In part 1 of this series, I covered the basics of building a well-being culture in your editorial or communications team: modeling healthy behavior yourself, creating an environment that supports breaks and focus time, and establishing boundaries around meetings and off-hours communication.
Those changes matter. For teams doing detail-oriented, precision work, a foundation of physical and mental well-being directly affects the quality of what goes out the door.
But physical and mental well-being are only part of the picture. Research on well-being consistently identifies three additional dimensions that leaders often overlook: career, social, and community well-being. These are the areas where editorial and communications leaders have some of the most direct influence—and where the investment pays off in engagement, retention, and the quiet pride that comes from a job well done.
Invest in Your Team’s Professional Growth
Career well-being is about whether people find meaning and satisfaction in their work.
As your team’s leader, you can have a direct influence. Don’t wait for annual reviews to find out whether someone is struggling. Watch for the quieter signals, such as a disinterest in projects they used to engage with, pessimism creeping into how they talk about the work, or productivity that’s dropped without an obvious reason. These often surface before someone says anything directly.
Have both planned and casual conversations about what your direct reports want from their career and consider how you can help them get there. Are your editors working in their area of specialty or being stretched into genres or subjects they’re not confident in? Do your writers have opportunities to pitch topics, or only execute assignments? Within your department, you might create a mentoring program and seek out or create a training program that will strengthen the team’s skills.
Work satisfaction also comes from knowing you are doing a good job and are appreciated. Praise your team and individual members publicly for their good work. Be specific when you can. Single out the report that went out clean on a tight deadline. Applaud the article where the writer’s voice elevated the topic.
Reward your team, as well. Raises and bonuses are always valued, but even with a tight budget you can find a way to reward excellent work. Maybe it’s lunch on you or negotiating a half-day off for the team after a grueling project. Could you offer a professional development stipend, conference attendance, or access to a tool they’ve wanted? Ask your team what they’d appreciate; you might be surprised by the answers.
Nurture Strong Work Relationships
Social well-being is about the quality of a person’s relationships. As a leader, you can help your team build strong relationships with each other and you in many ways:
- Turn-taking in meetings. Ensure everyone who wants to has a chance to talk by making someone in each meeting responsible for keeping track of who’s spoken. This is especially important for video calls during which people are reviewing the same document simultaneously and visual cues about who’s ready to speak get lost.
- Corrections in private. It’s rarely, if ever, necessary to call out inappropriate behavior or poor work performance in public. That might sound basic, but public humiliation happens more often than we might want to acknowledge. Always make corrections in private.
- Flexibility with struggling employees. We all have personal challenges. When a valued employee is going through a tough time, could you occasionally be a listening ear? Ask them what would help them in this moment and do your best to help provide it.
- Social opportunities for your team. Try to find an activity everyone would enjoy or a few activities focused on different interests. Ask your team what they’d be interested in doing, offering a few ideas to get them thinking. Just don’t make any event mandatory. No one likes forced fun.
When issues go beyond what you can address, don’t try to handle them alone. HR can help mediate conflicts or connect employees with appropriate support.
Engage with Your Local Community
Community well-being is about feeling connected to something larger than the immediate work, knowing that where you work and what you do has meaning beyond the next deadline.
For editorial and communications teams, consider organizing volunteer opportunities that draw on what your team does well, such as a reading mentorship program that pairs team members with students who are learning to read, partnerships with local literacy organizations, or a book drive for a school library or community center that’s struggling to keep its shelves stocked. Teams that work in journalism or nonprofit communications may find natural connections to local news initiatives or community advocacy groups whose work aligns with their organization’s mission.
For remote team members, look for virtual equivalents, such as online tutoring programs, virtual reading buddy initiatives, or organizational support for employees who want to volunteer in their own communities. A small scheduling accommodation, such as a flexible hour once a month, can make it easy for someone to participate without it competing with work obligations.
As with any team activity, avoid making participation mandatory and steer clear of anything connected to politics or religion unless that’s squarely within your organization’s mission. The goal is to give people a genuine opportunity to connect, not to create another obligation.
A Commitment Worth Making
Building a well-being culture in your editorial or communications team isn’t a one-time initiative. It’s an ongoing commitment to your people and to the quality of the work they produce together.
If you’re managing a team and finding that burnout, high turnover, or inconsistent output is affecting your content quality, I’d be glad to talk. Right Touch Editing works with organizations to support editorial teams with skilled, professional editing—so your team isn’t stretched thin by covering the gaps and your content reflects the care your organization puts into it.
Get in touch to start the conversation.
This article is adapted from a piece originally published on the Lenovo Pro Community.
