Communications Business Advisor

In this episode of the Communications Business Advisor™ podcast, host Tara McDonagh delves into the evolution of communications professionals from what she calls "communications waitressing" to becoming strategic communications business advisors. Tara takes listeners through the career journey—from starting with tactical tasks to eventually becoming proactive, strategic leaders within organizations.

Listeners will hear Tara discuss:

• The early stages of a communications career, where you focus on "doing the stuff"—the tactics that win people over.
• How transitioning from a manager to a director shifts the focus from tactical work to proactive strategy.
• The pitfalls of holding onto tactical tasks when it's time to step into a leadership role.
• How staying too comfortable in tactical work can harm your team's growth, your leadership potential, and the reputation of the communications field.
• Why hiring strategic help isn't a weakness but a critical step in advancing your career.
•  

Tara also offers practical advice on how communications leaders can stop doing it all and embrace their advisory roles, guiding their teams to success and earning the trust of fellow executives.

This episode is packed with actionable insights for communications professionals ready to level up their careers and take their place at the decision-making table.

For more exclusive tips and insights, sign up for Tara’s Level Up: Be Extra newsletter at taramcdonagh.com/levelup.

The Communications Business Advisor™ Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide™, the unique coaching, community, and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field.Learn more at raisethetide.net.

In this episode of The Communication Business Advisor Podcast, host Tara McDonagh discusses the challenges internal communicators face with Rachel Miller, founder of All Things IC, and author of Internal Communication Strategy.

Listeners will hear Tara and Rachel discuss:

• Challenges in creating an internal communications strategy and maintaining its relevance. 
• Confidence as a critical piece of the puzzle when advising. 
• Using a third-party to help you thrive vs steal your shine.
• AI’s impact on internal comms.

To get your hands on a copy of Rachel’s book Internal Communication Strategy: design, develop, and transform your organizational communication. Visit https://www.koganpage.com. Use code: RAISING THE TIDE to get 20% off your copy. 

Hot top: Tara’s insight is included as an expert in the book. Check out the index for where.

Links & Resources:

www.linkedin.com/in/rachelmiller01

allthingsic.com

The Communications Business Advisor Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide, the intimate coaching, community and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field.

In this episode of the Communications Business Advisor Podcast, Tara McDonagh explores the concept of the "shadow communicator"—individuals hired within specific business areas to handle communications tasks independently of the central communications team. 

Listeners will hear about: 

• The challenges these shadow communicators pose, such as undermining established communication efforts and spreading irrelevant messaging. 
• How to prevent shadow communicators from showing up in your organization.
• Why you don't hate the shadow communicator (Really, you don't). 
• What to do if YOU are the shadow communicator. 
• Tune in for practical advice on preventing and managing shadow communicators. 

Get even more exclusive insights, advice, and inspiration on this topic, and level up your inbox at: taramcdonagh.com/levelup.

The Communications Business Advisor Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide, the unique coaching, community, and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field.

We’re wrapping the first season of the Communications Business Advisor Podcast! But not before we talk about HR and Marketing … and Comms too. The HR and Marketing departments can be powerful allies, AND they can also be kind of a nightmare to work with. Let’s break it down. 

In this episode, host Tara McDonaugh explains:

• The two categories HR and Marketing fall into when it comes to relationships with Comms.
• Reteaching people how to treat you as a Comms. professional
• Anchoring change to a big project 
• Getting experts involved & how to make it happen

Tara would love to hear from you before Season 2 next fall! What was your favorite episode so far? What are you struggling with? Is there something you’d like a part 2 for? Reach out! [email protected]. 

Visit taramcdonagh.com to learn more about how to work with Tara. Or follow her content on LinkedIn at: Tara McDonagh where she posts five days a week on comms.-focused topics.  

The Communications Business Advisor Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide, the unique coaching, community and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field.

“If we set up our structures to match what agencies look like, we lose something significant in our partnership, thinking, and actions. Most importantly, our field continues to lose the battle for treatment as a critical function, a critical business function, not a service area.” --Tara McDonagh

People with an agency background bring a strong skill set to whatever business area they move into next, including the ability to juggle multiple projects, being a very quick learner, and building strong relationships.

Unfortunately, many with agency background, especially at a senior level, come in ready to implement an internal agency model, and this creates a model where the comms department becomes order takers. Exactly what communicators fight against. 

There are some components agency hires bring in that can strengthen a communications function in a corporation and some that need to be left behind. Let’s discuss. 

In this episode, host Tara McDonagh explains:

• The unintended impact an internal agency model can have on corporate comms.
• What makes agency staff great hires for communications roles inside corporations … and what they need to leave behind at the agency. 
• Teaching people how to treat you. 

As we get close to wrapping up Season 1 of the Communications Business Advisor Podcast, take a moment to share this episode, or the show, with someone. Drop a rating or leave a review. We can ignite a movement when we share the message.

Visit taramcdonagh.com to learn more about how to work with Tara. Or follow her content on LinkedIn at: Tara McDonagh where she posts five days a week on comms.-focused topics.  

The Communications Business Advisor Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide, the unique coaching, community and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field.

“It became really clear what we could do and do well with the resources that we had, and those were limited resources. And I never stopped talking about what we could do with more.”

--Jessica Onick

 The dirty word on this episode of the podcast is “prioritization.” Host, Tara McDonagh has invited Jessica Onick, Senior Director of Internal and External Communications at GitHub to share how prioritizing and setting boundaries ended up doubling the size of her team in just over a year. 

