♟️Lead like a Chief Communications Officer

12 Best Practices to Invest in Your Career

Hello. It’s Julia. Welcome back to my weekly newsletter exploring the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond.

In this exclusive guide, I share best practices from five Chief Communications Officers previously featured on The Switchboard. From their stories, I hope you’ll gain insights to refine skills, develop expertise and think big-picture for career growth no matter your field. From embracing emotional intelligence and becoming an expert listener to building a personal board and tackling imposter syndrome, these 12 qualities will help you invest in your career and lead like a Chief Communications Officer.

Top 12 Qualities

1. 💙 Value EQ

2. 🎧 Become an Expert Listener

3. 🆘 Be a Helper

4. ☕ Cultivate Connections

5. 💻 Know the Product

6. 📝 Support Strong Internal Comms

7. 🙋 Tackle Imposter Syndrome

8. 🎬 Build Your Personal Board

9. 📣 Seek Managers Who Champion You

10. 🛣️ Step Out of Your Lane

11. 🍵 Find Common Connections

12. ⚠️ Take On Challenges

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1. Refine Skills

💙 Value EQ | Dani Dudeck

One of the questions that I ask in background checks focuses on character. When talking with former employees, more senior peers and more junior teammates for candidates, I want to understand how someone metabolizes change, manages pressure and how they tick. It takes a different level to understand people's motivations.

🎧 Become an Expert Listener | Tracy Van Grack

It might sound counterintuitive, but the most important tool for success in communications is listening. Listen to your leadership, team, and partners. Active listening is more than just comprehending what people are saying. It’s making sure that the party feels heard. This is especially critical when it comes to internal communications.

🆘 Be a Helper | Jerilan Greene

Make a habit of asking where you can be of service to help your team, manager or the business, and ask for constructive feedback regularly.

☕ Cultivate Connections | Tiffin Jernstedt

You are ultimately the corporate publicist. You represent every person in the organization, at every level and every discipline. It’s quite powerful when you are that connected to your employees, engage with them, hear their feedback and influence tangible change as a result. We are in the business of making real magic happen in a company, from the inside out.

2. Develop Expertise

💻 Know the Product | Dani Dudeck

Communicators need to have the same level of fluency when it comes to the product roadmap and the technology as product managers. You need to be able to sequence and run your launch calendars across your team to recognize opportunities.

📝 Support Strong Internal Comms | Roberta (Bertie) Thomson

Without good internal communications, a company or organization can’t achieve its goals. If employees don’t understand your company’s mission, then your culture will fail. Internal comms is integral to that. It’s important to me to communicate values in a way that’s meaningful and transparent for employees. People don’t see that work externally, but it’s so critical.

🙋 Tackle Imposter Syndrome | Tiffin Jernstedt

I have always said, to myself mostly, if you are leading a project and don’t understand it, then you are the very best person to share this because you will put in the work to make sure you — and everyone else — understands it. I lead with that approach in everything I do, and encourage others to do the same. Don’t ever be afraid if you don’t know something. The important thing to do is to ask the hard questions, figure it out, and break down the vernacular. Similar to people who speak multiple languages, the ability to translate is a critical part of being a communicator.

3. Think Big-Picture for Career Growth

🎬 Build Your Personal Board | Tracy Van Grack

Earlier in my career, I had someone tell me to build a personal board of directors. Her advice was that as you meet with mentors, people you admire or like working with, build a group of people with diverse backgrounds who are generous with their advice and honest with their feedback. I’m incredibly grateful to that group, who have collectively provided invaluable guidance.

📣 Seek Managers Who Champion You | Dani Dudeck

She was an even bigger believer of what I could contribute and what I could become professionally than even I was on my best day. Having someone advocate for you and see your path is a very unique thing. This led to me expanding my purview to oversee corporate affairs for Instacart, including policy and government affairs as well as comms. It was and continues to be a career defining moment for me.

🛣️ Step Out of Your Lane | Roberta (Bertie) Thomson

You play a very crucial role in coordination. When you’re willing to step out of the comms lane to own more decision-making, you can have a huge impact by being collaborative and serving as a project manager. Sometimes you end up being a tie-breaker or a negotiator on a major announcement before it’s shared! There aren’t many disciplines that let you have that level of visibility at an organization.

🍵 Find Common Connections | Jerilan Greene

Nothing gets done without teamwork and relationships. It's very important to understand the motivations and interests of the groups you're trying to engage or reach internally or externally. From there, you must work to find the sweet spot of shared interests that allow you or your organization to tackle big issues.

⚠️ Take On Challenges | Tiffin Jernstedt

Most importantly, you have to throw your hat in the ring and take on projects that you’ve never done before. Learning is about growing, and growing requires stretching yourself beyond what’s comfortable. I am never afraid of doing something I don’t know how to do. After all, that’s what communications is all about!

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Fun Fact:

The More Senior Your Job Title, The More You Need to Keep a Journal

—Dan Ciampa, Harvard Business Review