Every business owner has a message that they would like to share with the world; From expressing how much they care about their employees to the value they create, excellent marketing and brand awareness are crucial in conveying a company’s core values.

If there’s anyone who knows how to painstakingly craft a desirable brand image, and write compelling messages for target audiences, it’s Calcee Preston. 

“My job here is to oversee the marketing and communications department and keep us on track by ensuring our digital assets align with our company goals,” says Calcee. 

“My communication background started within my second-year university as an editorial assistant and moved into market research towards the end of uni.

“In my final year, I moved into brand management and publicity for a talent agency, before returning to an editorial position.”

Unfortunately, with the advent of social media and digital communications technologies, the communications sector is constantly evolving; planning for the future is all but possible. 

“For example, with our August and September campaigns, it was originally structured to focus on two particular industries,” says Calcee. 

“However, as the rest of the business wanted to pivot towards a different type of clientele, we changed our approach within editorial.”

Working in the Communication and Engagement sector, it is important to take a proactive approach to work. The best managers do not wait for another executive to tell them what to do. Being a manager requires exceptional, organisational and managerial skills. 

“Time management is something that will change day to day, but overall it is good to have a structure in place,” says Calcee.

“I personally like to plan most parts of marketing three months in advance – that way I know exactly what’s coming up, I know what tools, and what tasks I can delegate to different people within my team.

“This way, I can see how much time I need to allocate to each task, and which team members have extra time, and how I can utilise that – whether that be teaching them a new skill, or getting them to help someone in a different department.” 

Effective team management is crucial for several reasons. For starters, it encourages a unified approach to leadership within a company, making it easier to solve problems through negotiation and critical thinking. 

“Management is still one of the areas that I am learning and it is very much an aspect that will improve over time but I find it’s really important to use digital tools to help manage my team,” says Calcee.

“That way you can set your standard from the beginning and what you want each person to do, and it takes out a lot of the communication that happens day-to-day, saving time for everyone involved.

“I personally prefer to use Asana because it allows me to delegate sub-tasks and make sure everyone is aware of the entirety of the project.”

Team management is one thing, assessing the quality of your team is another. Prior to diving  head-first into the evaluation process, it’s important to revisit the goals of a project, and consider whether or not staff are matched to the right tasks based on their individual skill sets. Doing so places you in the right state of mind to draw realistic conclusions. 

“Obviously everyone in the team has a different skill set and that is what you hired them for, but in communications, there are times when the areas you work in can overlap with others,” says Calcee.

“If someone is trying something for the first time and it’s not 100% perfect, I will look at how they accept the feedback I give them and consider their approach to making the required changes.

“I wouldn’t expect someone learning a new skill to be perfect straight away, but by giving them small pieces of advice over a month or two month period, I will start to notice small changes, and eventually it will be exactly what I’m after.” 

Clear, and concise communication is the first challenge faced by managers. Be it written or verbal, any slight miscommunications can cause bottle-necks to emerge. Consequently, such misunderstandings can be detrimental to both business relationships, and the bottom line. 

“Communication plays such a vital role in our professional and personal relationships,” says Calcee.

“Within a working environment, if there isn’t clear communication within your team and between each department and team, it means there is no unity within the business and this can easily be seen from the outside.

“Open communication allows for us to create all of our campaigns together and make sure that we are all working towards the same goal.

“Working within a client-centric environment, it is important to maintain strong rapport with our clients, if we don’t provide a good client services experience, it is unlikely that they will stay with us in the long term.”

Every good manager focuses on pushing their team towards performing efficiently and sustainably without being overworked. Essentially,  healthy work relationships are fundamental in achieving a project’s optimal outcome. 

“An old manager of mine once said that no matter where you work, just remember that you are the most important person in your life,” says Calcee. 

“The reason this stuck with me was that when I found a manager who generally believed this, I was comfortable to open up and communicate what was important to me, whether that be my working arrangements or the goals I want to achieve within my career.”

At the end of the day, the heart of every business is its people. Regardless of your industry, careful management allows you to maximise the skillsets of each and everyone of your employees in a sustainable fashion; good management simply creates good employees. Take care of them, and they’ll take care of your business.