Earlier this year we began celebrating our tenth birthday! As part of our reflections on how far we’ve come and how much we’ve learnt along the way, we challenged ourselves to come up with 10 topics we’ve learnt 10 things about in 10 years. This time we’re turning our attention to the very thing we do every day – comms. More specifically, how to make sure you and your team can nail a complex project and come out of the other side in one piece!
As a team, we have more than a century’s experience working with communications teams. This ranges from the NHS, wider healthcare, pharma, charities, and to the third and public sectors. Most of us have worked in-house before and so we know how hard it can be to balance strategic planning and delivery of high-quality materials. So, here goes…10 things we’ve learnt about successfully managing complex comms projects:
1. Break it down
It can sometimes feel overwhelming when a hefty and complex comms project lands on your desk. We find it usually helps to look at the project as a series of steps or tasks. If you’re fortunate enough to have a team, be sure to allocate each task to the right person.
2. Know your ‘W’s
Before you get started, consider these three questions:
What do you want to achieve?
Who is your target audience?
What are your key messages?
There are no right or wrong answers, but it’s a good idea to discuss and agree these points before you start as the answers have an obvious impact on the content, tone and design of your comms.
3. Be realistic about timescales
Make sure you’re setting (and agreeing to) realistic timelines. This includes thinking about how long it will take you to gather all the information needed. It’s also important to agree who in your organisation will need to review the plans and draft content at various points in the process – and to make sure they will be available to do this.
4. Stay on top of your plans
Always keep your project plan up to date so that you can quickly identify any problems. Encourage your team to have the confidence to flag up any issues or concerns as soon as possible so you can juggle deadlines or reassign tasks as needed to keep the complex comms projects on track. As the old saying goes, a stitch in time saves nine, and the sooner you address a problem, the quicker it will be solved.
5. Know who’s doing what
While a big complex comms project is almost always a team effort, it’s usually a good idea to designate one person as the project lead. This person should be able to make decisions on any contradictory or unclear comments in feedback, or work with others to reach agreements. When asking for feedback, try to get your reviewers to be as specific as possible and be clear what they do want, not just what they don’t like. They may be able to share examples they’ve seen elsewhere.
Could you use an extra pair of hands?
Contact us now to discuss how our reliable, efficient, no-nonsense communications support can help you and your team.
6. Look at the big picture
Make sure you understand what the end product is supposed to look like and keep that in mind throughout. In a long running project, it can be easy to get bogged down in specific tasks and forget what you’re ultimately trying to achieve.
7. Keep an open mind
To successfully manage a complex project, you’ll need to be adaptable. Often, projects evolve over time and project managers must keep up. This means not always thinking in black and white – there may come a time when you have to adjust and flex your plans as and when the situation changes.
8. Work as a team
It’s not enough to just delegate tasks to different people, you also need to develop good relationships and encourage collaboration and solid communication. Working with others to get things done is important on all projects and never more so than on something that is really challenging.
9. Don’t forget the day job
Big complex comms projects often go one of two ways: they either get pushed to the back of the queue by urgent day-to-day tasks, or they overwhelm a team so that the daily jobs are forgotten. If either of these is happening, consider whether you can get support with one element or the other. If you have an ongoing relationship with an agency, they might even be able to take the day-to-day work off your hands so you can focus on the project. (We have often stepped into communications teams to help in this way.)
10. Take each day at a time
Make sure to give yourself some headspace and breathe from time to time – even when a complex comms project is ongoing for months.
If you could use an extra pair of hands to get everything done, get in touch today. We can help get your communications sorted.
10 things we’ve learnt about complex comms
Earlier this year we began celebrating our tenth birthday! As part of our reflections on how far we’ve come and how much we’ve learnt along the way, we challenged ourselves to come up with 10 topics we’ve learnt 10 things about in 10 years. This time we’re turning our attention to the very thing we do every day – comms. More specifically, how to make sure you and your team can nail a complex project and come out of the other side in one piece!
1. Break it down
It can sometimes feel overwhelming when a hefty and complex comms project lands on your desk. We find it usually helps to look at the project as a series of steps or tasks. If you’re fortunate enough to have a team, be sure to allocate each task to the right person.
2. Know your ‘W’s
Before you get started, consider these three questions:
There are no right or wrong answers, but it’s a good idea to discuss and agree these points before you start as the answers have an obvious impact on the content, tone and design of your comms.
3. Be realistic about timescales
Make sure you’re setting (and agreeing to) realistic timelines. This includes thinking about how long it will take you to gather all the information needed. It’s also important to agree who in your organisation will need to review the plans and draft content at various points in the process – and to make sure they will be available to do this.
4. Stay on top of your plans
Always keep your project plan up to date so that you can quickly identify any problems. Encourage your team to have the confidence to flag up any issues or concerns as soon as possible so you can juggle deadlines or reassign tasks as needed to keep the complex comms projects on track. As the old saying goes, a stitch in time saves nine, and the sooner you address a problem, the quicker it will be solved.
5. Know who’s doing what
While a big complex comms project is almost always a team effort, it’s usually a good idea to designate one person as the project lead. This person should be able to make decisions on any contradictory or unclear comments in feedback, or work with others to reach agreements. When asking for feedback, try to get your reviewers to be as specific as possible and be clear what they do want, not just what they don’t like. They may be able to share examples they’ve seen elsewhere.
Could you use an extra pair of hands?
Contact us now to discuss how our reliable, efficient, no-nonsense communications support can help you and your team.
6. Look at the big picture
Make sure you understand what the end product is supposed to look like and keep that in mind throughout. In a long running project, it can be easy to get bogged down in specific tasks and forget what you’re ultimately trying to achieve.
7. Keep an open mind
To successfully manage a complex project, you’ll need to be adaptable. Often, projects evolve over time and project managers must keep up. This means not always thinking in black and white – there may come a time when you have to adjust and flex your plans as and when the situation changes.
8. Work as a team
It’s not enough to just delegate tasks to different people, you also need to develop good relationships and encourage collaboration and solid communication. Working with others to get things done is important on all projects and never more so than on something that is really challenging.
9. Don’t forget the day job
Big complex comms projects often go one of two ways: they either get pushed to the back of the queue by urgent day-to-day tasks, or they overwhelm a team so that the daily jobs are forgotten. If either of these is happening, consider whether you can get support with one element or the other. If you have an ongoing relationship with an agency, they might even be able to take the day-to-day work off your hands so you can focus on the project. (We have often stepped into communications teams to help in this way.)
10. Take each day at a time
Make sure to give yourself some headspace and breathe from time to time – even when a complex comms project is ongoing for months.
If you could use an extra pair of hands to get everything done, get in touch today. We can help get your communications sorted.