(Thanks to Neil Grayshon for the image!)

Building an excellent communications team requires lots of equally-excellent strategy, hiring, people management and culture building – and more.

I knew when I started at FutureGov that I didn’t have experience in this area, so reached out to the good and the great of the UK PR industry for their thoughts on what it takes to build a high performing Comms team.

There’s lots of fantastic advice here, so thanks to all of those listed below for their input.

Want to add your views on what makes a good communications team? Leave a comment!

Becky McMichael – @bmcmichael

Mix up skills and experience – 5 ex-corporate PR agency folks will give a single dimension.

Mix up ages and backgrounds – a part time working mum will have a different perspective on work to a 26 year old full time office based staff member for example.

Enable areas of specialty to develop – design/creative, writing, crisis etc. And let people really get to grips with it / develop along a pathway they enjoy.

Cultivate a team identity, be famous within the company, be helpful and spread your skills across other divisions like sales, marketing, leadership team etc.

And one thing we all forgot: shit hot business acumen. Too many comms people have a shockingly bad understanding of market forces, accounting and economics let alone their own industry. You can’t advise your CEO on how to position an earnings announcement if you don’t know your p&l from your elbow…

Phillip Follows – @phillipfollows

@benrmatthews Having good or working knowledge other teams’ needs and processes and communication value of comms throughout org.

— phillip (@phillipfollows) April 22, 2013

Zoe Amar – @zoeamar

Invest heavily in getting buy-in for what you all do from key internal stakeholders. Have a chat with them over coffee about how they expect your team to help them. The trick here is to show that you are listening and finding out how you can be useful whilst ensuring that the team is more than a service function.

In my experience a good communications team is strategic. It drives the organisation forward. The PR/website etc is just one element of how it adds value.

Always look for people who can add extra value, for example through a strong network or a great social media presence. If they can use their skills to ‘reverse mentor’ colleagues that’s even better.

Benjamin Southworth - @inthecompanyof

@benrmatthews for me, it’s finding the brand activist and letting them lead. Translation is a poor analogue for passion.

— Benjamin Southworth (@inthecompanyof) April 22, 2013

Tom Glover – @gloverboy

Trust in your team in the fast paced comms world of today is absolutely key, giving a communications team working flexibility and judging them on the work produced not how and where they do it. As is your ability as a leader to empower your team to be accountable for their own projects and areas.

I put great value in people who come to me with solutions. I don’t just want the problem.

Understanding that we can’t ‘sprint’ the whole time and that you need to judge when the team needs to peak for big bits of work (and communicating that) and when they should reenergise in the lulls.

In my 121s I try to focus on the three big things that really matter, the big ideas or campaigns that are going to have real cut through. I suppose this is a focus on fast delivery as it is so easy to get distracted on multiple tasks.

No process for process sake. It drags people down. Smart reporting and planning that adds value.

If there is a mistake, back the team 100% publicly so they know that you have their backs. But have the honest and straightforward conversation with them.

Make sure you make time for fun and always celebrate success – regular team lunches to mark great work, build up some traditions for things like birthdays etc.

The GB rowing team have a ‘hot wash up’ after a race – immediately having an honest conversation about what went well, what could have been better and lessons learned. I’m trying to do this after key campaigns and projects.

Goes without saying, but you can’t do any of this if you don’t have talented people and there may have to be hard decisions about exiting people who are not up to the job. I also think you have to focus your energies on your best people.

Keith Johnston - @keithajohnston

@benrmatthews when hiring look out for @cipr_uk membership status and involvement in the profession

— PrivateWealthComms (@keithajohnston) April 22, 2013

Chris Lee – @CMRLee

Tick all the boxes: social, search, content, PR, analytics.

No slackers, no divas.

And read this: How to be an Amazing Digital Marketer

Ruben Govinden - @RubenGovinden

@benrmatthews cakes is always good and if anyone starts using jargon, avoid

— ruben_govinden (@RubenGovinden) April 22, 2013

Ged Carroll – @r_c

I would add being numerate into the mix on this.

This may also help: 29 Things for PR People

Katie Moffat – @KatieMoffat

I always liked the advice, never work with anyone that you wouldn’t invite home for dinner.

