Why coaching can be valuable for people working in comms and marketing
Marketing and communications roles can be hugely rewarding. They can also be complicated, demanding, and difficult to navigate.
I know from personal experience that comms professionals are often expected to be strategic thinkers, creative problem-solvers, trusted advisers, calm responders, careful listeners, organised administrators and persuasive writers - sometimes all on the same day! They may be supporting senior leaders, responding to fast-moving issues, managing multiple communications channels, advising colleagues, protecting reputation, engaging multiple audiences, and trying to keep important strategic projects moving forward despite the repeated and unforeseen distraction of tactical issues demanding significant time and attention.
It is work that matters. But because so much of it involves helping other people communicate, make decisions or feel supported, it can be easy for comms professionals to put their own development or wellbeing further down the list of priorities.
A space to think clearly
One of the most valuable things coaching can offer is a chance to step back from the pace and pressure of day-to-day work. That may sound simple, but in a busy marketing and communications role it can be surprisingly rare.
Coaching is not about being told what to do. It is a structured, confidential conversation that can help you look more carefully at what is happening, what matters most, and what choices are available to you. For someone juggling competing priorities and constant deadlines, that kind of conversation can be powerful.
I know this from my own experience. During my career, I often gave more attention to the immediate pressure in front of me - the difficult media enquiry, the approaching deadline, the upcoming meeting with senior management - than to the bigger questions sitting underneath: what mattered to me, how I wanted to work, and where I wanted my career to go next. Those day-to-day issues were important, of course. But I can also see how easy it is, in a fast-paced marketing and communications environment, to leave too little room for those bigger career and personal wellbeing questions.
Support with confidence and finding your voice
Many people in marketing and communications roles are highly capable, thoughtful and committed, yet still find themselves questioning whether they are ready for the next step, whether they should speak up in a meeting, or whether their advice will be taken seriously.
I remember having some of those same doubts myself in the early stages of my career. And later, as a line manager, I heard similar versions of the same thoughts being expressed by many of the people I managed in our one-to-one conversations
These self-doubts can be particularly pronounced when transitioning from delivery roles into management or leadership positions. The skills that make someone excellent at implementing marketing and communication campaigns are not always the same skills they need when they start setting direction, or when they have to advise more senior colleagues, or when they are managing people for the first time.
Coaching can help people explore what confidence means for them in practice. It can support them to notice what may be holding them back, recognise the strengths they already bring, and experiment with new ways of using their voice at work.
Navigating pressure and expectations
Communications work often sits close to organisational pressure points. There may be sensitive issues to deal with, lots of seemingly urgent requests to respond to, reputational risks to manage, demanding stakeholders to handle, and an expectation that you always have to react quickly. I know how it can sometimes feel like you are dealing with one crisis after another: firefighting.
Over time, this can take a toll.
Coaching can provide a calm space to look at how you are managing pressure, where boundaries may be needed, what is in your control to influence (and what isn’t), and what might need to change. It can also help people think through how to keep producing work of a high enough standard without feeling that they have to absorb every demand placed on them.
Making informed career choices
Careers in marketing and communications are rarely entirely linear. People may move between specialisms, sectors, and product or service areas in the same organisation. They may find themselves becoming a manager almost by accident or wondering whether the next promotion is really what they want.
Coaching can help people step back from the immediate question of “what next?” and look more carefully at what they value, what energises them, what they want to learn, and what kind of working life they are trying to build. It can help turn vague uncertainty into clearer options and practical next steps.
Developing as a manager or leader
For those moving into management or leadership, coaching can be especially useful. Leading others brings new responsibilities: delegating, giving feedback, managing different working styles, handling difficult conversations, and finding the right balance between supporting people and holding them accountable.
It can also bring a shift in identity. You may no longer be the person who does everything yourself. You may need to make decisions without having all the details you would once have held. I remember finding this difficult when I first started managing other people. For a long time, I felt I had to know everything before I could speak confidently about a topic or provide direction to others on it. Learning that leadership did not require me to have every answer was an important part of my development.
Coaching can support this transition by helping you develop your own approach rather than simply copying someone else’s. When I first became a marketing manager in 2001, I remember thinking I needed to act in similar ways to the other managers around me. Looking back, I can see that what I really needed was to manage in my own way, trust my instincts, and build on my own strengths.
Coaching is not a magic solution
It is important not to overclaim what coaching can do. It does not remove organisational pressures, solve every career dilemma, or replace good management, training or specialist support where those are needed.
What coaching can do is help people think more clearly, understand themselves better, make more intentional choices, and take practical action to move forward with purpose.
For communications professionals who spend so much of their working lives helping others find the right messages, words, and strategic direction, that kind of reflective space can be particularly valuable.
Which, if any, of these aspects resonate with you most?
I am currently conducting some market research with people who have been in marketing and communications officer-type roles for over two years and who are starting to think about their first step into management. These are the types of professionals I most want to help in my newly created coaching business.
It would be really helpful if you could let me know in the comments which of the many ways coaching could help, as outlined in this blog, resonate with you the most. Either you are at this career stage right now or, like me, you can remember what it felt like when you took your first steps into management. Are there any other challenges for people at this point in their development that I haven’t mentioned?
Thank you. Hearing from you about this would help me hone my coaching offer accordingly, so I would really appreciate it. :)