Campaign Collective member, Jo Tilley-Riley, is a strategic communications expert with a wealth of experience working with social sector organisations. She is also a qualified coach and offers transition coaching for people from the social sector and for women from all sectors who are returning from maternity leave.
We asked Jo to share her reflections on the positive role coaching can play in the social sector:
“For a long time, ‘business coaching’ has been seen as the domain of c-suite business leaders and dynamic entrepreneurs – a luxury available only to those with the greatest responsibility and the biggest budgets.
“But what about the seasoned communications professional who is finding their role challenging and draining – keeping up the high pressure, managing conflicting internal and external stakeholders and often dealing with tough, complex and harrowing social issues? Increasingly, communications professionals in the social sector are turning to coaching – recognising the pivotal impact it can have on them personally and on the causes they are championing.
“The change that most charities are aspiring to can only be achieved if others are persuaded of the need for change and action. Communications professionals therefore need to see themselves as pivotal social change leaders, shaping the way that debates are held and views are shifted.”
So how can coaching help you? Here are Jo’s top 4 reasons to consider coaching.
1. A safe space
A communications professional always needs to be consistent in delivering messaging, staying on brand and managing challenging stakeholders. The confidential space that a coach creates can open up the space for you to throw caution to the wind for a while and open up language and debates that you haven’t yet explored. A coaching session can also be a valuable space to unpick how to navigate internal and external stakeholders.
2. Strategy not tactics
Often, as communications professionals, we are responding to a barrage of immediate needs and requests, always in reactive and firefighting mode. Regular time with a coach can be the key to stepping back into a more strategic mindset, horizon scanning and shifting gear to a more proactive approach.
3. The endless quest for balance
Like most people working in charities, striking the right balance between your passion, values, job requirements and personal life is challenging. 3 in 4 charity comms professionals are women, many of whom will be facing issues of imposter syndrome when returning after maternity leave. The holistic, whole person approach of coaching can help you to move towards balance, support your personal wellbeing and reduce the chance of burnout.
4. Space to grow your impact and ideas
Communications professionals often have the widest perspectives on an issue, having spent time with different stakeholders from all levels, as well as people with lived experience. Sometimes these insights won’t have a space in the day-to-day workload, but they could be critical to unlocking wider social change. The limitless conversations that can happen in a coaching environment might just help you to unlock that and deliver even more impact than you ever imagined.
And a final note – coaching that unlocks this level of impact doesn’t have to be impossibly expensive or take up huge amounts of time. And the investment is tiny if it enables you and your organisation to deliver greater social impact each day.
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Find out more about how Campaign Collective can support you in achieving your communications goals.