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Calling all financial services communicators – your opportunity to participate in groundbreaking research with CiB
Those of you who are Communicators in Business (CiB) members may well know that our agency, Gatehouse, has recently teamed-up with the professional body to launch a programme of communication research called State of the Sector. The partnership is covered in the latest issue of Communicators …
Free Engaging Manager webinar exclusively for in-house practitioners
Join us for a free Gatehouse Academy webinar on 1 February 2010 and learn how to put line managers at the heart of your internal communications To celebrate the launch of our Engaging Manager learning programme for line managers and aspiring leaders, Gatehouse Academy invites you to participate in a…
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Thinking about your development – planning your professional detox for 2010
With the festive season in full swing and the New Year nearly upon us, now is the time to start thinking seriously about the state of your career, to plan how you’re going to tone-up those flabby tactical and strategic muscles and to commit to a healthy regime of continuous learning and developmen…
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A thought-provoking day at the 2009 CIPR Internal Comms conference
Earlier this week I spent the day in London at the annual CIPR internal comms conference. The event was chaired by my CIPR Inside committee colleague, Hill & Knowlton’s Scott McKenzie, and was attended by around 60 communicators from a wide variety of sectors and organisations. I ran a brief w…
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CommsFlashMob – what on earth is it?!
It all started with an innocent throw-away comment a few weeks back… Anyone interested in social media and communications will know just how big Wikipedia is these days – a staggering 3 million entries and the seventh most popular website globally. But despite its huge reach and considerable…
MacLeod Review provides a timely reminder of the importance of employee engagement
Published today (16 July 2009), the MacLeod Review of employee engagement has recommended government support and more cooperation by UK businesses both large and small, to make sure the relationship between employees and employers is at the centre of successful business plans. Led by David Mac…
Watson Helsby’s verdict on IC: there’s more to deliver
Having sat in my ‘must read’ pile for the past month or so, today I finally got around to reading the latest report on internal communication from specialist headhunters Watson Helsby. Entitled ‘Internal Communications – More to Deliver’ the report is the sequel to a similar research exerc…
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The tragedy of poor communication
The tragic and horrific case of Baby Peter, the toddler who died in August 2007 after receiving sustained abuse from his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger, provides a stark reminder of the importance of communication at work and the potential consequences of getting it wrong. The Care Quality C…
Reflecting on my year as chair of CIPR Inside
The CIPR Inside Annual General Meeting took place in London last week and, as part of the proceedings, I gave the following brief address. It contains some of my thoughts on the challenges of the past 12 months and where we currently stand as a profession, as well as touching on some of the things t…
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Insecurity on the rise amongst communicators
Touching on the same theme as my last post, I was interested to read about some research carried out recently by Communicators in Business (CiB) which shows that internal communicators are feeling increasingly insecure about their jobs. The poll, which ran on the CiB web site for two months, attract…
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A welcome helping hand from Melcrum
I’ve been a bit slow off the mark on this one, but it’s such a nice initiative I feel obliged to give it a plug here on the blog before too much time passes. Those nice folk at Melcrum recently launched a new LinkedIn networking group for ‘resting’ communicators. The gr…
Make research your resolution for 2009
I remain appalled by the amount of research into the effectiveness (or otherwise) of internal communication that goes on inside most UK businesses. It’s a real frustration for me and is, I believe, holding our profession back. A recent study by The Engage Group and YouGov (see previous post) f…
Views from the SCM Summit – day two, part one
Another good, thought provoking day in Kensington today… Day two of Melcrum's SCM Summit was an interesting journey through the world of employee comms and engagement. During the nine hours between 0800 and 1700 we covered a host of hot topics, including communicating outsourcing, recessio…
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Views from the SCM Summit – reporting on day one
I missed out on most of the proceedings today, so much of the following report comes courtesy of my Gatehouse colleague Howard Krais… Melcrum’s annual SCM Summit opened with a buzz in the room. The large audience (maybe suggesting that training budgets are not being radically cut j…
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iC qualifications – time to get on the bus?
Internal comms qualifications – like buses, you wait and wait and wait and then two pull up at the same time! For years now I've complained about the lack of professional qualifications and academic courses for internal communication. Unlike PR, which is now extremely well served by Britai…
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Employee communication during turbulent times – reporting from the CIPR conference
On Monday (it’s been a busy old week!) I chaired the annual Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) internal communication conference in London. Having largely designed the event and, with my CIPR Inside committee colleagues, found many of the speakers, it was a day I had been looking f…
Charting a course through the Bermuda Triangle
So let's discuss that sometimes problematic relationship between IC, HR and Marketing – a relationship I often describe as 'the Bermuda Triangle' because so many great ideas and good intentions disappear in the gulf between these three functions. This could be a long and rambling o…
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Communication competencies – a great new framework
This week I finally got around to having a proper look at the work Liam FitzPatrick and Sue Dewhurst of Competent Communicators have done around competencies for internal communicators. I worked with Liam and Sue and a handful of other people a few years back on developing the InterComm matrix, the …
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CiB launches IC strategy awards
Those of you who like a bit of public recognition (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t) might like to know that Communicators in Business (CiB) has just launched its new Communication Strategy Awards. With a new name, new categories and a fresh new look, the Strategy Awards – formerly …
Two new social media sites for internal communicators
Great minds think alike…. Last week saw US-based IC specialist Ragan Communications launch www.myragan.com, a new social networking site just for communicators. And within a few days Melcrum had announced its own community, dubbed The Communicator’s Network, which will launch in June. Yo…
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Celebrating at the Waldorf
I spent most of Friday afternoon eating, drinking and chatting at the rather grand Waldorf Hotel in London, home to this year’s CiB Communicator of the Year and Communication Excellence awards. It was, I have to say, a very civilized way to spend the day. As well as seeing some very deserving peer…
The growing pains of a profession
I recently led a discussion group on strategic internal communication as part of the CIPR’s Perfecting PR Strategy conference. The group comprised about 25 communicators, of which roughly half were from the private sector and half public. Most of them were leading small teams and were responsible …
Learning from the best
Awards season is upon us and, with it, a golden opportunity to learn from the best our industry has to offer. I’ve always found it incredibly useful to review the entries and winners from the main industry award programmes each year. Whether you’re primarily interested in IC strate…
An SOS from Dilbert
This Dilbert strip made me smile…and then cringe. It captures really well the painful relationship some internal communicators still have with their CEOs. Pigeonholed as lightweight tacticians, they’re always last in a very long line of advisors (somewhere behind Finance, IT, Marke…
The F Word
Liam FitzPatrick is right (see his comment on my last post), poor internal communication is partly to blame for creating dull, dreary and downright uninspiring places to work. As a profession we need to do much more to recognise and celebrate internal communicators who use their talents to create ex…
Who’s got the X factor?
Here’s a pet theory of mine – great internal communicators are great entertainers. I don’t mean jugglers or clowns (though I’ve come across both) but that it’s a core part of our remit to inject energy and pizzazz into our organisations. You’ve got to admit it, a lot of the stuff we …
Is IC coming of age?
I have just stumbled upon yet more evidence that internal communication is coming of age. This week’s issue of PR Week features the results of a survey of communication directors and heads the magazine has undertaken with Brands2Life. Internal communication was ranked third in a long list of r…