That Comms Person

Is your team’s wellbeing strategy quietly burning you out? The comms teams most likely to hit a wall are often the ones running their organisation’s wellbeing campaigns — while nobody checks in on them. In the latest episode of #TheCommsCollective, I had an honest conversation with Advita Patel, founder of CommsRebel and author of Decoding Confidence, about why burnout is endemic in our profession — and what we can actually do about it. A few things that landed: → Confidence isn’t certainty. It literally means “with trust” — trusting yourself to handle whatever comes. → Energy underpins everything. You can’t lead well if your tank is empty. → The manager who absorbs all the workload to protect their team isn’t the hero. They’re the next one to go off sick. → “If you burn out, you’ll get flowers and a card. You’ll be replaced tomorrow.” We also cover the time log, the Eisenhower Matrix, Pomodoro, and a simple thing called the Happiness Folder that I am now definitely starting. 🎧 Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or other good podcast platforms. 🎁 GIVEAWAY: I have a spare copy of Decoding Confidence, and Advita has offered to sign and personalise it. DM me the word CONFIDENCE to enter. #InternalComms #Communications #Leadership #CharitySector #NotForProfit #BurnoutPrevention #DecodingConfidence #CommsCollective

Celebrating South Asian Heritage: My Story in Comms Last South Asian Heritage Month, I posted my story for the first time. The short version: first in my family to go to university, a Biotechnology degree I didn’t expect to lead here, twenty-five years in charity communications, and a consultancy I’d just started building....

Essential Questions for Your Charity’s Comms Strategy Here’s the thing I’ve come to believe after 25 years in communications: in most of those cases, the honest answer and the first answer are the same thing. A brand guidelines document is not a comms strategy. A content calendar is not a comms strategy. Even a beautifully written messaging framework isn’t a comms strategy, not on its own. So what is one?...

Spot it Before it Shouts: Recognising the signs comms leaders miss One sign of burnout I almost missed in myself, until someone outside the system named it for me. There was a small eye-roll before leadership briefings that wasn't there 18 months earlier. On its own, that's nothing. A bad mood. A long week. But if you add it to the other three signs I keep seeing in senior comms leaders, saying yes to things you'd have pushed back on a year ago, standards quietly dropping on your own work, answering messages at hours that would have horrified you in 2020 — you're not having a bad week. You're depleted. And depleted comms leaders make worse decisions for their organisations. This is the bit of my Gallagher Comms Summit talk that kept coming back in conversations afterwards. I've written it up in full — link in the comments. If you read those signs and recognised yourself, or someone on your team, that recognition IS the work. Don't muddle through. I did. Twice. It didn't end well either time. #InternalComms #Burnout #LeadershipDevelopment #CommsLeaders #Wellbeing

"You are not the message carriers. You are the editors of the change story." That was the line I left a room of internal comms leaders with at the Gallagher 2026 Communications Summit in London last month. It's the line that took 25 years for me to be able to say without flinching. The data behind it is uncomfortable: → 73% of internal communicators want to operate as strategic consultants. 18% actually do. → 49% describe their main function as broadcasting announcements. → One in five see themselves as a reactive service desk. (Gallagher 2026 Employee Communications Report.) None of us came into this profession to be a service desk. What's happened, in my experience, is that we've spent twenty years training comms teams to be brilliantly responsive. Brilliant at turnaround. Brilliant at making someone else's brief land. The quiet trade-off is that we stopped being brilliant at saying — hold on, that's not the message that needs to go out. A broadcaster delivers what they're handed. An editor decides what gets through. Same content. Different positioning. I've written up the full thinking — including three moves you can make this week — in a new blog post. If you're an internal comms specialist, leader, or team trying to make that shift — I'd love to talk.

Is Your Comms Strategy Working as Hard as You Are?

