If you’re thinking about your career options, do you know what the current market is like for internal communicators? What are employers looking for, what is the value of internal comms professionals and is now a good time to be one?
Wayne Reynolds is a Director at specialist communications recruiter Birchwood Knight. I asked him to write a guest post for Diary of an internal communicator to shed some light from a recruiter’s perspective on some of these topics. You can follow them @birchwoodknight on Twitter. Thanks Wayne, over to you….
I recently confessed to a colleague that finding outstanding internal communications people was getting harder. As a specialist corporate communications recruiter Birchwood Knight has seen more demand for internal communicators so far in 2012 than any other corporate communications discipline, the first time this has ever happened.
My colleague reminded me that lobbying government has been around for centuries, PR for decades and that internal communications is still a relative newcomer. Communicators who show promise early in their careers are often encouraged into external relations by Communications Directors who themselves come from a background in media relations, lured by the ‘glamour’ of talking to the media and increased exposure to the senior leadership team.
Rising value of internal comms But the value of internal communications is unquestionably on the rise. If, as so many organisations claim, people are really their greatest asset then ensuring they’re informed, engaged and on message is key. Increasingly, more and more communications bosses have significant internal communications experience, placing additional emphasis on its importance and encouraging those with promise to specialise in this growing communications discipline.
Hiring companies universally want people who can write well for different audiences and channels, often under pressure. Project management skills, for example developing a new intranet site, and change communications skills are also in high demand.
Executive communications is moving up the list of desirable experience, driven by a greater focus on the personal profile of CEOs and other board members. Multi-nationals who use English as their international business language are always looking for effective ways to engage employees across different cultures, and those with practical experience of innovating using new channels, especially social media, is frequently asked for.
In short, it’s a good time to be an outstanding internal communicator.
Post author: Wayne Reynolds.
Thank you for your thoughts Wayne. What do you think of what he’s written? Is there anything which surprises you or a skill that is missing that you’d expect recruiters to look for? I was struck by his revelation that 2012 has seen more demand for internal comms professionals than ever before and wonder if that is a trend that will play out throughout the year? Feel free to comment below and thanks as ever for stopping by, Rachel.
At the start of the year I highlighted the series of webinars that are taking place this year organised by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR).
Below are the upcoming dates and topics and looks like some crackers in there. Webinars are free for CIPR members and £30+VAT for non-members.
They are a great way to have a taster of various aspects of communication and only take an hour of your time. Sessions are fully interactive as you can submit questions to the trainers, who you can see and hear via video link. If the timing doesn’t suit your diary, you can view them on demand at a convenient time. They are usually 10.30-11.30am GMT.
Have you come across a training course or event that you think other Internal Comms professionals would be interested in reading about? Do let me know, you can contact me: rach@rachmiller.com
Over the past few days the internet has been awash with the ‘What I do‘ meme. I looked for one which captured the role of Internal/Corporate Communicator and wasn’t able to find one, so I decided to create my own.
Below is my tongue in cheek representation of ‘What people think I do’ and how I think the profession is seen by others.
I made it in Powerpoint and created the ‘What I think I do’ image by running my blog through Wordle and creating a word cloud from the results. I borrowed the magician idea from a PR Consultant one I found online as I think it’s often a view comms professionals have – in that we try to ‘create magic’ out of company information to surprise and delight our audience and deliver results.
Today saw the launch of Social Media Week, with five day of events until 17 February in cities across the Globe including Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington DC.
To get a taste of what’s ahead, check out the promo video below.
The London week kicked off today and there are over 150 events, most of which are free thanks to sponsors and partners.
This year’s theme is Empowering Change through Collaboration, reflecting on the global impact of social media and its role as a catalyst in driving cultural, political, economic and social change.
You can see the full list of events here and reserve your place. There is a wide range of events to choose from including psychology, government and marketing. To find out more, check out the official SMWLDN hub. You can also follow the conversation at @smwldn
Where is Social Media Week London based? The main hub for SMW London is at The Design Council in Bow Street. Are you going to any events? If so and you’d like to share your experiences with other readers, do contact me: rach@rachmiller.com
Missed a session? Catch up here You can view sessions throughout the week and watch them online here
The UK is getting its ducks into a row for the London 2012 Olympic Games and there are various related events happening over the next few months for comms professionals to take part in. (Couldn’t resist using that phrase – click on the duck image to be taken to the official Olympics merchandise including these cute Team GB boxing, cycling and swimming ducks).
