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 around us. We need to trust the messages we are receiving. We need to trust the people who lead us. Sometimes there is a cross-over between roles and sometimes people …
Every day leaders are constantly dealing with challenges, change and an inevitable degree of daily firefighting. Striving to focus on the longer-term goals to survive, thrive and grow, as well as managing and motivating their team. To do this, leaders need to be aligned and aware of what’s truly happening especially if they’re to understand …
The seven essential elements of organisational transformation Read More »
I think it’s fair to say that internal communications professionals are more likely to count themselves as words people rather than numbers people. However, accessing the right data and using the right diagnostic tools to get underneath the root causes of issues you’re seeing in your organisation or team is a key part of the …
What’s the best way to diagnose issues in your organisation? Read More »
Last week I shared a podcast clip from The Diary of a CEO. It’s hosted by Stephen Bartlett and in this episode, he interviews retail consultant and broadcaster, Mary Portas. The clip I shared (25.30) is the part of the conversation where they discuss remote work and the importance of the office – I agree …
Throughout March and April, we carried out some research into the role of line managers in organisations. This is for line managers to tell us more about their roles, their capabilities, and the support they must have to do their job. We want to know more about their purpose, how they communicate with their team, …
The Field Model™ came from a conversation about how I describe what I do. Over the years the need to be mindful, explore other perspectives and manage emotional reactions has led to better conversations and quicker problem solving. Here’s an overview of the three elements of The Field Model™.
People often say we need to stop, slow down, take more time to think about what we’re doing and reflect on the bigger picture. Quite often that just isn’t possible; and in a global pandemic, it’s certainly a luxury many teams haven’t had. Over the summer months the role of leadership came up again and …
Our blog celebrated its 10th birthday this week and we’ve been going back through the archives to see what has/hasn’t changed. We’ve picked the top three things that jumped out at me but feel free to have a scroll through, let us know what you think! 1. What is internal communication (IC)? Back in 2012 …
Last week I took part in the Generation Digital ‘Connected Companies’ webinar to discuss communication in a crisis. One of the attendees asked a question around whether they should continue with their annual employee engagement survey with the current situation. I couldn’t answer straight away. I had a gut feeling but I wanted to chat …
Last week we attended the first Talk/50 event on Communications and Neuroscience. Hosted by Trudy Lewis of Lewis Communicate we heard from author Hilary Scarlett who spoke about her research, all captured in her book – the Neuroscience for Organizational Change: An Evidence-based Practical Guide to Managing Change (2nd edition just out). We heard more …
Comms, Change and Neuroscience – what’s the link? Read More »
Today I attended the annual state of the sector event hosted by Gatehouse, a Gallagher Company. This is always a ‘must attend’ event in my calendar as I’m keen to hear how things are shifting for internal communicators. I’m not sure annual surveys help us that much anymore. I have been thinking about this for …
State of the Sector 2020: What will it take to overcome our barriers? Read More »
Edelman’s Trust Barometer has been running for 20 years. With over 34,000 respondents across 28 markets, it’s a trusted source and snapshot into trust in business, government, NGOs and media. Many of us working in communications have the annual launch date of this report marked in our diaries because we use these findings to inform …
Edelman’s Trust Barometer 2020: is ethics on your radar? Read More »
I have presented on some big topics over the last few months – measurement being one of them. In the last two sessions I showed a selection of photos from measuring spoons for cooking to measuring blood pressure – each one is a type of measurement. My worry is that we are getting stuck using …
Big words, little meaning – what do we mean by measurement? Read More »
Communicating to remote or deskless workers has been one of the biggest challenges for organisations for years. Professional communicators have talked about this barrier, but it has been moved into the ‘too hard’ pile. To help overcome this, I partnered with SocialOptic and together we took to the mess rooms, cafes and fire stations to …
We know that internal communicators are struggling to influence at the top, finding digital adoption hard across organisations and working with limited budgets. Some of the conversation we need to have are increasingly challenging and opinion or experience might not be enough to win your case. Last week, at the CIPR Northern Conference in Newcastle, …
The art of science and engagement in internal communication Read More »
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