Here's how you can overcome a career setback in strategic communications.

Most people who go through setbacks are often in denial of having done something wrong. The first step is acceptance. If it's a setback, it's a setback. Things are either within or outside of our control. For eg, I was late to work one day and I made an excuse (atm I didn't think it was an excuse) "there was too much traffic, it was out of my control!" to which someone said, "it was within your control. You could've left earlier." While considering external factors, it is important to understand which ones could've been in your control. It is also important to have meaningful conversations with people within the org, irrespective of hierarchy, to understand what went wrong. Reflection is the first-step solution. Action is the next.

Para superar um revés na carreira em comunica??o estratégica, comece reconhecendo e aceitando a situa??o. Reflita sobre as li??es aprendidas e ajuste suas metas e estratégias, investindo em desenvolvimento de habilidades relevantes. Busque apoio em sua rede profissional e cultive resiliência, persistindo em seus objetivos e celebrando cada progresso. Mantenha um equilíbrio saudável entre trabalho e vida pessoal, e veja cada revés como uma oportunidade de aprendizado contínuo e crescimento pessoal e profissional.

Unintentionally, we might work with a single perspective thinking it's the best one. As strategic communicators, our no.1 job and prerogative is to invite in new perspectives, new lenses to view claims or facts with. Having faced a setback, it is important to not get overwhelmed. Recuperate and spend some time with your team, colleagues, peers, mentors asking them for their feedback. This helps getting you in touch with what you were doing wrong. It's important to invite critic especially to avoid 'bigger' setbacks. You've reflected, you've sought feedback. What can the next step be? Action.

Strategic communicators cannot sustain if they are not keeping pace with innovation, technology and the latest industry trends. Once you accept that this is a set-back and you missed something, the next step is to understand why? Did you blindside an industry trend? Did you dismiss the latest tech that could've actually benefitted you? Update and upgrade yourselves daily. As strategic communicators we don't have an option. The wonderful thing is that now the technology can help us understand technology itself. Few specially-abled students in the US learnt how to create an AI tool using an AI tool. How cool is that? Learning has becoming easier than ever. Why not capitalize on this and invest some time every day to update and upgrade!

Connect with other communicators, either through an organization like IABC, or network with others through LinkedIn (especially through Comms-related groups). Once you've established a trusting relationship with some of them (which will take time, this is not something you can ask during a first or second conversation!), you can inquire if they can mentor you or give feedback based on scenarios you describe to them that you've experienced. Some professional groups even offer mentoring experiences... I believe IABC does.

Once you've done the first 3 steps: analyze, seek feedback and upgrade yourself, it is time to get back in the game with a new game plan. After a setback, it is sometimes pertinent to reset the settings and start all over again. This can be done at a small or large scale depending upon whether the setback was internal or external. Setting new goals can help you truly want to achieve as a strategic communicator. Sometimes, plan A doesn't work, it is then important to take the route of plan B. Set clear expectations, objectives and map out possible threats to the activity. Work backwards to identify how those threats can be mitigated to avoid setbacks on a large-scale.

When you’ve exhausted career setback, consider the self reflection and feedback; set new goals; inventory your successes and the circumstances that created those successes then find a community of peers who can push your thinking, keep you accountable, build your skills and support your success. Options include: - mentors - professional associations - membership communities facilitated by independent communications professionals