Why do we find it so hard to communicate our value as Comms professionals?

The cobbler often has no shoes.

But we spend so much time crafting the most beautiful, tailored, bespoke pair for everyone else in our business!

Why is that?

Why do we find it so hard to do our own PR and communicate our strategic value as communications professionals?

I've pondered this over the course of my 20+ year career in corporate comms and now as a coach for the profession. It comes up so often as a topic and I wonder why. Is it because...

We are people pleasers (but don't think about our own needs?)

A lot of communications professionals are people pleasers. We want to solve problems, be helpful and generally keep our stakeholders happy. That's fine up until a point. But consider this...

If you try and please everyone, you end up pleasing no-one. Least of all yourself.

Being good at your job in Communications and people pleasing are two different things. Please focus on the first. I'm not suggesting you are unpleasant to work with, far from it, but the best route to making your stakeholders really happy is to do a great job and achieve the outcomes that will move your organisation forward. Running around in "busy" mode, frantically answering the call of anyone that asks, isn't going to lead to those outcomes and it won't help you be seen as a trusted advisor. You'll just be seen as someone who "helps out."

Not what you want. Trust me.

We don't give ourselves the gift of self-reflection in our roles.

Comms people are busy. We get it. But every aspiring, new and established leader, in any field, knows that investing time in reflection and thinking is critical to getting ahead.

When you can sit down quietly and reflect on your behaviours, your biases, your values and your effectiveness, you are then in a much stronger position to develop your very own "value proposition statement" as a comms leader.

What do you bring to the table? Why is that valuable?

You need to be able to answer these questions in order to articulate your value to others and do your own PR.

We don't practice what we preach.

Linked to this, is that we so often put ourselves last on the priority list. And we focus so much on supporting and promoting others, that we forget about ourselves. Our training, skills and expertise goes out of the window when we think about how we can promote our own work and achievements.

Think about it.

If you were asked to promote a leader in your organisation (internally and externally) who had a certain expertise that is valuable and reflects the value of the organisation, you'd deliver a bang up job wouldn't you? From objectives to audiences, to strategy to tactics to implementation and measurement.

Why can't we do it for ourselves?

I can't tell you the number of brilliant comms professionals who share everything about their organisation or client's achievements on LinkedIn, but never their own.

They're scared of being visible, yet desperate to be seen.

They (and you!) have so much value to offer this community! Don't be afraid to take that first step and share some reflections, tips and insights on life and work as a communications professional. The great thing about this platform is that you can control what you want to share and set boundaries that work for you.

And in a hyper competitive jobs landscape, it's never been more important to look after your own reputation, guard it and promote it as a zealously as your clients or your employer.

My three starter tips for getting visible as a comms professional

There's so much more to say on this topic, but here are my tips for getting started:

1) Develop your own elevator pitch or value proposition statement to use in online and offline networking (and don't wait until you need a job to do it!)

2) Invest time in your own professional development and promotion - frame it as you sharing best practice and value with the community and you'll feel less icky about it, I promise.

3) Commit to self-reflection and develop an awareness of how you come across professionally, so you can assess any changes you want to make and why. Then reflect that in your onward networking, sharing and leadership development.

What's your take? What stops you from doing your own PR and sharing more online? Is it the ick factor? Or something else? Share (ha!) in the comments!

#communications #strategiccommunications #visibility #careeradvice #commsjobs