Tips for Navigating Corporate Communications Careers

Not to age myself, but when I first started working in communications, there was a hard line between internal and external communications. This was a time before every colleague had a laptop and before cell phones were in every pocket. I think it’s safe to say that today’s pace of information exchange is vastly different.    Now, instead of a firm line, I often think internal and external communications are becoming one – with employees as one of your most important audiences to engage. As fellow communicators look to find this balance between internal and external communications, I wanted to share a few tips that have helped me throughout my career.  🧩 Integration: Make sure internal and external channels are represented, keeping a cohesive message between the two. 💪 Consistency: Maintain a steady cadence in pulsing out communications so audiences know what to expect and when.  🔨 Utility: Find new ways to expand existing tools to solve other communications goals – work smarter, not harder. 🤝 Engagement: Keep even the small elements engaging. For example, here at Thermo Fisher Scientific, we started sharing a colleague highlight reel at the start of our quarterly global town hall meeting. Colleagues feel great about seeing themselves AND we improved the buffering problem of having thousands of colleagues join an event at the same time. 🎨 Creativity: Don’t lose sight of creativity as you find the right blend of engaging and informing your audience.  What tips do you have for balancing internal and external communications? Do you think these are still separate strategies? 

How a communications person wins over a c-suite boss: Many of us grow up in PR agencies or big communications teams where interests, skill sets and the career ladders are basically the same. If you made it to VP in a PR agency, your boss was just in that role, climbed the same ladder, and has the same kind of work. For many there is a point where you go in-house or to a different type of organization, and you may now be working for a CEO, other c-suite member, Division president (often ops), marketing leader, etc. I went from agency ladder to reporting to a senior operations executive at McDonald’s. It wasn’t the smoothest ride at first, mostly because I was not in a familiar box. Here’s what I learned: -- Be the expert: I was hesitant to jump in because everyone else had 30-40 years at the company, big titles and were talking about operations, finance, supply chain, etc. It took my boss to say, “you’re here for a reason, speak up” for me to find the groove. Not everyone will have that boss, so know you’re there for a reason – to be the communications expert (no matter how many others think they are). -- Study the business and its stakeholders: Of course, speaking up means you also have to know what you’re talking about. Leaders love those that learn the business and know all about the stakeholders that impact it. -- Bring the goods: Leaders like data and analytics. Make sure you’re bringing the information and context that resonate. -- Show up prepared: Be on time and ready to contribute. No more sliding into agency meeting 5 min late. -- Build the relationship: What do they like? What books have they read? What passions? I read a book that a CEO said in passing and found a way to weave it into a conversation. I’ll forever remember the look the CEO gave me; not to mention the relationship built after that moment. -- Lean on your communications people: If you’re on an island, join forces with the others on islands. Be it in your organization, or in groups outside the organization. These relationships are really important and impact how you show up. -- Be yourself: I didn’t really "win over" anyone until I turned off the act of whatever version of me I thought they wanted, and turned on me (it’s true what they say about authenticity) I'm curious what others who have gone from "safe communications bubble" to island or new non-communications boss have experienced. What would you add?

Here are some tips to help Communicators get that seat at the table we're always feeling left out on. Let's call it the Jay-Z school of business: I'm not a businessman. I'm a business, man! You don't have to have an MBA, but you do need to understand how businesses, specifically yours, work. ✅ Read an earnings release...better yet, read a bunch of different ones. Not only will you see how businesses measure themselves, you'll see how they talk about it. ✅ Listen to earnings calls. The best way to understand how one of the (if not the) most important audiences think about your business. Especially listen to the questions they ask in the Q and A portion. ✅ Stay close to the Finance team. Businesses are about making money, they are all about the money. ✅ Read coverage of your industry thoroughly. Identify business trends that are generating coverage and understand how your business fits into those trends. ✅ Measure everything you and your department do. ✅ Turn those measurements into insights. Lots of people have data, but very few people use that data to create actionable insights. ✅ Take advantage of the broad view of the organization that Communications has. You can see things that others can't, and you can see them sooner. ❌ Don't settle for consumer sentiment as a metric. Lots of people buy things from companies they dislike. Go deeper by quantifying impacts. ❌ Don't think of yourself and your team as "just communicators." You have business insights that others in the organization don't...use them!