Author: Jenni Field
Employee care: Why ‘we care’ messages fail & what your comms must do instead
I’ve watched countless organisations roll out “people-first” initiatives, complete with glossy internal campaigns proclaiming how much they value their employees. The messaging looks polished. The ...
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Beyond the buzzword to real employee experience
Psychological safety has become one of those phrases that gets thrown around in meetings, often alongside trust, wellbeing, and belonging. It’s been celebrated as the ...
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How to measure internal communications ROI that actually matters
When leaders ask about the ROI of internal communications, most of us reach for familiar metrics: email open rates, intranet page views, or town hall ...
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The strategy behind successful change communication
The default response to change is often “communicate more,” but volume isn’t the answer—the strategy behind successful change communication is. When we face significant ...
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8 ways to improve communication with deskless workers
With headlines continuing to be dominated by the discussion about the ‘return to the office’ it can sometimes be easy to forget that for many ...
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How to really build employee advocacy
At Comms Reboot in Toronto, my Frequency podcast co-host Chuck Gose said “You can’t spell culture without cult.” It was meant as a joke, but ...
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The silent risk: confusing scepticism with disengagement in internal comms
One of the biggest mistakes I see in internal communication is assuming that when people question or challenge something, they’re not engaged. It’s an easy ...
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When should you invest in internal communication?
We talk a lot about internal communication being a strategic function – something that helps take your organisation from chaos to calm. But when’s the ...
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How to maintain integrity as a middle manager
How do you maintain integrity when the final decision isn’t yours to make? This question strikes at the heart of middle management’s greatest challenge – ...
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The importance of data in effective internal communication strategies
Too often, internal comms strategies are built on gut feel and hope. And that’s just not good enough when you’re trying to get investment and ...
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How to communicate with deskless or frontline workers
Non-desk based workers, or deskless workers, are those who work in an environment that isn’t office based or whose work doesn’t require them to be ...
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Beyond the suggestion box: Creating meaningful feedback channels for every employee
If we are to build truly engaging workplaces, creating meaningful feedback channels for every employee is essential. We have to listen to our people. At ...
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The hidden dynamics of power: Why leadership authority creates team challenges
If we are to lead, we have to understand power. So many leaders still find it extremely hard to navigate the complex dynamics that come ...
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How to spend your time on the real priorities (and not get side-tracked by demanding stakeholders)
As any internal communications professional knows, keeping everyone happy will always be a juggle. When time is limited and you have requests for your skills ...
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Cultural communication: Taking organisations from Chaos to Calm
Last week, I had the pleasure of joining Sarah Black on the Athrú Communications Podcast to discuss credible leadership, organisational culture, and cultural communication. The ...
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The role of the email newsletter in 2025
We may have more ways than ever to communicate with our colleagues these days, but there’s one old favourite we return to time and time ...
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How can I become a more supportive leader?
For the past four years I have been researching the key qualities needed in a leader. Fed-up with the constant talk of “authenticity” and “bringing ...
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How to influence leaders to value internal communication
It’s a question I’m asked time and again by internal communications colleagues…. “How can we get the leaders of our organisations to see the value ...
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How to be a likeable leader
In my new book I explore what I believe are the eight practices of a credible leader and, in this, the latest of a series ...
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Top priorities for internal communication in 2025: Building an effective strategy
The start of a new year always sees a raft of new “trends” or predictions being talked about, whatever industry you’re in, and internal communications ...
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Is integrity the most important quality in a leader?
For the past four years I have been researching the key qualities needed in a leader. Fed-up with the constant talk of “authenticity” and “bringing ...
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Make time to manage people well – and other important leadership lessons
I was recently interviewed by employee communication providers, Staffbase for their regular podcast. In this episode I speak to David Burnand, Chief Marketing and Communications ...
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What are the best strategies to improve employee engagement?
Rewind 15 years or so and you would have heard very few leaders talking about employee engagement. Nowadays, there are not many organisations where it ...
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Why all leaders need to practice empathy
For the past four years I have been researching the key qualities needed in a leader. Fed-up with the constant talk of “authenticity” and “bringing ...
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What are the obstacles to being a credible leader? And why are they so important to overcome?
