You’re leading a team in strategic communications. How can you get the most out of your members?

2 Delegate wisely

Another key skill for leading a team in strategic communications is to delegate wisely. Delegating is not just about assigning tasks, but also about empowering your team members to take ownership, responsibility and initiative. To delegate wisely, you need to consider the skills, strengths and interests of your team members, as well as the complexity, urgency and importance of the tasks. You also need to provide clear expectations, feedback and support to your team members, and avoid micromanaging or overloading them.

3 Communicate effectively

As a leader of a team in strategic communications, you also need to communicate effectively with your team members and other stakeholders. Effective communication involves listening actively, asking open-ended questions, giving constructive feedback, acknowledging achievements, resolving conflicts and sharing information. Effective communication helps you build trust, rapport and collaboration within your team, as well as with your clients, partners and audiences.

4 Encourage creativity

Creativity is essential for strategic communications, as it allows you to generate new ideas, solutions and approaches for your projects. As a leader, you can encourage creativity in your team by creating a supportive and stimulating environment, where your team members can express their opinions, experiment with different options and learn from their mistakes. You can also foster creativity by providing your team with diverse sources of inspiration, such as data, research, best practices, case studies and feedback.

5 Promote learning

Finally, as a leader of a team in strategic communications, you can get the most out of your members by promoting learning. Learning is the process of acquiring new knowledge, skills and attitudes that can improve your performance and outcomes. You can promote learning in your team by providing them with opportunities for training, coaching, mentoring, feedback and reflection. You can also encourage your team to learn from each other, by sharing their experiences, insights and tips.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?