Communications and looking after your wellbeing

Working and living in the constantly active world of comms means it’s harder to switch off than ever before. The pressure of deadlines, balancing urgent against important tasks, and keeping up with new and changing ways of doing things can be a perfect recipe for stress.

Learning how to manage the accompanying stress, so you feel more comfortable and confident in doing what’s best for your health while performing well in your role is vital.

2022 CharityComms Communications Benchmark Report

The 2022 CharityComms Communications Benchmark Report was published in January 2023.

One of the key findings was that most comms professionals perceive their work as effective, but there has been no change in the challenges to achieve their goals.

The report found that barriers to achieving goals have not changed since 2017 – Competing priorities, firefighting and lack of integrated processes are the top challenges for comms workers. Add to that the pressure of keeping up with social media management and it will take its toll on wellbeing.

Practical steps you can take

Allow time to reflect on your work. Timetable planning and focus time. Take control of your time, rather than time taking control of you.
Use your calendar to manage your time.
Try techniques such as the Pomodoro technique
Get comfortable with NOT doing or finishing things – think of getting a pile of pebbles in a jar – they won’t all fit! Accept that you can’t do everything. Intentionally put some things to one side and focus on one or two things and do them well. Identify your inner critic. Say no!
Social media (SM)– turn off notifications, and remove links to work social media accounts on your personal phone – unless you’re contracted to manage accounts outside of daytime working hours.
Post an SM announcement that you’re taking a break so SM will be quiet for a while.
Use your Out-of-office automated email reply to let internal and external contacts know you are focussing on a particular project and when you’re likely to respond.
Take time out and make time for non-work activities.
Have boundaries – be clear about what colleagues can expect from you.
Working remotely or hybrid may not help. Make a point of catching up with colleagues.
Look out for signs of stress and be aware of triggers when pressure mounts up to avoid burnout.
Talk to your manager.
Have plans in place.
Have a plan for dealing with negative situations – what to do if you receive a threat or an accusatory comment. Have a plan for dealing with difficult or crisis situations.
Debrief after a stressful situation.

Wellbeing is everyone’s responsibility – to ourselves and our team. Hopefully, it’s top of the priority list.

Many of the challenges to wellbeing for comms workers are the same for most voluntary organisation roles.

Here at Support Cambridgeshire we take health and wellbeing seriously and have created an organisational health and wellbeing strategy to help us prioritise good health.