I thought I’d highlight the events I’ve come across so far. Are you aware of any others for comms pros? Do comment below or drop me a note at rach@rachmiller.com
Internal Comms pros set to hear from champion rower As highlighted a couple of weeks ago on this site, the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) has invited double gold-medal winning Olympian Steve Williams to speak at its annual conference in May. It is taking place at the Marriott, Forest of Arden, near Birmingham, from Wednesday 23 May – Friday 25 May. If you would like to make a booking, or need further details of the event, contact Brenda@ioic.org.uk
From disengagement to engagement – the Olympics story The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has organised an event on 28 February from 6.30-9pm in London called From disengagement to engagement – the Olympics story.
It is bringing together four speakers to talk about all things Olympics related, from ticketing, transport and tourism to security and explain the considerable communications challenges they’re facing as London gears up for the Games.
Speakers include Vernon Everitt, Transport for London’s (TfL) Director of Communications, who is leading the campaign to manage the UK’s travel demand and provision of real-time information, Adam Mynott, G4S’ Director of Media Relations who is overseeing communications for the Games’ security procedures, Stephen Vaughan, Managing Director of Thomas Cook, who is responsible for delivery of its Commercial and Brand proposition as the Olympics’ short breaks supplier and Paul Williamson, LOCOG’s Director of Ticketing.
The cost is £15 including VAT for members of CIPR’s Marcomms Group, £20 including VAT for CIPR members and £60 including VAT for non members.
Encouraging employees to work flexibly
Talking of travel, O2 recently conducted an experiment to ‘push flexible working to the limit’ and see how the 3000 employees at their Slough Head Office would work if the office was closed. This initiative is in line with O2’s plans to manage the expected travel disruptions that the London 2012 Olympic Games will bring. You can see what happened, including a short video here.
Are you making any plans for your employees during the Games? What are you encouraging them to do differently? Are you promoting what’s going on and allowing them to watch it? I’d love to know what your plans are – do contact me at rach@rachmiller.com if you think your organisation’s internal comms efforts would make an interesting read for others.
Selling-in stories If you’re looking to ramp up your media efforts during the Olympics, check out the latest series of webinars from the CIPR as there could be some topics to suit you, including Selling-in your stories on 17 February from 10.30-11.30am GMT. CIPR members can participate for free and you can see the whole schedule here.
This week I received a postcard from the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) promoting the IOIC Awards 2012 and calling for entries.
Having looked at the association’s website, it’s interesting to note how the awards have been remodeled to include strategy, people, writing, digital media channels and campaigns. There’s also the chance to highlight individual work as an internal comms ICon.
I think this is a sign of the times - the ‘traditional’ scope of the role Internal Communicators play within organisations is constantly shifting, and it looks like the IoIC has set out to recognise this fact.
So, in the words of the IoIC, if you ‘think your work is brilliant, or need to measure yourself against the best’, then why not take the opportunity to enter this year’s awards. There are now 39 different awards spread out across eight sections.
Over the years I’ve won six excellence awards from the association (formerly Communicators in Business) for various projects and channels and certainly recommend them. Getting feedback from judges is always a useful experience, particularly to have your work critiqued by people who are separate from your organisation and to help you improve your expertise.
“The IoIC Awards are not like other competitions,” explains awards chairman Paul Brasington. “We’re not here to make a profit, our only concern is to pick out best practice and hold it up to show what can be achieved. We’re interested in excellence because we want to help everyone achieve it.”
Every entry (except the ICons) will receive an individual constructive critique, written by experienced judges, to help you take your work forward.
What do I need to do?
If you’d like to enter the awards, you need to download the entry kit and ensure your entries are submitted by Friday 17 February.
When will the winners be known? The IoIC Awards dinner will be held at the Hilton Park Lane in London on 15 June. Best of luck!
What will be the role of Internal Communicators to maintain a sustainable business? On Tuesday 24 January an event was held by the London Communicators and Engagement Group to discuss what sustainability means for companies, what it should mean, and the central role Internal Communicators play in this debate. During it, some Visual Artists captured the conversations (pictured). If you click on the image it will take you to a write-up where you can explore it in detail.
Sonsoles Lumbreras attended the event and has kindly penned a guest post for my blog to let you know how it went, what she thought and to leave you with her lasting impressions.
