Like many people, I fell into internal comms. It wasn’t part of my career plan, but boy was I glad I discovered this world. That was back in in 1998, and I’ve enjoyed pretty much every minute of working in this world. I’ve met some amazing people, and had the pleasure of being involved in some fabulous projects. Working in internal comms can be tough, but I have always loved the challenge and the fact that no two days are the same.
But, after over twenty years of working in this field, I believe the time has come for an ‘internal comms reset’. There’s no doubt that IC has the potential to be a true strategic partner in organisations. And yet I see the same conversations taking place that were happening 20 years ago:
“How can I get a seat at the table?”
“How can we demonstrate impact?”
“What is the best way to communicate with remote workers”
And I see a continued obsession with channels, and content.
Of course these are all valid questions, and we have to get the basics right. But the dialogue has not really moved on since I first discovered IC all those years ago. And this doesn’t make sense to me, because I have worked with some of the brightest minds, and the most dedicated people, who are absolutely capable of taking IC to the next level.
Albert Einstein is credited with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. We have been guilty of doing the same things over and over in IC, which is why we are still asking the same questions and grappling with the same challenges.
I believe the time has come to do something different in IC to realise our true potential.
IC has always been great at using the best-practice of other disciplines. We beg, borrow and steal from marketing, change management, psychology, behavioural economics, digital, research, HR, OD, and much more. In fact this has always been a strength of IC. I believe changing the conversation, and considering a different approach to internal comms starts with adopting a genuinely human-centred approach.
In Gatehouse’s most recent ‘State of the Sector’ survey, they report that just 18% of respondents say that they have employee personas in place. In the age of hyper-personalisation, when Spotify can tell me what I was listening to in the 1980s, and Netflix knows what I’d like to watch next, IC is in danger of looking seriously out of touch and out of date.
The same research highlights that just 65% have comms plans in place for key campaigns. It really doesn’t have to be this way, and it definitely, without a shadow of a doubt should not be this way.
So where do we go from here?
Using a human-centred, design thinking, approach to IC has the potential to be a complete game-changer. This approach starts by placing our people at the heart of our communication design and approach. We need to start with intention: that is, intentionally designing a communication approach and experience that is right for our people, and the work they do, at the same time as being right for our organisations, our culture, and our purpose and values.
We have been working with a number of clients to develop and implement an innovative, and impactful approach to IC. We use the latest tools and ideas from human-centred design and positive psychology. It’s simple and straight-forward, and we would love to share this new approach to IC with you.
If you would like to know more, and if you’re ready to lead the way in the IC revolution, then we’d love you to join us at our IC Reset webinar on Friday 15th January. You can sign up for free here
The world is changing faster than at any point in history. Employees are becoming the consumers of the workplace and IC has the potential to lead the way. We hope to see you there!
