Anyone working in the media in recent months likely starts their morning with caution. What will this day bring, and what will my business need to think about, or respond to?

This is not just an outcome of a new US administration, but continuing economic and geopolitical turbulence which is rocking everyday operations in businesses across the globe.

And these issues tend to fall to the communications team, which are fielding the questions from inside and outside of the business. Questions about the leadership’s position on Gaza, to DEI programs or even how new tariffs will impact growth forecasts – comms professionals will handle the twists and turns.

Under these conditions, it's easy for your team to be consumed by reactive work, responding to events and abandoning well-crafted plans which support the business strategy. This sucks up valuable energy, time and resources.

How can this be solved?

Over the course of my career, I’ve seen the many issues faced by businesses – from financial crashes to pandemics, change of governments and conflicts across all regions. But, the key concern for comms leaders is how can we lead through these times, prevent burnout, consider the right responses and deliver the strategic objectives.

In the first instance you have to accept that we’re entering a period of ‘business unusual’, which is unlikely to change in the near future, so you must create a Team B.

• Team A: deals with business as usual. They are pursuing objectives, creating proactive moments and initiatives to help strengthen and grow. Their work may adapt slightly depending on what’s happening in the world, but for the most part they are working hard on delivering the expectations of your business according to the long-term strategy. And in the vast majority, they are shielded from the rocks of the daily news cycle.

• Team B: This team is dealing with ‘business unusual’. A shadow team that understands the business imperatives, the overarching strategy and objectives, but only works on the reactive nature of what’s happening in the world. This team leads on the responses and queries internally and externally. It will see the news cycles through, create recommendations, strategies and engage across the business to create the right outcome.

To prevent burnout Team B is not static. Team members are rotated every six months to prevent overwhelm, whilst offering everyone across the function the chance to upskill in this area.

Importantly, Team B always needs to have that central touchpoint, which relies on the communications strategy for the business and the objectives you are trying to achieve. Ensuring seamless communication across both teams creates a mutual understanding of the outcomes that each team is trying to achieve.

Can this be done on a budget?

Most often than not I hear that resources are a factor. There aren’t twice as many team members in a business or twice as much budget for agencies. For some businesses, realigning external agency resources to become Team A and Team B will make financial sense. Or hiring a new Team B with natural in-roads to the issues at hand and instincts in Business Unusual is a sensible consideration.

Internally creating space by hosting a stop/start/continue approach to the work at hand, then realigning tasks to the Teams A and B can yield the right capacity. It also offers a great opportunity for team members to learn new skills and new stakeholders within the business.

With ‘business unusual’ set to continue for at least the coming year some change is required to prevent burnout both for teams and the business. Organisation and support are the key ingredients to enable your business to get ahead of what we don’t know, and continue to thrive in unnavigated times.