Damien Clarkson – @DamienClarkson

I have always enjoyed working with people who are passionate and creative. Almost everyone you interview will be capable of doing the job but you want the people who will innovate and inspire you, not just tick boxes.

When applying for the role of Head of Comms at FutureGov, I knew that the job posting would attract a lot of interest and high quality applications. Indeed, there ended up being several dozen people applying for the job.

I needed to make my application stand out.

Yes, I made sure to have a top notch CV, Covering Letter and References. But I wanted a little something extra to put my application on top of the pile.

I thought to myself, “How can I create something to catch their eye? To show myself as a great communicator who is up to speed with the current trends?”

Having looked at the skills needed, I jotted down how I met those needs next to each one. I then had the idea of creating an infographic to demonstrate how I was right for the job.

Having discussed with idea with graphic designer Paul Carpenter, he suggested creating a simple two-Colman graphic, a call-and-response view of why I was perfect for the job.

Below is a the final result. More of a “Visual CV” rather than an infographic, don’t you think?

It seemed to work anyway, as I got the job!

Hopefully by posting it here it will serve as an inspiration for other job hunters out there to add a little extra to their job application, especially in a tough and competitive jobs market like the one we are in now.

Want to create your own Visual CV? Take a look at these free and easy services offered by Visually and Vizify.

What do you do / have you done to stand out when applying for jobs and freelance work? Let me know in the comments!

As a freelancer, maintaining work life balance can be a hard task. As well as juggling lots of clients and projects at once, there is the added pressure of taking care of all the housekeeping that comes along with freelance life. From finances and new business, to updating your social media profiles and chasing client payments, it all comes down to you.

So how do you make sure you get your work done and keeping your clients happy, while getting time to relax and see your family and friends too?

Jon Gill, who freelances under the name Playful Communications, gives this advice: “I’m convinced that being at work ‘all the time’, because you have your own business, is a choice. It doesn’t have to be that way. One promise I made to myself was that being ‘freelance’ is a ‘perk’! When I’m no longer seeing the family or if I’m worrying too much about bills then it’s time to get a ‘proper’ job!”

Other ways to make sure you see the family is to finish work at an appointed time in the evening, no matter what. Not only will you be more focussed in order to get finished on time, but you’ll also be able to relax in the evening and get a better night’s sleep. You can always get up early the next day to finish off anything urgent, but your mind will be more refreshed and you’ll finish the task quicker than if you plow on into the night.

Another hard fact of freelance life is that you often take *less* holidays than if you were in a full time job. The pressures of earning your own way and keeping clients happy (not to mention finding new clients) often means that it can feel extremely difficult to take time off.

Sarah Stimson, a freelance PR trainer and writer, thinks that it’s absolutely true that you tend to take less holiday when you are freelance: “You are also, generally, worse off if you have a baby – no employer paid maternity/paternity leave – as I discovered last year. The best bit of advice I’ve had is to to treat your work day as just that. Take a lunch break. Then, occasionally, skive off for the afternoon (and in my case go to the beach a few minutes walk away). Remind yourself why being freelance can be so good for your soul.”

Another area that often gets freelancers working overtime is when you have too much work on. It can be hard to turn down lucratively paid work, even when you have plenty on already. Ben Serbutt, a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, recommends that “while it may be the hardest thing to do, learning to say “no” to work is really important! Otherwise it can be very difficult to maintain a sensible work/life balance.”

There’s plenty of ways of maintaining your sanity while freelancing without working late nights and weekends. Just make sure you remember why you went freelance in the first place – preferably while taking a walk in the middle of the afternoon while others are slaving away at their desks in their stuffy offices.

What tips do you have for achieving work life balance as a freelance?

Leave them in the comments below!

Networking is an essential part of freelance life, both to keep yourself known that you’re looking for work, but also for meeting other freelancers to swap ideas, tips, potential work and even to have the occasional grumble with. Freelancing can be a lonely experience!

Even if you’re based outside of  a city  (London, for example) where lots of networking events take place or don’t feel that you have time to network,  it’s possible to do some very effective networking online – without leaving the comfort of your sofa.

Here’s some ideas to get you started on building your freelance network online.