I’ve been talking a lot recently about credible leadership – what it means, why it’s so important, and how to achieve it. But in this ...
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The rise of employer branding – and what it means for internal comms teams
There’s been a bit of a hot topic bubbling away in internal communications circles for several months now. It’s one that’s been on my mind ...
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How to get employee engagement and recognition right
How much time do you spend rewarding and celebrating your team? Earlier this year I was invited to join a panel of internal communications experts ...
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What qualities does a capable leader possess?
Understanding the traits of a capable leader For the past five years I have been researching the key qualities needed in a leader. Fed-up with ...
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The essential elements for a successful employee experience strategy
The key components of a successful employee experience strategy There’s long been a debate around who exactly is responsible for employee experience within an organisation ...
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Reflections on Comms Reboot 2024
What is the focus of internal communication for 2025? Last week we hosted our Comms Reboot 2024 unconference in London and we are still buzzing! ...
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Why being authentic doesn’t make you a credible leader
As leaders, you’ll often hear authenticity being talked about as an aspirational quality. You’ll have no doubt read the articles or listened to the podcasts ...
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Which research methods are the most effective for informing an employee communication strategy?
If you work in the internal communications industry, the chances are you would probably describe yourselves as a “words person” rather than a “numbers person”. ...
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Creating a positive employee experience for remote and hybrid workers
Hybrid working – and the difficulties of getting it right – have been thrown under the spotlight again in recent weeks thanks to plans to ...
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The power of the group: Making the most of the diverse perspectives in your team
When you think of leadership what do you picture? One person presiding over many others? We regularly talk about leadership in these terms, but that ...
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Gamification in employee experience: How gaming principles can enhance the experience
Where’s your next dopamine hit coming from? Beating your friend at tennis? Smashing your PB on your next run? Or being praised on a good ...
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Is the staff magazine making a comeback?
We’ve all seen the headlines declaring ‘print is dead’ (probably on our mobile phones…) but is that really the case in internal communications? In an ...
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The three components of an internal communication strategy
Creating an internal communication strategy is often one of the last things internal communication teams do. The focus on delivery and tactics takes over and ...
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Line manager cascades for deskless workers: how to get them right
With deskless workers making up an estimated 80% of the UK workforce, communicating effectively with them is a vital skill for many employers. Line manager ...
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How do you measure up? Insights for internal communication teams
It’s always fascinating to get a sneak peek into what others in your industry are doing, and to see how you measure up in comparison, ...
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Translating internal content into different languages: should we do it?
Translating internal content into different languages is something that’s always been a bit of a conundrum in the internal communications world. The advice I was ...
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How to measure the effectiveness of internal communication
I’ve often said that effectively measuring the success of internal communications is the summit we cannot seem to climb. Questions around the value of internal ...
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What is credible leadership? And why is it so important?
I believe that, when it comes to being a good leader, nothing is more important than credibility. The issue of what we really want from ...
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The importance of cultivating a growth mindset in your organisation – and how to do it
If I was asked to pick the one thing you can do to make your organisation more successful, focusing on mindset would be it. I ...
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Empathy and compassion: What’s the difference and why does it matter?
Empathy and compassion are crucial skills for leaders, but it’s important to be clear that they are not the same thing. As I’ve been researching ...
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The power of influence and persuasion in internal communications
What do you think of when you hear the term influencer? Chances are social media is the first thing that springs to mind, and your ...
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A masterclass guide: How to navigate mergers and acquisitions
One of the biggest challenges internal communications professionals may face in their career is navigating a merger or an acquisition. I have been in roles ...
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How do I know if leadership is right for me?
Leadership isn’t for everyone. And, in my view, we don’t talk about this enough. It’s often something people feel they should strive for, and discussed ...
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Effective communication in leaders: Why you cannot lead without it
Why effective communication in leaders is essential It’s crucial that leaders are able to articulate where they/their organisation are going if they want people to ...
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The best internal communications practices in 2024
I was recently a guest on the Supercharged Change and Comms podcast. Hosted by Pete Hodges and Chris Bradley, the podcast speaks to leaders in ...
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How can I be a better listener in leadership?