 In this episode of the Communications Business Advisor Podcast, Tara and Jesscia talk about: 

• Jessica’s experience losing staff and being required to prioritize 
• How to go about the prioritization process and be intentional, NOT ruthless
• The art of telling others, “No, it’s not a priority”
• Determining where you’re really needed to do it all, where to guide, and where to empower self-service
• Using up-front prioritization as a framework for the day-to-day
• Growing your team and budget as a result of the prioritization process 

 Links & Resources: 

Jessica Onick on LinkedIn –– www.linkedin.com/in/jessicaonick

Raise the Tide - Join the movement.

 If the topic of today’s episode of the Communications Business Advisor Podcast resonated with you, please take a moment to share this episode with someone, drop a rating, or leave a review. We can ignite a movement when we share the message.

 Visit taramcdonagh.com to learn more about how to work with Tara. Or follow her content on LinkedIn at: Tara McDonagh where she posts five days a week on comms.-focused topics.  

The Communications Business Advisor Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide, the unique coaching, community and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field.

Process––you’re not alone if that word makes you cringe. You may find processes stifling to your creativity or just generally something that’s a necessary evil. 

On this episode of the Communications Business Advisor podcast, Tara challenges the way we think about processes.

It’s time to turn the dirty P word into something fun. Something that works for you and the business areas you partner with. Let’s use processes to get to the ultimate goal easier so you can spend more time on things that energize you. 

In this episode, host Tara McDonagh explains:

• How to NOT be the DMV of process
• Making a process audience-friendly AND Communications-area friendly
• Focus on accomplishing the business goal easier and more quickly, not necessarily making your life easier (though this should be an outcome)  
• Uncovering hidden processes 
• What to use instead of Communication Request Forms
• The time you’ll save by having the right processes in place

If the topic of creating and finetuning processes resonated with you, please take a moment to share this episode with someone, drop a rating, or leave a review. We can ignite a movement when we share the message.

Visit taramcdonagh.com to learn more about how to work with Tara. Or follow her content on LinkedIn at: Tara McDonagh where she posts five days a week on comms.-focused topics.  

The Communications Business Advisor Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide, the unique coaching, community and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field. 

“If you’re not measuring, you don’t know if you’re successful.” --Natalie Papaj

Host, Tara McDonagh talks with guest Natalie Papaj, VP of Communications at Wells Fargo to answer listener questions about measurement in Communications - internal and external. 

In this episode of the Communications Business Advisor Podcast, Tara and Natalie address questions on:

• Aligning your metrics with business objectives
• The many uses for measurement 
• Balancing time/bandwidth with measurement and analysis
• Creating a culture of measurement
• What Natalie uses for measurement in her role at Wells Fargo (and why)

Links & Resources:

Natalie Papaj on LinkedIn –– www.linkedin.com/in/nataliepapaj/

If the topic of today’s episode of the Communications Business Advisor Podcast resonated with you, please take a moment to share this episode with someone, drop a rating, or leave a review. We can ignite a movement when we share the message.

Visit taramcdonagh.com to learn more about how to work with Tara. Or follow her content on LinkedIn at: Tara McDonagh where she posts five days a week on comms.-focused topics.  

The Communications Business Advisor Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide, the unique coaching, community and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field. 

Can you truly grow your career without working EVEN more? This is a key question host, Tara McDonagh, is asked regularly by ambitious, exceptional, overachieving women. The assumptive answer is always - no. What most of us have always seen and assumed is that when you continue to rise in your career, company demands on your time will grow. Most women are eager and ready for growth, but don’t want to sacrifice even more time with family and friends. Is there another way? 

Host Tara McDonagh, invites Megan Witherspoon, VP of Communications at Altria, to discuss how she’s both grown her career, and embraced a new level of personal fulfillment through remote work.

Megan not only works remotely, she moved her family across the country and continues to take on more responsibility in her role at Altria, while enjoying more time for family and hobbies as well. 

In this episode of Communications Business Advisor Podcast, Tara and Megan discuss:

• How Megan was able to move across the country while advancing responsibilities in her company.
• Using data to measure if there are differences in remote vs in-person worker performance - make the case with data. 
• Proximity bias. It is a thing. Will it ever die? 
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion implications tied to remote work.

Links & Resources:

Follow Megan Witherspoon on LinkedIn -- linkedin.com/in/megan-witherspoon-8b315958/

Harvard Business Review article -- Why Many Women of Color Don't Want to Return to the Office

If the topic of today’s episode of the Communications Business Advisor Podcast resonated with you, please take a moment to share this episode with someone, drop a rating, or leave a review. We can ignite a movement when we share the message.

Visit taramcdonagh.com to learn more about how to work with Tara. Or follow her content on LinkedIn at: Tara McDonagh where she posts five days a week on comms.-focused topics.  

The Communications Business Advisor Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide, the unique coaching, community and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field.

Women dominate the Communications field in numbers, but not in leadership roles. Why? Couple gender bias together with our misunderstood and oversimplified field and we have a fight on our hands. 

In this episode of The Communication Business Advisor Podcast, Tara McDonagh explains:

• Equal Pay Day and International Women’s Day - and why companies will recognize one while ignoring the other. 
• Gender bias in the workplace and its impact on women’s careers - and how and why that shows up even more for women in Communications. 
• How second-generation bias, the just world hypothesis and the double-bind impact women at work. 
• What to do about this challenge. 
• Where to follow more content on women in communications: www.linkedin.com/company/raise-the-tide-for-women 

If you’ve enjoyed the Communications Business Advisor Podcast so far, please take a moment to share this episode with someone, drop a rating, or leave a review. We can ignite a movement when we  share the message.

Visit taramcdonagh.com to learn more about how to work with Tara. Or follow her content on LinkedIn at: Tara McDonagh where she posts five days a week on comms.-focused topics.  

The Communications Business Advisor Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide, the unique coaching, community and professional development program that elevates corporate women communications leaders and emerging leaders in the communications field.