As communicators, there can't be many of you who aren't feeling the strain of the economic crisis right now. Whether you've been busy dealing with the aftermath of redundancies or trying to prove your value to avoid being made redundant yourself, the chances are you could do with a pick-me-up.

Sue Dewhurst, of the SD Group, believes there are steps you can take to improve your working life and make sure your own wellbeing isn't neglected.

"It's easy to keep working more and more hours to try and win over those hard-to-please customers. But your health is important, and you'll find it harder to do a good job if you're exhausted."

Here are 5 tips for what to do when morale is low.

1. Ask yourself whether you're focusing on the right things
This is going to sound harsh, but if you're questioning whether you're adding value, there's probably a good reason for it. The best place to start if you want to make a bigger difference is always with the business strategy. Look at where your customers most need help. Is it with increasing sales? Reducing costs? Implementing a new project? Focus there, and think about what you can do as a communicator to make a difference. And don't start by thinking about what collateral you can produce. Look at what you can practically do that will change people's thoughts, attitudes or actions, and influence business results.

2. Pick your battles
You can't win 'em all, as they say. Focus on the battles that really matter and accept that some are not worth fighting. And sometimes the best way for people to learn is by having things go wrong. The important thing in these cases is to get out there and measure – get the data and evidence ready to produce next time, to show why things need to be done differently.

3. Look for support in other places
Yes, by rights, you should have a supportive manager. Your most senior stakeholder should "get" internal communication. But if you're not getting the support from where you ideally should do, look for it from another source. Find the person in your stakeholder's team or network who will work with you.
If your manager doesn't have internal communication expertise, look for someone else in the industry you can meet now and again. If you're working in a standalone role, life can feel very isolated at times. A good support network will make all the difference.

4. Look after yourself
It's easy to keep working more and more hours to try and win over those hard-to-please customers. But your health is important, and you'll find it harder to do a good job if you're exhausted. So remember the basics: Get a decent night's sleep; Eat properly; Take breaks; Set boundaries – it's easy for work to take over your life if you let it.

5. Keep the compliments
Hoard those complimentary emails from your customers. Photocopy that great piece of feedback from an employee. I have a noticeboard above my desk which is full of old cards from flowers, emails from past team members, photocopies of positive feedback from training courses, photographs, leaving cards. If ever I'm having an "off day", I take some time out and read through them. It reminds me that I have made a difference plenty of times before, and I can do it again. And so can you.

The full article will appear in the upcoming issue of Strategic Communication Management.

Until next time,

P.S. Melcrum's new special report "How to create, manage and engage a virtual team" is an invaluable resource for managers and virtual team-members alike. It lays out the behaviors and tools that are essential for establishing and maintaining a virtual team, and provides case-study examples of successful teams working in this way and delivering real business results.

Who exactly are we communicating with?
Graeme Ginsberg, The Melcrum Blog, September 22, 2008

Which phrase do you use? "Audiences" has been criticized for being "too passive" and "stakeholders" too jargonistic and ambiguous. I have to say I keep coming back to audience...read more

Launching a blog with limited resources
Alex Manchester, Melcrum's Social Media Newsletter, September 15, 2008

In a small department of an organization I was working with recently, the first internal blog has just seen the light of day. It didn't take huge effort but in a short time it has become a small hit with department staff...read more

What's a good response rate for an employee engagement survey?
Melcrum's Communicators' Network, September 22, 2008

We've recently done a survey and had a 77% participation rate, but the company that did the survey isn't able to say whether this is a good rate compared to other organizations...join the discussion

The Source for Communicators is a free resource for corporate communicators from Melcrum Publishing.
Melcrum Publishing Ltd, The Glassmills, 322b King Street, London, W6 0AX, UK
Melcrum Publishing, 449 N. Clark Street, Suite 305, Chicago, IL 60654, USA
Melcrum Publishing, Level 12, 95 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia

Copyright Melcrum Publishing Limited 2008.