When I first stepped into my role at a wonderful Christian nonprofit years ago, I was captivated by an amazing mission, incredible people, *and* the reality that there was no Communications team or role.

And while the achiever in me wanted to dive in head first and start building, there was something I did before I ever created a single system or process:

I talked to absolutely every leader and stakeholder in my work to understand their role, their perspective, and their pain points. 

I’m talking months of this. Meeting with every single senior director, director, and assistant director in the organization. Talking to every marketing team member for every ministry within the foundation because they were handling what should have been (and what was going to eventually be) handled by Communications. 

These were the questions I asked each person, and they’re the ones I would (highly, highly) encourage you to ask your leadership and colleagues if you are trying to establish rapport, develop trust, and build something that will serve your team/organization/audiences well and winsomely:

1. Explain your role, your team, and your department to me. What do you do, what are your responsibilities, and how do those fit into the larger mission of the organization? 
    
2. What do communications look like among your team/department right now? Are they effective? Who is responsible for managing those? 
    
3. What do communications from your team to external audiences (if any) look like? Are they effective? Who is responsible for managing those? 
    
4. In terms of internal communications (to the entire organization), do you feel that you/your team/your department are appropriately involved when there are updates that require your input as a stakeholder? Why or why not? 
    
5. In terms of internal communications, what do you feel is currently working well for the organization? What are specific pain points you’ve experienced and/or observed? 
    
6. If you could have more support with communications for your specific team/department, what would you need or want? This could include everything from inter-departmental communications, to communications to external audiences, to copyediting for external-facing collateral.
    
7. As I continue my discovery across the organization, what is the best way I can support you until more formal systems and processes are in place?

As you’re asking these questions, take your time. 

It felt almost painstaking to me to spend so many months having these conversations and not producing, but they’re exactly what allowed me to know what and how to build Communications, my role, and every single system, channel, and process that eventually followed.

I could build because my foundation was strong.

Similar to Jesus’ parable of the wise builder whose house could weather the storm because he built it on a rock (Matt. 7:24-27), I found that the proverbial house I was building would last because it was sitting on a foundation of collaboration and trust. 

Time-consuming? Yes.

Worth every minute? In spades.

Even at the risk of delaying the changes that need to be made, taking the time to be curious and collaborative will prove to be an invaluable use of your time over and over and over again.