What skills can you develop to be more resilient in Corporate Communications?

To enhance resilience in corporate communications focus on honing skills such as effective conflict resolution, active listening, adaptability to change, strategic thinking, clear and concise messaging and the ability to navigate complex situations diplomatically. Strengthening these skills will enable you to navigate challenges, build strong relationships and communicate with agility in dynamic corporate environments.

While feedback is important in improving your communication skills, I think that it's very important to know where to get the right kind of feedback. As the corporate world is a dog-eat-dog environment, you need to know whether the person giving you a feedback just want to give you the feedback you need or is just giving you feedback with the intention to make you feel bad about yourself.

Besonders in der tagesaktuellen Medienarbeit ist Stress oft ein allt?glicher Begleiter. Umso wichtiger ist ein kühler Kopf. Eilige Presseanfrage mit Deadline in zwei Stunden bekomme? Bitte erstmal durchatmen, Tee ziehen, Lage sondieren und nicht vergessen: Druck kann auch ein bewusst genutztes Stilmittel sein. Dann kl?ren: Wie wichtig ist das Thema wirklich? Wer kann schnell Informationen besorgen? Ist ein Haltestatement sinnvoll? Ist eine kurze Absage die bessere L?sung? Wer durchatmet und überlegt, wird sicherer und resilienter. Vor allem Pressesprecher*innen sollten sich niemals treiben lassen - und Energie für wirklich wichtige F?lle sparen.

Stress management is essential if you want to maintain your performance, creativity, as well as your mental well-being. In my personal experience, managing my time well has tremendously helped me in managing my stress level. I also make it a point to have a me-time on a daily and weekly basis. It is also important for me to take an hour lunch break, not necessarily to eat but to walk and be away from my desk. Lastly, I make sure that I don't bring work at home (as much as I can).

Indeed learning new skills is equally important in corporate communications. I've completely stopped watching YouTube videos that does not add value to me. I've replaced watching YouTube videos with new habit of watching LinkedIn Learning modules.

Learned this the HARD WAY: Don't just support your boss and your boss's boss. One place I worked, I wrote "Deliver for the (Boss's Name) on my whiteboard on the first day." When he left that role, I wish I'd built a broader network of support - giving help and wins to more people along the way.

I ALWAYS tried to help as widely as possible. If someone needed a speech for an occasion — and wasn’t one of my regular clients — I would try and squeeze them in. They were always grateful.

I think more than flexibility, you need to be agile person as well. If you fail in one of the endeavors that you do, you need to be able to pick up the pieces fast, learn from that failure, and more on from that experience. There is no sense in dwelling from the failures or mistakes especially if you are in the work or corporate context.

To put it simply, growth mindset could also mean being a positive person and being a good person or colleague to work with. I have encountered and worked with several people from my past and present organizations who are difficult to work with and are always negative in everything. Honestly, they suck all the energy out of you and they spoil the environment of the workplace.

Corporate communications at its best is relational and not transactional. Issuing 40 press releases this year vs 35 last year does not mean you are communicating better. When reporters reach out for sources and context and you help them write better and more informed content- that’s a win even if your company or client is never mentioned. Partnering with customers and suppliers to help tell their stories- that’s a win. Use your channels to promote the charities you support- there’s a win. Engage with workers who aren’t always on your network or email platforms- there’s a win. Put relationships first.

A career in corporate communications can be extremely stressful at times so building resilience is so important. I've found having really strong stakeholder relationships helps immeasurably with this. If you are in-house you want everyone to feel they are on the same side, not working in opposition. Get to know your stakeholders and build the personal relationship. This creates empathy and means when times are stressful and pressured you can work in partnership and feel that you have enough support around you to manage difficult situations. So my top tip is build your relationships to build your resilience.