Draft a communications function charter that states its mandate, decision rights and reporting line.
Public Relations & Media
Building a Communications Function from Scratch in Growing Organisations
Design the mandate, structure, policies and first-year roadmap for a communications function built from scratch, so a growing organisation gains a professional voice before a crisis forces one on it.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Fast-growing organisations often reach fifty, two hundred or a thousand employees before anyone owns communications as a defined function, and the gap usually surfaces at the worst possible moment — a product failure, a hostile article or a founder's ill-judged social post. This course is built for the person tasked with building that function from scratch: no charter, no policies, no tools and often no budget line of their own. The course shows how to draft a function charter that states its mandate and decision rights, design a lean team structure that can flex as headcount grows, and choose a realistic first tooling stack for media monitoring, distribution and internal communication. It also covers writing the foundational policy suite — media policy, social media guidelines and a one-page crisis plan — before a real incident makes writing them under pressure the only option. Later sessions build the first-year roadmap and budget request a founder or board will actually approve, and set a reporting cadence that earns the function a seat at leadership discussions. The course ends with each participant holding a charter, a policy suite in draft and a first-year plan they can present to their own leadership team the following week.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Design a lean team structure that can flex from one generalist hire to a specialist team as headcount grows.
Select a realistic first tooling stack for media monitoring, distribution and internal communication.
Write a media policy, social media guideline and one-page crisis plan before an incident forces the issue.
Build a first-year roadmap and budget request that links communication activity to organisational priorities.
Set a reporting cadence that gives founders or the board a consistent view of communication activity and risk.
Negotiate the function's mandate against sales, product and HR teams already producing external content.
Who Should Attend
First communications hires at a scale-up or fast-growing organisation with no existing function.
Founders and chief executives deciding what a communications function should own and deliver.
Marketing leads absorbing communication responsibility without a dedicated budget or team.
HR and people leads coordinating internal communication before a formal function exists.
Consultants advising growing organisations on when and how to build an in-house function.
Regional communication leads setting up a local function that must align with global standards.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Defining the Mandate and Structure of the New Function
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Scoping the Function's Mandate and Decision Rights
- Interview founders, executives and department heads to identify what they expect a communications function to own.
- Draft a one-page charter that states the function's mandate, decision rights and escalation authority in a crisis.
- Distinguish communication responsibilities that belong in-house from those better handled by an agency or freelancer.
- Resolve overlapping claims on messaging from marketing, product and HR before the function's first month ends.
Session 2Designing a Team Structure That Can Scale
- Design a lean initial structure, whether a single generalist or a small team split by channel and audience.
- Plan a hiring sequence that adds specialist roles, such as media relations or internal communication, as demand grows.
- Decide which activities stay in-house permanently and which scale through agency or freelance support instead.
- Set role descriptions and a RACI chart that prevent duplicated work as the team grows beyond one person.
02Building the Policy and Governance Foundations
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Writing the Core Policy Suite
- Draft a media policy that states who may speak to journalists and how enquiries are routed and logged.
- Write social media guidelines that balance employee voice with brand, legal and confidentiality risk.
- Produce a one-page crisis communication plan naming decision-makers, holding statements and escalation triggers.
- Circulate draft policies to legal, HR and leadership for sign-off before the function's first public activity.
Session 2Establishing Governance and Approval Workflows
- Design an approval workflow for external statements that avoids bottlenecks without skipping necessary sign-off.
- Set spokesperson protocols identifying who is authorised to comment on which topics, internally and externally.
- Build a simple issues log that tracks emerging risks before they require formal crisis-plan activation.
- Agree data-protection and record-keeping practices for media contacts, statements and correspondence.
03Choosing Tools and Building the First-Year Roadmap
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Selecting a Realistic Tooling Stack
- Shortlist media monitoring and social listening tools appropriate to the organisation's size and sector.
- Choose a distribution and content management approach for press materials, statements and internal updates.
- Set up basic measurement, linking chosen tools to the objectives the function has agreed with leadership.
- Avoid over-investing in tooling before policies, structure and priorities have been properly established.
Session 2Planning the First Year
- Sequence a first-year roadmap that prioritises foundational policies before ambitious campaign activity.
- Identify quick, visible wins that demonstrate the function's value within the first ninety days.
- Build a budget request that itemises tools, agency support and headcount against specific deliverables.
- Plan a mid-year review point to adjust the roadmap as the organisation's priorities inevitably shift.
04Earning Influence and Proving Value to Leadership
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Reporting Activity and Impact to Leadership
- Set a reporting cadence and format that keeps founders or the board briefed without demanding their time.
- Select a small set of indicators that show progress against the function's original mandate and objectives.
- Translate communication activity into language that connects to revenue, hiring or investor confidence.
- Prepare a quarterly briefing that flags emerging risks alongside completed activity and planned work.
Session 2Securing a Seat in Strategic Discussions
- Identify the recurring meetings where communication input is needed before decisions are made, not after.
- Build relationships with product, sales and HR leads so communication is briefed early on major changes.
- Handle the first significant test of the new function, whether a leak, complaint or public misstep, calmly.
- Review the function's first year against its charter and reset priorities for the next stage of growth.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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