By Ellen Graf-Martin, founder and senior strategic counsel, Graf-Martin Advisory Group
Is this your organization?
Your mission is growing. You’ve invested in strategic thinking. Your vision is inspiring.
But, the requests you’re sending to your mar comms lead are overwhelming: a new campaign, a donor appeal, a website update, a board report. Your communications person is talented. They care deeply about your mission, they work hard, and they understand your culture. They’re someone you want on your team. But as your organization scales, they are being asked to do things they’ve never been trained to do, like independently translate strategy into an actionable plan, do all the regular day-to-day communications work they’ve always done, bring in new donors and make confident decisions that you’ll be proud of.
Meanwhile, they’re also trying to learn new tools, keep up with technology, and do all of this with a budget line that got trimmed again this year.
Your team is stuck somewhere between the strategic plan and bringing their own pieces to life and you may not know how to move them forward, because no one has shown you either.
It’s not just you.
So many organizations are at a crucial crossroads: your mission (and the need for it) is growing, the communications needs are piling up, and your internal marketing person is feeling the strain.
And honestly, you don’t know how to give them strategic direction, because you've never done it either.
The Hidden Cost of Just Outsourcing It
Years ago, a large charity hired us because their communications team was buried in day-to-day requests and had no time for the projects their strategic plan depended on. Their fundraising team needed new materials, and their strategy to find new donors needed to be actioned. Their leadership knew that the mar comms team was swamped and couldn’t take more on, but the organization still needed to get some big tasks done.
So, we were hired. We did great work. We did exactly what we were asked. We took a big task off their plate. We thought we were helping them - and their leadership team was thrilled.
But the internal team came to resent us. They wanted to create, to try new things. Instead, they were answering our questions so we could do the work they wished was theirs. The output problem was solved, but the people were sidelined and discouraged. They were demotivated and it showed.
How did we fix it? We changed our approach. We started showing them how to do it.
What does a better approach look like?
For that charity, it looked like this:
Start with the strategic framework. We identified the long-term goal and creative ways to get there. We built a common understanding and set a clear path forward together.
Build for real life. We didn’t just build a “dream plan.” We looked at what they were already doing, what they had capacity for, what their skillset included, what to outsource and how to stretch the budget.
Bring specialized expertise. We gave expert feedback and insightful encouragement and acted as a sounding board and thinking partner, so the team could make decisions with confidence.
Build internal capacity. Rather than just using our tools on the team’s behalf, we showed them how to do it and walked alongside them with best practices. This equipped the team with the skills they needed to do more of this work long after our advisory sessions were over.
Identify what kind of external support makes sense. For specialized work, such as a PR campaign, video production, or when no one on your team has the capacity.
The result: we co-created and launched a robust, effective and unique national church engagement strategy that continues to live on. We moved past resentment and we’re still friends with that communications director today.
Why we work this way
This is why this year we shifted from a traditional agency to a new model: Graf-Martin Advisory Group, a strategic advisory and communications firm. We believe the best stewardship of your mission is investing in your people. The most sustainable way to grow your organization is to build the capacity of the team inside it.
It’s also been our approach for most of our history. About seven years ago, I told Paola Theaker, now our Senior Communications Advisor, that we should start a formal mentorship program. She said, “Umm… you’re already doing that.” She had been our first intern in 2012, and she now mentors others herself. Tara Hoyte, our Senior Strategic Advisor & Managing Director, is regularly serving leaders as a “thinking partner” who helps them confirm they’re headed in the right direction, and think through decisions.
The organizations and leaders we work with love that they’ve got these experienced professionals in their corner, equipping them and committed to seeing them succeed and grow.
The Bottom Line:
Your capable, passionate communications lead doesn’t need to be replaced by an agency, and they shouldn’t be left to figure it out alone or by trial and error. They need an experienced guide who answers their questions and shares what they know generously. Someone committed to their growth and the growth of your organization.
If you want to intentionally invest in and build a confident, capable internal team that knows exactly how to drive your mission forward, let’s talk.