Twitter

This has to be one of the simplest and quickest ways to get networking online as a freelancer. Go to Twitter.com and sign up with your desired username. Add a photo and a bit about yourself, then your away! For a basic beginners guide for how to tweet and get the most out of Twitter, Twitter’s official guide is a great place to start.

If you want to find people to follow who work specifically in your area, use a tool like Tweepz which allows you to search for keywords in people’s bios. Think ‘Designer’, ‘Consultant’, ‘Freelance’ or whatever keywords are associated with you industry.

Get started by following me at @benrmatthews and looking at who I follow on Twitter here.

Twitter Chats

Themed chats have become a popular event on Twitter recently. Taking place at a set time and date (with a timezone if location specific) and using a specific hashtag to ensure that all tweets around that subject are grouped together, Twitter Chats are a great way to meet other professionals and influencers in your industry.

For example, CommsChat is the home of Europe’s most popular communications conversation on Twitter. It looks at all aspects of comms including PR, marketing, reputation management, internal comms and all things digital. CommsChat broadcasts using the hashtag #CommsChat at 20:00 on Mondays (UK time). To get an idea of the kind of conversations that take place, transcripts of previous broadcasts are made available in their chat archive.

Search for a Twitter chat in your field and then take part next time it happens – it’s a great way to meet others in your line of work and been to connect with the wider industry. And if there isn’t a Twitter Chat in your area, why not start one yourself?

Twitter Lists

Another way to network on Twitter is to set up and share Twitter lists that are useful for the industry. For a guide on how lists work, check out this article in the Twitter help center. Lists are useful to keep track of who’s saying what in your industry and helps to make sure you’re following the right people.

As an added bonus, every time you add someone to the list, they’ll be alerted to the fact (if they’ve signed up to receive the notifications) and check your Twitter profile out in return. This means that the right people to know will be aware of who you are – always useful when you’re looking out for work or new clients.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the social network for professionals and if you haven’t got a LinkedIn profile setup, I’d recommend getting one set up straight away. You can connect with other freelancers and people working in your industry very easily – just send them a personal InMail saying why you’d like to connect (something along the lines of building your freelance network) and if they can give any advice on their freelance career. They will likely connect with you and may offer you some advice – or even work! – if you’re lucky.

Once you’ve connected to a few other freelances in their area, take a look at how they market themselves. How do they describe their skills? What experience do they have and where? What else do they list in their profile? Use this to build your own profile and you’ll eventually have a fantastic LinkedIn page to use.

From there, take a look at the jobs section of LinkedIn. There may not be a lot of freelance work going, but you may be able to find a few opportunities or find out what skills are in demand in your industry.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn here.

LinkedIn Groups

The other activity you can do on LinkedIn to help build your network is to join LinkedIn Groups. These are essentially forums focussing on specialised areas, with every group member a professional working in that field.

So if you were a freelance comms consultant, you might search for PR, Marketing or Social Media groups. Once you’ve joined a few, make sure to introduce yourself and say why you’ve joined the group. Then take part in conversations being posted to the group. Lastly, connect with the other group members to grow your LinkedIn profile and build your network. You’ll also be alerted whenever someone posts a job to the group – so make sure you’re one of the first to reply if the right opportunity comes along.

L for small, specialist groups that do the work for you, rather than assuming all your work will come via networking events and referrals. Here’s a search on LinkedIn for freelancers to get you started on finding the right groups for you.

Blogging

Writing a blog can be one of the best ways to promote yourself as a freelancer and build your network. It couldn’t be easier to get started – go to a blogging platform such as WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger and follow their sign up process. They are free to use and simple to get started, so this is the recommended route if you’re new to blogging.

Once you have your blog set up, make sure you fill out an ‘About’ section, so that people can find out more about you, as well as the ‘Contact’ section, so people know ho to get in touch with you. You might also want to add links to your previous work as well as your other social networking profiles – Twitter and LinkedIn, at least.

Once set up, try to blog at least once a week on a topic in your line of work. It could be a post about what direction you think your industry is headed in, or the tools you use in your every day work and what other sites you would recommend other freelancers use. How about reviewing someone else’s work or campaign (be nice!) or writing a list of other blogs worth following in your area (take a look here for an example). If it helps, spend half an hour writing down every blog post idea that comes into your head. You should come up with at least 10 ideas, which will give you a few months worth of content.

