Are you in the military and do you unexpectedly find yourself in a communications role as your next posting? If this is you and you’re not quite sure where to start, we are here to help.
Strong and effective communication is key for all military organisations to achieve their aims and maintain trust with both their internal and external audiences.
As experts in training and working alongside top civilian and military communications leaders, we've witnessed both outstanding achievements and significant gaps in Defence communications. This guide is crafted for military leaders who are new to the communications field, offering essential insights to help you hit the ground running.
1. Understand Your Target Audiences
You wouldn’t launch an attack on the enemy’s position without conducting reconnaissance first. In Defence, understanding underpins everything we do and is a pre-requisite for effective decision- making (Para 1.2 of JDP 04) And being an effective communicator is no different.
Good communication starts with a deep understanding of your audiences. It’s important you consider their needs and how they like to receive information. All too often we hear about the ‘Good Ideas Club’ – “I saw this thing on X, and I think it’s a good idea we do XYZ….”. Rather than going by what you understand to be a good idea, first start with understanding public (or internal) perceptions. Consider the media landscape and recognise that target audience needs may be vastly different from your own. It is essential your teams tailor their messaging according to what the target audience considers important, not what the institution deems fit. Only this way will you improve impact and reach.
2. Be Prepared to Embrace Change and Make Mistakes
The global communications landscape changes quick. As does technology. Defence organisations need to remain open to embracing change and not fearing new platforms or ways of doing things. Change won’t always go to plan. But that’s okay, it’s important to learn and move on. The Army used this principle in their recruitment campaign “Fail. Learn. Win”. An example of this is the recruitment influencer work that didn’t work out1. Through trying to be innovative they initially failed, but in future there will be projects potentially like this that will work. Without embracing change, your communications risks becoming irrelevant with your target audiences.
You will also make mistakes, probably more so than in your military role. Someone once gave me some poignant advice and that was to remember – we work in PR not ER. The media world moves fast and although communications mistakes can hugely impact an organisations reputation, often it’s forgotten about in a few days.
3. Listen to Your Experts
Most communications teams will have civilian and military communications professionals. It’s common for senior military personnel to be put in the top jobs for a 2–3-year tour before moving on. They often have no professional background in communications. Many understand that their teams, particularly civilian members, have more experience than them in this space. Others, choose to ignore the advice of their civilian counterparts or military subordinates and assert theirs is the best way. The second approach is more common than people would like to admit and all it does it alienate and diminish the workforce. Listening is one of the primary core skills of being an effective communicator. Use the years of experience your teams can bring.
Communication is a two-way street. Encourage feedback from your staff and listen to what they have to say. Be open to challenge. You would listen to an engineer when planning to cross a minefield or river, the same principles apply to listening to professional communicators. Encourage your team to do the same with their target audiences and create a culture of openness and regular audience feedback. This can include things like surveys on the target audience, focus groups and town halls for internal audiences. You can also use social media monitoring to get real time feedback on what people think of your organisation publicly. Use all this information and evidence to guide and inform your approach.
4. Invest in Your Teams and Invest in Technology
Upskilling your team and making sure they have suitable technology to do their jobs are critical to successful communications teams. Investing in continuous professional development will help your teams keep up to date on best practices and new trends. Making sure they have the latest technology will also help do the same. We’d also encourage you to do some professional development. Our BFBS Academy runs plenty of off the shelf and bespoke training courses, delivered at cost for Defence: https://academy.bfbs.com/.
5. Always Be Honest
Transparency and honesty are fundamental to building and maintaining trust in any situation. The same goes for building trust with you team and ultimately with the target audience. Internally, this means being an open, honest, and empathetic leader. Externally, it means providing clear, accurate and timely communications. If errors are made, own up to them. A tip, Gov.uk guidance states that the national reading age is around 9 years old. This is the level of English to be used by Government communicators to be understood by the broadest audience possible**. Avoid jargon and make sure the language used it appropriate for the target audience (not what you might expect to read). Even when delivering difficult news, keeping the language as straightforward and honest as possible will strengthen your credibility and trust.
If you focus on these five key areas, they will help you have a strong impact not only with your team but with the wider target audience. If you read this and think “I could really do with some help in this “please reach out to us: [email protected], we’re always happy to hear from you and see where we can support.