This continues my series of guest writers, I’m always on the lookout for reports back from comms events to share with other communicators, do if you’ve been to a conference, talk or event recently, do get in touch with your proposal if you’d like to write about it afterwards: rach@rachmiller.com
Over to you Sonsoles…
As part of wanting to improve my knowledge about Internal Communications (IC), I attended a really interesting event organised by the “London Communicators and Engagement Group” (many thanks to Matt O’Neill for allowing me to come along).
Under the title ‘All change for Internal Communications?’, Deborah Hulme, from dhc group, led a debate about sustainability. According to Hulme, sustainable does not always have to do with environmental issues but it also refers to how companies are performing in front of their customers and employees, and how the latter perceive the former.
However, many organisations do not really pay attention to that aspect of sustainability. The speaker pointed out that businesses have now a higher impact in our communities and people are more and more interested in how organisations are operating and why, so stakeholders groups are coming together to survey what they are doing, “a fact that Internal Communications professionals should also pay attention to”, said Deborah.
Deborah said that there are four points which are important to look at the future of Internal Communications professionals:
their function itself
how companies should be organised around IC departments
the role of Internal Communicators as more experienced professionals in this field
the important role of customers for organisations
So IC professionals will have to work to control their behaviour; and the function of younger generations in the organisation’s landscape, who will demand the use of social media as a means of collaboration within their companies since they are used to doing it in their day-to-day lives.
During the subsequent debate, one of the interesting views that was raised was that it will be fundamental for Internal Communications practitioners to have engagement skills and act as facilitators to invite employees to collaborate within organisations. But a fear was stated among the audience regarding the lack of leadership support in order to achieve this goal. The establishment of a clear business goal when encouraging that employees’ collaboration could be the solution to get that support.
What do you think will be the future role of Internal Communicators to maintain a sustainable culture within companies?
Thank you for your thoughts Sonsoles. You can leave her a comment using the boxes below to share your thoughts. There is also a write-up online about the sustainability event, including a short video, which you can see here.
As professional communicators there are a number of bread-and-butter issues that most of us encounter at some point in our career that help us earn our crust: change comms, introducing new channels, exit plans for CEOs and launching new visions, values or brands. I’m going to stop with bread puns now, but read on to find out why they’ve been appearing…
Last year I met Andrea Law, Internal Comms Manager at Warburtons at the Institute of Internal Comms (IoIC) annual conference in Bournemouth, UK. Warburtons is the second biggest grocery brand in the UK based on sales, after Coca Cola. It specialises in the production of a number of bakery products including wax wrapped loaves, wraps, gluten free, wholemeal products, crumpets (my favourite), pancakes and bread rolls, among many others.
The company was founded by Thomas and Ellen Warburton in 1876 in Bolton, Lancashire. It employees 4500 employees in 13 different bakeries and 13 depots across the UK and produces two million bakery products each day. It is well known for still being run by its family members, the Warburton family.
Andrea and I are both members of Melcrum’s Communicators Network and last week she shared with the network some of the lessons she learnt when launching a new vision and set of refreshed values at the same time as a brand refresh.
I thought it would be good to highlight the work that Warburtons has done on my blog and Andrea has kindly agreed to let me do so. I believe that sharing tips and advice among comms pros is a good thing to do and think that Warburtons campaign is a comprehensive and interesting one. As ever, if you come across something you think other comms pros would benefit from reading about, do get in touch with me: rach@rachmiller.com with your ideas.
What was the challenge? Warburtons decided to launch a new Vision and set of refreshed values at the same time as their brand refresh.
To refresh the values and reduce the number significantly (down from 13), Executive Director Brett Warburton (pictured) went on a tour of the business talking to teams of people at all levels of the organisation. He conducted one-to-one interviews with senior business leaders, including members of his own family, and then toured the business conducting a series of focus groups in a variety of locations.The feedback from the focus groups was worked through and a first set of values was created.
Focusing on the people Andrea says: “Two further focus groups were conducted by Brett Warburton, involving a mix of the same people who took part in the first round of groups. The first version of the values that had been prepared for the sessions were shared with the groups for their thoughts and feedback and the sessions were filmed with additional filming of interviews with participants sharing their thoughts and, importantly, their stories as evidence for these values being part of Warburtons culture”.