And whenever you publish a blog, post it to your Twitter and LinkedIn profile so people can see that you’re blogging.

Guest Blogging

Writing for others people’s blogs or on magazine websites can be a quicker way of building your network than going to the effort of writing your own blog. They have an established readership that will likely be a lot larger than yours, plus they’ll have the associated social media profiles to help spread the word about articles.

To get started guest blogging, find the most read sites and blogs in your area. Read through their articles, looking for any guest writers that have been published recently. Get a feel for what kind of subjects they write on and try to come up with some ideas that you can approach them with. Send their editor an email explaining a few ideas and offering to guest blog for them (or use the contact form on a blog). You might not get a reply from everyone you contact, but you’ll likely get some responses to work on.

Agree on a subject, word count and deadline – and make sure you meet all three! Ask if you could get a link back to your own site and if they could mention your Twitter username when promoting the blog post. If you do well, you may be able to guest blog again, or you’ll be able to approach a bigger site with an example of the kind of writing you can do.

Freelance Forums

Forums are an oft-overlooked goldmine of information relating to all areas of freelance life, from setting up to finances to keeping clients satisfied. Start off by looking for forums in your industry, sign up and begin to read and comment on more established members posts. It can also help if you have any questions to ask them in forums – you’re more likely to get a response here. But make sure you take a good look through the forums first – your questions may well have been answered elsewhere already. Take a look at the forums on Freelance Switch and Freelance Folder to get started.

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That’s my tips on how to network online as a freelancer. How do you build your freelance network? Feel free to share your advice in the comments.

Following on from my guide to being a freelance consultant, I’ve pulled together a list of essential freelance reads and top blogs so you can get up to speed on all the latest freelance thinking.

These are presented in no particular order, but feel free to add your own suggestions by leaving a comment!

Freelance Advisor

Packed to the rafter with top tips on going freelance and being successful when you take the leap. From weekly digests of freelancing news to helpful tax advice, this site really does contain everything you need. The five-years old site is aimed at UK freelancers, but will still contain useful information no matter where you are.

Freelancers Guide 2013

Brought to you by Clients From Hell, your daily digest of freelance horror stories. Its primary focus is to inform interested readers and help them avoid the sometimes unbelievably bad stories found on the site in their own professional careers. Dozens of interviews across a variety of fields were conducted in the making of the book, as well as hours of research into news, reports, and blogs about the industry. This is a simple, quick, but essential guide for freelancers everywhere.

Freelance Switch

A blog that aims to help you make the switch to becoming a freelancer. From getting started as a freelancer to pricing your services, finding clients and jobs to dealing with clients once you have them, Freelance Switch has everything you need to get started in the road to success. They also have a useful forum and a page where you can look for freelance jobs that are up for grabs. Worth a look just for that alone!

Freelance Folder

A must-read blog for all freelancers containing well written articles by influential writers. Similar to Freelance Switch but slightly more established, Freelance Folder also has a forum and jobs page, though mainly with jobs from the US. Check out their post on 20 Must-Read Blogs For Freelance Writers for more blogs to read.

The Creative Enterprise Toolkit

Brought to you by Nesta, an independent charity with a mission to help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. This a step-by-step interactive resource that can help you plan, build, and start your new freelance career, including four handbooks to help shape your creative idea into a business. Specifically designed for creative people; the contents and activities are focused on developing both you and your business idea. The worksheet activities help you to explore, visualise and plan key business issues, including: consider what future success looks, identify your customers, map develop your marketing messages, and use financial tools to ensure you are in control of your business finances and can start to build a plan.

Creative, Inc.

This excellent little book is written primarily for the US market but it contains many truths that are useful for freelancers everywhere. Freelancing pros Meg Mateo Ilasco and Joy Deangdeelert Cho explain everything from creating a standout portfolio to navigating the legal issues of starting a business. An inspiring read, jam packed full of great advice and written in a way that won’t daunt someone with no marketing/business experience.

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That’s my suggestions, but what about you? What are your essential freelance resources? Add your own suggestions by leaving a comment!