Through times of change: what communications leaders need to remember.

There's a particular kind of exhaustion that comes with leading communications through organisational change.

It's not just the volume of work — though that's real. It's not just the complexity of the messaging — though that's significant. It's the sustained effort of holding things together for other people, while quietly carrying the weight of uncertainty yourself.

Communications directors and heads of comms are, in times of change, often the ones everyone turns to. They advise senior leaders. They shape the narrative. They support their teams. They field the questions. They hold the tension between what can be said and what can't, between reassurance and honesty, between the official line and the human reality.

And they do all of this while living through the same change as everyone else.

This blog is about that. About what you need to consider, not just as a leader, not just as a communicator, but as a person navigating uncertain times.

Your role as a leader during change

When an organisation is going through significant change, the role of the communications leader expands considerably. You're not just managing the messaging , you're often providing counsel to the most senior people in the organisation, helping them find the words for things that are genuinely hard to say.

That's a privileged position. It's also a heavy one.

What it requires, beyond the technical skills , is the ability to stay grounded when others aren't. To be a calm presence in rooms that are anything but calm. To hold complexity without collapsing it into false simplicity, and to offer direction without pretending to have certainty you don't have.

This is leadership at its most demanding. And it's worth naming that, because communications leaders don't always get the recognition that what they're doing in these moments is genuinely exceptional.

Trusting your intuition and empathy

In times of change, data and process can only take you so far. At some point, you have to trust what you sense.

When something feels off — when a message doesn't sit right, when a team feels more anxious than the communications suggest, when a leader's confidence is more performance than reality — that instinct is information. Valuable information.

Communications professionals are, by training and by nature, highly attuned to human dynamics. They read rooms. They notice things others miss. In periods of change, that empathic intelligence is one of the most important tools available to an organisation and it tends to live in the comms function.

Trust it. Name it when you see it. And don't let anyone convince you that it's not 'proper' evidence. Sometimes the most important data is what you feel in the room.

Your role with your communications team

While you're supporting the organisation, your team is looking to you.

They want to know that it's okay to feel unsettled. They want to understand what the change means for them — their roles, their workload, their future. They need honest communication, not spin. And they need to see, in how you show up, that it's possible to hold uncertainty with steadiness and grace.

This doesn't mean you have to have all the answers. In fact, pretending you do is one of the quickest ways to lose trust. What your team needs is for you to be honest about what you know and don't know, consistent in your values, and genuinely present even when things are hard.

One thing I come back to again and again: your team will remember how you made them feel during this period long after the change itself is complete. Lead accordingly.

The impact on you as an individual — and why it matters

Here is the part that often goes unsaid.

Change affects you too. Not just professionally, but personally. The uncertainty, the emotional labour, the sustained pressure of being the person everyone relies on, all of that has a cost. And if you're not paying attention to that cost, it will eventually come due in ways you don't get to choose.

I've seen communications leaders pour so much into their organisations during periods of change that they arrive at the other side depleted, disoriented, and wondering who they are outside of crisis mode. That's not a sustainable way to lead and it's not a fair price to pay.

So let me ask you directly: how are you actually doing? Not the professional version of that answer. The real one.

Are you sleeping? Are you finding moments of genuine rest? Are you able to switch off, even briefly? Are you talking to someone (really talking) about how you're finding this?

If the honest answer to any of those is no, please take that seriously. Your wellbeing is not a nice-to-have. It is the foundation from which everything else flows.

Your support network — non-negotiable, not optional

You cannot be everyone's support system without having one yourself. It's not sustainable. It's not fair. And over time, it will catch up with you.

A strong support network for a communications leader in times of change might look different things to different people. It might be a mentor who understands your world and can help you think through decisions. It might be a peer community of other comms leaders who get it without needing everything explained. It might be a coach, a therapist, a trusted colleague, or a combination of all of these.

What it isn't is optional. Especially now, when so many communications professionals are navigating significant organisational upheaval — restructures, redundancies, leadership changes, cultural shifts — while simultaneously being asked to lead others through exactly the same thing.

If your support network feels thin or absent right now, building it is not a luxury. It's the work. It's what will allow you to keep showing up for your team, for your organisation, and for yourself.

A final thought

I want to leave you with something simple.

Looking after yourself during times of change is not separate from looking after your team and your organisation. It is the foundation of it. You cannot lead well from a place of depletion. You cannot hold space for others if no one is holding space for you.

So please, let people in. Ask for support. Accept it when it's offered. And remember that the same kindness you extend so readily to others is something you are allowed to extend to yourself.

Change is hard. You don't have to carry it alone.