Effective listening for leaders – and why it’s so important Listening is a topic that comes up a lot in internal communications and employee engagement. ...
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Why leaders struggle with accountability: Navigating challenges and solutions
If we are to lead, we have to be accountable. Yet so many leaders still find it extremely hard. It’s a topic that comes up ...
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The importance of organisational purpose
Are you clear on your organisation’s purpose? Are you communicating it well? And are you embodying it with your actions and decisions? Chances are if ...
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Essential leadership skills for remote teams post-COVID: How to lead a remote team successfully
How to lead a remote team effectively? So much has been written about remote working in the last four years, with organisations across the world ...
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Why rapid organisational growth contributes to chaos – and what you can do to fix it
Rapid organisational growth is often one of the main causes of organisational chaos. When businesses experience a period of growth employees are expected to adapt ...
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The relationship between culture and leadership – and what happens when it breaks down
Establishing the culture of an organisation takes time. Get it right and your employees know what’s expected of them, what they can expect from others, ...
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Overcoming fear and building trust inside your organisation
Nothing creates chaos inside an organisation faster than fear. If not handled correctly, fear of the unknown and fear of change can become breeding grounds ...
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Creating a better experience for your employees: how our model can help
You can’t create a high-performing organisation without creating a better experience for your employees. Yet, so often, this is something that’s only focused on at ...
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“You cannot lead if you cannot communicate” – the importance of clear communication by leaders
In this LinkedIn Audio Live, I talk to Nicola Rylett-Jones, Human Accountability Leader and Executive Coach, about the importance of clear communication by leaders. We ...
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Internal communications trends for 2024 – and how you can make the most of them
Internal communications trends are always a hot topic for those in the industry and in the last three months there have been lots of reports, ...
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What’s your leadership style?
In almost every organisation we work with, leadership emerges as an issue. Failing to get to grips with how you lead, and the subsequent impact ...
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How to focus to achieve your goals
How busy are you today? Chances are your instinctive answer will be “very” – a long to-do list and nowhere near enough time to do ...
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How do you create an employer brand?
There are lots of phrases and concepts linked to employees and their relationship with organisations so it’s worth defining each of these before we go ...
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How to improve your employee engagement scores
Disengagement is distrust. So, if your scores need some improvement, this is always where we start. Distrust is one of the five root causes of ...
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Five ways to build mentally resilient teams
Build mentally resilient teams Building mental resilience is as important for teams as it is for individuals. It’s often helpful to cultivate teams that are ...
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The risk of ignoring the employee experience
For most organisations a risk register exists to make sure everyone knows what could impact the organisation and how to mitigate them. One risk that ...
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How to run more effective meetings
Meetings are a big part of working life for those working in offices, hybrid or remote. They might be online, in-person, or a mixture. Sometimes ...
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Six keys to impactful communication
Achieving success in any endeavor often hinges on effective communication. There is theory behind good communication and whenever you’re looking at making changes either to ...
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How to focus yourself and be productive
We talk a lot about using communication to improve relationships at work and managing your time and attention is a big part of that. After ...
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What do deskless workers really need from communication teams?
This week we have launched the findings from our recent Remotely Interested? research. This was a repeat of the survey we carried out in 2019 ...
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Embracing neurodiversity to build stronger work relationships
Back in May, I spent a couple of days at the Simply IC conference in London, soaking in knowledge and sharing my own insights as ...
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Comms Reboot is coming to London in 2024!
On Saturday 19 October 2024 Comms Reboot, the communication unconference, will be heading to London.
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Remotely interested? … reloaded for 2023
The research is complete and we can’t wait to share the findings! Four years ago, we completed research into the success of internal communication with ...
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5 tips to build stronger global teams
In this week’s podcast episode of Redefining Communications with Jenni Field, we spoke to Sarah Black, a Redefining Communications collective partner, who works as a ...
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Mastering difficult conversations
Louisa Clarke is part of the Redefining Communications collective team and a verbal communication expert. She specialises in working with values-led organisations, giving clients the ...
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Jenni Field joins University of Florida’s Internal Communication Research Hub thought-leadership programme
Our founder, Jenni Field, has joined 30 distinguished communication professionals from around the globe as a thought-leader for the University of Florida’s Internal Communication Research ...
