A corporate’s golden rule: any form of written communication that represents and is written on behalf of the company must be approved by 4 related line managers and the CEO.

Whether it’d be a blog, a media release, a newsletter or speech, I can say that the work I have done on behalf of The City of Perth or any of the councillors, has been read and edited by at least 5 different people.

Now this may seem like standard procedure for many leading corporations. There are multiple benefits for this screening process. It prevents misinformation, encourages multiple proof read, limits any mistakes and checks that it aligns with the corporate’s mission and vision. However, for an inexperienced student at a corporate communications unit, this a step I fear the most.

The process went like this.

  1. First draft emailed to supervisor to be proof read.
    1. She gave the heads up and directed me to send my media release to the Principal of Corporate Communication and the Floor Manager.
  2. 3 hours later, the media release came back to me with multiple corrections, I fixed them. Then the approval had to go through the Director of Urban Planning and Development, since the media release was about a new City park opening.
  3. The approval came through 5 days later with questions and comments such as ‘Why was the City’s Urban Intervention programme not mentioned?’, ‘Where are you going to mention the efforts of our team’.
  4. It was getting closer to the deadline, but I still needed other sign of approval
  5. Again, I made the significant addition to the media release, and double checked. What more can I edit?
  6. I sent back the revised media release to the Director of Urban Planning as well as to the next line for approval, the Lord Mayor’s personal assistant.
  7.  I got an all good from urban development within the hour but the LM’s personal assistant was brutal.
    1. By this point, it just feels like you’re getting punched each time there is a critic but this time you just don’t want to get up
    2. The feedback I received literally goes like this – ” Media release is too long, cut out sentences about our Urban Intervention programme, thanks.”

We all know how discouraging, frustrating and annoying it is to have your best work constantly criticised and edited over. They only get your first final version, not knowing how hard it was to work with a very vague brief. It is discouraging when something you worked on for hours gets send back with crosses and track changes. The other managers from different units are not aware that I am only an intern and have been with the company for less than a month. Reviewing these changes with your supervisors, just makes you less and less impressive.

This was a hard pill to swallow. Blame pride, blame being a perfectionist, blame high standards.

I knew I wasn’t going to succeed and learn with this attitude.

Through the insecurities, I remembered one of my tutors reminding us that we are more than the work we produce. It was an intro to digital design class. He further explains that, much like many other occupations, website designers are constantly working against a brief. Whether or not you like that brief, product or company, you must always refer back and adhere to the clients brief.

“You’re designing a website and you’ve struggled greatly with the brief.

The client has chosen, in your opinion, the ugliest colour palette, some of the features they are asking for is impossible to code and you just know this is one of your worst work.

You’ve been back and forth, like a tug war, finding a common ground between what the client wants and your professional touch.

Don’t be discouraged, lower your pride and don’t loose your professionalism. ”

I remembered exactly how tutor Joel told realities of the world and quickly applied it to my current circumstance.

I picked my chin up, fixed my mistakes and finally handed in my last approval needed from the CEO.

And here is the media release, it took six people, seven hours and about eight days to finalise.

https://perth.wa.gov.au/news-and-updates/all-news/ozone-reserve-dog-agility-park-opens-this-friday

You can tell me if it was all worth the effort in the comments..