Insights from inside, two cents from a seasoned communications expert

Nowadays, as the era of technology progresses exponentially, multi-tasking has become a much-needed skill for communications professionals. The fast-paced knowledge areas and momentous upgrades in the digital revolution make it even more challenging for professions such as communications, marketing and outreach. Communications professionals now are expected to have expertise in writing, designing, strategising, quality checking and many more fields altogether. Managing all these expectations and effective delivery become quite challenging sometimes. We see dichotomies such as quality vs quantity, timely rendition vs attention to detail, and planned initiatives vs day-to-day tasks, etc.

What a whirl! However, recently, I have made an honest mistake in a publication which demoralised me as an expert. As professionals, we all know how difficult it is to get a flawless publication. Imagine the design hustle along with many more with text and content. Moreover, ensuring contextual relevance becomes more difficult if you are part of a big organisation that has an articulated brand consistency and equity to maintain. After the mistake, I was both heartbroken and dumbfounded. Eventually, I resorted to a senior communications guru in Bangladesh who is now working as a Communications Development Delegate at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan, Mr Masud Rana . Although he was kind enough to give me a one-hour free consultation over a phone call, it is quite hard for mid-level professionals to get this much support oftentimes.

During our long call, Mr Masud highlighted a few hacks that can save effort and enable us to invest more in management and strategy. The discussion opened my eyes towards multiple best practices as communications professionals:

1. Do not take hands-on tasks when you are the manager: Managerial roles are challenging. It requires you to work with multiple human resources with their own set of skills and limitations. Instead of doing their job for them or micro-managing, you can let them grow by letting them make mistakes. At least, do not be a perfectionist. Perfection may kill the organisational mojo by limiting creative and innovative prospects. Give the task to your team, guide them to get the product and help them to achieve the best of their capabilities. As a manager, you must facilitate an enabling environment for the upcoming professionals so that they can support you when planning big games.
2. Coordinate with stakeholders and the rest of the world: A communications manager or specialist is responsible for finessing the communications materials. You cannot be all over everything even if you try. You need to understand and comply with the fact that your colleagues in the programme team or any other teams have crossed a long way and have a strong grasp on their respective fields. They know aspects which are hardly fathomable for you. Therefore, the content must come from the respective teams. Your job is to coordinate and clarify the communications considering your audience and objectives.

I realised the process flaws after hearing multiple inside stories from Mr Masud, as he was trying his best to bestow his years of experience over a call.

"Whenever you take up the task, it comes on you." Mr Masud said. "Rather, you should coordinate and finesse the communications. The content must come from professionals specialised in the subject matter. This approach helps you remain accurate and risk-free."

The continuous multi-tasking often makes us forget that we, as human beings are incapable of being the superman. Especially at times when we approach to intervene in vast knowledge areas, we must do teamwork, and engage colleagues and stakeholders to get the best out of our efforts.