When you're deep in the day-to-day of running a charity, it can be hard to see the communications gaps that are holding you back. That's where fresh eyes make all the difference. In my latest blog, I share what a communications consultant actually does, why working with your trustees matters, and the top questions to ask before you bring one on board. Whether you're just starting to think about your communications strategy or you know it needs a refresh, I'd love to have a conversation.

Why your PR campaigns might be failing (and how to fix them) I recently sat down with Hasan Patel for the VS Comms podcast, and he dropped a truth bomb for every PR professional: Stop starting with the idea. Start with the outcome. Hasan’s career journey—from the BBC and Al Jazeera to Deputy Director at Birmingham Newman University—has been defined by "bridging the gap" between the newsroom and the press office. 3 Key Takeaways from our chat: The "Why Should I Care?" Test: If you can’t answer this from a journalist's perspective, don’t send the release. Authenticity > Polish: Hasan’s “Real Life, Real Stories” campaign used real students (taxi drivers, single moms, first-gen learners) to drive massive social mobility results. Fit over Finance: Hasan shared a vulnerable lesson about taking a "dream" role for the salary, only to realize he wasn't ready. His advice? Look for where you fit, not just the title. We also discussed the "Journalism is Not a Crime" campaign and why representation in comms is more vital now than ever.

Why I Chose Chartered Status After 25 Years in Strategy A quarter of a century in PR. I’ve navigated the shift from faxed press releases to AI-driven discovery. I’ve managed crises that couldn’t leave the building and campaigns that circled the globe. I knew I was a strategist. My clients knew it too. But “knowing” and “being recognised” aren’t the same thing — especially when you’re independent, and you are the brand. So I went for my Chart.PR with the @CIPR. And I’m glad I did. A few things I didn’t expect: – 🌍 The room was global. Our group included practitioners from New York to New Zealand. One colleague was on the call at 1:30 AM her time. That level of commitment from people across multiple time zones told me everything about the standard we were all signing up to. – 🧠 The best part wasn’t the assessment. It was the peer review of our two-year CPD plans. Sitting with senior practitioners from different sectors, questioning each other’s thinking — that’s what Chartered actually feels like. – 📈 The credential changes the conversation. Not ‘how many impressions did we get?’ but ‘how did this move the business?’ Chartership gives you the framework to hold that line, even when the room pushes back. If you’ve been in this industry for a decade or more and haven’t considered it, I’d encourage you to do so. Not to prove yourself. To commit to staying exceptional. Check out the full blog

"Doing the work doesn't always guarantee the recognition." – Sascha Gill-Chugh 🎙️ Caption: From law student to award-winning Comms Manager at @CAMFED, @sascha_gc is sharing the blueprint for impactful storytelling in our latest episode of The Comms Collective. 🚀 We’re breaking down: ✨ Decolonising Aid: Moving from "helpless" narratives to local empowerment. ✨ The "Smile File": How to advocate for yourself as a WOC in the industry. ✨ Massive Impact: The strategy behind reaching 20M+ people for the IRC. Sascha reminds us that being an introvert isn't a barrier to leadership, t’s a superpower for deep thinking and authentic 1-on-1s. 💡 Listen to the full episode! 🎧 #TheCommsCollective #Podcast #GlobalDev #CommsStrategy #FeministLeadership

Are you leading your comms, or just reacting to the media? I recently sat down with Antonia May Cross, Director of Comms at Revolving Doors, and she issued a challenge to the sector: Stop treating "difficult" issues like "Cinderella Causes." Antonia’s career—from school expulsion to Director—is built on the belief that public perception isn't an insurmountable barrier; it's a data problem. Key takeaways for your next strategy session: Data-Led Pitching: How her team worked with the Times data desk to secure a massive Christmas appeal. Optimism vs. Stigma: Why "sad" imagery is actually hurting your conversion rates. Leadership Humility: Why the best leaders aim to make themselves "unnecessary." If you’re a comms professional looking to move into a strategic role, this conversation is a goldmine of "how-to" insights. 👇 Listen to the full masterclass here:

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