to brief you on their upcoming work because they might not know that they can. It’s important that you let people know that you want them to proactively update you on what’s coming down the pipeline that will need communications support.
Get them up to speed on how much time you need to deliver good work - It can be frustrating when you have to deliver work in a short timeframe because you didn’t know it was coming. However, it is possible that colleagues outside your team don’t know what timeframes you need to deliver high quality work. People may not be aware of the drafting, approvals and sometimes design that is needed. How can you ensure people are across this information?
Make sure you’re putting your best foot forward
When you work in comms, people often assume you are a spelling and grammar whiz, writing expert and graphic designer all in one. If you don’t meet their expectations in these areas when you share your work, it can dent your reputation in a big way. I’m not saying that you need to do the job of three people to get your colleagues on side, but there are steps we can all take to avoid simple mistakes.
Check your spelling and grammar and then check it again - Typos and grammatical errors can happen easily when you’re working at pace. Make sure you have a process in place to pick these things up. You can use software like grammarly and a thorough proofread never goes astray!
Make it look the part - While we’re not all graphic designers, making a document or piece of content look good can certainly make it more engaging. At a basic level, ensure you’re formatting documents neatly and making them easy to read. There’s also software like Canva that can be easily utilised to make key documents more polished.
Explain why you’ve done things in a certain way - There’s often a good reason behind the formatting and style choices we’ve made with our work. Whether it’s using the inverted pyramid for a press release to grab a journalist’s attention or including key words in web content to boost SEO, make sure you get on the front foot and explain these decisions to colleagues so they understand why you have taken a certain approach.
This is an ongoing process, so try to build these steps into you regular workflow. It’s also important to note that this is by no means an exhaustive list, but it will get you on the path to strategic partnership. If you are keen to learn more, find out about the workshops I offer to help teams make this transition.