Are You Playing the Long Game or Whac-A-Mole?

If you’ve ever played the arcade game Whac-A-Mole, you know the drill: You get a mallet—the bigger, the better—and frantically smash plastic moles as they pop up. It’s chaos, it’s repetitive, and it gives you a momentary sense of accomplishment (and maybe a bit of stress relief).

Working in internal communication can feel a lot like that. Request after request pops up, and you’re swinging away, trying to clear your plate so you can get to bigger, more strategic work.

Here’s the catch:

Sticking with Whac-A-Mole mode can make you look productive. It might even win you favor with key stakeholders. But what if you could use it as a stepping stone instead of just a time sink?

One of my clients, new to her IC role, was hired to—among other things—create a weekly newsletter. The classic “We get too many emails! What should we do? A newsletter, obviously!” instinct.

Now, let’s acknowledge the obvious: A newsletter doesn’t automatically solve everything (shocking, I know). But my client went ahead with it—and it was a smart, strategic move.

Here’s why:

• She used it to prove her reliability and build trust.

• She built a solid measurement plan, ensuring she had data to back up its effectiveness (or lack thereof).

• She saw it as a stepping stone—demonstrating her ability to execute so she could earn buy-in for more strategic initiatives later.

Was it a purely tactical request from non-comms professionals? Yes.
Was she playing the long game by saying yes? Also, yes.

Lesson learned: It’s OK to say yes to a tactical request—IF you’re using it to set yourself up for something bigger.