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Why every leader needs a coach through organisational change
Jo Twiselton is a change coach and consultant, who helps to minimise organisation disruption in times of change, create clarity, and build a positive experience ...
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Crises, chaos and calm – maintaining untarnished reputations
Eva Maclaine is a communications strategy, reputation and change management specialist and a member of our collective. An expert in managing change and cross-cultural teams, ...
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How to communicate in periods of instability
In this episode of 10 minutes with, Amanda Coleman talks to Jenni about what’s important for organisations and leaders when moving from chaos to calm, ...
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Four tips to ensure a smooth separation
Anyone involved in the recruitment process knows it takes a lot of time and effort to find the right candidates and onboard them effectively. Not ...
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How can you influence leaders?
For many this is the ultimate question. And it’s a topic I’ve spoken about at events in London and internationally in recent months. Whatever your ...
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What is the AVID framework?
In our work with teams around the world, we often discuss the different ways you can approach stakeholders internally to engage them about the importance ...
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Collective team growth in the UK and US
Last June, we announced that our collective team had grown to 18 people. Another year on, and we are delighted to welcome four new people ...
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What are the stages of the employee lifecycle?
The employee lifecycle typically consists of six stages: attraction, recruitment, onboarding, development, retention, and separation. Each stage presents its own challenges and opportunities, so it’s ...
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How to get business outcomes for clients
In this episode of A View From The Top, Adrian Cropley talks to Jenni about her career trajectory from communication officer to business entrepreneur and ...
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Does unconscious bias training work?
We work with clients to help them build a more inclusive workplace – something that should be on the agenda for all organisations. We support ...
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Why employee engagement surveys are measuring the wrong thing
I’ve previously talked about the issue of focusing on employee engagement and how this has been a distraction for leaders and communicators. The phrases “employee ...
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Why are we all so stubborn to change?
In this podcast episode of Comms In A Nutshell by Oak Engage, Jenni talks about empowering and supporting change, what processes to use, and how ...
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What’s the antidote to fixing tricky issues in your organisation?
In Influential Internal Communication, I talk about how communication can be the antidote to the difficult issues causing chaos in an organisation or team. The ...
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Streamline your corporate communication to drive efficiency and engagement
In this podcast episode of ICON by Sparrow Connected, Jenni speaks to Julie Ford, Sparrow Connected Head of Content, as together they challenge conventional thinking about internal ...
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New research: are you remotely interested?
Four years ago, we did some research into remote and non-desk based workers. The research resulted in the Remotely interested? report. Working with SocialOptic, we ...
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Why communication is the antidote to organisational chaos
As leaders, we’re often tackling a range of organisational issues, including: lack of accountability, toxic culture, team friction, a disengaged workforce, or people blocking change. ...
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Three ways to improve your relationships at work
We’ve recently been watching the latest docu-series of Couples Therapy, which follows four couples over six months of weekly treatment. It’s addictive and the fascinating ...
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The dynamics of trust in the workplace
The human. The communicator. The leader. These are three roles that all require a level of trust. We need to trust the people we have ...
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How to listen to what boards and executives value in internal communications
In this podcast episode of Deep Listening by Oscar Trimboli, Jenni talks about listening infrastructures and processes, how to use surveys purposefully, and how to ...
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Five steps that can reunite a leadership team
As a leader have you ever been in a meeting where someone says, “Are we all on the same page?” And everyone nods obediently, only ...
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Effective internal communication for frontline workers in a post pandemic world
In many cases, frontline workers were hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. They may have experienced job loss or furlough, or communication issues while businesses ...
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Have we forgotten how to be in work relationships?
In this article for Forbes Business Council, Jenni Field shares three things you can do today if you’re starting to see symptoms of your teams ...
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Avoiding the hurry habit – trends and why you need to slow down in 2023
It’s that time of year when we all talk about the latest trends in communication and business, what to expect from the year ahead and ...
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How to improve the relationship between leaders and the communication function
Getting the relationship right between leadership teams and the communication function is critical. When cracks start to appear and communication lacks clarity and focus, chaos ...
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