As a communication professional , you have to gradually perfect your written and oral communication skills , interpersonal skills , planning skills , teamwork skills , problem-solving skills , time management skills , decision-making skills , writing skills , listening skills , adaptability skills and leadership skills .
possess . As you work on the key priorities , always leave room for ad-hoc requests and plan how to complete them well before proceeding with the priorities . A quick turnaround time is highly encouraged . However , quality should never be compromised .
Be collaborative
We always have a false notion that we can work better on our own . This might not always be the case , especially in an NGO communications department . As you develop your communications plan , you will have to engage with many different audiences , both internally ( staff ) and externally ( media , partners , donors , and Government ). Some departments such as the programme team play a crucial role in approving content before dissemination so you will have to involve them in your plans in one way or another .
You can find a way to identify and understand the core teams who you will require to contact from time to time , understand their personalities and working styles and proceed to engage with them regularly to help you achieve your communication goals . Interpersonal skills and teamwork skills play a big role in collaboration .
Seek feedback and consult
As a communications professional , you must always be willing to consult and get feedback from the teams since they might have different valuable perspectives which can help improve communications . Identify or build strong relationships with a selected group of people who you can reach out to at any point in time . We need to acknowledge that we do not always have the right answers or approaches and we need to work together to reach a point where everyone is content with our final outputs . These consultation processes can delay your plans . However , remember that it is crucial and important to involve others before any dissemination to external parties to prevent issues .
Be on top of everything
As you work on different tasks , you will be required to be on top of things . You must keep track of everything you are working on and be prepared to share updates with teams and leadership on short notice . Preparation is key , with proper monitoring of work and relaying of information required to specific
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As a communication professional , you have to gradually perfect your written and oral communication skills , interpersonal skills , planning skills , teamwork skills , problem-solving skills , time management skills , decision-making skills , writing skills , listening skills , adaptability skills and leadership skills .
people . Learn to update all your department team members on the ongoing activities so that they can be informed and share with others especially when you are on leave . Additionally , gain a deeper understanding of all the global / country-specific issues and trends related to your cause , projects / programmes being implemented and the organisation as a whole since this will be critical in your line of work .
Work with the resources you have
Limited resources in this changing development landscape is something that you would have to manage in this field . As much as you would wish to recruit more team members and secure a huge budget to run big campaigns and ads , the reality is that this might not be easy to achieve due to fundraising constraints .
To manage this , you can work on diversifying your skillset to be able to complete some tasks that others would ideally do . An example would be gaining technical skills in photography so that you take up photography during events . You can also work more efficiently , negotiate for competitive rates with service providers , and explore communication activities that are cost-effective ( social media ads , free publicity etc ). Embrace the challenge and propose cost-effective approaches if needed . As you await leadership decisions on resourcing , you should continue to discuss the resourcing challenges with your superiors giving specific details for your departmental needs . This is to ensure that they consider accommodating the requested changes at least in the next financial year when the opportunities arise to do so .
Learn the dynamics of communications
A communication professional in the nonprofit world should also have a strong understanding of the principles of communication , including branding & visibility , messaging , storytelling , public relations , social media , campaign development , events management , planning and budgeting .
Communication for awareness and behavior change , communication for lobby and advocacy , communication for marketing and communication for learning - these are the four pillars of communication in the development world that you need to familiarise yourself with , develop specific activities for each and ensure your integrated communication strategy captures these essential elements .
For instance , as you work on an online campaign to raise awareness of child labour and the programme interventions , evaluate how you can link the campaign to an advocacy initiative , for example , by developing a press statement and calling for the Government to change policies . You can then explore outreach campaigns within the communities to sensitise communities on child labour interventions and plan a learning event with various stakeholders to share learnings and evidence-based publications .
Have something to show for
You might be caught up in the day-to-day communications activities and forget to capture the milestones and achievements along the way . You must have a good understanding of evaluation techniques and be able to analyze and report on results . Google Analytics , SproutSocial , Mailchimp , and Meltwater are some of the platforms you can use to evaluate specific metrics such as open rates , click-through rates , website page views / bounce rates ,
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