The feedback from the second round of focus groups was used to refine the values further and all focus group attendees received a letter from Brett thanking them for their participation, a copy of the DVD and confirming the final and agreed set of values, which was to soon be shared with the rest of the business:
Family
Quality
Care
Responsibility
and an important new addition – Ambition.
Alongside the values research, Internal Comms was also working with their Business Management Board and the Warburton Family to create a new vision for the organisation, which people would find stretching and exciting: To be one of the world’s best family food businesses.
Choosing the right channel Some existing channels of communication, as well as new ones, were used to launch the new Vision and Values. You can read about some of them below.
Breakfast Briefing
Warburtons top 120 senior managers meet quarterly and the already scheduled October Breakfast Briefing was chosen as the ideal opportunity for the launch. The film that had been produced for the launch kicked off the presentation, followed by presentations from Chairman, Jonathan Warburton, and the Managing Director. All delegates were provided with a take-away Managers’ Communication Pack.
Employee letters
Later that month Brett Warburton wrote to every Warburtons employee at home. He outlined in his letter what the vision meant and why the Family needed everyone to be committed to and live the values. He talked about the up and coming State of the Nation presentation and that he hoped to see them at their site to present and explain the vision and values and answer any questions. Enclosed with the letter was a four-page pamphlet outlining the strategy in brief, in-line with the updated internal comms narrative, together with a set of fold-out ’business card style’ leaflets illustrating and detailing the new values.
State of the Nation
Warburtons Board conducts an annual State of the Nation tour of sites in October. However, Internal Comms and the Family believed it was critical that the Family communicated the Vision and Values, rather than the Board, in order to give it the authority and substance it required. Therefore, the tour was moved to November and a Family member plus a Board member visited sites to deliver the Vision and Values presentation together.
The rooms were dressed in advance with specially produced posters. The Family member showed the film and presented the vision and values primary section of the presentation, while the Board Director presented detail around the business strategy so that people understood the five stage plan of what they would do in the next twelve months to start the company on the journey. Everyone left the presentation with a set of postcards and a copy of the Success Factors (Warburtons’ behaviours) so that everyone understood the set of behaviours expected of them and which would form an important part of the Performance Management process.
Values postcards
The values postcards handed out in the State of the Nation presentations, were addressed to Jonathan and Brett Warburton, to be returned telling them where and how the company and people could be living the values better. Team Managers were briefed to use the postcards as the focus for team discussions about how everyone should all be living the values. Both individuals and teams returned postcards to the Family.
Andrea says: “We received great scores for recognition and understanding of the values in our Engagement Survey and our next phase, which we’re currently working on, is to recognise and reward people for living the values. We’re hoping to launch this in the spring. This will have a continuous communications campaign around it to keep it alive”.
Thanks again to Andrea for giving me permission to write about the work at Warburtons for my blog. As ever, if you come across something you think other comms pros would benefit from reading about, do get in touch with me with your ideas.
This week VMA Group hosted its Business Leaders in Communications Study launch in London. I was hoping to go but unfortunately wasn’t able to make the launch, so I’ve been reading about it and thought I’d share what I’ve learnt as it makes fascinating reading.
The study surveyed 95 Directors of Communications in leading FTSE organisations about their corporate communications function and the results provide the most comprehensive overview of the function, structure and role of corporate communications today and in the future.
Top findings from the study were:
Nearly two in three communications professionals see reputation management as their main function, while media relations and advising the board on business strategy were both equal second. However, only three per cent of respondents saw protecting or enhancing the reputation of the CEO as their main role.
Forty-one per cent had a seat on the board or management executive and two thirds of respondents reported into the CEO; one in ten to the HR Director and just seven per cent to the Marketing Director.
Eighty-one per cent of respondents said that their CEO and the board thought communication to be critically important. But that figure fell to 59% when applied across the business. A significant minority (18%) said communications was not critically important in the organisation.
More than one in three (37%) CEOs spend at least one day a week on communications activity, and one in twenty spend more than two days. The proportion of CEO time devoted to communications is particularly high in the financial services sector (22%), possibly an indication of the continued fallout from the banking crisis.
The statistics around the ownership of the digital space raise the possibility that we may be seeing the beginning of a decline in influence for marketing departments as we currently know them.
What happened at the launch?
At the event on Tuesday night, VMA hosted Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of The John Lewis Partnership, who urged the audience of senior communicators to think about their purpose and effectiveness, saying that he believes communication is the most powerful lever to gain competitive advantage.
