Five things that have genuinely helped my communications career

I want to start with something honest (you'd expect nothing less): I didn't always feel like I knew what I was doing.

I worked hard, I cared deeply, I said yes to things that scared me. But for a long time, I wasn't sure what was actually helping me grow and what was just keeping me busy. There's a difference.

Now, after more than a two decades in communications — as a practitioner, a leader, and now as a mentor — I've had the space to look back with a bit more clarity. And what I've found is that the things that genuinely moved the needle for my career weren't the things I expected.

They weren't the courses or the job titles. They were quieter than that. More human.

So here are five things that have truly helped and that I come back to again and again when I'm working with the brilliant communications professionals I get to support through Cat's Pajamas.

1. Saying yes before I felt ready

Let me be clear: I don't mean saying yes to everything, you know I'm a big advocate of boundary setting. That's a fast track to burnout, and I've been there too.

What I mean is saying yes to the things that stretched me. The opportunities I nearly talked myself out of because I wasn't sure I was ready, qualified, or good enough.

Some of the most formative moments of my career came from those moments of uncomfortable stretch. Putting myself forward to chair a national communications leads network was definitely one of those moments. The discomfort was the point. Growth rarely happens inside the comfort zone. It happens at the edges of it. And I learned so much from my experience chairing that network.

If you're reading this and there's something you've been holding back from — an opportunity, a conversation, a pitch — I'd gently ask: what would it look like to say yes anyway?

2. Building and nurturing a real support network

I used to think a professional network meant LinkedIn connections and business card exchanges. (Yes, I know, we've all been there and are business cards even a thing anymore?) Even worse, I thought it meant standing round with a plate of curly sandwiches making awkward small talk.

What I know now is that a real support network is something much more valuable. It's the people who know your work, know your worth, and will tell you the truth, even when the truth is hard to hear.

It's also the people you can call when things aren't going well. The ones who can hold space for your doubt without amplifying it. Who remind you of your capability when you've temporarily forgotten it.

If you don't have that yet, building it is one of the most important investments you can make. Not in a transactional way. In a genuine, reciprocal, I'll-show-up-for-you-too kind of way.

3. Investing in my own development — without waiting for permission

For a long time, I waited. I waited for my organisation to see my potential and invest in it. I waited for the training budget to be approved. I waited for someone to tap me on the shoulder and say: 'You're ready.'

That tap never came. And I wasted a lot of time waiting for it.

When I started investing in myself, in mentoring, in reflection, in learning from people whose work I admired, everything shifted. Not just in terms of skills, but in terms of how I saw myself. When you invest in your own growth, you signal to yourself that you're worth investing in. That matters more than people realise.

This is a big part of why I do what I do. Because investing in your development shouldn't feel like an indulgence. It's a professional necessity. And once I started talking about how my learning and development was shaping my organisation, people started to find funding, not just for me but for my team. If you don't ask, you don't get.

4. Working with leaders who genuinely value communication

This one is harder to control. But it is, I think, one of the most underrated factors in career satisfaction for communications professionals. When I worked with a CEO who said "I've got your back. You make the call and I will deal with any fall out from the national team." I knew I'd found a leader who genuinely valued what I was contributing and understood how to support me.

When you work alongside leaders who understand what communications actually does, who bring you into the room early, who trust your strategic thinking, who see comms as integral rather than incidental, that's when you grow. The work feels purposeful. Your contribution feels visible.

When you don't? You'll know. And it's exhausting in a very specific way.

I can't always tell you how to find those leaders (though I have some thoughts). But I can say: noticing the difference — and naming it — is the first step to either influencing change or making a different choice.

5. Knowing my values — and letting them guide me

This sounds simple. It isn't, always.

Knowing your values isn't a branding exercise or a LinkedIn bio filler. It's an anchor. When I got clear on what I actually stand for (kindness, integrity, impact) it became much easier to make decisions. Especially the hard ones.

Values don't eliminate difficult choices. But they give you a framework for making them in a way you can be proud of. They help you know when something is off and when something is right, even if it's uncomfortable. Letting my values guide me is what led me to leave my 20 year corporate career and go it alone.

If you haven't taken the time recently to sit with your values , I'd encourage you to. It's one of the most grounding things you can do. Ask your self what they are and whether you're living them.

A final thought

None of this is revolutionary. I'm not going to pretend it is.

But I think we often need permission to return to the basics. To remember that career growth isn't just about doing more, achieving more, proving more. Sometimes it's about knowing yourself better and building the foundations that allow you to thrive sustainably.

These five things didn't transform my career overnight. But over time, consistently, they shaped the way I lead, the way I mentor, and the way I show up, for others, and for myself.

I'd love to know what's resonated with you. Which of these feels most relevant to where you are right now? Come and tell me over on Instagram or LinkedIn.

And if you would like some prompts and a guide to help you reflect on some of this, check out my Mid Comms Career Clarity Kit.