Leader or doer? How heads of communications win back time to lead

Most heads of communications spend the bulk of their week executing and collating, and a small share leading. This article helps you measure that split, decide what to hand off, and build the case for the support you need.

How the role keeps growing

A head of communications today is often expected to cover press, social media, internal communications, crisis response, content, brand, events, public affairs and reporting, while advising the chief executive. In many organisations, the same person also writes, designs, films and presents.

Each addition looks small on its own, to the untrained eye. Together, they push strategy to evenings and weekends, and leadership ends up with a sharp operator and too little strategic counsel.

The real cost of staying in execution

• Strategy gets the leftover hours, usually after the urgent work is done.

• Leadership sees activity, and loses sight of impact.

• The team waits for one person's approval on everything.

• Burnout rises, and so does turnover in the role.

Step 1. Audit one typical week

List everything you did last week and sort each task into one of four columns. The pattern is usually clear within an hour.

Step 2. Protect what only you can do

Three things belong to the head of communications and no one else: setting direction, advising leadership, and deciding where resources go. Block time for them first in your calendar, before anything else gets in.

Step 3. Hand off delivery

Delegation starts with clear briefs and clear approval rules. Decide which messages need your sign-off and which your team can publish on its own. Fewer approvals speed everything up and grow your team's confidence.

Step 4. Hand off collation to tools

Collation is the most automatable part of the week, and the one that hurts credibility most when it runs late. Choose tools that pull results together from the platforms your team already uses, so nobody has to feed them by hand.
That's what we built kààt for. We simply pull data from the tools you already use, translate it, and serve as your strategic co-pilot.

Step 5. Build the case for resources

Use your audit as evidence. Show leadership how many hours went to collation and delivery, what that time costs, and what you would do with it instead. Pair every request for headcount or budget with the result it will unlock.

Frequently asked questions

What does a head of communications actually do? Sets communications direction, advises leadership, manages reputation and allocates resources across functions such as press, social media, internal communications and events.

How big should a communications team be? It depends on scope and organisation size. Start from the functions you cover and the hours each one requires, then compare with what your current team can absorb.

How do I get more budget for communications? Show the cost of today's gaps in hours and missed opportunities, and tie each request to a result leadership already wants.

Win back your week with kààt

kààt is an all-in-one dashboard suite for communications leaders, with monitoring, decision-making and reporting in one place. It takes collation off your plate, so you can focus on leading again. The first round of demos ships in mid-October. Join the waitlist for the next round at getkaat.com.