Alongside Charlie Mayfield were John Smythe, Founding Partner of Engage for Change, David Bickerton, Director of Communications at BP, Leslie McGibbon, Vice President Global Communications at GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare and Professor Tom Watson, Professor of Public Relations at Bournemouth University.
I was interested to see the Tweets under the hashtag #blcs2012 as it appears a lively debate took place about the role of corporate communications both now and in the future. It’s no surprise that one of the hot topics of the night was social media and its use.
Stephen Waddington of Speed Comms (@Wadds) blogged on the event and has published a Storify feed of the tweets, which you can see here.
He says: “My view, Speed’s view, is that social media is returning the public relations industry to its roots of engagement in a two-way dialogue rather than a means of broadcast via the proxy of media relations.”
Social media as a challenge?
What strikes me is that only 15 per cent of Comms Directors said social media skills were critical when recruiting to their teams. When this is contrasted against the fact that three quarters of comms professionals expect to see an increase in demand for websites, digital and social media, that’s a surprising stat. Apparently almost one in ten communicators do not see social media as a challenge.
So…. communicators expect to see a rise in demand yet won’t meet it through specific recruiting? Reports from the night show that one member of the audience asked whether this is the case “because social media is just a bubble or is it through ignorance or complacency.”
While some said it was ‘A flash in the pan’ and ‘Not used by the shop floor,’ others urged caution and said the starting point should be to question the objective of social media before acting on it. Yet, as agency bosses from Grayling, Hotwire PR and Speed Communications and senior communicators from the BBC, BP and GlaxoSmithKline responded, social media is here to stay and those who don’t embrace it fully will be left behind.
What about social media in action? David Bickerton from BP admitted his organisation was left reeling from the social media impact of recent events and, he added, as a result the company now ensures all staff have a role to play in the reputation management of the company on social media. Even John Lewis’ Charlie Mayfield concluded that technology is changing the way people behave and businesses need to understand this and respond accordingly.
What about influence? Results from the survey show that senior communicators expect their influence to increase over the next two years, yet they currently report only moderate influence at board level. It also reveals an expected increase in demand but decrease in budgets over the next two years. How we wish that wasn’t the case! Again, not a surprise, but I believe it’s a reflection on how the comms industry is changing and adapting to the external environment. We’d love to have huge budgets that increase year-on-year as awareness and demand for comms grows, but unfortunately the world doesn’t work like that!
Julia Meighan, Executive Chairman of VMA Group who commissioned the research says: “The debate arising from the launch of the BLCS this week demonstrates what a truly significant and timely piece of research this is. The study will play a critical role in helping communicators and CEOs underpin their investment in corporate communications, and better demonstrate the link between reputation and profitability that Charlie Mayfield speaks of. Some of the world’s leading organisations have responded to this research and so its influence and relevance is far-reaching. I urge communications professionals to study the report and use it in their businesses.”
Where can you get the research and what happens next? The Business Leaders in Communications Study 2012 is available to buy from the BLCS web page. VMA Group is hosting a series of breakfast events in February / March for those people who have purchased the study and wish to discuss and debate the findings in greater detail. For more information and to register your interest, contact: marketing@ vmagroup.com
The network was founded and is hosted by Canadian David Zinger. He is an author, educator and speaker who has written over 1400 blog posts and authored two books on work - Zengage: How to Get More Into Your Work to Get More Out of Your Work and Assorted Zingers: Poems and Cartoons to Take a Bite Out of Work.
I joined the network in 2009 and there is a wealth of information available at your fingertips including 50 word case studies and numerous free PDF books on employee engagement, which are a fantastic resource.
Happy birthday to the network, and if you’ve never checked it out before, do take a look.
If you’re thinking about your career options, do you know what the current market is like for internal communicators? What are employers looking for, what is the value of internal comms professionals and is now a good time to be one?
Andrea and I are both members of 
To refresh the values and reduce the number significantly (down from 13), Executive Director Brett Warburton (pictured) went on a tour of the business talking to teams of people at all levels of the organisation. He conducted one-to-one interviews with senior business leaders, including members of his own family, and then toured the business conducting a series of focus groups in a variety of locations.The feedback from the focus groups was worked through and a first set of values was created.
Breakfast Briefing
This week 
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