A communications team, whether it's in-house or at an agency, is at its best with an effective leader guiding the team. Strong leadership is essential to a goal-oriented, results-driven atmosphere in which the team operates harmoniously.
Beth Monaghan, co-founder and principal at InkHouse PR, explores what it takes to provide effective leadership in PR.
- Empower your team. Your team is your greatest asset. You need to inspire them to be productive and creative. Encourage individuality above conformity and make failure an option.
- Know your goals. This will make managing time and resources easier in that you will be able to budget just who does what and what they will need to do it.
- Be flexible. Make a habit of questioning everything as you go along. Sometimes goals and priorities change, forcing a reevaluation of the project and the resources being applied to it.
- Focus on what matters. Be capable of differentiating between progress and process. Reward great work, not necessarily hard work. And pick your head up from the computer and take a walk around the office. Direct communication is a great way to learn and share ideas.
- Respect employees’ personal lives. In order to foster a workplace with happy employees, you need to allow them the downtime to recharge their batteries, spend time with family and simply relax. The reward will be an energized and loyal workforce.
Follow Beth Monaghan: @BAMonaghan, @InkHousePR
Follow Richard Brownell: @RickBrownell