What comms pros can do to stay ahead of the curve when situations change

Communicators spend years learning what works to get their messaging to hit home. The harder skill is knowing when that old formula has stopped working effectively, especially when they find themselves in a new situation.

During Ragan’s Communications Boot Camp Virtual Conference last year, Abby Hodes, vice president of corporate communications at Hasbro, shared her insights about the habits that helped her move from more than two decades as a comms agency pro to an in-house communications role.

“So many times in communications, we are figuring it out,” Hodes said. “We’re creating something or doing something for the first time. It’s this quality of saying, ‘I’m going to roll up my sleeves. I’ve never done this before,’ and jumping in. That resourcefulness is critical when you’re starting out, but it’s also what keeps me going today.”

Hodes added that communicators need to recognize when the conditions surrounding their work have shifted, rather than forcing an old approach into a new environment.