Want to understand your execs? Befriend their assistants.
Prologis’ Mandy Mooney on how to build better relationships.
Internal communicators can build their influence within their companies by focusing on the right relationships.
We recently spoke with Mandy Mooney, vice president of internal communications at Prologis, about the importance of relationship building for communicators.
When asked about relationships that many communicators overlook and probably shouldn’t, Mooney suggested that communicators develop a connection with a C-suiter’s executive assistant to better learn how a leader approaches their work.
“The person giving you the information is not always the executive,” she said. “Sometimes it’s their assistant. Not only do they hold the cards to the schedule and the calendar, but they also know the executive really well.”
She added that assistants can provide a great deal of insight into a leader’s personality and provide access.
“Not only do they hold the cards to the schedule and the calendar, but they also know that executive really well,” Mooney said.
When asked about building visibility with senior leaders, Mooney emphasized the role of measurable impact.
“Data really speaks volumes,” she said. “If you can prove through data that you are driving results, that’s going to come out one way or another.”
She added that sharing that information consistently through recaps or conversations with managers helps ensure that good work is seen.
“If you are driving good results, the data often speaks for itself.”
Check out the full video from Ragan Training below, and stay tuned for more insights from Mandy over the coming weeks.
Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.
